The change that had come over Demi was almost instantaneous. Lita watched as recognition and realization washed over her friend while she was left feeling slightly bewildered at Demi's reaction. Her mind was on the Hellhound connection in general and still hadn't put together the specific, personal connection she and Demi shared. Still confused with her friend's quick change in attitude and with Adelaide's warning of 'not looking too friendly' with Demi ringing in her ears, Lita allowed the brunette to take her by the hand and lead her into the bathroom. Lita knew how this situation would look like to the men in black keeping an eye on the jailbird. It basically obliterated the 'professional' guise to smithereens but there was no helping it.
Lita surveyed her friend warily once the door had closed, crossing her arms over her chest. Her friend knew about James...Lita had spoken of him several times in her company, especially in those first few giddy months when everything had seemed so perfect. She had left out the Hellhound connection once she found out and kept the Dog King title hidden because to speak of it would not only implicate herself but also Demi, who was already in hot water as it was. Lita knew her being in cahoots with the Hellhounds was a bit of a shock but her friend's surprising reaction still perplexed her.
"You know about James," Lita said, as if it was painfully obvious. "I mean, we're not now...we've never...it's still so goddamn complicated but I still..." Lita cocked her head to the side and paused. Demi's face, her body language, knowing who James was and the look on her face all led to one thing.
"Oh, God," Lita said, the full force of the connection Demi had with the Hellhounds hitting her. It wasn't the Hellhounds her friend had been running with, it was James. A fierce flame of jealousy flared up inside her but was slowly tamped down to a flickering smolder. Her affection for Demi tempered the hurt slightly but it was still a blow to her ego and a punch to her heart. Lita sat down on the closed toilet lid, running her hands through her long, dark hair. She jammed the heels of her hands in her eyes for a few long moments, trying to process how all the pieces fit together.
"So you're telling me that you and he...that you were..." Lita trailed off, unable to complete the sentence. She knew it was true. She felt it in her bones and saw it in her friend's face. Lita sighed heavily, finally looking up at her friend. "Right. Right. Okay. Whatever he and I were, or are, it's been going on for awhile now. June? July? I don't even know. I knew he wasn't a by-the-books, color-inside-the-lines sort of guy from the get go...I didn't know he was a Hellhound until later on. The Dog King title was a total surprise until fairly recently. We were just trying to make sense of it when the RPG was thrown over the walls of the Dog Park. I spent days putting those hounds back together but I still had no idea how to fix us. And now he's in jail and you and I are right here."
It was weird talking about him so candidly. Everything between them was always shrouded in secrecy; for their own protection certainly but also because it was just so strange and wonderful and weird and personal. It was a bittersweet ache, finding someone who understood what she was going through but hating that this, that he was something she and Demi shared.
"Were you...you weren't together when he and I were together?"
It's a question but Lita hates how much it sounds like a plea. She knew Isaac slightly, she definitely knew Demi, and, despite his best efforts to the contrary, Lita knew James. Her gut told her that whatever Demi and James had was in the past but Lita needed to hear her friend say it.