Page 2 of Sheep Calm and Merry On
“Jesus!”
Devon’s mouth dropped open in surprise, and he fumbled in his pocket for his phone, because duh, it had a flashlight on it. “Uh. Jesus who?”
He swept the beam around the bathroom. When the light hit a spot under the sink, the whole place spun like a disco ball.
“F-f-fuck!”
“Jesus Fuck,” Devon repeated. Sure. Why not? “Kind of a lame knock-knock joke.” He directed the light at the floor in an effort not to blind whatever tin-foil-covered delusion was lurking in this bathroom. “What are you doing in here?”
“F-freezing to d-d-death.”
Devon snorted. Apparently two could play the smartass game. “You want me to leave you to it? Or, like, I can give you a lift back to my place and we can come back for your car when the weather clears.”
Pause. Then the funny metallic rustle again, and suddenly Devon’s damsel in distress was standing in front of him, a reflective blanket wrapped around his hips like a skirt.
“Uh,” said Devon. “Where are your pants?”
Wordlessly, the guy pointed to a stall door. A pair of jeans hung from the top, visibly damp from the knee down, reminding Devon of what he had to look forward to once the snow he’d waded through melted. At least the guy had the presence of mind to bring the emergency blanket from his car.
“Right,” Devon said, shaking his head. “What do you say, man? I want to get back in my truck before the snow covers it. I promise I’m not an ax murderer.”
He got the impression of dark eyes blinking at him. “That leaves a lot of other kinds of murderer.”
Definitely a smartass. “If I wanted you dead, I could’ve left you here…?” he pointed out, leaving the end of the sentence hanging so the guy would introduce himself. Devon couldn’t actually go around calling him Jesus Fuck.
“Noah,” he said finally as he took the hand Devon offered. His hands were dry and chapped, but at least they weren’t cold.
“Noah,” Devon repeated. “I’m Devon. You try the phones in the lobby area? Let your people know you’re not dead?”
Noah shivered and pulled his coat around him a little tighter. “Phone’s out with the power.”
Right, obviously. “All right, well, you wanna leave a lipstick note on the mirror letting everyone know who to blame if you turn up dead?”
Noah snorted. “No, man, I’ll take my chances. Even if that does mean putting my pants back on.”
Devon left his phone face up on the counter and turned around to give him privacy. “What the hell were you thinking driving in this, anyway, in a tiny little car like that?”
“Mostly I was thinking ‘holy shit, I hope I don’t die.’”
Fair enough. He didn’t owe Devon his life story. “Well, there’s a generator at my place. You can call your people from there.”
“God, this is disgusting.” The slap of wet denim. Then, “You’re assuming I have people.”
“If you don’t have people here and you’re driving up I-75 in this weather, I’m the one who should be worried about ax murderers.”
Noah snorted. “My parents are in Indian River. Brother moved when he got married. I think he’s in Vanderbilt now.”
“You think?”
“Never been to his place. I’ve been in Colorado the past three years.”
Was Noah allergic to speaking more than two sentences at a time? Devon gazed up at the ceiling. There was a water spot over by the window. “I’m in Vanderbilt too. Sort of. My place isn’t really in anything except the middle of nowhere.”
“Wow. You’re really not good at this whole ‘reassure me you’re not a serial killer’ thing.” He paused. “You can turn around now. Your virgin eyes are in no further danger.”
Devon ignored the quip about his virgin eyes out of deference to Noah’s sense of safety. If he replied with a chirp about Noah’s virgin ass he’d probably change his mind and freeze to death in this place. “Great. Let’s get to my truck before the engine seizes up.”
NOAH HAD pretty much resigned himself to a long, cold, uncomfortable night followed by a day that would likely be more of the same, until the power came back on and he could call someone to come get him and tow his car out. He’d had the presence of mind to bring a handful of stuff from the car’s emergency kit, but if he were really smart, he’d have grabbed a change of clothes along with the bottles of water and granola bars.
