Kody's eyes widened somewhat, then he shrugged. "I'm all good," he told me with a weak smile.
I gave him a narrow-eyed stare but let it drop. Maybe he was just shaken from last night, like I was. Regardless, he seemed to be getting something out of constantly touching me, and I liked it too.
"So, I have to train Arch again this afternoon," Kody told me as we made our way through campus to the dining hall, where Bree and Scott were most likely already waiting. "Do you maybe want to come along? I kinda, uh, I'd really feel better if I could keep my eyes on you. You know?"
Yep, he was still freaking about the killer-stalker incident.
I stopped walking, turning to face him in the middle of the path we were on. "Kody, I'm fine. As far as attempts on my life go, that was a pretty mild one." I paused, remembering the two dead gangsters. “I mean, for me.”
He frowned, worry etched all over his face. "Yeah, but it was a fucking creepy one. Cutting the power, killing the two Reapers watching the place and leaving notes on the mirror? That's some fucked up psychological shit. I'm concerned he's escalating and that sooner or later we won't get there fast enough."
I bit the corner of my lip, nodding. "That's fair. I'm not dismissing that at all. But this shit with Archer and me... it's too fucked up. I can't move back into his house while I'm trying to separate from him. And that's on top of the fact that I want to stab him in the fucking face with a rusty spoon every time he opens his mouth."
Kody's lips twitched into a grin. "Want me to kick him in the balls again?"
I laughed. "I'd never say no to an offer like that. But as for this afternoon, no. I have, uh, something that I do in the afternoons. Totally safe, I promise. I'm not putting myself in any stupid situations just to prove I'm a strong, independent woman."
He scowled, not distracted by my babble. "What is it?"
I cringed. Bree was right; I should have been upfront. "Uh, Cass... um, Cass is training me down at the Reaper gym."
Kody just stared at me. "Training you... how?"
I shrugged, wanting to change the subject so freaking badly. But I needed to offer the same transparency he and Steele were giving me. "Just boxing, mainly. He said it was a good outlet for my pent-up aggression."
Kody nodded slowly, then sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "Fair enough, he's right."
I blinked a couple of times, confused. "Wait, that's it?"
He tilted his head to the side. "That's what?"
"Uh, I dunno. I thought you'd be... angrier." I wrinkled my nose, baffled as all shit. "Or something."
His eyes flickered with something like amusement. "So, why'd you do it if you thought I'd be angry?"
My lips parted, but no valid response formed. He kinda had a point there.
"Look, babe, I'm not going to give you grief over doing something that both helped you work through your feelings and gave you valuable physical combat skills. Would I have preferred you'd asked me to train you? Hell yes, of course. But I can't fault you for training with Cass. He's old, but he's still in pretty good shape." Kody's grin told me he was ripping on Cass for the fun of it. I’d gotten the impression not all of the Reapers were in my boys' bad books.
I rolled my eyes. "He's not old, Kody. He's probably only thirty-five or something."
Kody snickered a laugh. "Actually, thirty-three. His life experience is aging him faster."
I huffed a sigh. "Whatever. So, you're not mad?"
He gave me a shrewd look. "Depends. If I'm mad, will you try and cheer me up?"
Typical Kodiak Jones.
Reaching up, I grabbed his face between my hands and planted his lips against mine. It was all the encouragement he needed, and his arms banded around my waist as his mouth devoured mine with fierce hunger. But as much as I wanted to take things further and really make sure I'd cheered him up, we were still standing in the middle of SGU campus with students all around.
"Later," I promised him in a husky whisper as we broke apart.
He gave a small groan and kissed me again. "I'll hold you to that, babe."
Interlinking our fingers together, we continued on our way to the dining hall, smiling like dazed, loved-up idiots. Bree was bound to comment on it as