On A Night Like This

Chapter Five

-Jayce-

After dinner, Dylan seemed ready to settle down for the night. Jayce made a quick trip to the outhouse, noting that there were now several inches of snow on the ground. When he got back inside, he saw Dylan had changed into flannel pants and a thermal shirt. The shirt hugged Dylan's muscles in all the right places, and Jayce had to force his eyes away. It was ridiculous for him to even notice something like that given the situation he was in. Dylan could probably kill him in a matter of seconds, and he didn't want to give him a reason.

He pulled his sleeping bag out of his pack and unrolled it on the floor of the cabin. Grabbing his jacket, he balled it up and stuck it under his head to use as a pillow. The fire in the wood stove had died down, and now the cabin was only dimly lit.

It was cold on the floor. Definitely not as cold as he'd been in his tent, but cold enough that he couldn't get comfortable. He tried to curl into a ball, but his sleeping bag was too narrow to allow for that. He heard Dylan shift on the bed and he stopped moving, not wanting to disturb him.

Dylan sighed. "Get up here."

"What?"

"I can hear you shivering. That sleeping bag isn't warm enough, and even though I've never slept on my floor, I can't imagine it's anything but freezing cold."

He sat up. The bed was a single and certainly not big enough for two people. There wouldn't be any distance between them. He fidgeted with the zipper on his sleeping bag, not knowing how to handle this awkward situation. The last thing he wanted to do was anger Dylan. He had let his guard down some, but he was still afraid of the guy.

Dylan sat up in bed. "What's wrong?" he growled.

"I'm gay," Jayce blurted out. It wasn't the most graceful confession and he was well aware it could get him thrown out of the cabin depending on Dylan's belief system, but he thought this stranger should know that before sharing a bed with him. He didn't want to be responsible for deceiving Dylan or giving him a reason to kick his ass and throw him into the snow.

"So?"

"It's just..." he hesitated, trying to choose his words carefully. "Most guys aren't okay sharing a bed with a gay man. I'm sorry I didn't tell you earlier when you were trying to warm me up."

Dylan snorted. "If someone is too freaked out about being close to another man that they'd let him die of hypothermia, then they have no business being in the wilderness."

He nodded. It seemed like a good point, and Dylan seemed like a good man for thinking that way. Could he really trust Dylan? Right now, he had to. He had no other choice.

"Speaking of that, sorry I freaked out earlier. I thought you...wanted something in return for saving me. But I wasn't thinking clearly."

Dylan stared at him, one eyebrow raised. "Who do you think I am?"

"Well, I don't know who you are, other than a big mountain man who dragged me out of my tent and brought me to this cabin in the middle of the woods. I don't know if you're going to kill me and add me to the other bodies that are probably under your cabin."

"I think you've seen too many horror movies."

"Maybe," he said, a half smile making its way onto his face.

Without skipping a beat, Dylan said, "You can check underneath the cabin tomorrow. But right now, you need to get in the bed. You don't want to risk hypothermia twice in one day."

Jayce got out of the sleeping bag and cautiously approached the bed. Dylan moved all the way over towards the wall. As he got under the blanket and laid down, he made sure to stay as close to the edge of the bed as possible.