Page 25 of Ring Rust

“Great.” Craig looked at his phone. “I need to get going, though. It’s late. Hey, let me drive you home.”

“No, I’m not done socializing yet.”

Craig glanced around the half empty bar. “There aren’t too many people here.”

“If I get bored, I’ll go home.”

“You’re not driving, right?”

“No! I’m not an asshole.”

“Okay, then how are you getting home?”

Jasper wobbled in his seat but held up one leg. “I have two of these.”

“Dude, you can’t walk home. You’ll freeze to death. Let me drive you. I’m a dad now, I worry.”

Jasper leaned back and groaned dramatically, catching the attention of several other patrons. “I will not freeze to death. I have a coat. I don’t want to go home yet! I’ll be fine.”

“Okay,” Craig said, his eyebrows worried. “Can I borrow your phone? Mine just died, and I need to tell my wife I’m heading out so she doesn’t worry.”

Jasper sighed and pushed his phone across the table. “Having someone care where you are. That is so sweet.”

“Thank you. I’m very lucky.”

“The code is 7926,” Jasper said. Then he whispered, “That spells Ryan.”

Craig nodded sympathetically as he sent out a text from Jasper’s phone, then returned it before heading to the bar to close out his tab. Before leaving, he stopped by Jasper’s table and said, “If you need a ride, tell the bartender. Their shift is over in an hour, but I told them you are a very nice person anddon’t have a car. If you are still here when they leave, they’re calling you a Lyft. Stay put, and don’t make me a liar.”

“I’m not going to drive, but I’m also not going to ask some poor bartender I don’t know to babysit me.”

“I already asked them to.” Craig tilted his head. “Hang in there, Jasper. I’ll see you Monday.”

Jasper waved Craig off and turned his head to look out the window. It did look miserable outside. It was the first snow of the year, and it had started to stick as the temperatures finally dipped below freezing. At some point during the night, it would fall more heavily, especially as he gained elevation towards his house.

But the alternative was, what? Ask a bartender to take a drunk man home? Pay surge pricing for a Lyft that would drop him half a mile from his house anyway because the driveway was dicey in winter weather? Call his sister, who would have to get her kid out of bed and be justifiably furious? Maybe he should have left with Craig, but it was too late now.

He decided on a hot toddy to warm himself up before he started on his journey. It couldn’t be too bad a walk—seven miles, it would take him two hours, tops.

Sipping on his new drink, he enjoyed the heat that spread to his limbs from both the alcohol and the temperature of the water. When he was done, he used the bathroom, grabbed his coat from his chair, closed out his tab—which was much more than he’d expected and solidified his need to create a budget for himself—and headed out to the parking lot.

Wow,it was cold. So much colder than he’d imagined ten minutes earlier when he’d been sitting in a warm building, drinking a warm beverage, enjoying the emotional warmth from a good vent session with a new pal.

It was dark, too, which of course wasn’t surprising, but he wasn’t used to walking around so late. He turned on his phone’sflashlight and held it out, hoping cars wouldn’t run over him as he made his way down the street, looking for the main road home.

Thirty minutes after leaving the bar, he was somehow only a mile and a half closer to Pelham. At this rate it would take him the rest of the night to get there. He had to pick up the pace, but it was just so cold. The wind was blowing against his face, and the piercing chill burned every bit of his exposed skin, forcing him to walk with his head down.

Eventually, he’d be surrounded by forest—thick, heavy trees to block the wind from creeping down his collar—he just had to get out of town. Glancing at his phone to check the time, his stomach sank when he saw his battery close to twenty percent. With the flashlight on, it would never make it the whole walk.

Time, cold air, anxiety, and dread had sobered him somewhat, but not enough that the alcohol was forgotten. It was still making its way through his system, and with urgency. He could admit he was a moron based on several choices he’d made this evening, and now he had something else to add to the list: stepping into the sparse trees to relieve himself in relative privacy.

That privacy didn’t even last long enough for Jasper to empty his bladder, which he couldn’t help but laugh about. He hadn’t seen a single car the entire walk, but this asshole was flashing their brights at him, pulling to the side of the road with the engine running. If his luck was any indication, the car would belong to a cop halfway through writing a ticket for indecent exposure. He’d probably be in the news tomorrow. His budding friendship with Craig would be over before it began, he’d lose his job, and he’d be forced to move in with Stevie until he could save enough money to move out of Massachusetts and start a new life.

He zipped his pants quickly, but not because he was eager to meet his fate. It was just fucking cold, and his dick was about to fall off. He stepped out from behind the tree to see who was there, but the headlights made it impossible to make out anything beyond the ground in front of him. A large figure climbed out of the car, nothing more than a silhouette behind the glare from the lights. Jasper’s legs wobbled at the sight.

Whether it was too much alcohol, too little food, or simply the presence of a huge, faceless man standing six feet in front of him, he wasn’t sure. Whatever the cause, his stomach reacted to the situation by emptying itself in the shallow snowbank by his feet.

He heard a familiar sigh. “Get in the car, Jasper.”