Jayden shoved at my arm, the gesture working its magic. For the first time since receiving that call from Nate, my muscles fully relaxed, and I managed a full lungful of air. “Satnav says it’s another two minutes away.”
Angling around to take in the whole surroundings, Jayden tugged off his sunglasses. “This really is the bumfuck of nowhere.”
“Seems to be.”
“Holy shit. You remember that movie we watched when we were at camp?”
“Don’t even go there,” I said with a laugh, remembering exactly what movie he was talking about. Jayden always had the worst ideas. When we were seventeen, he downloaded a movie on his laptop, and we watched it on the floor of our twin room late one night. We’d had a whole midnight-feast, horror-movie moment going on. Single mattresses on the floor, a bagful of candy from the vending machine, andWolf Creek.
“You were just as shit scared as me.”
I quirked a brow at him and peered over. “That right? I think you remember this story very differently than I do.”
“The mattresses were already on the floor, and it was late, so it made no sense to put them back on the beds.”
“Uh-huh. Yet you still shared my mattress.”
“I was worried about you, and it was cold.”
“It was the middle of summer and seventy-five degrees at night.”
Another look at the man at my side, and I caught his wide grin. I returned it immediately before peering ahead when the satnav announced we’d arrived.
“Huh.”
I pressed down on my lips, taking in the quaint… house? I wasn’t sure if I could call it a house, but it seemed super fitting in the backdrop of red soil, the occasional gum tree, and the empty space behind leading to some scrub.
“You want to grab the keys from the mailbox, and I’ll get the groceries?”
“Sure.” He stepped out of the SUV, putting his sunglasses back on. Understandable, as the skies were blue and endless, and the sun lowering toward the horizon still blasted out some decent heat, despite it being a winter’s day.
When Nate had offered us the house, he’d explained the place wasn’t used often. It was also an old one-room house that had been expanded over the years, but his uncle had been steadily modernizing the joint. Looking at the wooden main building with small weatherboard extensions, I could see that. The tension in my muscles unraveled even more.
While this wasn’t what I’d expected to be doing when I finally visited Australia, we were here, and considering the only property I’d seen was at the beginning of the road, we had genuine peace and quiet. Absolutely perfect.
Once inside, my brows shot up in surprise. “Okay, so not what I expected.”
Next to me, Jayden chuckled. “Right.” The front door opened directly into the main living space. While it was cozy, it was still big enough for a two-seater couch, an armchair, coffee table, and TV stand, complete with flatscreen TV. The other side of an ornate archway was a modern, country-style kitchen, just big enough for a small table and chairs.
“This place looks so much better than I expected from the outside.” Jayden peered around the kitchen and turned on the faucet. The water ran immediately, and a few seconds later, a loud groan erupted in the room. “What the fuck is that?” Wide-eyed, he swivelled his head, eyeing the door as though something ferocious was going to come blazing in.
I laughed loudly. “You not heard of the dropbears in Australia?” I chuckled when his eyes widened even further. Yeah, I may have researched the whole dropbear legend a while back when Ryan had mentioned them a time or two.
“The hell are dropbears?”
“You not remember Ryan mentioning them a few years back?”
“No?”
I fought hard to straighten my face and suck back my laugh. “It’s the water pump, dufus.”
His features morphed immediately, and he flipped me off. “Asshole.”
I bounced my brows. “That I am.” I dumped the grocery bags next to the stove and collected our bags, still chuckling at Jayden’s reaction. When I returned, Jayden leaned against the wall next to one of the doorways. Amusement flickered in his gaze, and I sighed. “What is it?”
“I found the second bedroom.”
“Okay,” I said slowly, waiting for him to continue.
