As he tried to sit up in bed, a sharp pain ran through his chest. He groaned and fell back down again.
Spending the whole night by the stranger, reading a book all the while, Noah peered down over his book when he heard the noise coming from the man on the bed. Dog-earring the page, he closed his book and answered the question, "You're in my house." He said with a smile.
When the redhead tried to sit again, Noah went over to support him, placing some pillows behind him.
It had been hours. The redhead had slept through all of them, while Noah only managed a short nap. So, Noah handed the man a gla.s.s of water and sat back on his own chair. Watching. He watched as the man brought the gla.s.s to his lips and took little sips of the water while looking around the unfamiliar place. Noah wondered, how terrifying it must feel to wake up in an unknown place with a stranger right next to you.
"And you are?" the redhead finally asked.
"Oh, I'm Noah." He introduced himself. "Nice to meet you." His eyes falling on the scars and the bruises though, he smiled sheepishly and added, "even though I wish we could meet in more ideal circ.u.mstances."
Noah noticed the man closing his eyes, frowning, and then opening them again. At first, he thought the man was experiencing some sort of blindness or eye pain. However, as the man's face grew paler by the second, Noah came to realize it was more than that.
The redhead stared at him with eyes wide open and said the scariest thing a person can ever utter. "I don't remember anything."
That was bad.
That was so, so bad.
Trying to act normal, Noah sat at the edge of the bed and took the redhead's hand. "Calm down first, redhead, and try to think. Maybe you can remember something… anything…"
"What do you think I've been doing so far? Smelling your delicious scent?" the man said annoyed. Noah was taken aback. That was a weird thing to say to someone. He tried to sniff himself discreetly, confirming that the man was weird. He smelt good. He had taken a shower. However, he decided to say nothing to that remark. "I don't remember anything. Nothing. Nothing but..." the redhead paused.
"But?" Noah pushed.
"Golden eyes," the man murmured. "It might just be a vision or something, but I think I saw a wolf… a wolf with alluring golden eyes." He looked at his companion again, still amused that a wolf was the only thing he could remember.
Smiling, the other man said nothing further about that memory and instead changed the topic; "I'm sorry, redhead, but I have to go to work, now that you're awake." He stood up to put on his raincoat, "I've called Angel, and he'll come here in thirty minutes or so. He's a good guy, but he just talks too much." He chuckled. "So I guess, see you soon."
Nodding his head, the man on the bed pouted deeply. "Hey, my name is not redhead. I'm Mateo." Then he perked one eyebrow. "You're going to leave me here? Leaving a stranger in your house all alone? You don't know me; maybe I'm a thief or a dangerous Jopok or something." He himself laughed at the idea of being a Jopok.
The pout was adorable, Noah decided as he smiled. "Okay, Mateo. I'm sorry I have to go." But then at the question, he shook his head. "If you're a thief, I have to apologize. I have nothing worth stealing. other than the picture on the nightstand," he pointed at the picture of a man beside the bed. "And if you're a what?" he paused, "A Jopok, which I don't even know what it is, again I've no fear since you're still wounded and need help for the smallest of things." He laughed at the pout that once again, adorned the man's face. "Rest well, Mateo."
When the man left, Mateo looked at the picture on the nightstand. It was a portrait of a man, smiling brightly at the one behind the camera. "Why are you so important to my savior?" he murmured into the silent room. Then he remembered something that surprised him. "How can he not know who the Jopok are? Is that even possible?" he thought. That was just impossible. Though, he was too tired to sit up and ponder silly things like that. Once again, he closed his eyes to rest.
The smile of the man and those golden eyes, never leaving his thoughts.
****
"But I didn't say anything to offend him like that, Ash," it was Angel and he was whining again.
"Shut up, you a.s.shole!" Barked Mateo from the bedroom, wincing at the pain the antiseptics were causing.
"I have to agree with him this time, Angel," Asher called from the room, attending to the opened wounds on the redhead's chest. "If Noah finds out what you did, he will absolutely without a doubt wring your neck, baby." He left the room with a playful pout, walking towards his boyfriend. "You better go and save your neck whilst I clean up this mess." He was now hugging a terribly nervous Angel, kissing his neck to get him to relax.
"Why would I want to kill him?" Noah asked from the doorway having overheard just the last part of the conversation. He was yawning tiredly. Working all day yesterday and today, and not sleeping properly the previous night, had taken its toll on the young man. All he needed at that moment was a good night's sleep.
"He's going to kill me," Angel whispered nervously as Asher nodded with an amused smile.
"He might have caused some little problems," the doctor said as he turned to greet his friend. His amused and mischievous smile still in place.
Looking between his two friends; one with a devious smirk and the other with a horrified look on his face, Noah turned to the older one and asked, "What… kind of problems?"
"Why don't we sit down and talk about it?" Asher offered, but Noah, who was glaring at Angel, did not seem to have heard him.
"What did you do, Angel?" Noah glared.
Looking at his boyfriend for help, Angel, who was nervous now, stuttered, "I- I didn't do anything… nothing bad, anyway. I swear it wasn't me-"
"What?" now he was developing a headache. Noah stepped towards the bedroom and found the blood-soaked bandages at the bedside. Then he looked at the redhead, who was pouting. "What did you do to him, Angel?" he shouted from the bedroom and sat on the edge of the bed. "Are you okay?" he asked the pouting man. "I'm sorry. What happened? What did Angel do?"
"Nothing!" Angel shouted back, going to hide behind his boyfriend, who was enjoying the show more than he was supposed to.
"Nothing, my a.s.s!" Mateo shouted. "He called me a stinky human." He looked at his savior with a pout.
Noah could not believe his ears. Annoyed but surprised by the foolish thing that had caused the commotion, he asked the redhead, "Is that all? Just because he said you stink?"
He then turned towards the door, where Asher and Angel were now standing. The latter still hiding behind the former, "Why did you change his bandages, though?" he asked Asher.
"That's half the story," Asher shrugged and went to stand by the bed. "After the stinky human comment, our redhead wanted to get up and beat the h.e.l.l out of my Angel, but his wounds opened since he moved so fast and so quickly." Then he looked back at his boyfriend. "Right?"
"Yeah, right." He nodded, "See? Not my fault."
Suppressing his laughter with his hand, Asher said, "Be a good companion tomorrow and don't talk unless you are talked to baby, okay?"
Glaring at the man behind his doctor, Mateo said; "No. There's no tomorrow. Absolutely not!" Then he looked at Noah, who was smiling wearily at them now, "Don't leave me alone with him ever again, please." He begged.
That caused the older men to laugh at how childish these two were, "Oh G.o.d," Noah groaned, still chuckling. "We'll do something about it later. Now it's late, and you should rest, and so should I."
Angel was now hugging Asher from behind, and his hot breath was caressing the man's neck.
"Which means we should be leaving, Angel," Asher said, eyes closed as he turned in his boyfriend's arms to face him. "Stop doing that to me," he whispered, kissing Angel's jawline up to his ear, seductively.
That was unexpected, and Angel moved back a little, looking into Asher's brown orbs. "What did I do?"
Shaking his head, the older man just smiled, moved closer, and kissed him on the lips. "You made me fall for you… deeply… madly…"
Angel could not help but kiss him back. He loved the man in his arms so much, no matter how much Asher would make fun of his clumsiness or play pranks on him with Noah's help. He loved him and he would never let go of him. Asher was a very precious person in his life. The circle of his arms around his lover's waist got tighter as he pulled the man closer, completely forgetting where they were. Until a voice brought them back to reality, and they pulled away from each other.
"Get a room you two," it was Noah. "If you want to spend your night together, you better leave now before I kick you out."
Kissing those swollen, red lips once again, Asher took his boyfriend's hand and dragged him out of the room. "Have a good night you two. And you, redhead, don't do any strenuous activities for a few days."
They were gone in a blink of an eye.
And then there were two.
When his friends left, Noah got up to get ready for sleep. He cleaned up the bandages and the b.l.o.o.d.y towel from the floor then headed for the bathroom to change his clothes and brush his teeth. As he got out and said good night to the redhead, Mateo said, "I can sleep on the couch. Just help me move."
Surprised, Noah looked at him for a moment. "Why would you want to sleep on the couch?"
"So you can sleep in your own bed." He said matter of factly. "I took it from you last night, but it's your bed and you have to sleep on it."
"Oh, no. It's okay." Noah smiled. "You have to sleep somewhere comfortable, and trust me, the couch is anything but."
The smile was beautiful, Mateo thought. He liked the smile, and the man was incredibly kind and caring. "Thank you. For everything, Noah." He smiled back. Blushing a little, he said, "Why don't we sleep here together? You know, the bed is vast enough for the two of us."
Noah shook his head, "Thanks for the offer Mateo, but I doubt you'll be comfortable sleeping beside a naked man." He stated. "Good night." He left and closed the door behind him, grinning at the blushing man on the bed.
Out in the city, the wolves were howling.
The first snow was falling and by morning the city would be covered by pure white snow.
