At least the cold kept the stench down.
Luca didn’t bother to knock. If they’d forgotten to lock the door, they could move.
He barely had his zipper down and dick free before his bladder gave out. Luca exhaled his relief, and after an eternity, he finally stopped peeing. He used the sanitizer by the door and left the porta-potty.
Nox waited outside the horse trailer with a toothbrush loaded with paste and a cup of water.
Luca joined him. “Why did you let me sleep so long?” He took the toothbrush and scrubbed his mouth.
“You stayed up late.”
“Not as late as I usually do. And I was just reading a book.” Not like it used to be when the Anubis would use him for hours.
“You were tired.”
Luca spit and rinsed. “Yeah, well.” He stuck the toothbrush back in his mouth and talked around it. “I almost peed the bed.”
Nox laughed a little.
“Not funny. Those are the only blankets we have right now.” Luca rinsed again and spit into the grass.
“Blankets wash.”
“Not the point.” A snowflake fluttered onto the back of his hand and promptly melted. “It’s snowing.”
“Just a few flakes here and there.”
The overcast sky churned with darker patches. “Looks like it might wind up more than a few flakes.”
Nox took the toothbrush and cup and pulled a hat and gloves from the pocket of the fabric coat he wore.
Luca had never seen him wear more than a T-shirt, sometimes not even that. He took the gloves. They were just like the ones Nox wore. The hat matched too.
“I take it the dark brown doesn’t go with my complexion.”
Luca made a face. “What?”
“You’re staring at my coat like I’m wearing the skin of a hundred dalmatian puppies.”
Luca shook his head. “It’s not that.” He put on the gloves and hat. “I’m just not used to seeing you… wear so many clothes.”
Nox dropped the toothbrush into the cup and set it on the other side of the tarp. “Well, wearing a coat means there’s less of the Anubis. So that’s a good thing.”
Was it?
A door on an RV banged open, and two big betas emerged. One carried chairs, the other carried a folded table. Cassie and Jelani unrolled the awning on Isaiah’s motorhome. Someone else brought over a roll of blinds.
“What’s going on?”
“Isaiah is having everyone gather for dinner.”
“They do that all the time.”
“Yeah, but they’re cooking something special. A big meal, with a lot of different foods.”
“Oh.” It smelled wonderful.
“You can go if you want.”