Page 39 of Rock Giant
An adventure… Yeah, it had been that.Sailing down that river on the boat coat he’d claimed to have invented.Losing his phone overboard, rescuing her kittens, then afterwards, their impromptu campfire, and him singing to her in his low gravelly voice while playing an accompaniment on two teaspoons.A grin tugged at her cheeks over the memories.And, yeah, her astride him and his Prince Albert piercing hitting her in all the right spots was part of what made it memorable.
“Happy memories,” Ginny observed, one eyebrow quirked.That instantly sobered Jodi.They were happy memories.Her life had changed completely owing to that night.It’d given her the impetus to leave home and all its shittiness behind.To start over, start again, travel, better herself.And what do you know, things had improved once she’d escaped from the tyranny she’d hardly realised she was living under.Of course, there’d been one or two low points, but… But nothing.Dwelling on those things now wouldn’t get her out of the mess she’d currently blundered her way into.
“How do I convince him to forget about this?”
“Not gonna happen,” Ginny said, confirming her own suspicions.
“It has to.”
Ginny gave her another gentle pat.“If it was any other fool….Let me tell you about Mr Reed.He’s a big softie, despite appearances.Tenacious.Protective.The champion of anyone or anything he perceives as weaker than himself.He’s completely laidback, but he’s also hardcore about his beliefs.They and his ethics are sacrosanct.Violate either at your peril.Which boils down to this.Last night he swore an oath to you that’s steeped in tradition.He made it beneath the stars, with the wind as a witness and…he’s not going to shrug that off and let it go just because it creates difficulties.Not now, and not in a day or two.Whether you want him or not, he’s yours.”
“It’s not legally binding,” she tried again, knowing it was futile.
“I can come with you, if that’ll help,” Ginny offered, drawing her thoughts back to the real problem—communicating her fuck up to Nash.
“Not sure that’s…” She shook her head.“Thank you, but it’s probably better if I speak to him alone.On which subject, I should really…” They both looked towards the door.Judging by the rumble of voices still coming from the front of the bus, things hadn’t settled any.
“Back door.”Ginny got up and opened a curtain shrouding the back window of the bus.“It’s a sort of fire exit.Reckon you can squeeze through?”
It’d be a wriggle, and it was a much bigger drop than she’d really have liked, but it’d be worth it to avoid walking through the argument raging out there.Also, if she attempted to exit via the front, then it was ninety-nine per cent certain that Rock Giant would hound her like a shadow, and the last thing she needed while breaking the news of her stupidity to Nash was Rock Giant leering over her shoulder.
CHAPTER 11
Jodi Castle
It took all of three minutes to walk between the Black Halo and Ghost Boys buses.Curiously, there was no security posted outside today.The why of that became apparent the moment Jodi mounted the bus steps and got a whiff of the interior – sex and weed.Seemed she hadn’t been the only soul who’d succumbed to escapism last night.While her absence may have been noted, it sure didn’t seem like anyone was overly worried.Lee and Jez were sprawled across the banquettes that curved around the front section of the bus, three girls a piece draped over them in varying stages of undress.The detritus of a booze and sex filled night littered the area, necessitating her stepping over an assortment of empty cans, discarded prophylactics and roaches en route to the rear.
“Jodi, you’re alive,” Lee reached a hand towards her.His fingertips brushed her hip as she sidled past trying not to touch anything.“Nash was looking for you.Where’d you get to?”
Where’d he get to?
“Where is he, Lee?”Not out scouring the campsite, she’d warrant.He’d probably only noticed that she wasn’t here because the rest of them had companions to cuddle and she’d not been on hand to pull onto his lap.
Sure enough, Lee tipped his head in the direction of the back of the bus.It had to be said, that while this bus was newer and slicker in some regards, it felt sterile after what she’d seen of Black Halo’s home on wheels.It wasn’t down to the layout difference either.That bus had felt like a home, whereas this was basically a corporate sex shack on wheels, and it still smelled of the showroom beneath the spilled beer and body odour.
“Anything I should know before I go in there?”she asked, hand on the bunk room door handle.
The question seemed to momentarily confound Lee.
“He’s not a cheat.”Jez removed his nose from some girl’s cleavage to spit out that observation.A sight she’d like to remove from her eyes with bleach.Besides tits, what did that woman have that he couldn’t have got in a far more meaningful way from Rune?
“So, I’m not going to walk into a roomful of naked bodies?”
Leehmn-ed, and Jezhah-ed.
“Can’t say for sure,” the latter eventually admitted.“Balin’s back there, too, and you know what Mr Karunarathne’s like about shedding his attire.”
Actually, she didn’t.She’d never seen Balin anything other than fully clothed.Well, okay, minus a shirt a time or two.
“Doing?”
“What do you think?”
Using his newfound fame as an ego booster.Okay, she’d just brace herself for the possibility that humping was happening.Although that begged the question, what was her fiancé doing back there?
Nash wasn’t shagging.
That wasn’t much of a relief, given that he was watching Balin fuck some lass and had obviously been doing so for some time.He was still in the same clothes he’d had on last night, and his hair was limp with sweat.“Babe, you’re here,” he said, pulling her onto his lap and shoving his hands up her top to fondle her tits.“I’ve missed you.Where’ve you been?”His lips were already heading towards her ear when she jerked back out of his lap, where he’d clearly been hoping to fasten her.
