Ridge Creek (30 page)

“You had better not be driving Arianna around stoned Luke
Reid or I’m gunna rip your nuts off and shove them down your throat.”

“I’m not fuckin’ stoned Jake.  I haven’t touched the shit. 
I’m not stupid enough to risk driving her around ripped out of my skull.”

“You sure about that?  Even if you’re not, why the fuck is
she?  I might still flatten your arse when you get back anyway.  What the fuck
happened?”

Luke slashes another venomous look at me and I shrug
nonchalantly. 

Jake sure is pissed.  I, myself, can’t see the problem.  So
Luke rolled me a doob and I smoked it.  It sure did knock the worries right out
of my head and make me feel
great.

Shoveling another heaped spoonful creamy joy into my mouth,
I moan again.  Loudly.

“Why.  The.  Fuck.  Is she moaning?”

Luke leans across and snatches the tub from hand.  I snarl
and snap.  “Give that back!”

Ignoring me, he leans across further and flings the tub with
the tiny white plastic spoon out the window.  “She was eating,” Luke enlightens
Jake as he rocks back into his seat.

As I stare openmouthed out the window where my tub of
deliciousness exited, I growl.  “Why’d you do that?”

“Because that shits too fuckin’ weird and you’ve eaten
enough of it.  You’re gunna make yourself sick,” Luke replies settling his
hands back on the wheel looking pleased with himself.

“It was delicious,” I pout and huff as I throw myself back
against the car seat.  “Jake, Luke’s being mean to me,” I grumble.

“What the fuck were you eating?” Jake asks sounding more
curious than pissed.

“Deliciousness,” I reply despondently.

“And what the hell is deliciousness?” Jake asks again,
sounding impatient but curious.

“A tub of low fat cottage cheese with a whole jar of fuckin’
hot jalapeno’s dumped in and mixed all together,” Luke butts in.  “She’s gunna
be shittin’ fire for a week.”

“Jesus Christ,” Jake mutters under his breath as I scowl
unhappily at Luke.

“I will
not
be shitting fire,” I announce haughtily,
“I grew up on jalapeno’s, they are very healthy.  Packed with Vitamins A and
C.  They are a thermogenic food and they have anti-inflammatory properties. 
They keep me skinny and make me feel
good.
”

“Jesus Christ,” Jake mutters again, the sound rumbling
through the speakers of Emma’s car.  “You didn’t answer me first question Luke,
why did you let her smoke in the first place?”

Luke looks at me and sighs.  My eyes widen as I realize he’s
about to rat on me.  Throwing my hand up I start shaking my head and mouth,
“No,” over and again.

“You should have thought of this when you decided not to
stay quiet my rat assed little friend,” Luke whispers sadly at me before
raising his voice again.  “Because she was crying brother.”

I throw Luke a miserable look and let my hand fall to my
lap. 

Why did he have to tell him that?

The wind leaves my sails and my mood dives to the depths of
depression.  Like a second tidal wave, feelings of grief flood me and tears
prickle at my eyes.  I stare out the window next to me, refusing to look at
Luke.  Traitorous bastard that he is.

How could he?

Sounding concerned, Jake’s voice echoes through the speakers
again, “Why was she crying?”

Luke sighs heavily before replying.  “My guess.  That shit
Emma told us about.  PTSD.”

“Shit,” Jake murmurs softly. 

“Yeah,” Luke replies flatly. “I didn’t know how else to deal
with it.”

“I’m hearing you.  Just get her home.  I’ll talk to her. 
See you both in half an hour.” 

The call disconnects and the soft sounds of Luke’s ITunes
start playing over the speakers again.  I continue to maintain my stare out the
window.

“I’m sorry girl.  He needed to know.”

With tears trickling silently down my cheeks I continue to
stare out the window as I mumble, “Yeah I know.  Embarrassed.  Much.”

“Fuck.  Don’t be embarrassed  I’m a friend.  Just promise me
you’ll talk to Emma or Jake about whatever it is that’s upsetting you so you
can move on.  I much prefer happy Ari.  Sad Ari scares the living shit outta
me.”

Swinging my eyes to face him, he looks sad. 

Crap.

This is
not
his fault.  Again, I brought this on
myself and he’s been nothing but kind to me.  “Sorry,” I mumble again as I
mentally scold myself further.  Pulling my feet back in the window and settling
them on the floor, we continue to drive in silence.  I listen to the hum of the
engine and the songs playing softly on the car speakers.  Zoning out, I slide
further down into my seat to relax while I turn my head sideways to watch Luke
as he drives.

Even with a sad look on his face, he is still stunningly
gorgeous.  Most women’s wet dream in fact.  With his Chris Hemsworth look going
on and those goddamned dimples when he smiles, he’s nothing short of sinful
joy.  He’s almost a freak of nature he’s that good-looking.  Without giving it
much thought I ask, “Why don’t you have a girlfriend or wife?”

Luke tenses for a moment and I watch as his brows knit
fleetingly before he relaxes to continue driving in silence.  Seemingly he does
not want to answer that question.  Not one to give up so easily, I continue. 
“You’re a great guy, AAA looks, great personality.  Such an amazing package I’m
nothing short of mystified you’re not hooked up with some stunning girl.”

I watch as a dimple pops and his eyebrow lifts.

“AAA?”

“Uh huh.  AAA,” I announce as I chew at my lip thoughtfully,
waiting for him to say something more.   In vain.  Keeping his eyes on the
road, he continues to ignore my question.  It is not until a few minutes have
passed that I realize he is
really
not going to answer me.

Okay then.

Bored with the lack of stimulating conversation and
hypnotized by the hum of the car engine, I allow the soft sounds of Luke’s
music to lull me.  My eyelids start drooping.  Yawning deeply, I feel myself
dropping into the abyss of sleep.  As I hover at the edge, my mind slowly
whirring to a standstill, I finally hear Luke’s soft whisper.  “I think I was
waiting for someone just like you.”

Fuck.

*****

I slowly drift back to consciousness at the sound of the car
gearing down.  The indicator signal clicks an annoying beat in my brain.  I
realize that my head is leaning on something soft against the passenger side
door and that I’ve turned over in my sleep.

Opening my eyes slowly, I yawn and stretch as I curl my neck
to inspect the cushion.  I smile as I realize it’s Luke’s shirt. 

He’s such a good guy.

With alarming speed, my body pings to life at the
realization that Luke is now shirtless and sitting
right next to me.
 I
battle with myself whether to take a peek.  It feels wrong to take advantage
and ogle the poor man when he has clearly done a nice thing for me, but really,
with looks like that didn’t God put him on this Earth for women to ogle? 

I bet he looks just as good without a shirt on as he does
with one on.

I hesitate briefly before turning my head.  As I do so, a
deep, familiar voice rumbles next to me. 

“Nice nap?”

Jake?

Confused, I knit my brows and stare at him.  I must have
fallen
asleep,
asleep. Wow.  I didn’t even wake up when they changed
drivers.  Which in itself is scary, because
why
did they change
drivers?  Jakes lips twitch almost imperceptibly and his eyebrow piercing
jiggles.  I can see his amusement.  “We even had a discussion about whether you
were in a dope coma.  Luke figured not because you kept scratching your arse.”

Huh?

My eyes widen even further as I stare at him horrified. 
“What?” I squeal. 

I’ve been scratching my butt in my sleep?

“Oh my God,” I whisper as a hot trail of fire burns across
my cheeks.  Jake’s lip twitch turns to a wicked smirk as his eyes return to the
road ahead.  Slamming  Emma’s car through the gears, we roar along a skinny
back road in the middle of nowhere. 

As he drives, I marvel that he has managed to jam himself
into the driver’s seat of Emma’s tiny car.  His huge shoulders are hanging off
each side of the seat and he has pushed the seat as far back as it will go on
its tracks.  He’s also rolled the backrest back to the point where it looks
more like he is lying down than sitting up to drive.  We drive in silence for a
while before Jake’s low, deep, growl rumbles through the air again.

“Not a big fan of finding out you got stoned while in the
company of another man.  Even less of a fan when I discover that same man
driving you around without his shirt on.”

Clearly he is no longer amused.

Woops on the first count and
not my fault
on the
second.  “Nothing happened!” I roll my eyes at him and swing my attention to
the road as I try to work out where we are going.  An almost impossible task
when I’m in a strange town in a strange State.  Add to that, the only roads I
know around this town are the main ones entering and leaving it and I may as
well be lost in space.  “Where are we going?”

“My house.”

Cool.  But I wonder why?  I’ve known for some time that Jake
has his own house but so far, he’s never mentioned it.  It seems strange that
suddenly out of the blue, we are going there.  Together.

 I muse on this thought for a short while before deciding he
is just picking something up before we head back to the shop. 

“In his defense, I never saw him without his shirt on.”  I
inform him as I continue to review my surroundings.  From what I can see, we
are driving through a state forest.

“Not the point,” Jake mutters under his breath as he slows
down to make a right hand turn.

Wrong.

A very good point, considering I didn’t ask him to take it
off and didn’t even know he’d taken it off until I woke up.  “Why?  Were you
worried I was going to jump him?”

“Something like that,” he grumbles as he flicks me an
annoyed look.  His green eyes look dark.  His lips are pressed together in a
straight line.  The fingers of his left hand are clutching the steering wheel a
little too tightly.

I reach out and place my hand on his right arm as it rests
lightly on the gear stick knob.  “I’d never do that to you.”

His eyes soften and he nods.  “Yeah.” 

Jake’s attention moves back to the road ahead as the car
slows even further.  Turning left into a gap in the trees, I start to pay attention
again and realize that we are now in a driveway.  A long gray gravel driveway
that winds between the trees and disappears into the bush ahead of us. 

As Jake inches Emma’s car slowly along the gravel, I look
ahead, keenly interested in what Jake’s house will look like. I am not
expecting much.  If the shop is anything to go by I expect it to be old and
well used.  Maybe even in need of a paintjob.  The gardens are likely to be a
tangled jungle that one could lose a small child in. I grin to myself as I
envisage needing to hack my way to the front door with a machete.

The driveway is long and windy with some sharp bends to
navigate between the trees.  It is only as I start to wonder how long the
driveway could possibly be that the trees finally open ahead of us and I catch
my first glimpse of Jake’s home.  To my surprise, it is beautiful.

Nestled tastefully between the trees, Jakes home is a large
weatherboard with a gabled roofline and full verandahs on all sides.  Painted
in soft gray tones to blend in with its surroundings, it looks modern and new. 
Set further back and to the right of the house is another massive weatherboard
outhouse that matches the colors and theme of the house.  The outhouse displays
huge glass windows along one side that match the windows on the house. 

I blink in shock.  Jake’s home is
not
what I was
expecting. 
At all.

Jake follows the driveway around to the side of the house to
a double car garage with paneled roller doors.  Picking up a set of keys from
the center console, he hits a button and one of the roller doors slowly
lifts.   Pulling Emma’s car in, he kills the engine and turns to me with an
amused look on his face.  “Not what you were expecting huh?”

I shake my head slowly and mouth the word, “No.”

Already parked in the second bay of the garage is an old
blue and white Ford F100 truck.  Beaten up, rusty and in need of a good wash,
it fits Jake’s profile much better than the home does.  “Dad’s old truck,” he
mutters as he opens his door and unfolds himself from the car seat.  Flicking
the door shut gently, he rounds the bonnet of the car and opens my door for me.

“Where’s your bike?” I ask wondering why it’s not parked in
the garage somewhere.

“At the shop.  Luke’s riding it over in the morning.  He’s
going to bring Emma out so she knows where you are and how to get here.  You
and I are staying here for a few days.” 

I send Jake a questioning look that he chooses to ignore. 
Instead, he holds a hand out to me inviting me to get out of the car.  With a
shrug of acceptance, I take his hand and climb out of the car.  Once upon a
time I would have freaked out at the thought of staying anywhere overnight
without a change of clothes and my bag of toiletries.  Not anymore.  The new me
knows how to improvise and deal with any situation.

“Nice house,” I announce as he shuts the car door behind
me.  Leading me to the back of the car, he pops the boot and reaches in.  I
receive yet another surprise when he lifts out my laptop in its bag and hands
it to me.  He then reaches in and grabs a suitcase.  “Emma packed up some of
your shit for you.”

“Um.  Okay.”

That’s weird.

And organized.