“I’m going out there,” Shane declared. “At least just to take a look around.”
I sighed in exasperation as he headed for the exit. “I’ll bet you can’t even see three feet in front of you.”
“Then I’ll walk three feet at a time.”
He wasn’t getting it. I doubted he would.
“You lose sight of that opening and you’re finished,” I warned him. “We can’t come get you. We won’t even be able to hear you yelling over the sound of all this wind.”
As if to punctuate my statement the wind picked up. It whistled loudly at the back end of the lobby, where it tore through the jagged teeth of the broken windows, just above their cascades of snow.
He took a half step backward, and I knew I had him. At least for now. I decided to change the subject.
“C’mon,” I said. “Let’s get started breaking shit up. Anything that’ll burn. Get that fire going.”
Shane scanned the lobby, looking around at all the ruined furniture and debris. There was a lot of it. He nodded, looking much happier that he finally had purpose.
“Think maybe someone will see the smoke?” he asked hopefully.
“Could be.”
We began a burn pile, off to one side of the grand fireplace. For a while the only sounds were the shriek of the wind outside, and the splintering of wood as we scavenged the lobby.
Morgan floated back to mind, of course. Her porcelain face. Her silk-spun hair.
How incredibly good she felt, with her naked body wrapped around me…
“So about last night…”
CRACK!
Shane didn’t even miss a beat. “What about it?”
“That girl. The one you chased down a mountain to get a better look at?”
He stopped, only to stare back at me with one raised eyebrow.
“I like her.”
My frat-brother chuckled, shaking his head back and forth. “After last night, I’ll bet you do.”
“No, no,” I said quickly. “I mean… I think I really like her.”
CRACK!
Shane shrugged as he snapped the leg off some high-backed chair. “So what? You like lots of girls.”
I opened my mouth with a fast retort, but had to close it without saying anything. Even I had to admit that part was true.
“How many girls are you juggling at once right now. Three? Four?”
“Does it matter?”
“Not to me,” said Shane. He jerked a thumb toward the staircase. “But to her?”
CRACK!
He had a point. I wasn’t exactly… loyal. At least, not right now. Not with anyone I cared about, anyway.