“I don't know what else you want me to do.”
I made a bunch of scuffling noises in the airlock and then pushed my way through, letting the doors bang behind me.
“Got the coffee,” I said. “There’s mugs and tea and milk and sandwiches outside. I’ll bring them in.”
“Thanks, Jules,” Finn said, looking exhausted. “Slade, give her a hand, will ya?”
Slade was a well-muscled guy with short, reddish hair and a scruff of a beard across his chin. “Alright.” He didn't wait for me, striding out the way I’d come as I set down the jug and mugs. When I went outside, he was looking at Buddy with a slight smile. “You got him well trained. Most dogs would have scoffed the lot while we were inside.”
“Nah, not Buddy. Good boy!” I said, and tossed him half an egg sandwich.
“He thinks you’re the alpha,” Slade said.
“Maybe. Animal behaviourists are revising their thoughts on that now.”
Slade shrugged and then put me to shame, picking the trolley up with little effort and placing it inside the entrance.
“Looks like you have no problem calling the shots with the dog.”
Inside, I made everyone their drinks and handed out the food. They seemed grateful, though distracted.
“Look, I’ll be stuck here for a while with the doc,” Finn said. “Training’s not going to happen today. It’s two o’clock, why don’t you call it a day?”
“You sure?”
“Yeah, go home. You haven’t had much of a chance to settle in, and we can try again tomorrow. It looks like we have a security problem, and I’ll need to focus on that. Until you get your full training, I won’t be able to take you with me.”
“Oh, OK.”
“I’ll come by your bungalow at 9 am, and hopefully we’ll have a better day.”
“No problems,” I said. Slade watched me stand up, his tea cup frozen midway between the saucer and his mouth. I waved goodbye awkwardly and walked out. They want to get rid of me, I thought as I left, why?
6
I had initially felt relieved to finish what was a confusing day, but once I entered my new home, I realised I had no internet and no TV. No books or magazines, either. I looked around the almost empty living room. It had a couple of slightly worn but comfortable couches, and a dining table and chairs, but not much else. I checked my watch and saw Shaun wasn’t due for hours, so I got changed into some old training gear and went for a run.
Buddy was no longer nipping at my heels. Instead, the two of us ran full pelt along the back road that went past all the singles accommodations until I reached the last of them, then we flew down the rise. There was a lot more housing down this way, further away from the shed, the bungalows fanning out. My breath was coming in hard as I pulled up just near the bottom boundary fence, Buddy and I walking in small circles slowly to catch it. Beyond the fence was a small creek and a bunch of trees, growing thick along the bank. As I moved, I could see where the trees began to thin and a field of grass was revealed, turned golden by the low hanging sun. I walked parallel to the boundary, the field popping in and out of view, until I saw a group of guys working on the fence on the side furthest from me. I stopped, dropping back behind a tree trunk. The men were stripped down to their singlets or without shirts at all, digging holes, manoeuvring posts and then cementing them in, their bodies exactly what had been hinted at in the mess hall last night: well-muscled, the cleanly defined shapes apparent even this far away, moving together like a well-oiled machine.
You could have something like that under you tonight, my body prompted sneakily. Yeah, I could, and right now I could see no reason not to. They were over there, a safe distance away, completely oblivious to the golden sunlight that caressed their bodies and my gaze. It must have just gone break time as the guys moved from their tasks, taking seats on stumps of wood or prone logs, drinking down water or lighting cigarettes. One guy, his hair was long and brown, partially tied back, and a full beard, laughed at something one of his mates said before looking up. I don’t know how, but his eyes immediately met mine. He didn’t say a word, but the change in the group was almost instant, with every head swivelling around to look my way.
I gasped, there was no way they could see me, as far away as I was and partially hidden, yet somehow, I knew they did. I laughed, a short abrupt bark, jerking back from the tree. Not knowing why, I turned and ran off up the hill, past the other bungalows and blokes heading home for the day, only to leap onto my porch, hand on the door. There was no reason for it, they were metres away and unlikely to catch me if they decided to give chase, and why would they? My chest felt tight as I panted. I was fit, I was strong and I was in my domain. There was nothing anyone here could do to challenge that, yet I remained torn between worrying that one of them might and wishing they would. No one had followed, of course they didn’t, I stood on my porch gasping and alone, but for Buddy. Yet when I looked down over the fence, creek and trees from my vantage point on the hill, I saw at least three guys standing in the middle of the far field, looking back.
Going for a run had done the trick. I’d taken a hot shower, the fractious anxiety of the day wrenched from my body by a good workout. By the time Shaun rolled up, I was feeling much more relaxed, lying on the couch. “Well, hey,” he said from inside the door frame, looking down at me like he’d like to eat me up with a spoon. I got to my feet in a fluid slide and bestowed a long, slow kiss on his mouth. “You seem more chilled than before.”
“Right now, I am in the ‘this place is crazy but I may as well make it work for me’ stage. Though fair warning, this could change at any moment,” I said, winding my arms around him.
“Sorry I didn't get a chance to clean-up, I got held up with this last job. I was trying to fix the wiring in one of the sheds...”
“If you knew how horny guys in work gear made me...” I said, drawing in closer. His scent was driving me nuts, a weird combination of fresh male sweat, sweet sandalwood and something else... My nose ran down the side of his neck, clouding my senses.
“Darlin’, you gotta watch yourself,” he said in a low voice. “You say stuff like that i
n the mess shed, and you’ll have a riot on your hands.”
“Mmm...” I murmured as I moved closer, winding my arms around him. “You smell so good I want to...”
He grabbed my hand and shoved it against his rigid length. “And you make me hard just by breathing. Right now, it’s taking everything I’ve got not to bend you over that couch, rip down your jeans and shove myself inside you over and over.” I whimpered as a sharp twinge in my groin told me how good that would be. “I like accepting Julie a great deal, but I think the rest of you is still catching up, and I don't want her regretting anything. How about we pack up you and the dog, and go for that picnic?”