Page 22 of Close Quarters

I was glad when I finally found the cabin. Looking around, I realized it was…oddly placed. The cabins were set up in concentric rectangles, with the Tier Three cabins in the center and the Tier Ones on the outer ‘ring’. Considering this was supposed to be a Tier Two cabin, it should have been sandwiched between the Three and One cabins, but…it wasn’t. It was positioned right at the edge of the property, up against the fence that divided the ranch from the broad, flat plains of Texas sunbaked land that went on for miles.

Even stranger, I realized the cabins around us weren’t inhabited. It wasn’t just that the curtains were drawn. That was just smart. The cabins had some air conditioning, but it was pretty weak. Smart or experienced guys close the curtains during the day to block out the sun so their pitiful AC units didn’t have to work too hard.

No, it was the look of disuse, the dirt and grit piled up on the steps leading into each cabin. Even the messiest guys learned to keep the stairs clean of the grit, otherwise it got tracked into the cabin. That shit was the glitter of the natural world. It got everywhere if you let it in. It wasn’t a surprise that the ranch didn’t operate at full capacity. That was probably a logistical nightmare, even with someone as canny as Mona keeping things in line.

With a sigh, I tested the door to fourteen and found it unlocked. The first thing I did was open it up and sniff. The air was stale and stuffy, and they definitely hadn’t run the AC, but someone had come by to unlock everything for us. I left my boots on the steps to make sure I didn’t track anything in, padding in my socks to set my stuff on a bed and turn on the lights. Considering what I’d seen from the outside, I wasn’t surprised to find the place covered in a thin layer of dust.

“Goddammit,” I muttered, looking around. It wasn’t much different from my original cabin, save for more space with only two beds, and the cabin was a bit bigger. Even the bathroom was bigger, you’d be able to take a shit without feeling cramped into a box, and the same for the shower. Sadly, the cleaning supply closet was empty, which wasn’t something I’d anticipated.

A thump drew me around, and I found Elliot standing in the doorway, a bag slung over his shoulder as he looked around. “Wow. They really went all out for us, huh?”

“What did you expect? They came up with this idea at the last second,” I said with a shrug. “Can’t expect five-star treatment when we’re basically being put in the corner for being bad.”

His eyes snapped to me, and I sensed him readying to say something before he rolled his eyes. “I guess it’s a good thing I thought ahead.”

“Don’t drag your…” I began and then stopped as he stomped in, still wearing his boots. “Like there’s not enough shit in here as it is.”

“Yeah, because a little bit more is gonna matter at this point,” he said, dropping his stuff on the unoccupied bed. “Is this what living with you is like?”

“What? Not wanting to make our job even harder? God forbid,” I grumbled at him. “You’re not a little kid.”

“Well, glad you realized that,” he said snidely, walking to the door and dragging in a broom and a bucket full of bottles. “Because I’m actually capable of taking care of myself. So don’t parent me.”

We were already off to a great start, but at least I could see he wouldn’t be completely useless. “Where’d that shit come from?”

He grinned. “Took it from my old cabin. Kinda figured like you did that this was a last-minute thing, and they wouldn’t have a cabin ready.”

“You took from your old bunkmates? You really know how to leave a good impression.”

“Quit being a bitch. Dom and I were the only ones in that cabin who bothered cleaning. So if the rest of them want to complain, Dom will sort them out real quick.”

“And when Dom sees what you did?”

He chuckled. “He’ll get pissy and give me hell for taking things, but he’ll go get more.”

“So, do you just live to annoy the living shit out of people, or is it something you do by accident?”

He leaned back, grip on the broom tightening. I thought for a moment he was going to swing it at me, but he just shoved it toward me, speaking through gritted teeth. “Since you wanted to be so fussy about the dirt, you can sweep it up however you want, princess. I’m going to scrub the bathroom and pretend you still haven’t learned not to be a fucker.”

I took the broom and dustpan with a scowl but shut my mouth. His anger seemed to flare up and disappear at about the same speed. Considering how intensely it could show up, it was better to let him get it out of his system before trying to deal with him again. And if, in the process, he managed to do something productive, that was even better.

It turned out he was, in fact, capable of working quickly…and hard. While I carefully went around the place to get as much of the dust cleaned up as possible, and then the floor, the sound of vigorous scrubbing came out of the bathroom. The smell of cleaning solution filled the cabin, and I had to open the windows and the front door. It meant inviting insects, but it was better than being gassed out.

Even then, I was feeling a little lightheaded by the time I got the dirt and dust cleaned up. Elliot wasted no time once the bathroom was scrubbed down, immediately taking the cleaning supplies to almost every other cabin surface. There wasn’t a surface that wasn’t given a good scrub while I dealt with the collected dirt on the steps outside and cleaned the windows.

When I came back in, I found him glaring at the thermostat on the wall. “Do you think they’ll get pissed if I fiddle with this? I mean, I know they will, but…who has to know?”

“Don’t break anything,” I told him. “Bad enough we’re in this situation. Don’t break something, so we have to sweat our way through the nights.”

He gave me the finger. “I know what I’m doing…I just don’t have the tools for it.”

“And what the fuck do you know about this kind of thing?”

“You know,” he said, turning to glare at me. “I’d answer that question if you weren’t being a dick. Weird how that works.”

“How was I being a dick?”

“C’mon, imagine if I talked to you like that, asking what you could possibly know about how to do something. You’d get pissed off, snarl at me, call me something insulting, and stomp off,” he told me, turning back to the thermostat and pulling the cover off. “I know things, alright?”

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