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Laughing, I lean up and give her a quick kiss before letting her go. “Yeah, you did. But come on, I think my balls are actually frozen.”
She pushes up off me, before holding a hand out to help me up. “Well, we wouldn’t want that now, would we,” she teases.
“No,” I say, picking her up and throwing her over my shoulder, an arm around her legs and my other on her ass. “Your pussy would definitely be sad if that happened.”
She laughs as I walk us over to the wood pile, putting her down before I clear off the snow. Delaney holds out her arms and I load them up with wood before grabbing as much as I can carry. We take the stacks inside, dropping them into a pile by the fire so they can dry out.
“Grab one more load?” I ask, knowing the less we have to go outside into the freezing snow, the better. My back is already wet and cold, my jacket wet and my sweatpants soaked through after lying in the snow.
“Yep, okay,” she says, following me back outside, where we load up for a second time.
Once that’s in beside the fire, I jerk a thumb back toward the door. “I gotta take a piss.”
She nods, rubbing her hands together. “Yeah, me too.”
We head back outside toward the outhouse, where I let Laney go first, waiting outside for her, blowing air into my hands in a lame attempt to warm them up.
“You know, I’m gonna have to get these clothes off when we get back inside, they’re soaked,” I say, when she comes out of the outhouse.
Delaney gives me a smirk because she knows exactly what else I’m saying with those words. Grinning, I head inside and piss in record time before coming back out. When I do though, Delaney isn’t waiting for me and when I scan the area around the cabin, she’s nowhere to be found.
“Laney?” I call, a nervous tone to my voice.
I start to walk around to the front of the cabin and as soon as I round the corner, I am hit square in the chest with a snowball, Delaney’s loud laugh filling the silence.
“Oh, you’re gonna pay for that,” I tease, reaching down to grab a handful of snow.
She lets out that giggle I love so much, before turning and running as fast as she can manage toward the front door. I take off after her, my arm raised, ready to strike when suddenly my foot jams into something hard, my ankle twisting as a sharp pain shoots up my leg and I fall to the side in the snow.
“Fuck,” I wince, immediately wiggling my toes as though to check it’s nothing serious.
“Alex?” comes her voice, a worried edge to it. “Are you okay?”
I look up as she walks toward me, a scared look on her face. Smiling, I shake my head a little. “Yeah, I’m okay, just twisted my ankle, that’s all.”
“You sure?”
I nod, holding my hand out to her. “Yep,” I reply, hoisting myself up with her help. “Don’t worry, it’s nothing bad, just a sprain.”
“You’re sure it’s not broken?” she asks as I rest my arm across her shoulder. “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have—”
“Laney,” I say, pulling her close as I attempt to hobble back inside, using her for support. “Not your fault, okay, I promise. But…” I trail off, giving her a wicked grin when she looks up at me. “I’m definitely gonna need you to help me out of these clothes.”
22
DELANEY
When I wake up the next morning, Alex is still asleep beside me. I forced him to put a towel packed with snow on his ankle when the swelling continued, making me more concerned than he was. He continued to hobble around the cabin despite my protests to rest. At least he’s resting now. We can’t afford to have anything more serious than a sprained ankle without knowing if and when we’ll be rescued.
We’ve been lucky that Alex happened to have his backpack from his park crew job with him when the avalanche happened. Last night, I also forced Alex to take one of the painkillers he had in there, again, rationing things has become part of our life.
Not like either of us were rolling in the bucks back at home, but we always had everything we could want; food, medicine, access to clean water and toilets that flush. The list is pretty much endless, and I swear, I don’t think I’ll eat pasta ever again when we leave here. What I wouldn’t give for fresh vegetables or a slice of bread right now.
I roll over and stare up at the ceiling, listening to the sound of the wind whistling through all the little drafts of the old cabin. It’s become the sounds I fall asleep to every night. That and the sound of Alex’s slow and relaxed breathing. It’s what keeps me calm, it’s what reminds me that I’m not alone. I seriously thank whoever the hell it was that is responsible for Alex and I finding this cabin and being together. As awful as things are for us, I’m not sure I would change a thing.
The fire crackles, reminding me that once again, we’re nearly out of logs. Not wanting to wake Alex, I slip from the bed and tiptoe over to the door. Putting on Alex’s jacket and the oversized hunting boots I’ve grown used to, I step outside into the cold morning air.
Gathering up some logs, I look around, wondering just how far we really are from civilization. It feels like we’re in the middle of nowhere, and when I can’t fall asleep, my thoughts tend to wander, wondering if there’s a road nearby or if there’s another cabin somewhere close. A cabin that someone lives in and could help us.
