Page 59 of Devour

“It was worse for him than me,” I quickly dismissed. “And he anticipated bullshit, which was why I came along.”

“You’re a good friend, Rhory.” Her eyes softened.

“No, not really.” I laughed. “I just have no filter and give no fucks, so I’m always the buffer. Hubs lets stuff get to him more than he should.”

Mary rolled her lips in again and I realized a little too late what I said.

“Fuck me,” I nervously chuckled. I almost managed a whole day without calling him that. Only almost. “Inside joke.”

“As his favorite cousin, I am required to ask the story behind that,” she laughed along with me. Not judging. Not mocking. Pure joy and amusement. I really liked her.

“You know what? Fuck it. I’ll tell you. All our friends are used to us by now.” With a deep breath, I launched into the epic saga. “So, you know his other friend Ash, yeah?”

She nodded.

“We met on Ash’s twenty-first birthday at a nightclub. Somehow, Em either convinced or tricked Eli into going.”

“No!”

“Yes,” I assured. “We started doing shots at the bar with Ash and they both got drunk. Like I’ve never seen hubby like that since. Absolutely trashed.” She giggled again, and I silently chastised myself. I wasn’t used to filtering my words and now that a leak had sprung, I couldn’t plug it back up. “Anyway, they started talking about women and marriage and all this nonsense and… Eli agreed to a marriage pact proposed by someone he met that night.”

“He did not,” she barked out a laugh again.

“He did.”

“With who?”

I raised my hand and pointed back toward myself. “Hence, the birth of a nickname.”

Mary dissolved into furious laughter. “I cannot believe he lets you call him that.”

“Hubby lets me do pretty much whatever I want and if I don’t do something, it’s only to appease him,” I corrected. “Besides, I desensitized him with constant usage long ago. A decade later he responds faster to that than his actual name.”

“I have to admit, I was shocked he came here this year. And even more so to see someone with him. He’s mentioned you before, but I was not expecting… ah…”

“You should see the way I normally dress.” I smiled at her. “I’m a bit much. By that I mean a mouthy slut. And hubs is a deacon. But I was this way when he met me, too. He’s never really cared.” I paused. “Well, no, I shouldn’t say that. It’s more like he’s wholly aware of who I am, and he’s never judged or tried to change me. And I try to do the same for him.”

“I bet you wish he weren’t a deacon, though,” she said with a mischievous smirk.

I rolled my eyes.

“Don’t act as if I didn’t interrupt something earlier.”

“What? Two buddies can’t snuggle for warmth during a blizzard? We even said ‘no homo’ first.”

Mary cackled even more over my joke and when she finally found herself able to address me without laughing, she patted my arm and smiled. “Rhory, I’m telling you, in all the years he’s lived out there, he’s never come back home with anyone. Ever. And I don’t care that you’re a guy or if you’re just friends or whatever. All I’m saying is, the fact that he wanted you here says everything about my cousin. You’re important to him, and I’m glad he has someone he feels that way about, even if you’re only friends.”

Well, then. I was not a master in subtlety, so to a certain degree, I supposed some aspects of our relationship would be blatant. We cared about each other. That much we couldn’t hide, even from one another.

Mary went back inside right after, and I followed along. She waved once before continuing down the hall to the bedrooms, and I leaned forward to grab the remote on the coffee table in the living room.

Leave it. Come to bed.

You’re on the couch, hubby.

Come to couch.

I pulled my coat off once more and walked over to him, his eyes still closed. Are you dreaming, hubby?

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