Ridge Creek (28 page)

“Um… “Maybe?” I mumble against his lips as my tongue darts
out to seek entry into his mouth.

He opens for me and within seconds we are hot and heavy and
he has lowered himself against my chest.  Our tongues dance together and all
thoughts of gyms and whatever else it was we were talking about shoot out of my
head.

I hear him groan and he pulls away, letting go of my hands. 
“I don’t have time for this woman.  I need to get moving.”

I pop my lips at him and grumble.

How dare he wire me up and then back off!

“Luke and I need to hit the road straight after our
workouts.  We’ve got wind and solar to install and it’s nearly five hours
away.  We’ll be staying overnight.  If all goes well, I’ll see you late
tomorrow night.”

Disappointed that he is going to leave me hanging, I stare
up at him not saying a word.

He grins at me, “You’ll live,” he announces as he leans down
to give me a quick good-bye peck on the lips.  Then without further hesitation
he pushes up from the bed and heads for the door.  Without looking back he
closes the door behind him and I am thrown back into complete darkness.

“Bye.” I whisper into the dark. 

I think I’m gunna miss him.

Damn.

*****

"Get the fuck up woman!”

Goddamn it.

“What time is it?” I open my eyes and mumble against my
pillow again as I hear Emma drawing the curtains and light spills into the
room.

“Nine thirty.  We’ve got work piling up all over the fucking
place so move your ass.”

“Yeah, yeah,” I groan as I swing myself up and plant my feet
on the floor. 

“You’re on the wireframes for Luke’s website, I’ve got two
ID’s to do so I’m gunna be flat out and can’t help you.  There’s also more
unpacking to do out front that seems to be a priority considering they’ve
already had
five
customers walk through the front door since nine. 
Seeing shit on shelves has started a customer stampede.”

Wow.

I don’t think I’ve seen five customers out in the shop front
the entire time I’ve been here.  This is good.  “Holy shit,” I announce as I
rub sleep from my eyes. 

“Holy shit alright.  The goon sitting at the front desk got
the shock of his life when he had to deal with people lining up at the counter
and he almost fucking lost it.  I reckon the dumb fuck was about to tell the
people waiting to get the fuck out of the shop because he was too busy.   Lucky
I heard him growling and went out to help.  I reckon the boys need to get
someone with real skills out there.   This won’t work with their goon friend
snarling at prospective customers.”

“Fuck,” I mutter again as I absorb what’s she telling me. 
It had not even occurred to me that guy out the front didn’t know how to deal
with multiple customers at the same time.  “I’ll talk to Jake when he gets
back.”

“Good.  Here.  Catch.”  I turn just in time to see fresh
jeans, a shirt and underwear flying through the air at me.  “I’ll be working
from one of the tables in the communal room so I can listen in on the shopfront
goon and helping out if he flusters again.  You’re gunna have to take over.  I
need privacy to do what I do.”

“Sure,” I agree as I push to my feet ready to head for the
bathroom.  “Fifteen minutes.  Tops.”  She nods as she disappears through the
doorway.  “Now that’s a woman on a mission,” I mutter to myself as I move to
follow her.

*****

The next two days move through in a blur.  Flat to the
boards, Emma and I barely speak to each other as we become fully absorbed in
our separate tasks.  Emma spends hours in her room, doing what she does and I
alternate between different tasks as needed.  Working on my laptop at a table
in the communal room, I break up my day by spending some time unpacking boxes and
stacking shelves.  I also help the man out the front when he gets busy. 

Having found out that his name is Reggie, I am now as
convinced as Emma that we need a skilled shop assistant for the front of the
store.  Reggie, although not the sharpest tool in the shed, seemingly got the
job out front because he knows the most about the ‘shit’ Jake sells.  And I
have to agree he does.  When it comes to the items that are for sale, he knows
all about the bike parts and the bits and bobs that are now on display on the
shelves.  The look of pure bliss on his face as he explains Harley products to
customers is a sight to behold.  He just doesn’t cope with the pressure of
totaling multiple sales, managing complex transactions and wrapping products
when under any pressure.  Considering he also told me that most days of the
week, not a soul normally walks through the front doors of the shop I can see
why he is struggling.

We need someone else out the front to work with Reggie so he
can sell the products while someone else rings them up.

It’s now late Wednesday night and I’m sitting on Emma’s bed
while she keeps tapping away madly at her computer.  “How are you going?  Can I
help?” I ask.

“I wish you could, but not yet.  I need to show you some
shit first and I just don’t have time right now.  I think I’ve just about got
these two cracked but there have been a couple of issues that slowed me down.”

“I got the wireframes finished,” I announce thoughtfully as
I study her working furiously at her desk.

“Cool,” she replies without moving her eyes from the
screen.  She looks like a woman possessed.  Her fingers moving over the keys on
her keyboard at the speed of light. 

“Are you gunna take a break?” I ask as a sneaking suspicion
that she hasn’t eaten all day crosses my mind.

“Nope.  People pay me to do this shit quickly.  That’s why I
charge so much.”

I look at the floor next to her and notice five empty cans
of Red Bull strewn haphazardly.   Jambo is wandering among the cans flicking
them with his beak and rolling them over.   He seems oblivious to either me or
Emma as he focuses his full attention on the shiny items he has gathered on the
floor.

“Have you eaten?”

“Nope,” she mumbles as her fingers continue to fly over the
keys.

“Jesus,” I murmur and push from the bed.  “I’ll go make you
something to eat.”

“Thanks,” she says as I leave the room.  I doubt she even
realizes I have left.

Returning a short time later with a huge ham and salad roll,
I place it gently on the desk next to her mouse.  She flashes me a grateful
look, picks it up, takes an enormous bite and then returns to tapping madly on
her keyboard.  I smell the hot smell of a printer working hard nearby and look
to see she has a small table set up to her left that now has several new ID’s
sitting with two different men’s faces on them.   My mind briefly registers
that one of them looks vaguely familiar and within a few moments I realize who
one of them is.  “That guy was on last nights ‘Australia’s Most Wanted.’”

“Yep,” she grunts between chews as she grabs her mouse and
clicks something on the screen.  She spreads an image wide and drops it onto a
driver’s license.

“Holy shit,” I mumble as I stare at the guy’s picture.

“Don’t ask questions.  Just do the job and move on.  You can
probably understand why he wants this done quick now, yeah?  I guess he needs
to be out of the country as soon as possible.”

“Yeah, I guess you’re right.” I nod my understanding.  “No
questions it is.”

“Hate to be rude, but I need to concentrate,” Emma mumbles
as she grabs her roll and takes another huge bite.

“Gotcha,” I reply as I turn to head for the door.  “Jake’s
supposed to be back tonight so I might just go start on his new ordering system
and wait for him in my room.”

“Sounds like a good plan,” she flicks me a glance and grins
quickly before her eyes return to the screen.

Sighing, I head back to my room, set myself up at my laptop
and without a second thought, start pouring code onto the screen.

*****

“Babe, I don’t think your awake but I’m gunna ask again. 
How do I save this shit for you?” I hear Jake murmur against my ear. 

“Save’s automatically,” I mumble against my arm where my
head fell sometime after one o’clock in the morning.  I had been too exhausted
to move to the bed.

“I hope for your sake you’re not dreaming because that shit
looks fuckin’ crazy.  Something as fucked up on screen as that can’t be easy to
do and I doubt your gunna wanna lose it.”

“It’s code.  What time is it?” I mumble again as I feel
myself hoisted from my seat and thrown against Jake’s warm, insanely good smelling
chest.

“Four in the morning.”

“Late.”

“Yeah babe, late.” Jakes voice rumbles in his chest against
my head.

Barely able to remain conscious, I feel Jake lower me to the
bed.  He flicks my thongs off my feet, slides my jeans off and then covers me with
the doona.  Burying my head into my pillow I mumble, “Thanks.”

Vaguely aware of the sounds of Jakes boots hitting the
floor, I fall asleep for a few seconds.  I know this because the next thing I
feel is Jake tucking me under his arm as his warm lips kiss my forehead.  My
mind registers the tiny time warp as it starts to drift back to sleep.

 “Night babe,” he murmurs.

“Night Jake,” I mumble back.

“Missed you,” he murmurs settling his head back on his own
pillow, sighing. 

My mind registers his words.

He missed me?
 
That’s cool.

I slide back to sleep with a smile on my lips.

*****

I hear my mobile phone ringing somewhere nearby.

Groggy, I sit up and look around the room confused.  Jake’s
voice growls next to me.

“There a reason you’re ringing my woman at eight in the
fuckin’ morning when you should be sleeping to make up for the two fucked up
days we just spent together?”

Shocked, I frown at Jake and try to grab for my phone. 
Capturing my hand with his, he stops me.  I hear mumbling coming from the phone. 
“And you think she couldn’t work that out considering what time I crawled into
bed with her?”

I hear more mumbling on the phone and Jake says, “I know
your fuckin’ game Luke and there’s no point trying to impress her.  It won’t
get you anywhere.  I’m not planning on fucking this up.  She won’t be looking
for the next contestant while I’m still breathin’.  Go back to bed.”

I hear more mumbling and Jake says, “Fuck you too.” Then he
pushes end on the screen.

Handing me my phone he announces, “Luke’s gunna be late. 
Probably after lunch.  Go back to sleep.”

Blinking in shock at how rude he just was to his friend, I
ask, “Do you always speak to your friends like that?”

“Not always,” he mutters as he reaches out to grab me and
settles me back under his arm again.  My face presses to his chest.  He sighs
before continuing, “I do when they’re being fuckin’ stupid though.”

“What makes you think he’s being stupid?  Wasn’t he just
ringing to arrange our road trip to photograph setups today?” I ask innocently,
wondering why Jake had to be such an asshole to him.  My guess, today he’s not
a morning person.

“I
know
he’s being fuckin’ stupid by the fact the
dumb fuck set his alarm to wake himself up and ring you at eight in the fuckin’
morning.  He did that because he was planning to drive you around with his eyes
hanging out of his fuckin’ head.  Doing that he was putting you both at risk.
Neither of us have slept since we left here yesterday morning and he’s more
concerned about keeping you happy than he is about his own welfare.  And even
worse, if he fell asleep at the wheel, yours.”

Understanding Jake’s logic, I nod and turn my head to kiss
his chest softly.  “You love him don’t you?”

“Like a brother.”

*****

“Please…” I beg unashamedly.

“No.”

“Why not?”

“You don’t need to.  That’s not why we are here,” Luke says
flashing me an annoyed look.  “Take your photographs of the panels, turbine and
the batteries and we are out of here.”

Bastard.

He won’t budge.  I want to look
inside
the house and
see the hydroponic setup.    Who wouldn’t?  I’m sure it’s a sight to see. 
Lines of lines of marijuana plants all growing happily.  I can imagine it
smells pretty strong too.  Instead Luke is insisting I don’t need to go in
there.

I wonder why?

“Why not?” I ask batting my eyelids at him.

“Don’t bat your fuckin’ eyes at me woman, I said no.” He
growls as he grabs me by the elbow and drags me away from the house and towards
a small shed.  “Battery setup is in here.”

“But Luke…” I plead as I try to shake his hand off my
elbow.  “I wanna see.”

“You don’t need to fuckin’ see,” he growls again.  “Haven’t
you ever heard of plausible deniability?”

Rolling my eyes I stumble along next to him as he drags me
towards the battery shed.  “Of course I’ve heard of plausible deniability but I
don’t care.  I want to see them.  Pleeease.”

Stopping in front of the shed, he lets go of me elbow to
start fiddling with a set of keys in his hand.  Finding the right key, he opens
a huge padlock on the shed door and swings the door open.  “Take photo,” he
mutters as he steps back and pushes me forward through the door.  “And shut
up.  If you don’t, I’m locking you in here and calling Jake to come let you
out.  Considering we are two hours from home, it could be a long hot afternoon
for you stuck in a battery shed.”

“You will
not
do that,” I grumble as I lift my camera
to my eyes and start focusing the lens.  The batteries are
huge.
  Lined
up in four banks of six batteries, each battery is about four times the size of
a normal car battery.    To one side of the room, two large boxes are hanging
on the wall with lights flashing and they are whirring loudly.