Page 55 of Grind
So typical. Jag had no sense of privacy whatsoever. It was a miracle he never started pissing in the corner of the room, but maybe Frank had already trained him not to. But while this spoiled their romantic plans, there was no point crying over spilled milk. Maybe it was about time Ezra embraced a little spontaneity. At least they had a lot of food to share thanks to him bringing a whole bag.
Frank stiffened, looking over the railing like a guard dog alarmed by intruders. “What the hell? Whatpeople? What are you doing here?”
Jag waved him off, dragging over a large piece of wood. “I told Shane and Ros to come.”
“I’m sorry, Frank. He’s obsessed with this blood moon situation. Says no one should sleep tonight.” Dane spread his arms wide, the blond side of his head appearing on fire in the reddish glow of the moon. He had the most unusual appearance, with one side of him being blond and blue-eyed while the other was a brunet with a dark, smoldering gaze. It was as if identical twins with different coloring had been merged into a tall guy with thick thighs and a smiley face. And while Dane had covered his body with tattoos featuring superheroes and currently wore an anime hoodie, he was capable of discussing things beyond popular culture, and Ezra had shared several interesting, if brief conversations with him.
“I’m gonna make a bonfire,” Jag said, ignorant of Frank’s agitation,orignoring it willfully. “There’s some wood inside,” he said, climbing onto the deck despite his man’s protests.
“Jag, please, stop it!” Dane shouted.
Frank had more wine, then glanced at Ezra. “Okay with you? It’s hard to stop him when he gets something in his head like this. And… it might be fun?”
His gaze was searching, as if he worried the smallest imperfection might cause resentment, but Ezra kissed him, already resigned to an evening for more than two. “This yacht isn’t sailing away, right? We could come here alone tomorrow.”
The rumble of an approaching car signaled Shane and Ros’s arrival, which meant that the wheels Jag put in motion could no longer be stopped, so Ezra stretched alongside Frank and unpacked the boxes of food that would have been too much for the two of them anyway.
Jag emerged from the cabin with a whole bundle of broken planks Frank must have stored away somewhere, and coughed, shaking smoke out of his hair. “I see you already tried making a fire, but you can’t do that inside. Not without a hole above.”
Frank dragged his hand down his face. “Thanks for the insight, I’ll take it into account next time.”
Jag nodded with a smile. Illuminated by the reddish moon, he leaned over the railing, looking down at Dane. “There’s lots of cheese here!”
“Did someone say cheese?” Ros yelled from afar, approaching the boat mound in a long, flowing coat that made him look like the cutest wizard. “Good thing I brought focaccia and wine!”
He was the only one here with more discerning taste in food, and it made Ezra feel a weird connection with him. As if he also used to live a finer life yet had happily traded it for one in the junkyard with Shane and a bunch of dogs.
Eros and Hera followed Shane, wagging their tails and completing the absolute chaos that had erupted since Jag’s arrival.
“Ahoy, strangers!” Ezra shouted, rubbing Frank’s tense back, because he’d done everything right, and even the failure of his plans for tonight already tasted of laughter and good company.
“Ahoy! Will there be a place for two travelers on your deck, captain? Arr,” Shane tried, but Ros poked him in the ribs, laughing.
“You make a terrible pirate!”
Shane laughed and pulled Ros in for a kiss. “Dex should have invited that one-eyed guy from his club then. What’s his name? Cyclops? He’s gay, isn’t he?”
Frank rubbed his forehead. “Dex is coming too?”
Shane smiled. “He can’t miss the blood moon party after all.”
“Yeah, but unless he’d told Hammer, they’ll probably be here in two hours,” Dane commented, heading for the ladder, but when Jag reached for him, he gravitated to his arm and let himself be tugged up.
“We’ll have the fire going by then. As long as they don’t sleep, they’ll be okay,” Jag reassured everyone, gathering Dane into his arms as soon as he had him up on the deck. They looked funny together, like a couple who’d met at Comic Con, or some other event of that nature. The fact that Jag wasnotcosplaying a character from the Mad Max franchise was just a tiny detail.
“And all those people who do, what happens to them?” Ezra asked, curious about the way Jag’s mind worked.
“Blood nightmares,” Jag said without missing a beat.
Ros laughed, joining them on the deck. “What’s that even mean? Nightmares about getting nosebleeds? Vampires?”
Ezra pushed under Frank’s arm and looked up into the moon’s ghostly face, which looked unusually flushed tonight. As if it were anticipating Frank’s plan and had come closer to Earth just to watch.
He grinned at the thought of the moon being a pervert and picked up a morsel of Manchego while Jag assembled the fire below with Shane’s help.
Dane cleared his throat, arranging himself on an empty fragment of the deck nearby. “Sorry we spoiled your night. But he feels so strongly about the most unusual things that I just have to indulge him.”
Ezra snorted and reached out with a box of stuffed peppers he’d brought with him. “That's really sweet. I get it, he looks cute with that cape attached at the back.”
