Flashes of a dimly lit room, the sensation of smooth skin, the scent of cum, and need, it flooded Luca’s senses with the images of himself with hands on his trembling body, the pleas he sang. Luca pushed aside the Anubis’s memories.
Nox tilted his head, and the Anubis retreated. He blinked several times, and his brows came together.
“I think the Anubis is glad to see me.”
“Yeah, I think it was.” Nox returned to laying out the last shingle and tacking it in place.
“You, however, don’t sound thrilled.” Luca climbed onto the roof and joined Nox.
“What? No. No. I’m…” He sighed and set down the hammer. A wave of love swept over Luca and Nox cupped his face. “I’m always happy when I’m with you.”
Luca smiled. “Me too. I mean, to see you and for you to see me… Jesus, that sounded a little high school, didn’t it?”
Nox laughed. “A little. But it’s nice to know I’m not the only one who gushes.”
“Gushes?”
“Yeah, you know….”
“No, I don’t.” Not a complete lie.
Nox rolled his eyes. “Here, scoot this way. I’ve got to rip off another section.”
Luca moved to the newly patched section of roof, and Nox tore off shingles revealing aged plywood stained with green and black.
Nox picked at the spot, and the wood peeled back without resistance. He shook his head. “No saving this one.”
“How much have you had to replace so far?”
“Too many. I’m going to run out of supplies soon.”
“We could always run to the hardware store and pick up more.”
“Yeah, I would if Mrs. Canton had the money to buy it.”
“Looks like the other workers she had left a lot when they abandoned the job.” It had shocked Luca when Nox told him what had happened when she’d attempted to hire people before the motel got so run down.
“Lots, but I’m down to the last twenty sheets of plywood and four or five stacks of shingles. There are a few buckets of drywall mud and some drywall. But more of that’s broken than intact. It didn’t take well to being tossed into a storage shed like the plywood.”
“What if you cut out the bad spots and just patched the holes? It would be a little more work, but it would make the plywood go further.”
“I need a Sawzall to cut out the areas. The hand saw works for trimming a few inches here and there off a piece of plywood and cutting two-by-fours, but not that. Besides, I haven’t found an area I could save.”
“Damn.”
“Yeah, that about sums it up.”
It seemed every problem needed money as the first step to solving it.
“What are you going to do when you run out?”
Nox flicked a hand at a box of nails next to Luca’s hip and he held them out.
“Well,” Nox took a handful and put them in the pocket of his jeans. “I’m thinking about checking the lumberyard for scraps. Look for plywood too warped to sell but usable.”
“You mean you’re going to dumpster dive.”
Nox gave a half shrug and stood. “Pretty much.”