Ridge Creek Reunited (Ridge Creek Duology) (13 page)

Fuck.

“Your lost,” Anton speaks again as he straightens next to the truck. Shocked at the speed at which he disabled my truck and shocked that that’s all he did, I nod.

“Driving straight past Jake’s driveway about seven kilometers ago was my first clue that might be the case,” Anton continues with what I sense is a hint of amusement in his voice. “Then spending the next six of those seven kilometers creeping along at thirty kilometers an hour behind you somewhat painfully confirmed my suspicion.”

“Oh,” I mumble softly as I turn my head to look at Pierre who is still curled up fast asleep on the bench seat next to me. He is, as is often the case, oblivious to the drama unfolding around him. “Very perceptive of you.”

“Are you being sarcastic Ms. Lovett?” Anton cuts in, his own voice now sarcastic.

I chew thoughtfully at my lip as I wonder what sort of pickle I’ve landed myself in this time. Is Anton a bad guy and is something bad about to happen to me?

A
gain.

Deciding I can’t wait a second longer to find out, I turn and stare direct at his face. “What do you want?”

“I want,” he responds pinning me with an intense look, “you to be more careful. Pulling over in the dark in the middle of nowhere was dangerous Ms. Lovett and I’m supposed to be watching out for you. From what I’ve read, witnessed and… experienced over the past two days, trouble follows you around Ms. Lovett. As Stephen Bradford’s daughter and as someone who appears to be a magnet for trouble, you need to be smarter.”

Huh?

I watch as he reaches behind him and pulls something from the back of his pants. Quickly bringing it into the light I see it’s a small handgun. Before I have time to register whether he plans to use it for good or evil, he hands it to me through the window. I take it, confused.

“Always carry a weapon Arianna. And never take it on yourself to just go for a random drive in the middle of the night without first letting someone know you are leaving
. You should also let someone know of your planned destination.”

“But I didn’t have a planned destination. I just wanted to go for a drive and in my own defense, I don’t have
a spare gun laying around. In case you haven’t received a brief or whatever it is you security type folk do, someone pocketed my gun a couple of nights ago. Which is something you could talk to your boss about. I’d like it back. I assume he kept it as memorabilia after I you know, shot him with it. It’s probably one of those items he’s got in his box of memories titled ‘
Close Calls’.
From what I’ve heard it would be quite a full box with all the other little bits and pieces that have nearly killed him over the years.”

A look of confusion and something akin to amusement fleets across Anton’s face. Looking at the gun in my hand a bit more closely I frown. “And what’s the point of this gun? It’s smaller than the last one. I want a
bigger
gun this time. The last one proved inadequate.”

I hear Anton sigh. “You don’t need a bigger gun Arianna, you need to learn to shoot straighter. And
my boss
as you so loosely reference Mr. Bradford, is
your
father. Perhaps you should ask him for your gun back yourself
.
”

Probably a good point.

“Alleged father,” I mumble as I swing my eyes back to Anton to see him shaking his head slowly at me.

“Father,” he announces dispassionately with a strange look on his face. “You’ll be getting a call in the morning to confirm that.”

“Really?” I ask as the distinct feeling that Anton is telling the truth washes over me. It makes me feel a little odd. Hot and cold at the same time. Goose bumpy.

Damn.

He nods as he leans forward again to hold out the truck keys for me. “You do need to be more careful Arianna. You may have thought your associates in Melbourne were dangerous. They were amateurs compared with what you could be up against if Elizabeth Bradford discovers you have resurfaced.”

You’ve got to be shitting me. It’s never ending.

“Nice,” I mutter under my breath as I take the keys from his hand. “Anton?”

“Yes.”

“Why did you take my keys?”

“So you couldn’t take off without waiting for me to tell you I’ll take you back to Jake’s driveway and as long as you promise to drive up to the house, I’ll leave you to it.”

Really? Is that all?

“Thank you,” I murmur as I hear the familiar sound of a text message arriving on a mobile phone ring out from the car behind me. I watch him looking back at his car thoughtfully before he turns back to me and nods.

“Anton?”

Sighing again he raises his eyebrows at me and starts to look impatient. “Yes.”

“Where will you go after you
leave me to it?”

“Back to my Motel room, why?” He replies looking agitatedly back at his car.

“But how will you know when I leave Jake’s house again?” I ask.

“I’ll know,” he mumbles as he looks back towards his car. “You gunna follow me?”

“Yeah, thanks,” I agree and decide to let it go. Who cares how he knows when I come and go. It’s his job and I just have to assume he’s very good at it.

“Take care Arianna,” he says one final time before turning and striding back to his car.

Considering the condition of his face and hands I almost call out, “You too,” but decide against it. Even though he looks bruised and battered, I’m fairly sure Anton knows how to look after himself.

*****

Ten minutes later…Arianna.

Sticking my hand out the window of the truck I wave a quick goodbye to Anton and turn into Jake’s driveway. Although I’m not sure what kind of welcome I’m going to receive from him when I get to the house, I feel a sense of relief wash over me. Deep down I know I’m doing the right thing.

The way I figure it, he wouldn’t have given me the keys to his truck and his house if he didn’t want me to use them. Admittedly, when I first left the Harley Shop this evening I didn’t plan to come to Jake’s house. It was only after ten minutes of driving around Ridge Creek aimlessly that I realized I wanted to see him. That after a whole day of being angry with him, I just couldn’t do it anymore.

Crazy stuff.

Creeping around the last bend in Jake’s driveway in first gear (he was
serious
, this stupid truck doesn’t have second) I see the lights of the house up ahead. Floodlights light up the driveway near the house brightly.

Which means they also light up Jake.

Standing in his driveway, hair wet, a beer in his hand he watches me creep slowly closer. He’s wearing a pair of tracksuit pants and nothing else. Bare feet, bare chest. No bandage around his midriff. All muscles, tattoos and slick, wet black hair he looks
delicious
.

I immediately decide I
’m the biggest idiot on the planet and I can’t believe I even thought about being mad with this guy.

For even a second.

I must have been nuts.

So what if he’s got a gorgeous, crazy wife who he doesn’t hesitate to drive of
f with? I need to learn to
deal
. For this guy, I could be happy being the
other
woman.

Slowly
rolling to a stop next to him, I watch as his eyes lock on my face and a small smile tips his lips. I notice he too has a split lip and an angry bruise on his right jawbone. Ignoring my questioning look he rumbles, “Park brake, knock it out of gear and slide over sweetheart,” as his hand shoots out to grab the door handle.

All thoughts of bruised jawbones and split lips gone, I leap to do as he asks. Even managing to pick Pierre up and plonk him on my lap before I slide sideways. Pierre blinks at me groggily as I do so. Boy does this puppy sleep.

I’ve barely made it halfway across the seat before Jake lands squarely in the driver’s seat next to me. With his left arm, he flings his now empty beer bottle onto the passenger floor of the truck and then manages to stop my slide. With an easy squeeze, he slides me back hard against his side to fill the barely there gap between us. A heartbeat later I find myself pressed firmly into place and tucked underneath his arm.

He smells
great.

Clean and soapy, warm and musky, his scent hits my nostrils and I feel a little giddy. Without thinking I lean in and plant my face sideways against his chest so I can inhale more of him. He’s like man cocaine and if I could snort him down, I would.

I feel his chest vibrate against the side of my face as he lifts his arm up and over to me to place it on the gear stick. With a chuckle, he places the truck into gear, releases the handbrake and drives us around the house and into the garage. I spend this entire time staring at what looks to me like recently broken skin on his knuckles and breathing him in. I’m so content to stay put with my face stuck to his chest for as long as he’ll let me that I no longer care to ask about his face and knuckles.

Parked in the garage, he kills the engine and reaches for his keys to press the remote control button for the garage door. As I listen to the sound of the motor slowly winding the garage door down behind us, Pierre sighs and slumps down to continue snoozing in my lap.

Jake turns off the headlights on the truck and we sit into the dim light created by the light coming from the motor on the roller door behind us. Lifting his arm back up and over my head, he grabs me by the shoulder and pulls me closer. “You got lost.”

Immediately wondering how he knows that I stiffen. “How do you know that?” I squeak in shock.

“Anton,” Jake replies softly.

“Anton?” I ask as I ineffectually try
to push away from Jake’s body just far enough to be able to tip my head and at least see his face.

Squeezing me tighter and essentially locking me against his chest
, Jake continues. “Not smart leaving the shop without telling anyone and not smart getting lost.”

Deciding that this is almost borderline creepy how much he and Anton know about my movements I wiggle against Jake’s arm
and start to put more effort into putting some space between us. Pierre, sensing my unease (whilst also being bounced around my lap) wakes up fully and begins shuffling about on my lap, agitated.

“Quit fidgeting, you woke up the dog.”

“Quit trying to stop me fidgeting with your hulk arm,” I snap as Jake squeezes me again essentially quelling any ideas I have on moving.

Continuing to ignore what
are obviously my futile efforts to put some space between us, Jake continues. “Anton and I have come to an agreement.”

And that’s when it hits me.
Thoughts of bruised knuckles cut lips cross my mind.

I realise
exactly
what’s going on here.

Relaxing against his side,
I verbalize my thoughts. “You and Anton had a punch on didn’t you?”

“Anton and I had a conversation,” Jake corrects me almost instantly.

“A conversation in which your faces and fists were engaged?” I question as Pierre, now fully alert and starting to look a little desperate to get out of the truck pushes off my lap and moves towards the passenger door.

“You could say that,” Jake responds with a slightly amused sound
to his voice. “It’s a man thing, you wouldn’t understand.”

“Talking with your fists is not a man thing Jake. That’s a hulk thing.
Really?
You seriously punched Anton in the face, broke his nose and then came to an agreement?”

“You could say that,” Jake says as he loosens his hold on my shoulder and moves to open the driver’s door. “Pierre needs a walk. Let’s finish this conversation after the dog’s done its business. I’d prefer he didn’t do it in my Dad’s truck or on the garage floor, let’s move.”

Looking at the desperation in Pierre’s eyes, I nod my agreement. Jake climbs out of the truck and I’m about to slide across to the passenger side and get out when I find myself suddenly dragged sideways and lifted from the truck. Placed gently on the ground next to his side, Jake mutters, “Your sticking with me.”

Rolling my eyes at him I shake my head. “I think we’re safe in your garage Jake.”

“That’s not what I meant,” Jake responds softly as he reaches in and lifts out Pierre. Pierre excited at his impending departure from the truck has already moved across the seat to the driver’s side. His big brown eyes are looking expectantly at the ground from what must feel like the second story of a building to him.

Tucking Pierre neatly under one arm, Jake quickly wraps his other arm around me and guides me towards the door that joins the garage to the house. “I’ll take him out back and check in with Willy and Rabbit that all is well. Meet me in the kitchen, I won’t be long.”

“Ah, okay,” I agree softly as he we reach the door. “I’m going to make a coffee, you want one.”

“Nope, I’ll have another beer. I’ll grab some from the shed after I’ve walked Pierre,” he announces as he walks past me and starts heading for the laundry. “Oh and Ari,” he pauses to look back at me. “Glad you
r here.”