Butterfly Hunter 01 (10 page)

“
I’ll say good
day to Simon for you,” Nicholas said over his shoulder as he headed
off.

“
Uh,
that’s
g’day
, thanks, mate.”

“
What
ever
.”

Dave snorted. They were
fine.

And they
were
fine
together, as they ate dinner in the cafe attached to the motel. It
was only when they went down to the town’s pub in the evening that
disaster struck.

“
Day!” someone
cried as the two of them walked in.

“
Oh
God,” Dave muttered as he looked around for the source. If the guys
were already drunk enough to not even bother with
Dave
, then
they were well ahead and no doubt closing in on the finish line.
“Hey,” he greeted the little knot of boozed–up blokes off to the
right of the bar. “How ya goin’?”

“
Day
maaaaate!” was the response, and “Taaay!” Someone managed his full
name: “Day Taaay …”

“
That good,
then?” Dave queried, glancing back apologetically at Nicholas – who
was looking unimpressed, and also a bit weary, as if he’d seen it
all before. And surely blokes were blokes the world over, when they
were stupid, young and drunk. “What ya’ all up to?” Dave
asked.

“
Celebratin’, Daaay! Ce–le–brate–
in
’!”

“
Excellent.”
He didn’t see any point in asking what, if anything, had been the
excuse for such a session. No doubt he’d get the whole story later.
“Right, well, don’t let us interrupt you. I’ll see ya
later.”

Unfortunately, however,
one of them was still capable of adding two and two together and
saying something coherent about it. “Day,” the bloke said urgently.
“Dave mate.”

Dave turned back with a
discreet sigh. “Um, yes?”

“
Is this –”
the man indicated Nicholas, with a wild gesture that slopped beer
everywhere. “Is this the English poof, then?”

“
Um,
earl
,” Dave promptly supplied.
“I’m pretty sure I said English
earl
.”

“
For heaven’s
sake,” Nicholas muttered at his shoulder.

Dave was dying a little
inside.

“
Semantics,”
the drunk bloke observed dismissively.

“
My, what big
words you know,” Dave returned, trying to turn it all into a bit of
harmless banter. Because he knew these morons would only take such
things so far. They might be obnoxious, but they weren’t
dangerous.

But it was too late. The
mood had gotten edgier – and Nicholas had already walked
away.

“
Thanks,
guys,” Dave said flatly. “Thank you so much. Apart from anything
else,
he’s a
client
.”

“
Awww, poor
Day squiring around his English poof …”

“
Not to
mention he’s a human being, you Neanderthals!”

They were too far gone to care,
of course. Dave turned away, and followed Nicholas to the bar,
relieved that at least Nicholas still seemed willing to have a
drink there.

Although he might soon
change his mind, given that the guys were calling after them,
“Sorry, we don’t serve iced Chardonnay here!” and, “Maybe there’s
some sherry put by for the laaa–dies.”

Nicholas was tense with
anger, but he had both hands on the edge of the bar, all lined up
to order, and when Dave reached his side, Nicholas half–turned to
inform Dave with a terse politeness, “They have Cascade on
tap.”

“
Great.
That’ll be great, thanks, mate.” Dave cleared his throat, and
before the barman got close, he offered, “Look, those idiots
–”

“–
are idiots.
I know. Forget it.”

And maybe that would have
been that, if the drunken mob hadn’t gotten it into their sodden
heads to serenade Dave and Nicholas with a rousing chorus of
‘Tiptoe Through the Mulga’.

“
Right,” said
Nicholas. “I’ll put up with five minutes of that, but not a whole
evening.”

“
They won’t
last long. Short attention spans.”

But Nicholas shook his
head. “I’ll see you back at the motel.”

“
Nicholas
–”

But the man was already
walking out, deliberately ignoring the idiots who were now going on
about someone getting his knickers in a knot. And Dave, of course,
followed Nicholas out, which prompted hoots about lovers’
tiffs.

And then it was over,
thank Christ, and Dave was out in the cool night air, with Nicholas
striding on ahead with those long legs of his which obviously had
far more power to them than Dave might have supposed. Dave didn’t
call out, but simply followed the man, and finally caught up with
him as Nicholas’s long pale fingers stuttered with the key at his
motel room door.

Nicholas was furious and
rightly so, but Dave could see that under the anger there was part
of him that was simply hurt – and worse, a bit shamed. The man
glanced up, startled and even scared for a moment, until he saw it
was only Dave at his side. Nicholas glared at him defiantly. But
when Nicholas dropped his gaze away then all Dave could see were
those perfect plump lips and how they trembled. And he was pretty
sure that if Nicholas were feeling any more confident, if he were
at home and not alone round the other side of the world, he would
have taken any teasing in good part and given back as good as he
got – no doubt better.

“
Those
idiots,” Dave quietly offered, “shouldn’t have said any of that.
But they
are
all talk, I can promise you
that.”

“
What,”
Nicholas returned, in a low voice but still with a tremor, “so I
shouldn’t feel humiliated?”

“
They’re not
worth it. You know you have nothing to feel bad about.”

“
David – I
might never –”

The words halted and the
man’s head was still down, but Nicholas had turned back towards
him, as if there was something he desperately needed to
explain.

And the thing was – The
thing was – Even if those blokes were mostly harmless, it had still
been a horrible experience for Nicholas, and totally undeserved.
And the thing was – Dave so wanted to make it up to him, to make
him smile again. And the thought of surprising him out of it was a
good one, too.

The moment stretched.

Then Dave leaned in and
pressed his mouth to Nicholas’s. Just for a heartbeat or two. The
other man was startled, still. But then he pressed back for a beat.
Not deepening it into a real kiss. Not pushing any further. Just
returning the gesture. A grateful wistful smile was Dave’s reward
when he pulled back a moment later.

“
Now,”
said Dave, all brisk yet friendly business. “I want you to get in
there,” he said, indicating the motel room, “and you’ll be fine,
but I want to hear you lock the door,” he took a step back, in the
direction of his own room, “because I want to know you’re safe for
the night and that you
feel
safe, too – and then I’ll
see you tomorrow morning for breakfast.”

Nicholas was watching him
back away with a hint of amusement twisting his lovely smile. He
even let out a breath that might have almost been a laugh. “Thank
you, David,” he said. “Good night.”

And then Nicholas slipped
inside, and Dave waited to hear the lock clunk and the chain rattle
into place, and then he turned and headed for his own room. And
really, he thought he’d handled that quite well. He was quite
pleased with himself, actually. Points for creativity, definitely.
Nicholas was happier, and would hopefully sleep well. Everything
was fine.

Except that Dave’s heart
was tripping over just a little too fast, and he was almost afraid
to sleep for fear of what dreams might come.

They were quiet on the drive
back out into their search area. Dave was conscious of Nicholas
sitting peaceably beside him, tall yet comfortable in the passenger
seat, still looking about him, happily engaged with all there was
to experience out here.

Dave could hardly not be
conscious of Nicholas, but mostly he was also paying great
attention to the Cruiser. They had spent most of the previous week
on sealed roads, but they were going to start exploring the dirt
tracks now. There had been no sign of blue clouds or unknown
waterholes so far, but it was early days – and Dave even reckoned
it would be rather an anticlimax to find Nicholas’s blues too
quickly. Sometimes it wasn’t all about the destination. Even Dave
knew that.

The Cruiser handled
beautifully, of course. She was going to be such a pleasure over
the years …

“
Yes, I’m sure
you’ll be very happy together,” Nicholas murmured with a quirk of a
smile.

“
What?” He
hadn’t said anything out loud, had he?

“
You’re not
the first man I’ve known who was in love with his car.”

Dave cast him a sidelong
look. “Not your chauffeur …”

“
The same. Our
family has a Rolls Royce Silver Cloud he held a deep affection for,
but his real passion was for –”

“
You.”

Nicholas went pink about
the cheeks, but otherwise ignored this gibe. “– an MGB V8 roadster
in British Racing Green.” A breath whistled out. “I was dead
jealous, but I could see what he loved about her.”

Dave laughed. “How very
reasonable of you.”

“
He’d take me
for a spin of an afternoon, if I’d been good.”

“
Good at
what?”

“
Oh shut up!”
Nicholas cried, spluttering with laughter. “You ought to watch out,
teasing me like that. I’ll tell you all the graphic details if
you’re not careful.”

“
Quaking in my
boots here.”

“
You should
be,” Nicholas advised darkly.

Dave just grinned at him,
unrepentant. It seemed they were absolutely fine.

“
I received a
couple of very shamefaced phone calls this afternoon,” Denise said
when Dave called her that evening.

“
Ah, you did,
did you?”

“
From your
mates out at Woop Woop.”

“
Good. Though
I’m amazed they even remember, to be honest.”

“
Still have a
few brain cells intact, apparently.” Denise was mystified. “What on
earth did they say? I don’t think I’ve ever heard a bloke sound so
apologetic.”

“
Oh, it was
nothing much. But they wouldn’t let it go. It wasn’t great, but
Nicholas is all right about it now.”

“
If you take
him back there, I’m sure they’ll be suitably embarrassed to the
point where even he won’t be able to stand it. And no doubt they’ll
shout you all night, if you want.”

Dave laughed. “Last thing
we need is another drunken encounter with that lot. But I’ll pass
on their apologies.”

“
Think about
it. It’ll do them good to make amends.”

“
Well, maybe
in a while. I think Nicholas was more … upset with himself for
letting it matter.”

“
I get that,”
Denise said. “All right, well, this is costing you a fortune, so
I’ll sign off, all right?”

“
Talk to you
tomorrow, Denny.”

“
Tomorrow,
mate. Stay safe.”

And they did indeed stay
safe. The Cruiser performed admirably – though, after all, it
wasn’t exactly challenging terrain for her. The tracks occasionally
passed through that fine sand that lesser vehicles sank into, and
some tracks were beginning to lose the fight against the
encroaching scrub, but Dave found his way through easily enough.
His only concern was with the inbuilt satnav, which would
occasionally flicker, lose its bearings, and then regroup, but Dave
figured that was probably just to do with patchy satellite coverage
out here. And it did always regroup. And if the worst came to the
worst, he had a good old–fashioned paper map and a real compass
packed safely away in the back.

Nicholas continued happily
recording anything butterfly–related. They found a group of
golden–winged butterflies fluttering about that afternoon, and
Nicholas was soon taking notes and photos, his frown of
concentration combining oddly with his delighted grin.

Dave watched him,
assisting when required. “What do you call a group of butterflies,
anyway? You know, like a pride of lions or whatever.”

“
A
kaleidoscope of butterflies,” Nicholas informed him, with a quirk
of a brow.

“
Seriously?”

“
I kid you
not. Perfect, isn’t it? Here,” he added, handing his gear over to
Dave. “Just be still for a few minutes.” And Nicholas stood there
near the butterflies with his arms lifted a little,
waiting.

“
What are you
… ?”

“
Ssshh …”
Nicholas threw him a grin, and then quieted again. And soon enough
the butterflies drew near, and started to settle on his skin, on
his forearms, and a couple of braver ones on his throat and the
hint of chest left bare by his undone shirt buttons. Nicholas was
looking as beatific as St Francis on a particularly grouse
day.