Sydney
My head was pounding like my brain was holding its own personal rock concert somewhere near my temples. My mouth and throat felt like sandpaper. And I was freezing. I didn’t want to open my eyes, but there was this strange noise—a soft humming. It took me a couple of seconds to recognize the song.
Dave Matthews’ “Tripping Billies.”
Kyler.
Forcing my eyes open, I found myself staring at the ceiling…from the foot of the bed. Odd. And the room was dark, like it was still night outside. Even more strange was the fact I was in my tank top and panties. Nothing else.
Oh God…
I didn’t even remember getting in bed or taking off my clothes. Entire sections of last night were nothing more than a blur. What I did remember I prayed to God was just a weird dream.
“Look who decided to grace the world with her presence.”
At the sound of his voice, I turned my head. Kyler was sitting beside me, facing the large windows. He was wearing a long-sleeved sweater and he looked a hell of a lot better than I felt.
“Hey,” I croaked.
Turning toward the head of the bed, he grabbed something off the nightstand. He handed me a glass of water and two aspirins. “Take these and drink up. You’re going to need them.”
Shoving the blanket down, I took them and shivered. “Why is it so cold in here?”
Kyler leaned onto his elbow, watching me. “I have bad news, badder news, and baddest news.”
“Badder and baddest aren’t words.” I finished off the water, handed it back, and then tugged the blankets up to my shoulders as I pulled my legs up to my chest, trying to suck in some of the warmth.
“Good to see the tequila didn’t damage your brain cells.”
I winced. “I don’t know about that.”
A fond smile appeared. “Well, here’s the bad news. Last night, when you decided to knock us down in the snow—” Aw, hell, that hadn’t been a dream. “—and rolled around? You got your cell phone soaked.”
I closed my eyes. “Shit.”
“I took it apart and put it in some rice last night. Hopefully it will turn on after that.” He poked my blanket-covered arm. “I have high hopes that it will.”
“Thank you,” I mumbled, opening my eyes. “What’s the badder news?”
“Well, this is a two-part thing which includes that badder and the baddest news. Remember that pesky snowstorm? They gave it a new name—Saint Snowmas.”
“What?” I made a face. “That’s a stupid name.”
“I agree.” He sat up. “But the Saint Snowmas storm turned into a nor’easter on steroids. If you look outside right now, you’ll see that it’s snowing pretty steady—nothing too bad, but they’re saying that it’s supposed to get real bad and real quick. Here’s the badder part: the gang turned back this morning. No one can make it up here.”
I sighed. “Well, at least that’s the safe and smart decision. Are we leaving soon then?”
He brushed his hair back from his forehead. “And here’s the baddest part. Even though it’s not the apocalypse outside right now, we have no chance of making it home if we leave. We’ve got to head east and the storm is coming in from the north and the east. We’re stuck for several days before we can even try to leave.”
“Here?”
“Here,” he repeated, nodding. “The storm is moving really slow. They’re saying that it will dump most of the snow tomorrow and through Wednesday.”
“Holy crap.” My stomach tumbled over. “How much snow are they calling for?”
“Somewhere between a lot and holy fuck.”
I flopped onto my back and stared up at the ceiling. “We could be stuck here all week in the middle of a blizzard?”
“Could be. I think we’d be out sooner than that, but depends on how fast they work everything.” He nudged my leg. “I cranked up the heat, so it should get warmer in here. Hopefully when the brunt of the storm gets here, we won’t lose power.”
My eyes widened.
“We got a backup generator that will run the essentials if we do, but let’s not think about that right now.”
“Sure.”