Murfey's Law Page 18

  ‘Down memory lane.’ Zeb beamed. Leaning over to kiss her cheek at the same time as he yanked the car into reverse he growled into her ear, ‘Fucking hell you look amazing.’

  Under the little white cotton tent dress Lori felt her nipples harden as his lips grazed her cheek. She'd picked the dress for it's air circulating abilities, the fact that the floaty embroidered fabric brushing against her skin turned her on was a very welcome bonus.

  ‘And memory lane is...?’ She swept her fingers along the inside of his wrist as he changed gears expertly. He looked incredible in his pale blue chambray shirt with the sleeves rolled up loosely to his elbows. The shirt was tucked into a pair of navy knee length shorts that were slung low on his hips and secured with a brown leather belt. Lori visualised her hands undoing the buckle before the car revved throatily and she snapped back to the present.

  ‘You trust me right?’ Zeb glanced at her sideways for a moment then turned his eyes back to the winding road leading away from the village.

  Lori twisted as much as the seat would allow and lifted her knees up to the side facing him, her feet tucked underneath her bottom. Pressing her temple against the head rest she studied his face for a moment. In the month she'd known him he'd been intense, moody, churlish, and even on occasion frightening but somehow she did trust him, she would trust him with her life. And she had, the night he'd rescued her from Casper.

  Concern flitted across his face and he took his hand off the gear stick to grip her leg. Rubbing his fingers over the fabric of the dress he repeated his question, ‘You trust me right?’

  Lori sighed slowly and deeply then chuckled, ‘Against my better judgement... I do.’

  Zeb tightened his hold on her, tickling the sensitive dimples in the sides of her kneecap making her squeal loudly and kick her legs out involuntarily.

  ‘So I don't get to know where we're going?’ Lori asked when she had resettled herself comfortably in the seat.

  ‘You do,’ Zeb laughed, ‘when we get there. First though we have to make a stop because I need to show you something. I think I owe it to you.’

  Intrigued Lori fiddled with the buttons on the car's complicated and colourfully lit sound system. When she found the CD changer she chose a number at random. The music that filled the space around them was powerful and emotive and now on the freeway heading south Zeb lowered the car windows and turned the song up loud enough for the lyrics to thump in Lori's chest. The hot air rushing in swirled her ponytail around her shoulders and she closed her eyes letting the music take her away.

  Zeb's hand tapped her gently on the thigh fifteen minutes later and brought her out of her daydream. He had pulled the car into a truck rest and had switched the engine off. Not saying a word he took the keys from the ignition, opened the door and stepped out, closing it gently behind him.

  The evening sun had turned the sky a deep shade of reddish orange as though it were on fire, apt considering the air around them felt like a furnace. Lori grabbed her shoes and slipped them on, jumping out of the car she followed Zeb over to where the asphalt met the gum trees, just beyond where the trucks would exit and rejoin the freeway. As she caught him up her eyes were drawn to something bright against the near-black bark of one of the eucalypts just ahead. The pit of her stomach lurched. Tied around the broad trunk with a white ribbon was a bunch of roses. The weather had been unkind to them and only a few petals remained on the wilted stems. Stapled to the ribbon was a card inscribed with a single word. ‘Mum’.

  With his back to her Zeb stood, shoulders hunched. Inside her chest Lori's heart knocked on her ribcage and she stepped cautiously into the long grass positioning herself beside him. This was what he felt he owed her. Here was the reason he'd arrived at the shop late on Christmas day, the reason his eyes had been red raw from tears.

  ‘They were driving home,’ his voice whispered. ‘It was the day before Christmas, two years ago.’

  ‘Oh god, I'm sorry Zeb,’ Lori chastised herself for the voyeuristic 'need to know' that she'd felt when she saw him in the kitchen with Jenny.

  ‘The truck pulled out without its lights on. Dad didn't stand a chance.’

  Lori looked to the word on the card. ‘Your father was there?’

  ‘He was driving but the truck hit the passenger side.’

  ‘He wasn't...’ Lori couldn't bring herself to say it.

  ‘Killed? No, by some miracle he survived with barely a broken bone. Mum took the full force. She was gone by the time I got here.’

  A wave of nausea rolled over Lori as she realised what he meant. She gasped, ‘You were on duty?’

  Taking a deep breath Zeb nodded. ‘I was first on the scene.’

  ‘Oh shit. And Jonah?’

  ‘No, it was before he joined, thank god,’ he paused, taking a few slow calming breaths then carried on, ‘Dad blamed himself of course. Mum was his true love, you know? The one. He never stopped grieving even for a minute. Then a few months after the funeral he said he was going for a swim. He walked out into the sea and didn't come back. We never found him.’

  Zeb turned to face her, his eyes glistened. Holding out his hands he took Lori's fingers in his and pulled her into him. It was the same embrace he'd wrapped her in when they'd been out on the water, the day he'd given her the opportunity to say goodbye to her own father.

  Pulling out of Lori's arms Zeb tucked his hands around her neck and dipped his head as he tilted her face up to his. Pressing his mouth against hers he kissed her, slowly at first, gently teasing her lips with his tongue. When her fingers dug firmly into the fabric of the shirt and the strong muscles of his back the kiss became more urgent. His thumbs gripped harder against her cheeks and she stepped forward leaning the length of her torso against his. The hard buckle of his belt pressed almost painfully against her belly and she felt him stir against her pelvis.

  ‘Woo Hoo!’ A car full of teenagers sped past, honking their horn and jeering out the windows at the passionate sight on the side of the road.

  Zeb stepped back still holding Lori's neck. A grin spread across his face. ‘We should probably get going.’

  ‘Memory lane is Fisherman's Bay?’ Lori looked puzzled as Zeb drove through the outer suburbs and into town via a bridge she hadn't even known existed.

  ‘Kind of, you grew up here right? Around the same time I grew up in Murfey's Beach.’ He glanced across at her.

  ‘Well, yeah, I guess so, I left just before I turned twelve. You've lived in Murfey's Beach your whole life?’

  ‘I have, and every New Years Eve when we were kids our parents would bring us down here for...’ He didn't get to finish before Lori cut in eagerly.

  ‘The bridge party?’ She felt a flutter of excitement in her chest.

  Zeb grinned but didn't answer her. Instead he turned at the next set of traffic lights and drove as far as the road would go in the direction of the harbour. Steering the car down a side lane and into a driveway Zeb lowered the window and leant out, pressing an unmarked intercom button with his thumb.

  As the little black box in the tall stone wall beside him buzzed into life he cleared his throat and announced his presence, ‘Sergeant Turner. I need access to the car park please Constable.’

  The enormous wrought iron gates juddered open and Zeb drove through, giving a little wave to the camera hung high above them. Once inside the walled compound he manoeuvred the car into a space in the middle of a row of four-wheel drive vehicles. Their fluorescent police markings glittered under a set of bright floodlights.

  ‘Ever been arrested?’ Zeb flashed his teeth at her knowing full well she hadn't.

  She bit her lip and shook her head as they climbed out of their air conditioned cocoon. Regardless of her innocence, it made her nervous just being in the car park of the local area command, she hoped his plans didn't involve going inside.

  ‘Are we leaving the car here?’

  ‘Yes, leave your bag too, you won't be needing it,’ Zeb ordered authoritatively.

&
nbsp; ‘But what about...’ she begun to question then thought better of it and shut the door.

  ‘No. Trust me.’ Removing the notes from his wallet Zeb tucked the money back in to his pocket and threw the leather case along with his phone on to the seat slamming the door shut and locking it, ‘Wait here.’

  Lori watched as he jogged across the car park and banged his fist on a large metal studded door. It opened and a uniformed man greeted Zeb with a grin. She couldn't hear what was said but blushed anyway when the officer, presumably the Constable that had let them in, glanced over to where she stood. Holding his hand out Zeb passed him his car keys and turned to jog back to her.

  ‘Ready?’ he entwined his fingers in hers.

  ‘As ready as I'll ever be.’ Lori laughed nervously at the glint in his eyes.

  Walking through the dark lane and out onto the road they rounded the corner of the harbour. As the bridge came in to Lori's view, Zeb stopped and turned to her. ‘Bring back memories?’

  ‘Oh my god yes!’ She squeezed the hand that had guided her here.

  Built sixty years ago the long narrow iron truss bridge replaced the old Fisherman's Bay ferry that ran from the north to the south across the mouth of the river, much to the delight of the residents. For years it had been the location of the town's New Years Eve celebrations until demand meant that closing it down for a whole evening was no longer feasible. Sadly, in the late nineties the parties had stopped. Last year though, a second bridge, two kilometres upstream opened, giving an alternative route for local traffic, and if necessary all traffic at times when the main bridge was being maintained. Under public pressure and in desperate need of electoral votes the town council agreed to re-ignite the old tradition. This year, the first year of its return, they promised the bridge party would be back with a bang.

  Brightly lit strings of white lights had been hung like a spider's web under the iron girders. It created a sort of sparkling tent above the thousands of people who were all laid out on rugs or sat in camping chairs in the road. Every cuisine imaginable was represented in the food stalls that ran in single file along the entire length of the bridge. One section had been set aside for live music and in front of the large raised stage where a local band were showcasing their talents a huge group of young kids danced with abandon.

  After walking from one end to the other and then back again, stopping to watch the entertainment and taste some of the delights along the way, Lori and Zeb carried their plastic cups of Ginger Beer carefully over the heads of the picnickers and made their way towards the opposite side of the bridge. Away from the crowd they sat down on the road, their backs against the rails separating the party from the water below.

  ‘You ok?’ Zeb leant in to ask.

  ‘Absolutely.’ Lori smiled and took a gulp of her drink as she eyed a couple kissing tenderly. They were stretched out on a thick layer of blankets that protected them from the ground.

  ‘Do you think they're in love? Or lust?’ he followed her gaze and rested his hand on her thigh.

  The temperature had hardly shifted and the air was still muggy, even this late, yet Lori could tell her face was burning. Thinking about it for a moment she answered, ‘Can't they have both?’

  Zeb didn't answer. Instead he ran his fingers just under the hem of her dress causing a pulse to flicker between her legs. It was a sensation he had stirred in her before but she hadn't been able to sate. Reaching a little further under the fabric Zeb's fingers caused Lori's breathing to quicken.

  Tucking her arm behind him she gripped his belt and dipped her thumb into the waistband at the back of his shorts releasing just enough shirt that she could slide her hand in against the warm skin at the small of his back. Just as she smoothed the palm of her hand up his spine Zeb let out a small groan.

  ‘We need to go,’ his voice urged.

  The crowd had risen to their feet in anticipation of the fireworks that were going to be released from a barge on the inland side of the river at midnight, any minute. Standing up Zeb gripped Lori's wrist and pulled her effortlessly off her bottom.

  ‘Where are we going?’ She thought they would have seen the fireworks just fine from where they were.

  ‘Over there.’ He nodded to the other side.

  As every single light on the bridge flicked off plunging them in to complete darkness thousands of voices began the countdown.

  TEN!

  Zeb kissed her hard and spun around pulling her straight through the crowd toward to opposite side of the bridge.

  NINE!

  ‘What the hell are we doing?’ Lori yelled frantically as she bumped into bodies left and right of her.

  Zeb either couldn't hear or wasn't listening.

  EIGHT!

  Bursting out of the crowd he dragged her through the gap separating two food stalls and they popped out again on the other side where there was less than a meter between the back of the tents and the railing at the very edge of the bridge.

  SEVEN!

  A sudden childhood memory flashed through Lori's mind. ‘Oh no! No, no, no!’

  ‘You said you trusted me Lorikeet.’ Zeb's hands held her face and he searched her eyes for her agreement.

  SIX!

  Lori was frozen to the spot.

  FIVE!

  ‘Lorikeet come on, this is our only chance. Don't let fear stop you from throwing yourself into something that could be the best experience of your life.’ Zeb bowed his head and kissed her longingly, his tongue flicking hers with wanton desire.

  FOUR!

  THREE!

  ‘Ok, ok, I'll do it.’ Lori pulled away from his kiss, her heart racing with a mixture of need for him and sheer terror of what she was about to do.

  TWO!

  Together they climbed over the rail and hung on to the bridge with one hand. The fingers of their other hands clasped tightly together.

  ONE!

  ‘Happy New Yeeeear!’ Lori squealed with the crowd. She and Zeb launched themselves off the edge at the same time as the fireworks burst into the night sky behind them, lighting up the water as they dropped the forty something feet.

  ‘Fucking hell!’ Lori spluttered when she resurfaced, her dress bunched up under her arms. She'd lost her shoes at some point in the fall.

  Zeb came up right in front of her and laughed manically. ‘That was insane!’

  ‘I can't believe you made me do that,’ Lori screeched and lashed out at him with her arms and legs in a comical slow motion fight.

  ‘Shh!’ Zeb covered her mouth with his hand. ‘The last thing we need is to draw attention to ourselves down here.’

  Lori stopped fighting and clung on to his waist treading water slowly as she gave her breathing time to calm down. Only inches from his face she stared into his eyes and spoke quietly, ‘You, are fucking crazy.’

  His hands wrapped around her bare waist and drawing her body in to his he rasped in reply, ‘It's you that drives me fucking crazy.’

  Lust finally taking control of her Lori pushed forward in the water and kissed him feverishly, her hands grabbing at his shirt.

  Around her waist Zeb's hands slid up her rib cage and round the back to the clasp of her bra. Treading water confidently he flicked the hooks undone and returned his hands to the front lifting the lacy fabric up to release her breasts. His hands brushed down her chest and found her erect nipples, rolling them under his finger tips and making her whimper in expectation.

  Slipping her own hands down to Zeb's belt she loosened it enough so that she could get at the button fly. Exhilaration from the jump made her fingers shake and she tugged impatiently at the fabric.

  Zeb chuckled and let go of her breasts for a second, helping her to undo the buttons.

  Reaching in to his shorts she liberated him and wrapped her legs around his hips, moaning in his ear as he pulled aside her knickers and slid in to her.

  Chapter Seventeen

  Knock Knock!

  ‘Zeb! Wake up man, the surf's waiting,’ Jonah u
rged impatiently.

  A crack of bright light from the bedroom doorway blinded Zeb's sleep deprived eyes and he hoisted himself up on his elbows. ‘What time is it?’

  ‘Nearly six. We just got back from Sydney, Tyler's gone home to shower and I said we'd catch him up. I can't believe you're in still in bed! Look I'll turn on the li...’

  ‘NO!’ Zeb growled. ‘Just give me five... no, ten... no, twenty minutes, and I'll be out. Now close the fucking door.’

  Mumbling something crass about his brother needing to get laid Jonah slammed the door shut returning the room to darkness.

  On the wall beside the shuttered bedroom window the air-conditioner purred automatically into life and Zeb slid his elbows down the mattress, dropping his head back into the mess of pillows. Even though the room was cool, Zeb's skin felt clammy under his fingers as he skimmed them leisurely down over his chest, tucking them beneath a fold of sheet that covered the ripples of his abdomen. Lifting the layers of feathery quilting piled up on the bottom half of the bed he tilted his chin and looked down the length of his body, grinning languorously, ‘You can come out now.’

  After swimming the kilometre from under the bridge round to the little beach in the harbour he had taken Lori back to the car where he'd retrieved a couple of towels and a change of clothes for them both. Dressed in a pair of his baggy tracksuit pants and hoody Lori had fallen comfortably asleep in the passenger seat before he'd even reached the freeway. Somewhere around three in the morning, on the descent down in to Murfey's Beach, Lori had woken with renewed energy and, slipping her hand into his lap, he'd read her message loud and clear. With Jonah bringing the New Year in up in the city, they had fallen noisily into bed for a deliciously long coupling.

  ‘So you're going for a surf?’ Lori knelt up causing the pile of covers to slide off the foot of the bed. The cold air of the room hit her bare skin, tightening her breasts.

  Zeb traced his fingers over the goose bumps just below her belly button. ‘Do you mind? It is a kind of New Year's Day tradition. You could come with me?’