Cold Feet (3 page)

When Sam woke, the first thing he was aware of was a warm body wrapped around him and hot breath on his neck.

Ryan
.

The memories of the night before came flooding back, filling Sam’s belly with warmth to match Ryan’s body at his back. Sam couldn’t believe it when Ryan had suggested sharing a bed. He hadn’t been angling for it at all, but it made perfect sense. Once he had Ryan pressed up against him, Sam was warm within minutes—lit up from the inside as well as out by the way Ryan had cuddled up to him.

Sam’s cheeks warmed at the memory because Ryan holding him like that had made Sam get hard, and he felt guilty for his body’s reaction. Ryan was just being a mate, but Sam hadn’t been able to stop his response to the contact. Ryan would probably be totally creeped out if he knew he’d given Sam a stiffy.

Sam sighed, not ready to move out of Ryan’s embrace yet. Lying here in Ryan’s arms felt so good, and it might be the only time he got to have this, so he should enjoy it while it lasted. Sam was hard again now, but morning wood didn’t count. He could pretend it was purely physiology and nothing to do with Ryan’s slow exhales tickling the hairs at the nape of his neck and the firm weight of Ryan’s hand on his hip.

He lay for a
while,
dozing a little and enjoying the contact as grey light gradually began to filter through the curtains from outside. But then Ryan stirred and stretched a little, and he arched into Sam, bringing them into closer contact. Sam felt the unmistakable press of Ryan’s morning erection against his arse. Sam’s cock filled even more in an almost immediate response. Sam’s heart pounded in his ears, and his cheeks burned hot. He froze, expecting Ryan to pull away in embarrassment, but Ryan muttered something—obviously still asleep—and his hand tightened on Sam’s hip, pulling him back against that hardness.

Sam’s conscience won out over his libido, because things would be seven shades of awkward if Ryan woke up and realised he was humping Sam in his sleep. So, congratulating himself on his epic selflessness, he broke free from Ryan’s grip and jumped out of bed as though his arse was on fire.

“Mmph… wassup?” Ryan stirred again, rolling onto his back and opening his eyes to squint at Sam.

“Nothing. I just need a piss.” Sam tugged his T-shirt down to cover his traitorous cock, which was straining towards Ryan like a dowsing rod, and turned away quickly. “Back in a few.”

In the bathroom the freezing air calmed his ardour pretty fast. He relieved himself, shivering as he did, wishing he’d stopped to grab his hoodie on the way out of the room.

Sam glanced up at the frosted glass window over the toilet. He couldn’t see clearly through it, but the world seemed oddly bright outside for this early in the morning.

When he was done, he went back to the bedroom and opened the curtain to look out, despite Ryan’s protests of “Ugh,
Saaaam
. My eyes.”

“Holy shit!” Sam stared at the scene outside in disbelief. The previously green fields behind the house were covered in a thick white blanket of snow.

“What?” Ryan was moving now. He pressed up behind Sam, peering over his shoulder to see through the gap in the curtains. “Bloody hell. That’s a lot of snow. How deep do you think it is?”

“Hard to tell. A few inches at least.”

“Let’s go and look out the front.”

They went downstairs and opened the front curtains, letting in the strange, unearthly light reflected off the pristine snow. From the amount of snow on the roof of the car, they could see it was even deeper than they’d thought.

“Was this forecast?” Sam asked.

“How would I know?” Ryan replied. “I didn’t think to look. But I don’t think it could have been. Surely we’d have heard if there was meant to be this much snow?”

“You’d have thought so.” Then a thought occurred to Sam. “Jon and Trina won’t stand a chance of driving here today now. Even if this snow is pretty localised, the roads around here will be bad. I doubt they salt them out here in the sticks. We’d better try and warn him. I’ll text or call in a little while.”

“Yeah. Looks like it’s just you and me for another night, then.”

Ryan’s tone didn’t give much away, and when Sam chanced a glance around at him, Ryan turned and went over to the fireplace.

“Let’s get this lit,” Ryan said. “Try and warm the place up a bit—downstairs at least.”

Sam left the window and sat on the sofa, watching Ryan as he built the fire and coaxed it into life again. The orange glow of the flames flickered on Ryan’s face, and his brow creased with concentration as he added more kindling until it caught properly. Sam wanted to smooth those creases away with his fingertips.

Sam pulled his knees up to his chest and hugged them, waiting eagerly for the warmth of the fire to reach him. He felt a little guilty about being excited at the prospect of another day—and night—alone with Ryan. He knew he should be disappointed that Jon and Trina wouldn’t be coming now, but he wasn’t ready to give up the new intimacy this place was inspiring between them.

Once they’d lit the fire, they made toast and cups of tea and brought them back through to have on the sofa. The living room warmed up quickly now the fire was going, but it didn’t seem to have much effect on the rest of the house.

When they’d finished, they cleared up their plates and washed the dishes from the night before, then ventured back upstairs to get dressed. Their twin bedroom was like the arctic still, their breath visible as they hurriedly switched tracksuit bottoms for jeans and decided against clean T-shirts.

“I might shower later anyway,”
Ryan
said.

Sam shivered at the thought of braving the chilly bathroom. “I guess I’d better go and phone Jon,” he said. “Find out what the snow’s like everywhere else. Are you coming?”

“Definitely,” Ryan said. “I’m not missing out on a chance to come out and play in this.”

“We should probably walk to the shop again and buy more food. We don’t have enough to keep us going for another night.”

“Yeah, sure. We can do that while we’re out.”

They decided to walk up the hill first to be sure of getting a phone signal.

“Just a little further, and then it kicked in yesterday.” Sam checked his phone again. “I’ve got one bar now, but I had three up near that tree.”

They made slow progress. The snow was about six inches deep, coming way over the tops of their shoes and dragging at their feet as they trudged through it. The sky was a vivid blue and the snow glittered in the sunshine. The green hills of yesterday were gone, covered in a thick blanket of white that stretched away to the peaks on the horizon.

“Look!” Ryan pointed at a robin that had landed in the hedgerow. Its red breast was a vivid splash of colour against the monochrome world around it.

“Looks like something off a Christmas card.” Sam smiled.

“Yeah, it really does.”

The little bird chirped as it fixed them with a beady gaze before flitting off into a tree.

Sam’s phone buzzed. “Oh, here we go.” He looked at the screen. “A text from Jon… and some from my mum too.” He read as they carried on walking. “Yeah. Jon says they aren’t
gonna
make it. The snow’s ‘totally fucking mental’—that’s a quote. He wanted to try and get through, but his mum’s put her foot down and confiscated his car keys.”

Ryan chuckled. “Probably for the best, though. Look at it!” He trod deliberately in a snowdrift at the edge of the lane and it came up over his knee.

“My mum’s freaking out.” Sam frowned as he read the messages on his phone. “Apparently there’s more snow forecast for later today. She’s worried about us travelling back tomorrow.”

Looking at the sun and the blue sky, Sam had been assuming it might melt enough for them to make it back to the main road. But he suddenly realised he’d been a little naive. The air was freezing, making his lungs ache and nose numb. There was no way this snow would melt much in these temperatures. It was several miles back to the sort of roads that might actually get ploughed and gritted, and if there was more snow coming, he didn’t fancy their chances of getting that far. Tomorrow was Christmas Eve. If they couldn’t drive back, then that was it. They’d be in the cottage for Christmas.

“Shit.” The smile on Ryan’s face faded. “Yeah, I hadn’t thought about that. So we might be stuck here for a few days?”

“Yeah.” Sam thought about roast turkey and all the trimmings, the tree, the lumpy, rustly stocking that still landed on the bottom of his bed at midnight every year—chucked there by his dad even if he was still awake—and his stomach sank in disappointment. He might not have been feeling madly excited at the prospect of Christmas with his family, but now, knowing he was going to miss out on it, it was somehow infinitely more appealing. “That’s crap.”

“Cheers, mate. I love you too.”

Sam looked up from his phone to see Ryan’s sarcastic face, but there was a flash of hurt there as well.

“You know that’s not what I meant, you daft twat. It’s just… you know.
Christmas dinner and decorations and presents and stuff.
Won’t you miss all that too?”

Ryan shrugged. “Not really.
I was going to my dad’s
,
remember
? It was going to be me playing third wheel while he’s all lovey-dovey with Nicola. All the turkey and stuffing in the world doesn’t make that much fun. I’ve never liked Christmas much since Mum and Dad split anyway. It was always crap getting carted around, spending part of the day with one and part with the other.”

“So you’d rather be here eating beans on toast with me?” Sam teased, glad when Ryan smiled again.

“Yeah. Something
like
that.”

“Okay. Well, if we’re going to be here for a couple more nights at least, we need a plan. We need to phone all the people and let them know what’s going on, and then we need to get down to the village shop again to buy supplies.”

Sam phoned his parents while Ryan spoke to his dad. Then they called Jon from Sam’s phone—because he had the better signal—to check it was okay for them to stay in the cottage longer than planned.

“Well, of course it is, you idiots.” Jon’s voice was tinny over the speakerphone. “What else are you gonna do, build an igloo? Mum says to help
yourself
to anything. Use whatever you need from the kitchen cupboards, and there’s more firewood in the shed.”

“Okay, tell her thanks,” Sam said.

“Will do. Okay boys, have a good one.”

“Cheers, mate. Happy Christmas.”

“You too. See ya back in Brighton for New Year.”

The line went dead.

Sam and Ryan looked at each other, and a bubble of excitement rose and popped in Sam’s chest. He couldn’t hold in the laugh that escaped.

“This is mad,” he said. “I can’t believe we’re actually going to spend Christmas here.”

Ryan grinned. “Me neither. But if we are, we’d better go and buy some food. Because wherever I am, even if I don’t get turkey, I intend to eat myself into a food coma. It’s traditional.”

“To the shop, then?”

“Let’s go.”

The bell over the door tinkled as they stepped into the warmth of the village shop.

“Good morning!” a cheery female voice greeted them, and Sam looked up to meet the friendly smile of the lady behind the counter. When he’d been in the shop yesterday, he’d been served by a teenage girl who’d looked at him curiously but hadn’t spoken to him other than to take his money and give him his change. “Where are you boys staying, then? We don’t get many tourists here at this time of year.”

“Hello,” Ryan replied before Sam could. “We’re staying at
Hafan Dawel
.” He pronounced it awkwardly, struggling with the unfamiliar syllables.

“Ah.” She nodded. “Yes, I know it. Nice to see the place being used.”

She studied them, and Sam could see she was dying for more details, so he indulged her.

“Our mate’s parents own the cottage. He was supposed to be here too, but we came a day early, and now he can’t get here because of the snow.”

“Oh, yes.” She nodded and frowned. “It’s bad, isn’t it? I don’t think anyone will be getting in or out of the village for a few days now if the snow they’re promising tonight comes. Lucky we had a big delivery yesterday because the lorry won’t be able to get through. If
you’re
buying food, I’d stock up now. I’ll be selling out of everything with people not being able to get to the supermarket.”

“Thanks for the warning,” Ryan said. “I bet it’s good for business, though?”

“It is that. Oh, and just so you know, I’m open till midday tomorrow but closed on Christmas Day and Boxing Day.”

A man coming to the till with a basket full of shopping interrupted their conversation, so Sam and Ryan took the excuse to pick up a couple of baskets of their own and start browsing for stuff to buy.

They ended up with a bizarre assortment of food, but Sam was at least satisfied they wouldn’t be going hungry for the next few days. They had so much to
carry,
there was no way they were going to be able to manage beer as well, so they picked up a few bottles of cheap wine instead.