Chapter 4
MATTHEW
I awoke with a start, blinking against the light I hadn’t turned off before giving up the fight against sleep.
A thump at my door had my head whipping toward the sound and Ernie hopping off my lap with an indignant meow.
I’d thought I’d heard some sort of noise earlier .
. . maybe a critter had found its way onto the balcony.
Another thump, this time followed by a muffled curse, had me pulling the lever of my recliner into an upright position and crossing the room to investigate.
I opened the door, surprised when a man landed in a heap at my feet, apparently having been sitting on the balcony with his back against the door I’d just opened.
He blinked at me owlishly through stylish black horn-rimmed glasses, as if lying on your back at someone’s feet was a completely normal way of greeting.
“Hello,” he said, not making any attempt to sit up. “I seem to be locked out of my room. Apartment. Rental. Thingy.” He lifted his hand approximately three inches off the floor, pointed vaguely to his right, then let it flop back down at his side.
I sighed heavily and made a mental note to call Jerry and complain about his recent decision to rent out his apartment through one of those vacation rental sites. I’d definitely give him an earful. Probably. In my head, most likely.
Leaving the stranger lying in my doorway, I turned back into my apartment, detouring into the kitchen where I pulled open the junk drawer and rummaged around until I found the key Jerry had given me months ago in case of emergency—which I supposed this was, of sorts.
Returning to the doorway, I found the stranger exactly as I’d left him, except his eyes were closed. Jesus, is he asleep? I nudged his shoulder with my foot, and thankfully his eyes popped open.
“Oh! You’re back!”
He made no move to get up.
I held up the key.
He reached his hand straight up in the air, but otherwise remained in position.
A gust of cold winter air rolled over us, and I let out an impatient curse. “Come on, man. Get up. The sooner I let you into the apartment, the sooner I can go back to bed.”
“Can’t get up. ’M stuck.”
“What do you mean you’re stuck?”
He shrugged. Or at least I thought it was meant to be a shrug. It was hard to tell from this angle.
Rubbing my hand over my face, completely out of patience, I crouched down, got my hands underneath his shoulders, and lifted him into a seated position. I started to let go, but he’d gone completely boneless and began sliding back down to the ground.
“Jesus, man. Help me out here.”
“I’m trying.”
He was not trying.
Keeping my hands on him, I maneuvered until I was in front of him, got my hands under his arms, and pulled him up to stand by brute force.
“Whoa,” he said, now semi-standing face-to-face with me. “You’re strong.”
Ignoring that, I said, “If I support you, do you think you can walk?”
“Dunno. Let’s find out,” he said and attempted to take a step to the left.
“Wrong way.” Sighing, I managed to turn him in the other direction, and with a lot of grunting and cursing, I got him the fifteen steps or so to his apartment door.
Propping him against the wall next to the door, while keeping one hand on him just in case, I unlocked the door and swung it open.
Turning back to the stranger, I caught him staring at me with an odd expression.
I hoped it wasn’t an indication that he was about to throw up.
“I suppose you need me to help you get inside?”
“Prob’ly.”
“Come on, then.” I managed to get him over the threshold and kicked the door shut behind me, relieved to be out of the cold.
I didn’t think we’d make it all the way to the bedroom, so I led him over to the couch, where he immediately sat down and tipped over onto his side.
I turned to go, having done my duty well enough, but something about the way he’d looked at me earlier had me pausing.
I thought maybe it had been sadness that I’d seen in his expression, but that was a ludicrous thought.
So far I’d seen this man nearly naked begging for toiletries, and now drunk out of his mind.
I couldn’t possibly know what he was feeling.
Still, I turned back and began removing his shoes.
Setting those neatly on the floor, I pulled his feet up onto the couch so he was lying fully on his side.
I pulled a blanket from the back of a nearby chair and draped it over him, then removed his glasses and set them on the side table.
Moving into the kitchen, I rummaged around until I found an oversized plastic mixing bowl, and a glass which I filled up with water.
I brought both items back over to where he was now lightly snoring, set them where he could easily find them, and after giving him one last look, returned back to the comfort of my own apartment.
It would be some time, however, before I was able to fall asleep.