Dash and Dingo (17 page)

“Oh,” Henry said stiffly. “I see. Well hidden.”

Dingo smirked as he fastened his shirt up again.

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Show-off
, Henry thought, glowering. But all he said was, “Clues?”

“I left some other… misleading documents for him to find. Hopefully he’ll be on his way to the other end of Tassie as soon as we get there. Like Burnie.”

Henry was surprised by the flash of anger he felt briefly erupt within him. “Hodges isn’t stupid. He’s going to be watching us so he can follow us, even if he does take note of the false clues you’ve made.”

Dingo seemed disturbed by Henry’s vehement response and even a little upset. “Dash—”

“You have to stop thinking of this as a game. It’s not a game, this thing with Hodges. Not anymore.”

“It never was,” Dingo said grimly, lost in memory for a moment.

Henry watched him, expecting more to the story, but Dingo shook it off. The other man looked at him, seeming at a loss for words. Henry didn’t like it; he was used to Dingo being cocky and funny, being everybody’s best friend.

“Dingo—”

“He hurt you, and I’m sorry,” Dingo said softly.

“It wasn’t that bad, really—”

“I know you might think I don’t take him seriously. But I do. I just joke around because… well, it’s the only way I can treat it. I’ve seen him do a lot of bad things—”

“Bad things?” Henry breathed, not liking the sound of
that
. The small burn on his wrist throbbed, making him aware once more of its existence.

Dingo only nodded and didn’t elaborate. “Sometimes I’ve had to do bad things to stop him. I was stupid to think he wouldn’t go after you, to try and get to me.”

“But why would he think using me would get to you?”

Exasperated, Dingo threw his hands in the air. “Because he knows the last thing in the world I would want is for you to get hurt! Dad was right; you shouldn’t have come.”

For the second time that day, Henry felt assaulted. But this was even worse than Hodges’s molestation of him and even more painful than the burn of the cigarette. Dingo’s words were a heavier, more painful, brand. And this

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time against a far more sensitive part of his body, because it was across his heart.

“You don’t want me here?” Henry asked, having had to swallow

painfully in order to get the words out. “If you think I can’t keep up, I don’t have to get off the boat; I can go back to Melbourne.”

“I didn’t say
that
,” Dingo began.

“Land ahead!” boomed the captain, and the crew began clapping as another safe journey across the sea came to an end.

Henry turned away from Dingo, glad for the excuse. The far greener land of Tasmania, a marked difference to what he had seen of the rest of Australia, shimmered on the horizon. He could imagine it to be a part of England, if he were so inclined. He could feel Dingo behind him, and he wanted him to say something to defend himself or to take it back, but the other man didn’t speak.

“I’m going back to the cabin,” Henry said, turning back to face him.

“We’ll be disembarking soon. We should be packed.”

“Dash—”

Henry couldn’t give him the chance to say anything else; he had to get out of there
now
. As he got to the door, he heard Dingo speak once more.

“Henry, please—”

Even the use of his real name, spoken so plaintively, couldn’t stop him.

Henry pushed his way out through the door and made his way back to their cabin.

Henry wasn’t left to himself for very long; he was only beginning to pack up what few clothes had been left lying about when the door to their cabin opened and Dingo entered.

He didn’t try to speak, sensing that Henry wasn’t going to put up with any attempts at cajoling him. They worked in silence, packing and tidying up the small cabin together. It didn’t take them very long at all.

“How long are you planning on giving me the cold shoulder?” Dingo finally asked.

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Henry looked at him fully in the eye for the first time since they had left the bridge. “I don’t know; what do you think is an appropriate time?”

“I think time’s up,” Dingo said brusquely.

Henry shrugged and peered out the porthole. They were still only sliding into port; heaven knew how much longer this ship could take to berth.

“If you say so. After all, you’re in charge.”

“Dammit to hell!” Dingo clenched his fists against his sides. “This is a
partnership
, Dash.”

The word burned Henry like no other. He snorted derisively.

“What was that for?” Dingo demanded.

“Nothing.”

“It didn’t sound like nothing. It sounded like a whole lot of something.

What’s up your arse?”

Henry’s mouth dropped open, and he fumbled for words. What

eventually came out sounded stupid even to him. “You used your personal magnetism as a tool to get on the captain’s good side!”

Dingo hooted with laughter. “Personal magnetism? Listen to you!” He stopped laughing when he saw Henry’s expression.

“You use your personal magnetism to get on
everybody’s
side,” Henry grumbled.

“I also use it to get on
your
side,” Dingo replied in a low tone. “Fat lot of nothing it gets me.”

Henry opened his mouth to speak, but Dingo quickly continued.

“Do you stop using your brain out of fairness if you’re smarter than your adversary? You have to play the hand you’re dealt, Dash.”

“You don’t know how you—you—
affect
other people,” Henry blurted.

There was a moment of silence before Dingo asked, “Do you?” Before it got too uncomfortable once again, he added, “Does anyone? Look, have you finished packing? If you haven’t, I can do it for you.”

“It’s done. And I’m not a cripple, Dingo, it’s just a tiny burn,” Henry replied shortly, expecting Dingo to take the piss with him. Instead he looked up to find Dingo glancing at him with concern.

“I just hate what Hodges did to you,” Dingo said finally.

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With their eyes locked together, the burning sensation from his wrist seemed to flow throughout Henry’s body, centering on his groin. The way Dingo was staring at him, his eyes like glowing embers, ignited some deeply hidden source of courage in Henry, and damn it all, this time he
would
find out whether—

Without giving himself time to think or to talk himself out of his rash impulse, Henry charged across the cabin and pushed Dingo up against the wall. His first attempt was clumsy, and his kiss landed on the corner of Dingo’s mouth, but miraculously Dingo’s hands came up, clasping him around the waist, and Dingo was actually helping!

And then Henry melted under the heat of Dingo’s warm mouth, lips seeking his, hot tongue thrusting into his mouth, claiming him….

His knees went weak, but Henry pressed himself fully against Dingo, feeling an answering surge and a delicious hardness against his thigh.

Grinding mindlessly against Dingo, Henry lost all sense of where they were or what they were doing. Dingo’s mouth demanded everything from him; he sucked air urgently through his nose, his mind wanting very much to live to find out how this had happened while his body was on fire with sensation.

From the way Dingo was pressing against him, it seemed that he wanted this too.

“Dash…” Dingo said breathlessly, “I mean, Henry—”

“I like it when you call me Dash.”

“Dash—”

“Dingo, just be quiet for once and let me—”

Henry was dizzy with triumph and lust and something else as he reclaimed Dingo’s mouth for his own, and then he was just dizzy as with blinding speed, Dingo reversed their positions, using his weight and muscle as a welcome prison, pinning Henry against the wall.

Dingo’s eyes were alight with mischief, his lips shining and swollen as he gave a low laugh, but Henry didn’t feel as if he was being made fun of.

“Well, well, well, Dash, who’d have thought you’d have such a tiger in you?”

Henry felt absurdly proud of himself even as he started to mumble the usual apologies.

Dingo dropped a tiny kiss on his lips to shut him up. “Nothing to be sorry for, Dash.”

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Henry blundered into incoherent speech. “I never thought—I’m sorry—

It’s just that—I never—He said he couldn’t imagine why you—”

“
Who
said?” Dingo snapped, but he didn’t release his hold on Henry.

“Hodges—he said, I wasn’t good enough—not tough enough—that you and Hank made a mistake choosing me—”

“Christ, he knows
that
too?”

Dingo’s exclamation made Henry flinch, but he said, “He implied it, yes.”

“That explains a bit.”

Despite Dingo’s frown, Henry couldn’t help but enjoy the fact that Dingo had made no attempt to pull away, his arms still holding Henry close.

Rather, Dingo’s hips seemed be rotating against his in a most distracting way.

“What does it explain?”

“Why he’s always right in my shadow since my dad stopped coming over here. He tried it first with Gordon, trying to get in his good books, but Gordon had already been warned about him by my dad. I always thought there was a bit more to it than his obsession with seeing Tassie exterminated.

After all, the government has done its work all too well; it’s harder to find a thylacine alive in order to make an end of them than—”

Dingo stopped and shook his head. At the same time they felt the motors below their feet shudder into a lull. “We have to get off this boat. It’s my bet that Hodges will head straight for the zoo, expecting that I’ll be taking you there. We have to meet Jarrah, and then it’s off into the wilds for us, my lad.”

Henry tried to pull himself out of Dingo’s grasp and was disappointed when the other man released him instantly. Hating himself for how he knew this was going to sound, he asked, “Who is Jarrah?”

Dingo tossed him a grin as he bent to his own packing. “One of those fearsome Aborigines I was telling our fair Diana about. Of course, that’s the only thing about him that anyone ever takes notice of. And before you get your knickers in a twist, he’s a friend.”

Henry caught the bitter undertone beneath his first couple of sentences and wondered just how much this Jarrah meant to Dingo. And if he were handsome. “What do we need Jarrah for?”

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“We need someone to watch our backs, with Hodges on the trail. And nobody knows the bush as well as Jarrah,” Dingo said. “Get a move on, Dash.

We have to beat Hodges off the boat.”

“I’m not the one holding us up,” Henry snapped back. “Why don’t we hang back and let Hodges think he missed us?”

“Because he’ll likely search the boat, looking for us if he misses us on the gangplank,” Dingo explained with a chuckle. “And we’ll leave him a little clue to keep him busy. That way, we get away, meet with Jarrah—”

“And run straight off into the forest,” Henry said gloomily.

Dingo crossed the short distance back to him, and Henry found himself back in his arms.

“No,” Dingo said. “We’ll have one night.” Henry looked up. Dingo smiled. “We’ll have one night, before we make a trek for it.”

Wondering if Dingo meant what he thought and hoping it was so, Henry nodded and reluctantly let go of the man who now seemed to be his, in some way. “What sort of clue do you mean to leave for Hodges?” He congratulated himself on his steady voice. His hands were trembling at the thought of a whole night with Dingo, the anticipation of seeing Dingo naked, touching his skin…. He was surprised he was still on his feet rather than on his knees, thanking whatever savage deity who watched over queers for this chance.

“This.” Dingo held up what looked like a cloudy, rough piece of glass.

“An uncut diamond?” Henry gasped.

“No, it’s glass.” Dingo smirked. “But it’ll take him a bit of time to figure that out, and by then we should be ahead of him. I’m afraid it’ll be a race to
stay
ahead of him. You’re sure you’re up to—”

“I’m sure,” Henry said. He suddenly noticed the glazed intent look in Dingo’s eyes and nodded again. “I’m sure.”

Dingo seemed to turn away with an effort, his eyes sweeping over the cabin. He laughed and headed for his bed, which was bolted to the floor. A bit of the flooring was sticking up out of alignment with the other planks, and Dingo knelt to pry it up with his pocketknife, leaving a raw gouge near the end of the strip of wood.

“Are you sure he’ll find it there?” Henry asked dubiously.

“He’s so used to overestimating me, completely justifiably of course, that I shouldn’t like to make it too easy for him,” Dingo said, grinning. “Just

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difficult enough.” He replaced the splinter to rest in the gouge and grunted with satisfaction as he rose to his feet. “And if he doesn’t, we’ve lost nothing by trying. All set then?”

“Ready,” Henry said. He could feel his mouth spread wide with an answering grin.

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