Ridge Creek Reunited (Ridge Creek Duology) (11 page)

“My apologies for the disturbance,” Ellen’s voice cuts through the room, quietening the many voices as she makes her announcement. “It would appear the storm has caused significant damage to our front window. If patrons could please remain seated until we have cleaned up the broken glass that would be most appreciated. All meals will be complimentary this evening and I trust that you will continue to support our establishment into the future.”

The conversations in the room restart but I see several patrons nodding their appreciation at receiving a free meal. Ellen is a good businesswoman.

Turning my attention back to the front window I see Jake dragging Victoria back across the street towards her car. Luke and Zane are standing on the pavement watching him go.

Victoria is not happy. She’s fighting him every step of the way and pointing back at me with her bloodied hand screeching, “Who the fuck is she?”

The woman is all class.

Not.

And clearly she doesn’t feel pain.

Ignoring her struggles, Jake makes it to her car and pulls her around to the passenger side. Opening the door with an angry yank, he pushes her into the passenger side of the car and slams the door shut. This shuts the woman up. She falls quiet and watches him round the bonnet of the car. Yanking the driver’s door open, Jake stops for a moment to stare angrily at a small crowd of people spectating from the pavement not far from Victoria’s car. With an angry shake of his head, he throws himself into the driver’s seat, starts the car and takes off down the street. Watching him disappear around the corner, I shift my eyes back to the small crowd. It’s then that I see what Jake was staring at.

Anton.

“Okay then,” I murmur as I watch Anton melt back into the group of spectators and seemingly vanish.

Well that confirms that Anton’s still hanging around and my father will soon hear of my latest drama. I wonder what Stephen Bradford’s thoughts will be on Jake driving off with his wife?
I feel a strong wrenching in my gut as my still undigested meal curdles. “Not feeling the love right now. Let’s clean this glass up and I could do with a shot of whiskey if I do say so myself.”

Emma looks at me sympathetically and Ellen places a hand softly on my arm as she shakes her head before walking off. Luke and Zane reappear in the doorway and make their way over to us.

“He’s taking her to the hospital. He’ll be back,” Zane announces.

Oh.

Of course he is.

“Ma, you need to ring Dobe. The numbers on the screen.”
Zane says as he hands her his mobile phone. “He’ll replace the window tonight. Tell him the work is for Jake and he needs to drop into the shop on Monday so we can fix him up.”

Ellen nods and takes the phone
before walking over to a quiet corner to make the call.

“Arianna,” Zane continues swinging concerned eyes to me. “It looks like we have a problem. Well specifically,
you
might have a problem. She’s never seen Jake anywhere near another woman and as you saw, that shit made her volatile. She’s a fuckin’ psycho at the best of times but this could be the straw that breaks the camel’s back. I can’t say I’ve ever seen her be violent. She usually just screams and carries on, then storms off in a huff. I’ve also never seen her bleeding and not caring that’s she injured like that. The woman’s been known to stay in bed for two days over a paper cut. You and Jake need to talk. Work out how to deal with her. He was having trouble getting her to sign the divorce before. Now for some reason, I reckon he’s got Buckley’s.”

“Seriously?” I ask him
widening my eyes in shock.

“Seriously,” Zane confirms as he starts to survey the damage caused around our table. “You need to take care, she could hurt you.”

“Seriously?” I say it louder this time and Zane swings his eyes to mine. Seeing the questioning look in his eyes I elaborate. “After what I’ve been through over the past few weeks, you think I’m gunna worry about some fiery red head in high heels who’s got a bent on me? I think you might find she can manipulate men with that face that would launch a thousand ships, but me, ah ah. No fucking way. If she wants a fight, she’ll get one. She’d better back the fuck off from Jake or I’ll bury…”

Zane’s hand flies out to cover my mouth. “Christ woman. Calm down.” He shakes his head at me before he looks around and then gifts the room with a huge smile.

Snapping my mouth shut, I mouth “Woops,” into his hand and look around the room to see several women with their eyes locked on Zane. His smile works
wonders.
I doubt they’ll remember my little outburst with Zane’s smile now burned into their brains. “Sorry,” I mumble as he drops his hand back to his side.

“Glad to see you
’re not gunna be passive on this one and that you’ve got his back. He needs someone to help him fight that battle. She’s fucked with his head for years and I think he’s about out of tactics to shift her on.”

I nod as Ellen reappears at our side. “
Dobe
is on his way.”

“Now that’s service,” Emma announces as she watches a waiter appear with a brush and shovel to start sweeping up glass. “I’ve never heard of glaziers that come out immediately.”

“Business associate,” Zane mumbles and the penny drops for both Emma and I at the same time.

“Gotcha,” Emma mouths up at him as we swing our attention back to the damaged window.

“I’ll get more brooms and dustpans,” Ellen announces. “Luke, can you please come with me and grab a green bin for the broken glass.”

“Sure,” Luke agrees and heads off towards the back of the restaurant with her.

“Well you can’t say the day’s been boring,” I murmur softly as Zane, Emma and I wait for Ellen and Luke to return with cleaning gear.

The Camera Room

Three hours later, Arianna…

Lying on my back in bed, I scratch Pierre gently behind his ears and sigh. “Looks like he’s not coming back tonight little buddy. The upside? You get to sleep in Mummy’s bed tonight.”

Jake’s continued absence is affecting me. And not in a good way. I know I shouldn’t be concerned, Jake often leaves me to my own devices. It’s only because I watched him get in a car with his
not yet
ex-wife that I’m feeling this way.

There’s nothing to worry about.

Right?

He’s trying to
scrape her off.
They were his words. Clearly his own mother and his brothers dislike her so it’s not likely he’d get back with her. Is it?

Then why do I feel so… off?

Hearing a light knock on the door, both Pierre and I swing our eyes to the source of the noise. Sitting up in bed, I call out a soft, “Yes?”

The door opens a crack and Emma pokes her head through the gap. “I’ve armed the security system. They got most of it installed today. W
e’re just waiting on the outside cameras. You should also know that there are now two guys sitting in the camera room watching the monitors. Which means they’re watching the cameras already operational internally here, plus the cameras at Jakes house. They’re going to be watching them all-night. Hats off to them for taking on the most boring job in the universe.”

“Ah, okay. Thanks. I think. Why do I need to know about the two guys in the camera room?”

Pushing the door open a little further, Emma leans on the doorjamb and smiles at me. “I can think of a couple of reasons,” she says with a shrug of her shoulders. “The main one is there are now two sets of eyes watching cameras on all the hallways, storage rooms, the garage and the communal room.”

“Okay.”

“Which means no wandering around outside your bedroom in your underwear unless you’re looking for some visual attention and that’s the way you want to roll.”

“Oh!” I suddenly realize what she’s saying. “Crap. Glad you mentioned that.”

“Another reason is they are your get out of jail free card for taking Pierre outside. They’ve been told to cover toilet trips for Pierre. You are not to go outside alone. Ever. Although none of us think you’re in any immediate danger, until we work out Bradford and confirm Altieri is lying low, we’d rather be safe than sorry. Knock on the door to the camera room and one of the guys will take him out. Okay?”

“Okay.”

Nodding her satisfaction at my response, she straightens from the door and gives me a sympathetic look. “Oh, and you’ll probably want to know that I was just in there with the two guys and saw Luke dropping Jake off at his house.”

“Oh.” Well that confirms he’s not coming back here tonight. His bike is still here. Realizing it would have been much easier and quicker for Luke to have dropped him here, I’m not sure what message he
’s sending by going home.

Is he avoiding me?

“Luke was driving her car but she was not in it so that’s a good thing yeah?” She continues already guessing at my inner turmoil. “Which means he went home to be alone.”

“Sure,” I mumble as I lean across to turn out my bedside lamp before sliding back down into my bed and settling my head on the pillow. “Goodnight.”

Emma stands in the doorway for another moment or two before she sighs and backs out of the doorway. Closing the door softly, the room is thrown into darkness. I close my eyes and hear Pierre sigh. “I agree buddy,” I whisper into the darkness as I close my eyes hoping to fall asleep.

It’s a long time before my mind stops thinking about Stephen Bradford, Vincent Altieri, Jake and his wife. It’s an even longer time before I finally fall asleep.

*****

I wake up to see the bright light of day peeking its way in through the sides of the curtains. Simultaneously I hear the loud rumble of Harleys on the street outside. Grabbing the spare phone Emma lent me off the bedside table I check the time and realize it’s almost lunchtime.

Holy Cow.

Clearly I was
tired
.

Shaking off the thought that Jake still hasn’t shown, my next thought is of Pierre. He
’s not on my bed so where is he? Scanning the room frantically for him, I call out his name. Hearing only the sound of my own breathing, I conclude he’s not here. Someone has snuck him out while I was sleeping. At least I don’t need to worry about puppy puddles or other unsavoury items on my bedroom floor.

Kicking back the covers, I swing my feet to the floor and start moving. After the many hours spent worrying over matters out of my control last night, I don
’t plan to spend any more time thinking about them. I plan to keep busy and let things run their course.

Grabbing fresh clothes from the tallboy, I drag on a pair of tracksuit pants and t-shirt and make the trek to the bathroom. I don’t know if there are people sitting watching the camera’s during the day or not but I don’t plan to tak
e any risks.

Making a quick stop at the toilet, I double back to the bathroom. Locking the bathroom door behind me I undress, set the water temperature in the shower and slide in. I
’ve barely wet my hair when a loud, rhythmic banging begins on the bathroom door.

“Arianna.” A familiar deep rumble calls out to me.

Jake.

Instantly sifting through all the emotions in my head, those same damned emotions that kept me awake half the night, I decide (even thought I know it’s not a good idea) to let the ugliest one take control of my tongue.

Anger.

“What?” I ask
acidly.

“Open the door, we gotta talk,” Jake rumbles against the door.

“Sorry, no can do. Just having a quick shower,” I reply sweetly before adding for good effect, “On my own.”

I hear a soft thud against the door (my guess
, his forehead) and silence follows. Literally turning my back on him, even though he can’t see me doing it, I start washing my hair. The silence continues. Long enough that I shampoo, rinse and then have time to condition my hair.

“Your pissed at me,” I hear his low rumble against the door again.

“What for?” I ask acidly again as I squeeze some body wash onto my loofah and start scrubbing angrily at my arms. More silence.

“Open the door Arianna.”

“Nope, what’s the rush? You clearly didn’t feel like
talking
last night. In fact you couldn’t even be bothered getting a message to me.” Even I can hear the venom snaking into my voice.

“Arianna,” Jake lets out an audible sigh. “Open the fucking door.”

“Not gunna happen Jake. I think that perhaps you might want to think about steering the fuck clear of me for a few days while I let the sting of watching you drive off with your
wife
fade
.
Your very
beautiful
wife I might add. Your very beautiful wife who by the look on her face last night, clearly still holds a very big fucking candle for you.”

I hear a loud thud. A loud thud that if I had to hazard a guess, was a motorbike boot against the door. “Open the fucking door Ari, we gotta talk.”

“No we fucking don’t. That shit you pulled last night, whatever the fuck it was, smelt a lot like Tony. I’ve seen that shit before. My so called boyfriend driving off and leaving me somewhere and then not coming home. Admittedly I’ve never had to watch Tony drive off with
his wife
so you scored a whole new wound with that one. Fuck. Off.”

“
Arianna.”

“Fuck of Jake. Seriously. I need time to work this through in my head and right now, I’m just warning you, if you don’t back the fuck off, I’m headed for Sydney.”

“What the fuck Arianna?”

Creating my own span of silence I finish scrubbing my body and start rinsing the conditioner from my hair. I hear another soft thud against the door.

“Arianna please open the door,” Jake says so softly I barely hear him under the sound of the water pouring down on me. “What’s in Sydney?”

Wounded, angry and jealous, I feel the knot in my stomach tighten. The knot that formed in my stomach last night when I saw Jake drive off with his wife and the knot that twisted so hard it kept me awake for hours. And even though I know the words I am about to say are going to tighten it even further, I say them anyway. “A new life with my father.”

This time the silence stretches to the point of agonizing. Unsure whether Jake is still at the door, I rinse the conditioner from my hair and switch off the taps in the shower. Listening carefully for a moment, I hear nothing. No breathing, no movement.

Deciding I can’t wait to find out whether he is still behind the door, I wrap a towel around myself, unlock the door and yank it open.

He’s gone.

Feeling another twist in my gut I close the door quietly and finish getting dressed.

*****

I spend the rest of the day hanging with Emma and a guy called Dregs in the new camera room. Dregs is yet another biker who has been dragged in to watch the now fully installed camera’s that provide a constant feed on the goings-on inside and outside both the Harley shop and Jake’s house.

Dregs is only a small man. So small in fact that even I feel like I might stand a chance against him if we had to go into hand-to-hand combat. With long brown hair, a goatee and his arms covered in cheap looking tattoos, he looks like a typical biker. Albeit a small one.

Having spent the afternoon getting to know him, I like him. He
’s polite, funny and true to form of all the men I have met at the shop so far. That is, he’s very loyal to Jake and Zane. He’s also smart enough to know where to finish a conversation to avoid rough waters. I only truly realized his skills in moving a conversation along when, on asking him why his name was Dregs, he mumbled something about, “Being small and getting the last dip.” He then assured me I most certainly did not need to know anymore and changed the subject to talk about the fun and games to be had when shearing Luke’s alpaca.

At that point, as the meaning of his words dawned on me, I welcomed the conversation change.

Throughout our conversations I also discovered that a roster is now in place to ensure that two men watch the cameras overnight and one man watches them during the day. Whoever is watching the cameras during the day can ring Jake, Zane or Emma if he needs to leave the camera room and they will arrange someone to fill in. The nightshift needs two people to ensure that one man stays watching the camera’s while the other takes breaks or does other stuff like walking Pierre, grabbing food or having a smoke.

Interestingly, when I asked Dregs if he knew where Jake’s house was he gave me a firm, “No.” He was honest enough to tell me he could see it was near the State Forest (based on the camera view of the surrounding trees), but it wasn’t his concern to know where the h
ouse was. His job description was to watch camera’s and if he saw something, ring Jake or Zane and let them handle it.

Dregs’ information supported Jake’s statement that not many people knew about his house. Something I was glad to hear as part of my new confusion and anger at Jake was not knowing if he was telling me the truth about not wanting his wife or not.

Emma, throughout all my conversations with Dregs, was busy.

Very busy.

She was doing something to hook-up all the cameras and set up facial recognition on all the screens. She explained that this meant, to a certain extent, her software could warn the men watching the screens if a new face appeared on any cameras. She was also planning to train the software to log the details of the faces it recognized which would also give us times and dates when people came and went.

Emma’s security software was turning out to be very high tech and very cool
.
I’m not so sure Jake and Zane quite understood what they were in for when they gave my girl free reign to take the security as far as she liked.

In between camera link ups, facial recognition programming and various other crazy things Emma was doing on the screen, she was also running background checks on everyone who came in contact with Jake and Zane’s Harley Shop. This in itself was a huge job but she had already set up a separate laptop to deal with the job as she worked on her main laptop. This meant that reports were building on the first one giving her enormous lists of information on her chosen targets. This information was also linked to the security feeds.

As Dregs and I watched her work, we both rolled our eyes. As usual she was working like a woman possessed, sucking down cans of Redbull with her fingers flying over the keys on the many keyboards she had set up about the room. I couldn’t decide if watching her work was the coolest thing I had ever seen, or the scariest. No wonder she and I had become fast friends so quickly, it was clear that before we arrived in Ridge Creek, neither of us had a life outside computers.

Finally at the point where I can no longer sustain the willpower to watch Emma smashing her keyboard and Dregs staring at the boring, boring screens for any longer, I lift from my chair and announce I’m leaving. At that same precise moment, two men appear in the open doorway to the camera room.