by Mandy Magro
Roo gave her a slobbery lick up the cheek. She didn’t dare think about the fact he might have had a bit of a chew of whatever he’d rolled in before he kissed her face.
‘I love you, Rooster, but seriously, that’s just plain gross.’ Grimacing, she wiped the slobber off with the back of her hand and onto her jeans. ‘Now come on, you, back to your bed before you and I both get busted sneaking about by Aunty Bea, and then we’re in a world of bloody trouble.’
Light on his feet, Roo stuck to Nina’s side and obediently slipped into his kennel. Flopping down on his hammock bed, he eyed Nina from beneath sleepy brows. Nina made sure to firmly lock the door this time. Smiling lovingly towards her loyal mate, she bid him farewell before making a break for it. Creeping across the backyard, she shushed the two horses Bea had left in the round yard before slinking into the shadows of the bushlands surrounding Riverstone Ridge, and hurriedly turned on her torch – you could never know what the shadows might be hiding. Then, following the timeworn path through the scrub that hummed with insects, she headed straight for the long dirt road that would lead her into the moonlight, to her friends, and hopefully, to him.
* * *
A few hundred metres along the main road, the crunch of tyres dragged Nina’s gaze over her shoulder. It must be one of her mates, she thought, heading to the party. Pausing, she raised a hand to help shield her eyes as she squinted into the bright headlights. Keen for a lift, she stuck her thumb out, along with her leg, and playfully wriggled both. But, to her surprise and embarrassment, when the grubby car pulled to a stop beside her and the driver rolled his window down, it was a face she wasn’t familiar with. She didn’t bat an eyelid, though – it wasn’t an uncommon thing around these parts at this time of the year, when people would blow in from all corners of Australia, and sometimes overseas, for the fruit harvesting season – annually Huntingvale would almost double with inhabitants.
As she dipped her head to try and peer inside the rattly old Commodore, the unmistakable melody of Led Zeppelin’s ‘Stairway to Heaven’ greeted her. ‘Hey, there, great tune,’ she said with a friendly smile. ‘Sorry for making you stop, but I thought you were someone else.’
‘Hey, no worries at all.’ The middle-aged bloke ran stubby fingers through thinning salt-and-pepper hair as he flashed her a gappy smile. ‘And yes, the Zep rocks, don’t they?’
‘They sure do,’ she replied as he turned the music down. A short silence settled, and she felt the air around her shift a little, but she shrugged it off. ‘Are you working around here?’ She rested both hands on the windowsill.
‘Oh, yeah, I’m picking fruit down yonder.’ He thumbed over his shoulder, in the general direction of Logan’s family’s fruit farm, Willowbrook.
‘At the Steeles’ place?’
‘Yeah.’ He took a swig from a beer, and then jammed it back between his legs.
Something told Nina he was lying through his yellowing teeth – there was no way Logan’s dad would hire such an unsavourylooking bloke.
‘So what are you up to, out roaming the dusty trails this time of the night, girly?’
The air around her went icy cold. She stepped back and shoved her hands in her jeans pockets, wishing to god that she’d let Roo come with her on her trek. ‘I’m heading to a mate’s place for a paddock party. Just over there,’ she stammered, pointing to where light faintly glowed above the towering treetops.
He laughed and then wriggled his brows suggestively. ‘You meeting your boyfriend there?’
Hope shot through Nina. This was her out. Maybe this strange bloke would leave her alone if she lied. ‘Yes, yes I am. He’s waiting for me.’
With beady eyes, he looked her up and down. ‘A gal’s gotta get it too, so good for you.’ He took another swig of beer, his weathered lips smirking ever so slightly. ‘When I was your age, I made the best of it, with the girls.’ He nodded deliberately and chuckled. ‘Not that you might believe it, but I was a stud back then, and they all chased after me.’ He momentarily closed his eyes and smiled grossly, as if travelling back to those times, and when he came to look at her again, there was a wildness in his gaze that wasn’t there before. ‘But there was this one girl, she won me over good and proper. She told me I was her everything, but then went and broke my heart. The nasty bitch.’
‘I’m so sorry to hear that.’ The stale stench of alcohol coming from inside the car was making Nina want to cover her nose.
‘Oh, don’t you worry, girly, I had my day, and made her feel the heartache like I did.’ He glanced around. ‘Come to think of it, why isn’t your boyfriend walking with you to make sure you get there safe and sound?’
Nina’s gut shouted a dark, twisted warning as panic quickly set in. ‘Ahh, he’s just ducked off into the bushes to take a leak.’ She prayed to god she sounded convincing.
‘I thought you just said you were meeting him there.’ He pointed at her with his beer. ‘Gotcha, didn’t I?’
‘Oh, yeah, nah, sorry … he’s just …’ Nina scrambled to come up with another lie to cover up her last one. Things were going from bad to worse, very quickly.
The bloke held his hands up, gesturing for her to stop. ‘No need to explain.’ He chuckled and shook his head. ‘Don’t worry, I’m no serial killer, or axe murderer.’ He laughed again, rolling his eyes. ‘You want a lift to your paddock party?’
‘Oh, thanks but no thanks.’ She gestured up the road with a tilt of her head, assessing if she could safely make a run for it. ‘It’s not that far.’ Wrapping her arms around herself, she took another step back as the icy fingers of a chill skated up her spine and beads of cold sweat inched across her neck.
The bloke smiled from ear to ear, but it was far from friendly. ‘Oh, come on, get in, it’s not like I bite.’ He swigged the last of his beer, tossed the empty bottle to the floor and then belched. ‘I can get you to your friend’s way faster than two feet and a heartbeat.’ He was still smiling, but his tone of voice and the glint in his eye was by no means lighthearted.
Nina took a few more measured steps back until a puddle of water replaced the gravel that had been underfoot. She felt the mud squish between her toes as a million scenarios raced through her mind, none of them pleasant. ‘I’m all good, but cheers, hey.’ Offering him a wobbly smile, she wondered if he could hear the frenzied beat of her heart. ‘I better be off, so I’ll catch you later.’
With her heart trying to bash its way out of her chest, Nina turned to walk away, as fast as she could without looking as though she was fleeing. The monster she’d been looking for beneath her bed all these years was real – and she’d walked right to him. This. Was. Terrifying. She felt so alone, so vulnerable – Bea’s satellite phone would be great right about now. To her horror, there was a heavy sigh, and a door creaked open behind her. Nina dared not look over her shoulder, but instead picked up the pace. But before she could make a decent run for it, the bloke raced up beside her and grabbed her by her wrist.
‘Hey, where’s the damn fire, girly?’ His grip tightened.
Fear lodged in her throat, so much so Nina found it impossible to answer him.
‘Like I said, I’m not here to hurt you.’ He belched again, the stench nauseating. ‘I just don’t want to have it on my conscience if I drive off and something happens to you.’ He swayed a little, his eyes intent, yet eerily vacant. ‘That’s all, easy as.’
‘Please let go of me.’ She tried to jerk free of his grip, but he tightened it even more until it was vicelike.
‘I will, if you stop being so stupid and get in the bloody car.’
‘Please, you’re hurting me.’ Her voice was choked with fear and hot tears stung her eyes.
‘Don’t do this, Nina.’ He huffed impatiently and shook his head. ‘Because I really don’t want to have to drag you kicking and screaming.’
Her heart pounding like galloping horses’ hooves, Nina swallowed down hard. ‘How do you know my name?’
The greasy-looking bloke was mo
mentarily blindsided, but recovered quickly. ‘It’s a small town, everyone knows everyone’s name.’
‘I don’t know yours, and I would if you were from here,’ she said, hoping he’d tell her what it was so she could ask around, see if any of the locals knew him, if she lived to do so.
‘Oh, I’ve been away for a while, working overseas, only just got back into town a few days ago, for the, um, fruit picking.’ He turned and his attention locked onto the sound of an oncoming four-wheel drive.
Nina felt a rush of relief as headlights bounced off the row of mango trees behind her and flittered over the barbwire fencing. The drone of music had him wide-eyed as he glanced towards the approaching rumble of a diesel engine. His grip loosened and she freed herself from him. Her held breath released in a whoosh when she spotted Logan Steele at the wheel, driving straight for them – her knight in his dusty old LandCruiser, coming to her rescue, and not a second too late. Thank god.
She felt a rush of courage and folded her arms defensively. ‘Here’s my boyfriend now, looking for me. I told you he was waiting for me.’
Teeth bared in a snarl, the man pointed at her. ‘You mention a word of this to anyone and I’ll come after you, and Bea, and you don’t want that, you understand?’
A new wave of fear overwhelming her, Nina nodded.
‘Good.’ He spun and walked away from her, and was back in his Commodore as Logan pulled into a skid beside her.
Shivering to her very core, despite the balmy temperature, she watched as the creepy bloke took off down the road, gravel flying out from his tyres.
‘You okay, Neens?’ Looking out the driver’s window, Logan’s voice was thick with worry.
Nina used every bit of strength she could to turn and offer Logan a smile. ‘Yeah, thanks, he just needed directions.’ She bit her bottom lip to stop from crying.
‘Really? Then why do you look as white as a ghost?’ Concern written all over his handsome face, Logan jumped out and wrapped a protective arm around her shoulder. ‘You sure he wasn’t hassling you?’ He looked to where taillights disappeared around the corner. ‘Because if he was …’
Nina cut him off. ‘Yeah, I’m sure.’ She sucked in a deep breath and met his eyes. She couldn’t help but be touched by the way he was regarding her, so anxiously, so protectively. She needed to change the direction of the conversation, fast. ‘It’s so good to see you, Logan.’ And by god, it was, in so many ways.
‘Ditto; three months is a long time between visits from uni.’ Logan’s concern lightened somewhat as his tight lips gave way to a charming smile. ‘You look real pretty tonight, Nina-Jane.’
CHAPTER
2
Brisbane
Twenty Years Later
Nina woke to the local tomcat she’d befriended and aptly named Tom gently pawing at her face while meowing for his breakfast. Gone were the days of him having to sift through the apartment block’s rubbish bins for food. Smiling softly, while trying to resurface from a dream she couldn’t quite remember, she cuddled him to her. Purring loudly, Tom rubbed his face against hers.
‘Aww, love you too, buddy,’ she said, scratching the spot behind his ears he loved.
‘Lucky cat … you don’t ever say that to me, Nina,’ a croaky voice mumbled playfully from beside her.
As she blinked her eyes to life and her bedroom came into blurry focus, Nina was quickly overcome by a pounding headache, the fact her bed was so tousled, and that it was actually her bra hanging from the fan spinning lazily above and not a shadow cast by the light peeking through the curtains.
‘Oh, hey, you,’ she muttered, as she glanced at the muscle-clad arm flung over her. Then, catching a glimpse of her bedside clock, panic fired through her. ‘Shoot, Nate.’ With Tom leaping to the floor, she clambered from the bed, taking the sheet with her. Being naked under the cover of night along with the Dutch courage of quite a few bevvies after work was fine, but in broad daylight, and stone-cold sober, there was no bloody way.
‘What is it?’ Nate’s voice was husky with sleep.
‘I forgot to set the damn alarm,’ she shrieked.
‘That’s pretty standard, isn’t it?’ He chuckled, his head half buried into a pillow.
She slapped him on the butt. ‘Come on, rise and shine, sleepyhead.’ Scooting towards the hint of daylight, she flung the curtains open, momentarily blinded by the flood of golden sunshine. ‘It’s time to get up and get out. I’ve got to be at work in …’ She did the maths. ‘Less than an hour.’
‘Far out, talk about making a bloke feel welcome.’ Nate rolled over to face her, as naked as the day he was born, his hand shielding his sleepy gaze from the sunlight streaming through the window.
‘You know me, I’m not the kind of gal to make a bloke feel welcome.’ She offered him a cheeky smile as she went in search of a can of sardines, Tom hot on her heels.
‘True that,’ Nate called after her.
After grabbing a can of John West – only the best for her moggy mate – from the pile in the half bare pantry, she cracked it open and plopped the contents into the bowl she’d designated to Tom, gagging at the smell of the stinky fish. Tom did a figure eight around her ankles while he waited for her to plonk it down on the floor.
After washing her hands, Nina then headed back towards the bed, the sheet still clutched around her and dragging at her feet. She was fighting not to trip over it. ‘Some of us aren’t lucky enough to have a day off … and it’s looking to be a beautiful one out there.’ She waved towards the view of endless blue skies, masked a little by city smog, out of her rented Newmarket studio apartment’s window. ‘Haven’t you got things to do and people to see?’
‘Maybe, possibly, dunno yet.’ Nate shrugged. ‘I haven’t really thought that far ahead.’
Grasping the doona from the foot of the bed, she yanked it off his feet in a whoosh. ‘Come on, chop chop, times a wasting and I want to make this damn thing so I can go for a shower.’
Nate groaned as he sat up. ‘My god, you’re so bloody bossy in the morning.’
‘I’m bossy all the time … you should know that by now, too.’ Folding her arms with the sheet firmly pressed against her chest, she grinned as she watched her friend with benefits climb from her bed.
‘I reserve my right to remain silent, it’s safer that way.’ He offered her his charming smile before grabbing his clothes from where she’d tossed them to the floor at some ungodly hour this morning.
Dropping the sheet while he wasn’t looking, she quickly plucked her robe from the bedhead and tugged it on before he had time to turn back around and catch a glimpse of her. Then, shaking the sheet out, she let it fall to the bed with a flutter.
Jocks now on, Nate stopped getting dressed to help her.
A perfectionist when it came to tidiness – and she knew full well it was a way she could at least control some of her environment, and in turn, some of her life – Nina had to bite her tongue as she watched him leave the sheet crinkled up beneath the doona before tossing the pillows back onto the bed in a cluttered heap. She fought not to fix it up – she’d do it once he’d left.
‘Sooooo, what are you up to tonight, after your shift, sexy lady?’ Nate said, a little too casually.
‘Ummm, I’m not sure.’ Nina swallowed down hard – after five months of uncommitted bliss, was Nate about to go and ruin a good thing? Fluffing her pillow, she placed it neatly on top of another, and buying time, padded towards the bathroom. ‘I haven’t thought that far ahead,’ she called back lightheartedly.
‘Smart-arse,’ Nate called after her.
‘Sure am, and you love it,’ she called back. Turning the taps, she slipped her robe off, tugged the shower curtain closed, and then dove beneath the water before it had even had enough time to warm up. Goosebumps covered her entirely as she jiggled on the spot, switching from foot to foot.
Nate joined her in the bathroom, and the unmistakable sound of a man peeing soon followed. Nina’s panic rose a few more
notches – were they now at the stage of doing such a thing?
Noooooo!
‘I asked what you were up to because I was going to offer to cook you dinner.’ Still peeing, he stuck his head past the shower curtain. ‘You know, real home-cooked food, not like those protein bars and pre-made salads you eat like they’re going out of fashion.’
‘You were, hey?’ Fighting to ignore the fact he was not only peeing where she could see him, but was doing so while regarding her with hungry eyes, Nina lathered her body up with her favourite sandalwood soap. ‘And just for the record, protein bars and salad are very healthy.’
‘Not when you eat them for breakfast, lunch and dinner.’
‘I firmly disagree,’ she said, challengingly.
Nate grinned and then to her absolute horror, without even washing his hands, grabbed her toothbrush, plonked some toothpaste on it, and then proceeded to brush his teeth.
Gobsmacked, she tugged the curtain open and stared at him incredulously before finding her voice. ‘You right there, using my toothbrush.’
He shrugged. ‘Well, you won’t let me bring mine,’ he garbled, right before spitting white foam into the sink.
‘Uh-huh.’ She slunk back behind the shower curtain, so he couldn’t see the combination of shock, irritation and dread that was surely written all over her face.
She liked Nate. He was funny, charming, he actually cared about her, and he was safe – a commitment-phobe like her, or so he’d led her to believe. She’d taken great comfort in the fact this wasn’t going to go anywhere. They hung out occasionally, were there for one another if something went belly up – without all the pressures of pledges and promises that would inevitably be broken, if not by him, then by her. But now he’d gone and ruined it, by offering to cook her dinner, and peeing while she was in the same room, and using her toothbrush – which she was now going to have to replace because that was just plain gross. Not all his fault – she had issues, she was well aware of that, but she wasn’t about to work on those issues for Nate. As gorgeous as he was, the spark she’d only ever felt once in her lifetime just wasn’t there with him.