AllFreeNovel
Share Us
chapter 12
Craig
I’d looked nervously over Ally’s head at Sam. What the hell did she want to tell us? Whatever it was, she wasn’t happy. We’d noticed it for weeks—she was pulling away, turning us down whenever we invited her over. But she’d never shut us down like she’d done last night and now she wanted to talk? My gut churned, anxiety swirling around. Sam looked just as ill as me, worry lines pinching around his eyes and his lips pressed into a thin line.
Her shoulders slumped and head down, Ally made her way over to the ute and slid into the middle seat. Sam tossed me the keys and I jogged over to the driver side. The short trip was quiet, not a single word spoken between us, which just served to ratchet up the tension. As soon as I’d pulled up, she nudged Sam to get out and she was gone, striding over to the fire, and reaching for the cup of billy tea Yindi was holding out to her. Disquiet settled in my bones and I shivered.
“Any idea what’s going on?” I shook my head at Sam’s question, and he blew out a breath. “This doesn’t feel like good news.”
“Yeah. Nah.”
We were within cooee of the homestead. Another half-day trip and we’d be home. Sam and I were in the ute, while the others were on horseback, the four wheelers, or in the chopper. We were driving back and forth, working with Jono to push the mob forward and keep the strays in line.
My body was weary, my mind running in circles all day. Pulling up at the gate nearest to the sheds was a relief, but our day wasn’t even close to being over. I jumped out to open the gates to the smaller springer paddocks so we could sort the mob ready for the trucks to arrive in the next couple of days. We’d be herding the bulls—both Blond and Zeus included—and the weaned bull calves into one paddock. In the other, we’d sort the cattle being sold for beef production, with the rest of the mob being let into the smaller paddock so we could keep a closer eye on them during calving.
The homestead right across from the yard was beckoning me to sneak off and have a decent wash, albeit one that I’d be having with a sponge and a bucket of water. A sleep in a soft bed would be welcome too. Until then though, I had work to do.
Ma and Nan watched from the veranda as we pulled in. I waved, smiling, and noticed Sam doing the same from the ute. I could imagine the sight from their perch. A cloud of dust in the distance, coming closer. The thwap thwap thwap of the chopper as it circled and swooped, and the rumble of the four-wheeler engines drowned out with the mooing of the cattle as they neared the end of their journey on Pearce Station. The family returning home, coming back safe and sound after days away. They’d be proud of seeing how hard their children had worked. We cared as much for the beasts in our charge as they did. It was more than Pearce Station’s livelihood; they were good, honest people who wanted to create harmony so everything could thrive.
I could imagine what it was like for Nan to have waited for her husband to return home too, when Ma was a kid watching her dad gallop in on horseback like a hero of the wild west. I knew from speaking with Ally that her dad had never once gone on a muster—it was always Ma riding in on high. I wondered if he’d ever experienced the swell of pride at seeing the stock so carefully nurtured from calves on wobbly legs to fully grown with calves of their own—the circle of life being played out before his eyes, and the relief in seeing his family come home safe after making such an arduous journey. Of being there to welcome them home. It was as if history was replaying itself. A pattern that had repeated generation after generation on this land, season after season. The simple act one that had happened countless times, but with every occurrence, it left those involved with a sense of both relief and wonder. The tradition and the history gave it a certain romance, and when I closed my eyes, I wondered whether anyone would ever be waiting for me.
We made quick work of getting the already saddled Daisy and Spook out of their stalls in the shed, momentarily leaving the mob in the others’ capable hands. We were in the midst of the cattle within moments.
Sam was a hell of a picture riding Spook. The horse moved elegantly, his movements fluid as Sam directed him with a nudge of his heel or a shift in his weight on the saddle. Holding the reins loosely, giving Spook the freedom he needed to respond, Sam exuded confidence and skill that was… sexy. The more I thought of it, yeah, sexy was a bloody good description. Long and lean, tanned skin, and work-roughened hands. Dusty and tired and yet still loving every minute on his beloved horse.
The dogs twisted and turned, like they’d been doing the whole muster at Ally’s command until I saw her dismount and sprint towards the fence. Vaulting it in one go, Ally barely slowed down, running towards the homestead. My heart instantly in my throat, I looked around trying to figure out what was happening. Then I saw it. Scottie was standing over Macca, the other man on his arse in the dirt. Scottie looked thunderous, anger radiating off him in waves. “Sam,” I called, and motioned to the goings on over the fence with a tilt of my head.
“Shiiit,” he breathed. “Man, what the fuck’s the newbie done?”
“Whatever it is, he’s about to get his arse whooped for it.”
We were off our mounts running to the fence in a heartbeat, climbing it and jumping down as Scottie stormed off. Ally looked up at us and the devastation she wore stopped me in my tracks. She shook her head and her shoulders fell, before I watched her pull herself together again. Taking a deep breath in, she squared her shoulders, raised her jaw and hardened her glare. She nodded to us and even though I wanted to help, I knew she had it under control.
Our dismissal came with her words “You heard my brother. You’ve got ten minutes to pack your shit up and leave.”
We stood there, shoulder to shoulder wanting to help, but knowing that it wouldn’t be welcomed. I didn’t know how, but I knew it was something that Ally needed to do. Maybe not for her, but for Scottie. I’d never seen his feathers ruffled. He was always so calm and collected. He never flinched at hard work; he was always the first to get stuck in and the last to finish. We were all mates, but he held himself apart from us too. He was a loner, and yet in the week that Macca had been here, the two of them had clicked. Whatever Macca had done to get himself kicked off the station, it was bad. Scottie came galloping out of the shed on Tilly, barking orders, and staring daggers at us as he rode by. I sighed and followed Sam, back to the fence and over it to get to our mounts waiting patiently for us.
Adrenaline was wearing thin and exhaustion was setting in. I was only half watching what I was doing, my eye over my shoulder waiting for Ally to emerge from the guesthouse. But Scottie’s harsh words made me snap to attention. “Allyra,” he yelled, full naming her for the first time in the decade plus that I’d known him. “Get it done. We need you out here.”
“You wanna watch how you speak to Ally,” Sam all but growled from atop his horse as I opened my mouth to object.
The look Scottie shot him was murderous and he ground out, “Shut it, Sam.”
“Mate,” I warned, white-knuckling the reins in my hands. I forced myself to loosen the grip and unclench my legs. “I don’t give a shit about what’s going on over there. You’d better bloody watch your mouth and your tone.”
“Or what?”
“Or I’ll tell Nan.” My threat sounded childish. Dobbing on him to his nan probably was, but it had the desired effect. Scottie paled and nodded. He respected that woman more than anyone else in the world, and he’d never knowingly disappoint or disrespect her. I’d been star-struck by Ma when we’d first arrived, but it was nothing compared to the way Scottie looked up to his nan. He was in awe of her.
Scottie dismissed us all an hour later, looking like someone had kicked his puppy. He’d watched the dust cloud kicked up by Macca’s ute as he pulled away until it disappeared in the distance. Then he’d sent Waru off after him. I had half a feeling that I’d see Waru coming back with Macca following, but when he rode back in and nodded at Scottie, I knew he was seeing him to the boundary.
I’d wanted to stick around and play ball with Blond. It sounded ridiculous, but the big old bull had never stopped loving it, and I was the only person around who would play. I had the basketball pumped up, sitting in the shed waiting for me to grab it when I put Daisy away, but Scottie needed the space, and frankly I needed a wash.
It wasn’t until I was clean, all the dust that’d permeated every crease and crevice of my body gone that I felt almost human again. My stomach growled loudly, practically curling in on itself as it protested the hunger that’d built from a full day of relentlessly hard yakka. Sam was waiting for me on the couch, dressed in clean jeans that hugged every inch of his long legs and a soft-looking hoodie that I could picture myself burrowing into. His still-wet hair flopped on his forehead, and my hand twitched with the desire to brush it back just to touch the silky strands. I didn’t know what was wrong with me, and I couldn’t help but remember the last time I’d been awkward around him—the one thing we’d never spoken about again. The time we kissed. My cheeks heated and I looked away, suddenly shy. I wished that my towel hid the movement I had happening in my dick. But I couldn’t help it; he looked damn good.
“Ah, I um… I’ll give you some privacy,” he stuttered as I opened the cupboard with all my clothes in it.
“S’all good, I’ll get dressed in the bedroom.” My voice was too high and my smile too bright to be genuine.
