On A Night Like This

Chapter Three

-Jayce-

He did his best to stay awake. It seemed like the man had been walking for several minutes. Was it possible that he had been near a road or trailhead after all? Maybe this man's car wasn't far from where he'd set up his tent.

Finally, something came into view. He squinted, hoping it wasn't just an illusion. But instead of the vehicle he was expecting to see, he saw a small A-frame cabin. He glanced around, and to his dismay, they were still surrounded by trees. There wasn't a road in sight.

His heart began to race. Why was there a cabin in the middle of the forest? It couldn't be for a good reason. Is this how he was going to die, by being murdered in the woods instead of freezing to death in the woods?

Once inside, the man dumped him onto a single bed and then busied himself with starting a fire in what looked like a wood stove. Jayce stared at the man's back, noting the muscles that strained his shirt. The man was huge. He had to be several inches over six feet, and his upper arms looked bigger than Jayce's thighs. Wondering who this giant was, Jayce began to glance around the cabin. It looked normal. There weren't any guns or chains or weird pictures hanging on the walls. Before he could take it all in, the man came back over and started removing Jayce's jacket.

"What are you doing?" he protested, slurring his words.

"You're borderline hypothermic. I have to get you warmed up."

"By taking off my jacket?"

"Yes," the man grunted.

Once his jacket was off, the man lay down on the bed behind him, pulled a blanket over them, and wrapped his arms around Jayce. Jayce was thoroughly confused at this point, and thoroughly terrified. Did this man know he was gay? Was he going to take advantage of him before killing him? He panicked and inched forward on the bed, trying to get away from the man.

"Stop moving," the man commanded, tightening his arms around him.

"Let go of me," he pleaded. "What do you want?"

"I want you to stop moving and let me warm you up so you don't die in my cabin."

His head felt like it was in a fog. "So I don't die?"

"It's unlikely at this point, now that you're inside. I'm trying to raise your body temperature with mine, but you need to calm down," the man growled.

Suddenly everything made sense. This man had rescued him from the cold and was trying to help him, not kill him. At least Jayce didn't think so. If this man truly wanted to harm him, he wouldn't be taking the time to warm him up. Jayce would be more defenseless if he was too cold to move.

The man was warm, and the heat from the fire was even better. Gradually, his shivering lessened and the feeling started coming back into his hands and feet. He felt like his fingers and toes were burning and it was slightly painful. But after this initial discomfort, he began to feel warm and relaxed.

For a moment he forgot all about being lost in the wilderness and everything that had happened leading up to that point. There was a man's body pressed against his and he remembered how nice that was. He wanted to snuggle closer and fall asleep. His eyes had just closed when the man let go and sat up.

Disturbed by the sudden loss of heat, he turned his head to look at the man. The man had dark auburn hair, a well-groomed red beard, and dark brown eyes. Despite a long scar on his left cheek, his face was handsome in a rugged way, and Jayce could tell the man would be more attractive if he wasn't scowling. The man seemed to have a permanent glare on his face.

"You're doing better," the man said, his tone brusque. "I'll heat up some water."

He watched as the man placed a kettle on top of a grate and lit another fire underneath it. It almost looked like a makeshift stove. As they waited for the water to boil, the man came back over and took one of his hands. Jayce flinched at first, but relaxed a little when he realized the man appeared to be examining his hand, as if he were testing how warm it was.

"You'll be fine," the man assured him. "How long were you out there?"

He sat up, pulling the blanket around his shoulders. "I've been hiking for three days. I set up my tent shortly after the snow started."

The man didn't say anything in return. He turned his attention to the kettle, which was beginning to whistle.

Jayce watched as the man added a tea bag to a mug and poured in the steaming water. When the man brought it over to him, Jayce did his best to smile up at him. This man still scared him, so he wanted to stay on his good side.

"Thank you for helping me. I would have died if you hadn't come along."

The man crossed his arms and looked at Jayce with a firm stare. "What were you doing out there?"

He held the warm mug in his hands as he contemplated how much to tell this stranger. "I was camping off the main trail, but I got lost trying to get back to the trail. I found your trail instead. I mean, I'm assuming it's your trail."

"Yes, it leads to this cabin."

"What's your name?" he asked, changing the topic. "You saved my life, but I don't even know your name."

"Dylan."

"I'm Jayce," he replied.

He thought they would talk more, but Dylan turned. "I'm going back out to get your stuff," Dylan said. "You can look around, but don't go far. There's an outhouse behind the cabin."

And with that, Dylan pulled a coat on and shut the door behind him.

-Dylan-

He trudged through the snow, not sure what to think about his serene day being shattered by the appearance of the lost hiker. The last thing he'd been expecting to see all the way out here, especially this time of year, was a tent only a half mile from his cabin. He'd feared it would contain a corpse, and he'd been hoping he wouldn't have to open it and check. It had been a relief to hear a voice instead of silence.

The guy inside - Jayce - hadn't been in good shape, though. He guessed Jayce hadn't been more than an hour away from slipping into unconsciousness. Maybe that was why Jayce had reacted the way he did - with fear, trying to get away from him twice. But deep down, he knew Jayce's condition wasn't the cause of that reaction. Jayce had reacted to him the same way everyone did.

All his life, his appearance had frightened people. He was six foot four inches with a muscular build. It didn't help that he was quiet and not naturally friendly, or that his default facial expression apparently made it look like he wanted to kill someone. He wasn't angry all the time, or looking for a fight, or any of the other things people accused him of.

Eventually, he learned it was easier to keep to himself. People didn't want to come near him or be his friend. Women especially kept their distance. He was all too familiar with the look of panic whenever a woman realized he was walking behind her at night, or how women crossed the street when they saw him coming, even in broad daylight. He'd never been in a relationship, because women were terrified to be around him, and he was too afraid of their reaction to approach them.

He hoped Jayce wouldn't try to leave while he was gone. The guy was in no condition to head back into the wilderness, especially since he'd gotten himself lost. He found Jayce's tent and pulled his pack out, then began to roll up Jayce's sleeping bag. He paused, noting that it was a summer sleeping bag. It wasn't anywhere near warm enough for a backpacking trip taking place in the fall, with winter right around the corner. 

He knew he shouldn't look through Jayce's stuff, but something seemed off. The tent wasn't rated for winter, and Jayce also didn't have any kind of sleeping pad to place between his sleeping bag and the cold ground. As he pulled out the items in the pack, he found that there were no extra layers, winter gloves, or a hat. Was this guy trying to die?

Shaking his head, he stuffed everything back in the pack and took down the tent. By the time it was all packed up, the snow was starting to fall harder. He was grateful he'd found Jayce before the weather got worse, but now it seemed he was left with more questions than answers about what Jayce was doing out here.