The Same Place (The Lamb and the Lion #2) - Gregory Ashe Page 0,137
hand was soft against Tean’s face. His thumb was at the corner of Tean’s lips.
“Someone’s still staying here,” Jem said. “In case you’re wondering. And not Leroy. That was definitely, uh, human.”
Tean tried to think of the right thing to say. He settled for, “You need to trim your nails.”
After a heartbeat, Jem gave a little shove, sending Tean stumbling a step.
“I’ll lend you the clippers I use on Scipio.”
“Oh my God.”
“And there’s a grinder too. To round them. We should definitely use the grinder.”
“Perfect. I’m taking my grooming tips from the guy who gets the dog-and-daddy haircut combo at the puppy salon.”
“Hey, I like my hair.”
“Good, because you’ve got enough of it.”
“Not everybody needs to have their hair buzzed down to their scalp.”
“No. Ladies are perfectly welcome to have their hair as long as they want.”
“Jem!”
Grinning, Jem threw an arm around Tean’s shoulders, and after a few minutes of trying to squirm away, Tean let him have the small victory.
When they got back to the truck, Jem said, “Third time’s the charm.”
“Let’s hope so.”
The third possibility that Jem had indicated was farther south, almost where Glendale gave way to West Valley, and Tean was surprised to see that instead of an industrial park, they were looking at acres of overgrown weeds and grass, with a few cinderblock buildings breaking up the vegetation. A chain-link fence ran around the property as far as Tean could see, and a gate and warning sign told people to buzz off.
“I don’t see a car,” Tean said. “And the gate is locked.”
“He might not be here right now, but it’s a big property—if he’s using this place, he might have another way to access it. A couple of these buildings have rollup doors big enough for a box truck. He could park inside.”
“I don’t know,” Tean said.
“What do you mean? Of course you don’t know. That’s why we’re checking it out.”
“I just mean maybe we should call Ammon.”
“Tean, we’ve already checked two of the three. Come on. We’ll check this one. If we see any sign that the animals are here, we’ll come back to the truck and call Ammon.”
Tean wrapped his hands around the steering wheel.
“This one backs up to the canal,” Jem said. “This was always our best bet. Let’s at least take a look.”
Groaning, Tean killed the engine and opened his door. After getting another leg up from Jem, Tean landed easily on the other side of the fence. Jem hopped down next to him a moment later. When Jem took a step forward, Tean grabbed the XXL Corona t-shirt and pointed.
“Some of these are nettles.”
“Ok.”
“Stinging nettles. Try not to let them touch your skin.”
“Which ones are nettles?”
Tean shrugged. “Most of them. There’s some junegrass in there, that’s the stuff that’s really green, and I see a few thistles. But lots of nettles, so be careful.”
“This is why people invented things like lawnmowers,” Jem said as they picked a path through the waist-high weeds, both holding their bare arms in the air. “This is why people invented magical, wonderful things like weed wackers and Roundup and, Jesus Christ! Jesus Christ, my hand!”
“Jem, what the heck?”
“It stung me!”
“It didn’t sting you. I watched you grab that nettle.”
“Well, I wanted to see what it felt like. Fucking dicksucking monkeycock plants. Why the fuck didn’t you warn me? Oh my Christ, my hand.”
“I did warn you. I literally just told you not to touch them. Let me see.”
“I meant, why didn’t you warn me that it hurt so much?”
“Let me see your hand.”
“No, I’m fine.” Jem made a whining noise. “I’ll just wait for the poison to make my hand shrivel up and fall off.”
It went like that for a while until Tean gave up and finally started moving toward the closest building again. Jem came after him, still moaning about his hand. A breeze had picked up, stirring the nettles and the junegrass, combing lines through the thick growth and then stirring it all into disorder again. When they got to the first building, Jem quieted down, and they moved around it slowly. The glass was old and speckled with dirt, but Tean could see some sort of machinery inside the small structure. He tried the door and found it locked.
As they moved to the next one, Jem said, “I really think you could have told me how much it was going to hurt.”
“Don’t be a baby. We’ll wash it and put ice on it, and you’ll be fine.”