The Outback Heart (17 page)

Indi squeezed in between Jenny, disguised as Fiona from
Shrek
and Phil who was dressed as the Fonz from
Happy Days.
She ordered a beer. ‘Hey guys,’ she said, clicking her beer with theirs. ‘What the heck is Lucky supposed to be?’ she asked.

Jenny laughed. ‘He’s come as Frodo from
The Lord of the Rings
. Can’t you tell by the hairy feet?’

‘Oh.’ Indi gaped at the mass of hair stuck to his feet. She didn’t even want to know where he had got that.

‘I hope he didn’t use super glue, but knowing Lucky he probably did,’ said Jenny. Phil had taken a sip of his beer and found you couldn’t laugh at the same time: beer dribbled out from his nose as he coughed. ‘You’re a shocker, love. Can’t take you anywhere,’ said Jenny, as she pulled a tissue from her bra and handed to him.

Indi turned as she heard her name. Jaffa and Tegan were making their way across the room.

Tegan looked amazing as a fallen angel. Black knee-high boots, fishnet stockings, tiny black shorts and tank top with wings attached. She guessed Jaffa had won the costume debate. Tegan must have worked on the wings for hours. It was a wire frame with hundred of black ribbons attached that fluttered like feathers.

‘You look amazing,’ said Indi, hugging her without crushing her wings. Tegan’s make-up was dark and sexy. She wondered if Jaffa had requested that too.

‘Who are you, Jaffa?’ Indi asked as she tugged on the end of his blue suit. He had a big buckle on his belt and a plastic gun wedged down his pants.

‘I’m an FBI agent. Seeley Booth.’ He went to strike a pose, pulling out the gun, but it caught on his shirt and fell to the ground.

‘Some agent. You just shot me in the foot,’ Indi said with a smirk.

Tegan joined Indi while Jaffa went in search of his mates. Indi spotted Troy in the back corner with Huey, Spud and Patrick. Pat was covered from head to toe in wet weather gear – it was bright yellow and he had the hood up. She didn’t even want to guess what he’d come as. Her eyes moved to Troy. He was dressed normally – well, normal for training. He had his shorts on, team jacket and whistle around his neck. Indi was guessing he’d come as a footy coach. Very original. She smiled and at that moment, Troy looked up. He stared at her, then glanced at her costume before a sad smile settled on his face. Troy just didn’t make any sense to her.

The guitarist started to play and everyone turned to watch him. Indi and Tegan found a chair next to Pauline, Spud’s mum, and shouted a hello.

Three hours later, Indi had pulled all the bobby pins from her hair. Red flecks of paint fell away as her hair dropped down. But it wasn’t just her costume that was deteriorating. Frodo’s foot hair was finding its way around the crowd, in drinks, on shoulders, in ears – it was sprouting everywhere.

‘My shout, isn’t it?’ Indi asked, standing. One of her socks had dropped down. She made her way to the bar, first pushing past Limp who refused to move as he was enjoying her efforts to squeeze past.

Indi was laughing as she glanced around to see who she’d pressed into on the other side. She stumbled when she realised it was Troy, more from the shock and the look on his face. His hand went to her waist to steady her and he grimaced, closed his eyes and asked if she was all right.

‘Yeah, sorry. It’s my shout,’ she said, feeling silly. ‘I like your costume. Very original.’

His lip twitched, almost a smile. ‘So is yours. Is this why you picked F? You had Freddie in mind the whole time?’

‘No, actually I hadn’t even thought about it until Tegan suggested it.’

His face slowly broke into a smile. He was downright sexy like that. She shivered again and noticed his jaw tense. ‘Hey, I have to head to Perth next Sunday and I was wondering if you’d come with me?’

Indi’s mouth dropped. ‘What? Why?’ He’d really caught her out.

‘I want to show you something. I’ve been thinking about it for a while now and I wouldn’t be a good coach if I didn’t take it upon myself to extend my assistant coach.’

He had her totally confused. ‘Well, what is it? I have no idea what you’re trying to say.’

He laughed. ‘That’s my plan. It’s a surprise. So, will you come?’

‘Yeah, why not?’ She was beaming. It was perfect – time alone with Troy.

‘Good. Trust me, you’ll like it.’ He smiled again and she was lost in his perfect white teeth and full lips. She wasn’t sure how much time had passed, but it felt like ages. Indi was aware of her heartbeat, she was aware that her arm was almost touching his, she was aware of Troy’s gaze, she was aware of how he filled her with desire.

Troy usually kept it so cool but right now he wasn’t cool at all. In fact, if he kept looking at her like that they’d be told to get a room.

Without realising it her hand moved towards him, her fingers brushing against his skin, and he jumped. She may as well have thrown a bucket of iced water on him. His eyes shot wide with fear and without a word he turned and pushed his way out of the thick crowd. The thud of her heartbeat still echoed in her ears as she watched him head straight outside. She closed her eyes, trying to focus before turning and getting the girls’ drinks.

‘I was starting to think you got sucked into the abyss at the bar,’ said Tegan.

‘Almost,’ she managed to squeak out. Her cheeks felt flushed and her body was still zinging. Damn him for always running. Indi put down the drinks she was carrying but didn’t take her seat. ‘I’ll be back in a minute.’

She’d made up her mind. She wasn’t letting him run any more.

TROY
put his arms against the rough brick wall of the clubhouse and rested his head on them, his breathing shaky, his head foggy. He was screaming obscenities in his mind. He was angry, so angry with himself – and frustrated. Indi had almost caused him to flip his switch. The cold air was helping, as he hid around the corner of the verandah, away from the main lights.

‘Troy.’

His breath caught in his throat.
No, not Indi,
he thought. He couldn’t deal with her now. He needed time to recover, to get a grip. ‘What do you want, Indi?’ He sounded a little gruff, but he couldn’t help it.

‘Are you okay?’

The concern in her voice made him turn around. ‘I’m fine, just needed some air. Bit stuffy inside. Was feeling dizzy.’ He leaned his back against the wall, hoping she would leave soon. Instead she stepped towards him. He was frozen as he watched the space between them disappear until she was so close he could see the curve of her lips.

‘What are you doing?’ he managed to ask as her hand reached up to his chest. She pressed it against him, heat spreading from her fingers. His heart was thumping hard as if it were pushing iron around his body not blood. For a second he wondered if he’d go into heart failure, again.

‘I’m sick of beating around the bush,’ she murmured.

Indi didn’t give him time to respond. She pulled at his shirt, her eyes on his lips. He watched her coming, should have pushed her back, should have said ‘no’, but he’d lost the use of his voice and his limbs. He was a crash test dummy.

Her soft lips, pink and plump, pressed against his. He’d tried so hard not to think about them every night before sleep. Now he was living his fantasy. To say he’d lost his head was an understatement. She did things to him, things that even he didn’t want to admit to himself. He grew rigid with desire as she crushed her body against his. The weight of her breasts against his chest was a pleasure beyond anything he’d imagined. He heard himself groan. His hand, which seemed to be functioning on its own, buried deep into her hair, the other one snaked around her waist, pulling her closer. Indi opened her mouth, her tongue flicking lightly across his lips. He wanted her so badly. He needed to taste her. Within seconds he was exploring her mouth, her lips, their tongues intertwined. He was so hard and when she pushed herself against him he was ready to strip her naked and take her right there against the wall. Feverishly he kissed her, making up for the last few painful months of being beside Indi and not able to touch her.

He flexed his hand, grabbing a handful of her firm backside as she broke away to kiss his neck. Her panting in his ear drove him insane. He’d completely lost all his strength and resolve, but right at that moment he didn’t care. He’d given up so much – for once he wanted to give in, to be selfish, just for now. He could almost hear the devil on his shoulder laughing with glee.

‘Out here, now!’ The angry words caused them to jump apart, their ragged breaths sucking in much-needed oxygen. Indi had her hand on her mouth. Troy tried to adjust his jeans while they watched two guys appear in the light in front of them.

‘Jasper, come on – it was a harmless comment. I was only joking,’ came Jaffa’s voice.

‘I don’t think you were. This is a reminder not to treat women that way.’
Thump.

Troy watched in a daze as Jasper threw a punch at Jaffa. A second later Tegan come running out. Troy realised that Indi had run over to Jasper, maybe to stop him in case he went for another punch.

‘What are you doing?’ she hissed.

Troy’s haze was starting to clear, his blood was beginning to pump normally, and the world was making sense again. Being interrupted was a good thing, a wake-up call.

‘I’m doing what you said: I’m taking it outside.’ Jasper turned back to Jaffa. ‘I don’t want to hear you speaking like that about Tegan or any other woman, you understand me? It’s not on, ever.’

Tegan reached down to help Jaffa up but he slapped her hand away. ‘Leave me alone,’ he growled. ‘This is your fault. Probably screwing Jasper behind my back, aren’t ya?’

Jasper shot out his hand and pushed Jaffa over as he was getting up, the man’s strong frame hitting the lawn once again. ‘No, she’s not. If you knew Tegan you’d know that would never happen. And it’s your fault you’re on the ground, not hers. You sort yourself out, Jaffa, because I’ll be watching you. Now, go home and sleep it off.’ Jasper stepped back, still ginger on his bad ankle, while he let Jaffa stand up.

Jaffa glanced at Tegan, then at Jasper and Indi. He spotted Troy before he turned, hand on his cheek, and headed away from the club.

‘You okay, Teegs?’ asked Jasper. Her hand was over her mouth and her head twitched in an almost imperceptible nod. ‘I’m sorry, but he was way out of line,’ said Jasper. He turned and headed back inside, shaking his sore hand.

‘Tegan,’ said Indi, stepping towards her. ‘Let’s go sit down.’ With her arms around Tegan she glanced back at Troy. He could see the desire still clear in her eyes.

Now Troy was alone in the dark, and in no mood to go back inside. He was too angry with himself for his lack of control and it was made worse by the fact he still ached for Indi.

He let himself remember the feel of Indi, her firm body against his, her taste. When he closed his eyes and breathed in, he could smell her. He was not going to be able to sleep tonight.

Troy walked away from the clubhouse and headed for the goalpost. He didn’t want to go home to his empty house but he didn’t want to go back into the party either. He stayed, leaning against the post until his body shivered from the cold but he took it, enjoyed it, a form of punishment. A group of guys came out of the club, stripped naked and began to race around the oval. Troy took this as his cue to leave.

Back home he’d just stripped off his shirt when there was a knock at the door. Troy’s hand paused over the door handle. He hoped it wasn’t Indi. He decided to pretend he wasn’t home.

‘Troy, are you home?’ The voice that muffled through the door wasn’t Indi’s. Breathing a sigh of relief, he turned the handle.

An attractive redhead, still in her costume, stood with her hand seductively on her hip. Grace smiled. ‘Hello, gorgeous, I’ve come to turn down your bed.’ She stepped past him and swung the door shut.

Troy was worried that Indi would drop by his house the next day, but when he ran into Jasper on Sunday at the roadhouse he found out she was working. Troy was relieved. He didn’t want her to come around to try and talk about the kiss.

‘What was all that with Jaffa last night?’ Troy asked. They stood out the front near the fuel bowsers watching the sun come up over the rock. Galahs squawked in the crisp morning air as Troy pulled his beanie further down on his head.

Jasper shrugged as he shook his carton of iced coffee. ‘We don’t see eye to eye on some things concerning Tegan. Don’t worry, I’m hoping he’ll get his act together.’ Jasper didn’t look impressed at all. Troy knew Tegan had been spending lots of time with him and he could tell he cared for her a lot. Troy felt the same way about Indi, which was why he needed to explain last night. She needed to know it wouldn’t happen again, couldn’t happen again.

‘Bit like that, hey. It’s not going to spill out onto the footy field, is it?’ Troy asked.

Jasper smiled. ‘If I accidently crash into him, it won’t be planned . . . much,’ he added with a smirk. ‘Nah, I’ll be good, if it means I can get back onto the team by finals.’

‘So that’s a possibility? You playing, I mean, not you being well behaved on the field.’ It was Troy’s turn to smirk.

‘Yeah, well, I think I’ll be right to start light training in a few weeks.’

‘Great. We need you.’

They said goodbye and Troy wondered if the reason he liked Jasper so much was because he reminded him of Indi. They laughed the same, their faces crinkling in the same spots when they smiled, and they did the same little jig with their shoulders when they shrugged.

Troy got a text later that night from Indi. Just seeing her name come up on his phone scared him.
We need to talk.

It took him half an hour to work out what to reply.
I’ll see you at training next week. We’ll talk then.
Troy figured she deserved to be let down face to face, and by doing it at training with a group of guys around, things couldn’t get out of hand.

As the days went by, Troy grew more nervous. Before he headed off to training on Thursday, he pulled out the photo of Peta, to give him strength. She was always in his thoughts. But that strength died when he saw Indi, who looked so incredibly happy to see him. He couldn’t have felt worse.

‘Hi,’ she said, as she got the footballs ready.

‘Afternoon,’ he replied. The shearing boys were just behind Indi and Troy was relieved that they weren’t alone.

After he got the guys warmed up they started on their drills. Indi was wearing his birthday gift around her neck with pride, although she only used it when necessary. At first she’d blown the whistle when Spud wasn’t doing his push-ups all the way to the ground, when Limp was lagging in the sprints and when Patrick had missed an easy kick at goals. She’d had her fun on that first night but knew not to push it after that. Now she stepped back to Troy’s side, maintaining a safe enough distance between them.

‘So,’ she said, shooting him a hesitant smile.

He had to cut her off before she got too excited. ‘Look, Indi. I’m sorry,’ he began. Her face fell and he felt winded. ‘I’m not ready for a relationship.’ He never would be.

‘But . . . it was . . . it was great. I know I wasn’t the only one feeling it,’ she said, facing the training team.

He could tell it was taking a lot for her to speak up, to put herself out there for him. He closed his eyes and breathed slowly. How could he make her understand?

‘Indi, I can’t do serious. You know me – I don’t even like doing close friends. There’s a reason for that. I don’t want strings when I move on from here.’

‘Then don’t move,’ she said. Her cute little nose scrunched when she frowned.

Troy focused on watching Killer and Kiwi One handballing to each other. ‘It’s not that simple, Indi. I don’t want to lead you on. You and me, it’s not going to happen. I’m sorry.’ Troy walked towards his team, but each step away from Indi was like jumping on a thousand tacks.

It took all his effort not to look back, and he only did so when he heard a door slam and a vehicle start. For the first time ever, Indi left training early.

*

Indi wasn’t at their game on Saturday either and they nearly won. Apparently she had to work. He was relieved, even though the game wasn’t as much fun without her. He didn’t hang around for long afterwards either. He drove straight home. They were supposed to be going to Perth together tomorrow, but now she probably didn’t want to be near him.

He pulled up in his driveway. The sun had set and the last of the light was fading from the sky. Just as he shut his door he heard an over-revved motor. He turned to see Indi’s ute pull in behind his. Maybe she’d come to tell him that tomorrow was off?

She slammed her door and stomped towards him in her work clothes. He felt the force of her anger blow like an incoming storm. Indi stopped, just about toe to toe with him. He could see she was hurting and in that instant he knew what it was about. Small towns were like that.

‘You didn’t want me, but you were happy to sleep with Grace?’ she said, spitting the words out. ‘If you preferred her, why didn’t you just say so? That I can understand.’ Her brow creased but she was still gorgeous to him.

‘Did Grace tell you that?’ he asked softly.

‘No, I had to hear it from Tegan, who heard it from Belinda, who got it from her mum, who got it from Mrs Bateson, who saw Grace leaving your house in her creased maid’s outfit the morning after the party. After we . . .’ Her words faltered. She took a breath. ‘After that you took her home?’ Indi balled her hands up into fists beside her legs.

‘No, it wasn’t like that, Indi. She turned up at my house.’ He hoped she wasn’t going to take a swing at him because he was sure she could pack a punch.

Indi sucked in a breath ‘I just wish you would have been honest. I thought as a friend I at least deserved the truth,’ she said, with more control now.

A few silent seconds ticked by before he spoke. ‘You want the truth?’ he asked. She nodded, her eyes hard in the last of the light. ‘Meet me here at seven tomorrow and we’ll go to Perth as planned. You’ll get some answers.’ He couldn’t tell her all of his secrets but he was willing to share his story of Peta. Indi deserved to know that part of his life at least. He owed her that much. He hated watching her suffer, even worse to know he was causing it.

Indi was watching him, as if deciding whether she could sit in a car with him for that long. But he knew she wanted answers. It was eating her up not knowing him.

‘Seven tomorrow.’ He turned and walked back to his house, leaving her standing by his ute.