I took a second to digest that calamitous information as I watched Ryder rail at the driver who’d now left his cab and was heading to the back of the truck with Ryder in hot pursuit. Hiscolleague raced over to help the driver haul two metal ramps into place so that the dozer could be unloaded. The men barely looked Ryder’s way, ignoring his angry threats and heartfelt pleas.
As the second ramp slotted into place and Ryder’s expression switched to panic, I was done being a wallflower and I raced to his side. The guy had been kind to me when he hadn’t needed to be. The least I could do was offer my help in return. “What can I do?”
He blinked at me like he’d forgotten I was even there, but before he could answer, Tap joined us, his phone still in his hand.
“Still no luck,” he said with a shake of his head. “They put me on hold for a few minutes, then came back on, told me Greegan would call me back, and cut me off.”
Ryder grimaced. “Bastards. Stick with it. I’ll grab my phone and call Tim. I need to find out what the hell is going on.”
“Tim’s his lawyer,” Tap explained.
“Yes,” Ryder snapped. “And he told me all this legal stuff was in place. That the council couldn’t touch my land until the case was decided. I don’t know what they think they’re doing.”
“What case?” I asked, then shook my head. “No. Scrub that. Just tell me what I can do.”
Ryder grabbed me by the shoulders and those sky-blue eyes drilled into mine. “Anything you can to stop them ripping up my fence.”
Dragging my attention away from the feel of his hot hands on my body, I saw the council workers were almost ready to offload. “And how exactly do you propose I do that?”
Ryder’s lips quirked up in a sly smile. “Do you remember Tiananmen Square?”
I gaped at him. “Now I know you’re not suggesting I put myself in the way of that bulldozer being unloaded, right?”
He had the temerity to look aghast. “Of course not. Just do what you can. Anything to buy us time.” And with that, he was gone, running for the cottage.
The sound of the bulldozer engine being fired up had me spinning on my heels. I shot a panicked glance at Tap. “He wasn’t serious, was he?”
Tap shrugged. “I’ll film whatever you decide to do while I wait for this jerkoff to call back. That should keep things seemly.”
Seemly? Oh God. I faced the truck and swallowed past the ball of fear lodged deep in my throat.Am I really going to do this?I wasn’t a brave person. Smart-mouthed? Sure. It was how I’d survived high school. That and being one of the best gamers in New Zealand. But brave? Nope. No one had ever accused me of being that. Which was the reason I’d brought Phillip into the business in the first place. Phillip walked into every room and business meeting as if he owned it. I arrived as if I wasn’t sure I was even in the right place, and could I please have my parking receipt verified? Whereas nothing fazed Phillip, not even the idea of fucking his best friend’s boyfriend, apparently.
And that reminder was all it took.
Oh God!I sucked in a breath and ran to the truck, positioning myself between the two ramps and taking a seat on the ground.
“Atta boy,” Tap called, his phone panning between the man driving the dozer and me sitting directly in its path.
Bile churned in my belly, threatening to spew north at any moment, and my sweats were already soaked from the damp ground. I’d probably get athlete’s foot. Could you get that under your balls? Or was that jock itch? Either way, it was the closest I was ever gonna get to a sporting injury, so I figured I’d take it.
The dozer operator stared at me for a few seconds, then put his machine in gear and began inching forward, metal creaking on metal as it moved toward the ramps... and me. My heartjumped again in my throat. The thing looked menacingly huge, like squash-me-in-the-blink-of-an-eye huge.
He’s just bluffing. He won’t do it. He’s only trying to scare me.
If he was, it was fucking working.
My heart thumped wildly against my ribs, my hands sweaty on my thighs, and there’d be marks where my fingertips were digging all the way to my bones. I waited for the driver to back down, but the dozer kept inching forward.
I cast a worried glance at Tap, who seemed equally nervous, which was hardly encouraging. This wasn’t going how I imagined. I drew a deep shuddering breath, and then, because I was a complete idiot and running on pure adrenaline, I lifted one arm in the air with my fist clenched.
Tap gave a whoop and shouted into the phone, “This is your council at work, ladies and gentlemen. Bulldozing their way over ratepayers while ignoring any legal constraints.”
The dozer driver shot Tap a killer glare but kept moving. The crawlers clanked over the truck bed like a ticking clock, and if I hadn’t screwed my eyes tight shut, I’d have run. A few seconds later, the noise stopped and the driver swore, “Jesus fucking Christ.” He killed the engine and climbed out of his seat.
I blew out the breath I’d been holding, clenched my hands to stop them from shaking, and opened my eyes.
Tap called out, “Are you okay? That was a pretty ballsy move.”
I somehow managed a nod while simultaneously checking I hadn’t actually pissed my sweatpants. A couple of seconds later, I changed my mind and shook my head, the intensity of the moment finally getting to me.
