Closer: Bay City Paranormal Investigation, Book 4

sleepy just to watch it. “Stay with me?”
“Of course.” Sam laid his free hand against Bo’s cheek. “I love you.”
Bo’s eyes shone. “Love you too.” He turned his head to kiss Sam’s palm before settling against the pillow once more. His eyes drifted closed.
“Sleeping, huh?” Dean leaned against the wall to Sam’s left and smiled affectionately at Bo. “Good. Been a rough night for him.”
“Yeah.” Sam yawned. “Do you think they’ll let us stay with him?” He looked up. The nurse was gone.
“They’ll let you stay with him. There’s not room for both of us.”
“Oh.” Sam glanced around the small room. “Damn.”
Dean grinned. “Don’t worry about it. Kyle’s coming back to get me.”
“He is?”
“Yeah. That was him on the phone just now.” Dean’s shoulder hitched up, and Sam could’ve sworn he saw a faint rosy flush coloring Dean’s cheeks. “He said he missed me.”
Sam laughed. “That is so cute.”
Crossing his arms, Dean studied a spot on the far wall with great interest. “So, will y’all be okay if I go?”
“Yeah, we’ll be fine. Go on back and get some sleep. And tell Kyle how much we both appreciate all he did for us tonight.” Reaching up, Sam touched Dean’s arm. “Thanks, Dean. For everything. Especially for always being such a good friend.”
The shuttered look vanished from Dean’s face, replaced by a beaming smile. He bent and hugged Sam hard. “Call me later and let me know how Bo’s doing, okay? Oh, and let me know what he has to say about… You know.”
“Sure.” Sam smiled as Dean pulled away. “Talk to you later.”
Dean left the room with a grin and a wave. Letting his hand slip from Bo’s, Sam scooted the chair as close as possible to Bo’s bed and studied Bo’s sleeping face. He looked wan and tired, but peaceful. Sam hoped it would last. He didn’t think he could go back to the kind of turmoil he and Bo had lived in for the past few days.
Kicking off his shoes, Sam curled his legs beneath him and slipped his arm through the bedrail to lace his fingers through Bo’s. He let himself drift into a half-doze.
    In his dream, Sam felt eyes watching him. Unlike the malicious intelligence which populated his most recent nightmares, the mind whose attention was currently focused on him felt benign. Loving. The gaze was warm and comforting as sunshine on his face. He smiled and hummed, basking in the regard of the person he couldn’t see.
    A soft laugh slid beneath the dream and nudged him up into the waking world. He opened his eyes. Bo’s smiling face was inches away, on the other side of the bedrail. “Good morning,” Bo said.
    “Hey.” Sam sat up and gave Bo a once-over. The oxygen tubing was gone. He was still too pale, throwing the dark smudges under his eyes into sharp relief, but other than that Sam thought he looked remarkably good for all he’d been through. “How long have you been awake?”
    “Not long. A few minutes.” Bo extended a hand through the railing, took Sam’s hand and wound their fingers together. “I didn’t mean to wake you up.”
    “You didn’t.” Sam lifted Bo’s hand, rubbing his cheek against the cool, dry fingers. “How do you feel?”
A rueful smile crossed Bo’s face. “Honestly? I feel like I’ve been filleted with a butter knife. But if what I remember is right, I’m lucky to be alive, so I’m not complaining.”
“What do you remember about last night?” It was the last thing Sam wanted to talk about, but they had to discuss it at some point. Now was as good a time as any.
Bo’s eyes clouded. “The last thing I remember with any clarity is being in bed with you. I think I went to sleep for a little while. When I woke up, everything seemed…strange. Fuzzy. I only remember parts of what happened after that, but I know I wasn’t in control of myself.”
“How do you mean?”
Bo was silent for a moment, stroking his thumb across the back of Sam’s hand. “This is going to sound ludicrous, Sam, but I felt as if I were being literally compelled to go to the fort. I couldn’t act for myself. I couldn’t even think for myself. It was like my mind and body had been completely taken over. I…I heard things. Saw things. And the feel of those things was very similar to what I felt in my nightmares. Then the second you closed that portal, the compulsion was just…gone. Just like that. I still didn’t feel normal, but the feeling of something else taking me over was gone.”
Sam