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CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
AARON WOKE WITH a start. He must’ve dozed off, although how he managed to do that sitting in this awkward position, propped up against a hard rock, with Julie nestled in his lap, was anyone’s guess. He dared not move a muscle, not wanting to wake her, but he slowly scanned the nighttime plains laid out below them, wondering what’d roused him.
There, over to the left, a pinprick of light. It came steadily closer as he watched, sometimes veering off in another direction, but always coming back to point directly at their hiding spot. Sometimes the light disappeared for a few seconds, then reappeared, bouncing crazily off the low-lying shrubs. It wasn’t until he was a-hundred-percent sure they were indeed headlights from a four-wheel-drive that he slowly shook Julie awake.
Rescue was on its way. Good old Jake must finally have told someone where they were.
Julie raised her head, groggy and almost incoherent for a few seconds, slow to respond to his voice. They were both suffering from dehydration and her poor body had taken a beating as she ran naked through the bush. She needed medical attention, and they both needed water. But he knew they’d made it. Together. She was safe, and that was all that mattered.
“Is it my dad?” she muttered through cracked lips.
“I don’t know, Jules.” It didn’t really matter who was coming to collect them, but he understood that she was worried about how her father was going to take all this.
Lowering her gently to the ground, he got to his feet. Oh, Jesus, his knee hurt. It took him a few seconds before he could put any weight on it, after having been cramped in one position for so long.
While they’d been talking, Aaron had methodically catalogued all of Julie’s injuries, to make sure none were life threatening. Her feet were in bad shape, but the rest were superficial scratches and bruising.
“Come here, angel.” He bent down and picked her up. His sore shoulder protested at the weight, but he ignored the pain. There was no way she was in any fit state to walk out of here. So, he’d carry her, bum knee, wounded shoulder, and all. It was hard going, but he wasn’t going to drop her, or fall over. Those two things were immutable.
He gathered her closer into his chest and she put her arms around his neck. “Let’s get out of here,” he said, as he picked his way down the rocky slope.
“Amen to that,” she said huskily.
The headlights from the car picked them up the moment they emerged onto the flat plains below and kept them locked in their beam, as if dragging them towards rescue. Now he was closer, Aaron could see it was two vehicles, driving close together in tandem.
They must’ve looked a sight, walking out of the scrub in the middle of the night. Him limping, hatless and bare-chested. Her caked in dirt and blood, nude but for his shirt, which barely covered her backside. But they’d survived to tell the tale, that was the important thing.
He stopped as the vehicle drew close, blinded by the rays of the headlights. The first car stopped with a jolt, raising a cloud of dust, the particles floating in the beams of light.
“Julie. Oh, thank God, you’re okay.” Steve jumped out of the vehicle and rushed to their side. Dale was right behind him. The second car was a police four-wheel-drive and Nash stepped out, his constable exiting the other side. But they stayed near their vehicle, allowing the family to have the reunion they deserved.
“Hi, Dad. I thought that might be you.” Julie raised a smile and reached out to her father.
After a tender moment, where Steve kissed his daughter on the cheek and stroked her hair, he drew back and slapped Aaron heartily on the back. “I don’t know how you did it, son. But I owe you a debt greater than words can convey for finding her. Thank you. Thank you.” The normally stoic man had tears running down his cheeks and for a second, Aaron felt like he might be overtaken by the emotional reunion, as well. “When we found that guy back at the creek, dead, I thought the worst. I thought…” Steve’s voice cracked, and he couldn’t go on. Dale placed a hand on his stepfather’s shoulder.
“It’s okay, Dad. I’m alive. Aaron’s alive. And we’ll both be fine soon enough,” Julie said.
“Do you need a hand?” Dale offered to take Julie from Aaron, but no way was he giving her up now. He shook his head and walked the last few steps around the side of the car. Dale opened the rear door and Aaron slid Julie gently onto the seat, with Steve hovering at his shoulder.
“Holy shit,” Dale exclaimed. “I can’t actually believe we found you. When your mate Jake—”
“Have you got water?” Aaron cut him off. Important things first. They’d spend the next few hours debriefing with everyone, but right now, he needed to take care of Julie.
“Oh, crap, of course.” Dale raced off and was back in a few seconds, handing them a bottle each. “Try and take it easy,” he advised. “Otherwise, you might throw it all back up again.”
Aaron slipped into the seat beside Julie, unscrewing her bottle and handing it to her, then taking her hand and laying it in his lap, as she gulped at the life-giving liquid. He didn’t want to lose that contact with her. Not yet.
“Easy, Julie,” he said, pushing the bottle away from her lips. “Like Dale said, little sips.” She nodded her understanding, but her tongue came out to lick the few precious drops from her lips. He knew how she felt. He could drink a whole gallon of the stuff and it still wouldn’t be enough. Showing more restraint than he felt, he opened his bottle and took a long swig, then lowered it and leant his head back against the seat. Julie lay her head on his shoulder just as her dad leaned in and covered her with an old blanket he must’ve found in the rear of the vehicle. He never said a word, but Aaron could see the rage at her abominable treatment by Chase boiling just below the surface. Then he took off his own plaid shirt and offered it to Aaron; he had a T-shirt on beneath the shirt, so Aaron took it gratefully. There was definitely a nip in the air. And he didn’t really want to turn up at the campsite half-dressed.
Nash poked his head inside the car. “You two all right?” He queried. His concerned gaze rested on Julie the longest, but she’d closed her eyes and didn’t respond, so Aaron answered for her.
“We will be, mate. You can tell Skylar she’s safe now.”
“I’ll most certainly do that,” Nash replied with a hint of satisfaction. But he soon sobered. “You do realize there’ll be questions. Lots of them.” Nash’s blue eyes were serious, and Aaron knew he meant that until the police were one-hundred percent happy with his and Julie’s account of what’d happened that night, then they may well be in some trouble. There was still a dead body to be accounted for. Aaron’s protective instincts spiked at Nash’s implications, and he put a possessive arm around Julie’s shoulder, pulling her into his side. He wanted to keep her from all that unpleasantness. But try as he might, she’d have to endure those questions on her own. As would he. He had no doubt they’d be believed in the end, and he just had to keep that foremost in his mind.
“I’ll make sure they go easy on her,” Nash said, as if reading his mind.
“I’d be grateful if you did,” Aaron replied. He liked Nash. From the little he knew of him, he seemed like a good cop, and a good man; Julie spoke highly of him. Which was a good thing, if he was going to get to know this man, and the rest of the family, better.
