1: The Return-3
1502 Words
THE DAY OF HER DEPARTURE CAME. This time, she skipped the train journey she took the first time she went to the Queensland outback. This trip was slightly more straightforward: New York-Los Angeles-Sydney-Cairns. She travelled light, opting to go with just one backpack and a couple of books to read. The connections being what they were, she upgraded to business class for the Los Angeles-Sydney segment to save her sanity. She had no intention of going cattle class all the way, as Bryce referred to economy class.
When her Qantas plane landed at Cairns International Airport, she felt as if the world was going to collapse on top of her.
Oh God, what have I done?
Mortifying thoughts tumbled around her overactive brain, one after another. She went to the toilet to check herself out. She looked dishevelled after the long journey; wisps of hair stuck up every which way, giving her the appearance of someone freshly electrocuted. Her clothes were crumpled, but she couldn’t find the energy to change. She, at least, brushed her teeth to preserve a modicum of self-respect.
She walked toward ‘Arrivals’ and saw him instantly. At 6’0, Bryce wasn’t that difficult to spot. The long hair was back, but thank God, not the beard. She noticed his two-day-old stubble as she neared him.
Umm, that would be scratchy.
He must have guessed what she was thinking. He took her backpack from her, leant down, and puckered to get his stubble away from her skin as he kissed her lips.
‘How was the trip?’ he asked in that voice that made her weak at the knees.
‘Tiring.’
‘Hungry?’
‘That, too.’
He looked down at her with his blue-green eyes, then playfully raised an eyebrow. ‘We’ll get some tucker on the way.’
They walked to the car park towards a beastly looking machine, a double cabin ute that was coated in mud except for the windshield.
‘You can sleep in the rear cabin if you prefer,’ he offered.
‘I’ll sit with you in front.’
‘Okay.’
He lifted her off the ground into the front cabin’s passenger seat. They drove off in silence, each to their thoughts, which didn’t help ease her anxiety. A short while later, she heard him ask, ‘What would you like?’
‘Sorry?’
‘What would you like to eat?’
‘Anything. Something I can eat in the car. A sandwich.’
‘No worries.’
He stopped the truck in front of a sandwich shop. ‘Hop out, get what you want.’
She selected a vegetarian sandwich and a bottle of water. He chose the double-decker burger and mineral water.
While they waited for their orders, a couple of guys walked in thumped Bryce on the shoulder and said, ‘V, how ya doin’ mate?’
‘I’m good,’ he said. ‘Let me introduce you to me Sheila.’
Who’s he calling Sheila?
Belle looked around for another woman. To her surprise, Bryce put a hand on her head.
‘This is Belle. Belle, this ugly guy here is Squat, and this guy here is Pong.’
She smiled tiredly at the men but kept to herself.
The guys acknowledged her with a casual nod and resumed catching up with Bryce, talking about sports and something about a canoe race.
‘V, your order’s ready,’ hollered the sandwich lady.
Bryce paid, gathered everything up and waved to his friends. ‘Catch ya later, mate.’
When they returned to the ute, she just had to ask, ‘Why do they call you ‘V’ and not ‘B’ for Bryce?’
He didn’t give a straight answer, but winked and said, ‘You’ll find out soon enough.’
They ate in silence, almost as though talking was a massive effort to be avoided at all cost. She ate her sandwich and gazed out of the window to watch the scenery go by.
He concentrated on the road, driving single-handed while holding his tucker with the other.
She made a small gasping sound when a kangaroo suddenly hopped into view. It stopped in the middle of the road for a moment.
Bryce stopped the vehicle in time, about fifty meters from the marsupial, which gawked at them before bounding off.
‘Welcome home,’ he said with a grin as he gave her a sideways glance.
‘Thank you,’ was all she managed to say.
When they started off again, he put one hand on her thigh, which she didn’t mind, but soon he was rubbing her knee with his fingers sending a flood of endorphins into her system. She gripped his fingers, earning a crooked little smile from him.
After an hour of driving, she stretched her legs, rested her feet on the dash and promptly fell asleep. She didn’t know how long she was out, but when she woke up, they were in the middle of nowhere. They were off the beaten path. There was not a soul around. Her initial thought was that they’d gotten lost or run out of gasoline or had a breakdown in the middle of the great Australian bush. She jumped out of the cab and found herself in a tropical rainforest, sunlight streaming through the canopy of trees.
‘You’re in the Daintree Rainforest,’ Bryce said from behind.
She pivoted around to find him standing without a shirt, his denim jeans hanging slightly low to show the contour of his rippling torso. She looked at the broad shoulders that connected to a body that tapered to a narrow waist: V. She flashed a shy smile.
‘Come have a look,’ he said.
It was a waterfall, a small one. The water cascaded down to a nature pool below.
‘Wow.’ The water was so clear she could see the bottom. She turned to him just as he was taking his pants off.
‘What are you doing?’ she asked dumbly.
‘Going for a swim, and I strongly suggest you don’t jump in fully clothed either.’
There he was standing in front of her, stark naked.
God, he’s beautiful.
He reached out to her to slowly unbutton her plaid shirt. She wasn’t wearing a bra; she didn’t need to since her boobs failed to show up when she hit puberty. He left her plaid shirt hanging open on her. Then he slowly, teasingly removed her belt, unzipped her pants and took them off her, holding her gaze with his eyes.
Her breath caught when he hooked his thumb on the garter of her G-string.
‘It’s okay,’ he said.
Throwing caution to the wind, she stepped out of them.
He slid her shirt off one shoulder, revealing her androgynous body. He traced his fingers along her front and stopped when he reached her navel.
There was something so utterly luscious about the slow revelation.
Unhurried.
Teasing, even.
When her shirt finally came off, he said, ‘Let’s go.’ He took her to the edge of the waterfall.
She stopped at the edge, half frightened to death, which just magnified her need to be close to him. He turned her around to face him, lifted her chin.
‘Look at me. Just look at me.’ He held her in a tight embrace. ‘When we leave the ground, point your toes downward and keep them straight.’
‘We’re not going to—?’
Her heart thumped inside her chest. It was just too much to contemplate.
‘Yes, we are.’
He propelled them off the cliff. She let out a silent scream.
‘Toes downward,’ he reminded her mid-air. She did just in time before they hit the water. She felt as if she was going to drown as they become fully submerged in the water. When they broke through to the surface, she laughed in a rush of adrenaline. It was explosive.
Reckless.
He led them to the bottom of the waterfall, just behind the curtain of rushing water. There he kissed her passionately. She hugged him close but then he removed her arms from him and told her to hang on the veins of tree roots snaking along the rock behind.
‘Don’t let go,’ he said.
He cupped her face and kissed her again. He nuzzled her neck as his hands found its way to her breasts. He gently rubbed her pink n*****s, intensifying her arousal. She released her hold on the tree roots, wanting so much to wrap her hands around him.
He caught her hands with his.
‘No.’
He got her to spread her arms out this time.
‘Don’t let go.’
With her hands wrapped around the roots, the position made her feel vulnerable, and she felt a shiver along her spine.
‘Trust me. Do you trust me?’
‘I do,’ she whispered.
‘Then don’t let go.’
She held onto the veins of those tree roots as if they were her lifeline as he made love to her. Alternately sweet and gentle and at times a little rough. She wrapped her legs around him when he thrust inside her, groaning with both pain and pleasure. After he had come inside her, he let her hug him around the neck, and he waltzed them in the water.
Shadows had shifted by this time.
‘We have to go up there now,’ he said, pointing back to the top of the waterfall.
She looked up and thought how high that must be to scale up.
‘Trust me,’ he said again.
They swam to the edge of the pool. He asked her to climb on his back and said again, ‘Hold on, don’t let go.’
With one massive pull on a vine, they were out of the water. He scaled the side of the waterfall, strong hands gripping and pulling on vines as toes dug into rocky, slippery crevices, one step at the time until they reached the top. Bloody toes and fingers later they were once again on terra firma.
Except she wasn’t really.
- Writer
