AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I barely slept,knowing there were crocodiles outside the Jeep. I kept waiting to hear a thunk or scraping noises. Even though I knew, rationally, it wasn’t likely that a crocodile would try to climb or attack a vehicle, it didn’t stop my imagination from running wild.
Mangroves were noisy too. Birds and cicadas sang to us all night. And I totally did not lie there watching Tully as he slept, at how his eyelashes cast shadows on his cheeks, at the cupid’s bow of his lips, at the three-day growth, the wisps of his wild and wavy hair. I longed to run my fingers through it, but of course I didn’t.
He’d perhaps saved my life today.
In all likelihood, I’d have been caught by the rapidly rising tide—I hadn’t realised just how fast it would come in. And the paint marks on the tree. I wouldn’t have done that, and after being turned around and blinded by the storm, I’d have got lost for sure. Lost in a rapidly rising high tide in crocodile infested mangroves. And then, with the loud splash behind us in the water, he’d put himself in harm’s way instead of me...
Not to mention the lightning.
The storm had been low and powerful. High energy, low barometric pressure, strong winds, and a lot of electrical activity, and I couldn’t wait for sunrise to get back and run the data.
Even though it meant another day down meant one less day here. One less day with Tully.
I liked him.
He infuriated me, but he challenged me. I was mad that he’d not understood my reason for wanting to come to the mangroves, but I could see now that his concern was for our safety.
And he’d been right, of course.
But so had I.
I needed to prove to my colleagues in Melbourne that I was serious and not just the weirdo they all thought I was. I needed to bring back data they had neither the aptitude nor the balls to get.
And maybe I did that today.
I hoped so, anyway.
Daylight crept over the horizon, the skies a pastel palette of pinks and oranges. I was relieved to see the road was clear of crocodiles, and from my seat, it looked as if the water had receded, taking the crocodiles with it.
I still wasn’t getting out of the Jeep until Tully gave me the all-clear. After all, it was never the crocs you could see that you should be worried about. It was always the ones you couldn’t see...
I made a point of sitting up with a loud yawn and stretch, then righting my seat with a clunk, and it worked. Tully cracked one eye open, scrubbed his faced with his hands, then sat up. “Did we survive?”
“Yes. Thanks to you. Are all the crocodiles gone?”
He looked out the front windshield and down his side of the Jeep. “Looks like it. The water’s low.”
“Am I right to get out?”
He nodded, and when I’d opened my door an inch, he said, “Unless there’s one under the Jeep.”
I might have screamed and pulled the door shut, bringing my legs up onto my seat. I don’t know why.
He laughed, and I shoved his arm. “That’s not funny.”
“Kinda was,” he said, getting out of the Jeep without a care in the world. He stood up, stretched his hands above his head, and yawned.
I hated that he was so attractive the second he woke up.
And cheerful.
Jerk.
I got out with a huff, and seeing Tully peeing into the mangroves on his side of the Jeep, I did the same on my side. Then I remembered the bottle I’d thrown out the window during the night and went to find it...
“Oh my god,” I said, trudging a few metres into the mangroves. The sand was dry, thankfully, and it was easy to walk on, given I was barefoot. The water bottle that I’d relieved myself in last night was now about five metres from the track, completely empty and crumpled flat with several large puncture marks.
I picked it up, horrified, and got my arse back to the Jeep as fast as I could. I held it up to show Tully. “Look at this.”
