You're the One (5 page)

Moz looked at
the firie. Dressed comfortably in cargo shorts and t-shirt, feet
bare, red hair tousled, Simon had the lazy look about him that
meant he was in a lazy mood and had probably spent most of the day
sacked out on the sofa. But his lazy demeanour was belied by the
tall, muscular build, the fit body the firies were required to keep
in shape for their job, and he knew behind the lazy smile was a
sharp, keen mind. Plus even though his brother-in-law had his lazy
moments when he liked to sloth around, and in fact, he’d been known
to lie on the hammock out back and not move for hours, he worked
hard. He’d almost single-handedly renovated the old house he’d
bought before Elissa had come along, he did his share of the
housework, and he was well known for helping others’ out.

Basically,
Simon was a good bloke and he loved Elissa deeply, was devoted to
her, and for that reason alone Moz accepted him. However, if he
ever hurt Elissa, Simon was going to be in a whole world of
pain.

“How about
just a hand shake?” Moz offered.

“Are you
shitting me? Last time you did that I almost had to have it
x-rayed.”

Moz
grinned.

“See that?”
Simon asked Elissa. “Told you he’d done it deliberately.”

Elissa rolled
her eyes.

A cat started
meowing in the depths of the house, catching all their
attention.

“Poor little
bugger.” Simon gestured with the sandwich, the smell of sardine and
onion wafting in the air. “He’s missing you.”

Moz started in
the direction of the meowing. “I really need to find a place of my
own.”

“Got our ears
out for you, mate. But don’t fret, Mozart’s no problem.”

Moz opened the
bedroom door carefully and slowly. Sure enough, he felt the slight
resistance. “It’s just me, boy.”

Mozart
starting meowing louder than ever, his head peering around the door
as Moz moved further in, his big eyes lighting up. Anxiously, he
went up on his back legs, his claws digging into Moz’s pants as he
started to yell up at Moz.

Scooping him
up in his arms, Moz cradled the cat close, pressing him against his
chest. Mozart kept bleating, bumping his head against Moz’s chin,
purring loudly, paws going each side of Moz’s neck.

Smoothing his
hand down the cat’s back, Moz rumbled soft words to him, knowing he
liked the sensation and sound, rewarded by Mozart closing his eyes
and rubbing the side of his head against his chin.

The slight
coat he had was soft, like a glove, the skin warm. In winter he’d
need the coats that Moz had packed away, but for now he liked the
summer warmth. And he was safe from the sun inside the bedroom.

It was a nice
bedroom, the same one his sister had offered to put him up in when
he’d first shifted to Gully’s Fall, but no way was Moz going to
stay with her and Simon. Newly-weds didn’t need another person in
their house. Moz certainly didn’t want to stumble into any romantic
scenario that would embarrass them and burn his own eyes out of
their sockets. He loved his sister, he liked Simon, but some things
he just didn’t need to see or hear.

Moz spent
several minutes soothing the cat, feeling him relax.

The sound of
voices came from the front of the house, the door shutting.
Visitors. Recognising the voices, his eyes narrowed. Good.

“Bring Mozart
out for awhile,” Elissa called. “Arthur’s outside and Mozart can
stretch his legs.”

Placing Mozart
on the floor, Moz moved back down the hallway, catching a glimpse
of his sister in the kitchen mixing something in a bowl. Continuing
to the lounge, he was careful not to step on the cat dogging his
every footstep. In the doorway he looked in to see Ryder and Scott
sitting on the sofa. Three out of four, that’d do.

Ryder looked
up. “Hey, it’s Yeti.” Simon threw a cushion at his head, which the
ambo caught. “What the hell…?”

“Why do you
always have to prod the giant?”

“Hey, man, I’m
just saying what you said.”

“He’s going to
pound you into the ground one day.”

“Me? Hah.”
Ryder looked at Moz, pursed his lips. “Okay, well…”

Moz smiled
slightly. Yeah, Simon and his friends might be tall and muscular,
but he was taller and carried a hell of a lot more muscle. They
lifted weights and jogged for fitness, he did it for a hobby, and
he was dead serious about his hobby. Ryder had almost stroked out
just helping to shift some weights into Moz’s bedroom at the
boarding house. Moz had hefted them in each hand. They’d been
heavy, sure, but that was the whole point of it. Plus watching the
ambo go red in the face had been fun.

But pleasant
thoughts aside…“I want to talk to you three.”

They all
raised their eyebrows at his tone.

Moz moved into
the room, Mozart right behind him. Rather than take a seat, Moz
slid his hands into his pockets while looking hard at the men.

Chapter 2

“If you’re
going to start hitting, let me tell you right now that I’m only
halfway through making my will,” Ryder said.

“You look
pissed,” Scott observed.

Simon just
watched him with deceiving laziness.

“I was out at
Del’s today,” Moz stated.

Scott frowned.
“I’d heard she was up on the bloody roof again. Hope you tore a
strip off her.”

“Fool woman,”
Ryder added. “She’ll fall off and break her damned leg one
day.”

“That could
very well be the least of her worries,” Moz growled. “I can’t
believe you lot go ape shit about her going up on the roof, but
when it comes to other things you’ve let it all slide.”

Ryder scowled.
“What the hell are you on about?”

“She’s a woman
alone in an isolated place.”

“It’s not like
she’s the only one,” Scott pointed out. “And it’s not like anyone
can physically stop her.”

“She does have
freedom of choice,” Simon drawled. “But something tells me its more
than just that that has you bent out of shape.”

“Bloody oath,”
Moz retorted. “I went into her house to check the window
locks.”

With a
satisfied air, Ryder leaned back against the sofa. “Can’t complain
about them, can you?”

“Are you
kidding me?”

“She’s
perfectly safe with those locks.”

“Those locks
are flimsy.”

“Bullshit. I
checked them out myself.”

Unbelievable.
“You did a piss-poor job of it.”

That had Ryder
snapping upright. “What? What are you bloody getting at?”

“Those locks
are crap. Some of them are loose, it wouldn’t take much to force
them open.”

“I’ll have you
know I bloody checked them out at the hardware store myself! I have
those locks on at my house, and I put them in Dee’s flat above the
newsagent.”

“You seriously
put those in Del’s house as well?”

“Put them in?
No, she got her Dad to do it and…” Ryder paused, his frown lifting
before darkening again. “What kind of locks did you see?”

“Like I said,
flimsy and loose.”

Scott looked
at Simon, back at Moz. “Let me guess, they were rusty as well?”

“Yep.”

“Bloody Del.
The locks weren’t changed and she didn’t tell us.” Scott blew out
an exasperated puff of air. “She’ll be the death of us.”

Moz angled his
head, studied the men. “You didn’t know.”

“Shit, no, we
didn’t know,” Ryder growled. “When she first moved out there, we
went and checked the house with her. We told her to change the
window locks, I went to the hardware store and picked them out. I
wanted to put them in but she insisted her Dad would do it.” He
scowled. “I should have checked myself.”

Scott looked
at Moz. “I resent that you’d even think we’d allow her to be
unprotected like that. Jesus, man, we’ve known her all our lives,
looked out for her the whole time.”

“Then you
should know her enough to realise that she isn’t always going to do
what you recommend to her.”

“Recommend?”
Ryder snorted. “We didn’t recommend. We told her.”

“That worked
so well, didn’t it?”

Ryder glared
at him. “I’ll sort out Del, you can go and get -”

“I’ve had a
word to her. She wasn’t happy.”

“Really?”
Scott grinned a little. “Did she flip you the bird?”

“No.”

“What did she
do?”

“Got angry,
then caved in.”

Simon’s eyes
sparkled with amusement.

“Caved in,”
Ryder echoed, his grin a hell of a lot wider. “Oh yes, of course
Del would cave in. She’ll do exactly as you told her.”

Moz coolly
raised an eyebrow. “I know she was lying through her teeth.”

“Of course she
was,” Scott said. “She’ll tell you whatever you want to hear just
to get you off her back.” His gaze cut to Ryder. “Like she did with
the locks.”

“Technically,
she didn’t lie about the locks,” Simon stated. “Well, maybe she
did, but maybe she didn’t.”

“She didn’t
get the locks,” Scott pointed out.

“Which
I
will get and put in myself.” Ryder scowled. “I just can’t
decide if I’m going to do it before or after I rip her a new
one.”

Simon
continued to watch Moz.

Moz looked
right back at him.

“Got that
sorted,” Simon murmured. “Got another question?”

“Actually,
yeah. Why isn’t Del’s father checking she’s safe? Isn’t that his
job, not your’s?”

“Ah, Mr
Miller.” Scott gave a rueful shake of his head. “Mr Miller’s a nice
bloke, don’t get me wrong, but he’s kind of-”

“Half-arsed,”
Ryder said.

“I was going
to say absentminded.”

“Drifts
through life, easy-going,” Simon added. “A bit of a
head-in-the-clouds kind of bloke.”

“Half-arsed,”
Ryder said. “The man wouldn’t know he was run over until he noticed
the tyre tracks across his body in the shower the next day.”

“He just
doesn’t notice what’s going on around him that much,” Scott
continued, trying to be a little nicer. “He means well, he just
kind of never quite finishes things.”

“Or starts
them,” Ryder said. “Be honest, Scott. He’s a nice bloke but not
really reliable. It’s why he passed the shop on to Del to run. He
nearly lost it a long time ago, so she took it on.” Ryder switched
his gaze back to Moz. “In fact, she actually bought the shop from
him eight months ago.”

Moz frowned.
“What about her mother?”

“Hmmm.” Scott
rubbed his chin. “Well, her Mum pretty much follows her Dad.
They’re both dreamy people. She’s happy to live her life with Mr
Miller, drifting along in a violet cloud of sweetness.”

“That’s a
little nauseating,” Ryder said.

Scott
shrugged.

Moz shook his
head. “Yet Del is so stubborn.”

“She learned
to be independent from an early age. Had to. She spent a lot of
time with Dee’s family, so she grew up with Dee more as her sister
than her cousin. She helped in the shop, took on the reins as soon
as she left school, and now she owns it. Del is an old hand at
independence.”

Moz thought
about his and Elissa’s own childhood. His parents had been there
but they’d pushed Elissa, pretty much leaving Moz on the side. He’d
learned to be independent from an early age, learned to amuse
himself, do his own thing. Learned to watch out for Elissa when he
could.

Maybe he and
Del had more in common than he’d first thought. But she was still a
woman alone in a house that wasn’t very secure.

“Okay.” He
looked at the men. “I apologise, I had no idea you’d all tried to
help her with the locks. I just….”

Simon looked
thoughtfully at him, Scott giving him the same expression. Ryder
still looked annoyed.

“How come
you’ve got your undies in a knot?” Simon asked. “What’s going
on?”

“Nothing.”

“You’re not
worried about her for nothing.”

“Just friendly
concern.”

Scott and
Simon exchanged glances. Ryder snorted.

“Like I would
be for any woman alone,” Moz added.

“Really?”
Scott asked thoughtfully.

Refusing to be
drawn into anything, Moz transferred his attention to Mozart, who
was now investigating the coffee table. His nose ran along the edge
as he inhaled the various smells. Mozart made his way slowly along
the side before stopping to ogle Ryder.

“Holy crap.”
Ryder grimaced. “That is one ugly cat.”

Moz frowned.
“He’s all right.”

“He’s naked as
the day he was born. Jesus, that isn’t normal.”

“He’s a
Sphinx. He’s not supposed to have a lot of hair.”

“Not a lot?
He’s bare-arsed naked.”

“If you
bothered to look closer, you’d see he has a fine layer of
hair.”

“Where?”

“On his body,
where else?”

“Certainly not
his arse. I can see the light reflecting off it.”

“You need
glasses.”

“Yeah, to dim
the brightness of the reflection.” Ryder rubbed his eyes. “Now that
you mention, it, they do hurt. Must be the vision before me.”

“Must be a
premonition of the stars you’ll see when I punch your lights
out.”

“You’re a
little sensitive about your pussy, aren’t you?” Ryder smirked.

Yes, in fact,
Moz was a little sensitive about Mozart, mostly because he knew
what the cat had been through.

Scott shook
his head while Simon grinned.

“And here I
thought it was going to be a quiet day,” Simon observed
happily.

“I had no idea
Ryder was cruising for a bruising.” Scott leaned back on the sofa.
“This should be entertaining.”

“Hey,” said
Ryder, “just telling it like it is. Not my fault he has this soft,
mushy heart for freaky cats and independent blondes.” He shot Moz a
grin. “Watch the blondes, especially the Millers. Got one myself.
They’re not easy to handle.”

“I can handle
Del.”