Call On Me

Call on Me

By Angela
Verdenius

(The Mackay
Sisters book 1)

(BBW
Romance)

Smashwords
Edition

Copyright 2013
Angela Verdenius

Cover image
courtesy of b-d-s &
istock.com

Cover by
Joleene Naylor

Smashwords
License Statement

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respecting the hard work of this author.

Table of Contents

Foreword

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Bio

Other Books by this
Author

FOREWORD

I found that
some overseas readers were having difficulty with the Australian
slang, so I thought a list of the slang I’ve used will help while
reading the following story. If I’ve forgotten any, I do apologise!
Also, you’ll find some of our Aussie words have different spelling
to the US.

* please note
that sizes in the US and Australia differ, so when reading of a set
dress size, check the conversion on-line if you want!

Cheers,

Angela

Australian
Terms/Slang

Arvo
-
afternoon

Barbie
-
BBQ

Beaut
-
beautiful, awesome, great, wonderful

Biccies
- biscuits. The same as cookies

Bikie
-
biker, person who rides motorcycles.

Bloke/s
- man/men

Bloody
-
a swear word ‘no bloody good’, in place of ‘no damned good’

Boofhead
- idiot, simpleton, etc. It’s an insult, though sometimes we use it
as a term of affection. It depends on how it is said and meant.

Boot (of a
car)
- trunk

Budgie
smugglers
- men’s bathers, small, brief and tight-fitting

Buggered
- many Aussie use it as a slang word for ‘broken’ (it’s buggered),
‘tired (I’m buggered), and ‘no way’ (I’m buggered if I’m going to
do that). Just some examples

Bung/Bunging
- as in ‘bunging onto something’, putting on
something (bung veggies on a plate, putting veggies on a plate),
usually in a careless or ‘easy’ manner.

Chemist
- pharmacy

Chips
-
in Australia we have cold crunchy chips from a packet, or hot chips
known in some countries as French Fries

Crash
cart
- resuscitation trolley in a hospital or medical setting -
used for life threatening situations such as cardiac arrest

Dander
–
temper

Dill
-
silly, idiot

Doona
-
like a padded quilt that fits inside a cover and lies on the bed.
Can have the warmth of two, three or four blankets, etc.

Donger
-
penis. Also another meaning is a place people sometimes sleep in,
such as ‘dongers’ on mine sites.

Dunny
-
toilet. When used in the terms ‘built like a brick dunny’, it
refers to something built solid, unmoveable.

Giggle-box
- TV, television

Got
his/her/their goat
– annoyed him/her/them

Hoon/s
-
person/people who indulge in antisocial behaviour. Great
explanation in Wikipedia

Iced
coffee/chocolate
- a milk drink flavoured with chocolate or
coffee

Joggers
-
jogging shoes, sneakers

Lolly
-
sweetie, candy

Loo
-
toilet

Lug
-
face

Milo
-
chocolate malt drink. Can have it hot or cold. Yummy!

Moosh
-
slang for face/mouth

Mobile
phone
- cell phone

Nong
-
idiot

Nooky
-
sex

Panadol
- paracetamol, similar to Tylenol in the US

Panel
van
- Holden brand. Similar to a ute in the front, it has an
empty, fully enclosed area at the back easily accessible from the
front seat. Unfortunately, these vans, so commonly seen in the
past, are now by special order.

Pav/s
-
Pavlova/Pavlovas - best dessert ever!

PCYC
-
Police and Citizens Youth Club

Pedal
Pushers
- three quarter pants/knickerbockers

Porking
- having sex

Primapore
- sticky patch with a pad in it, a medical
dressing

Pub
-
hotel

RAC
-
Royal Automobile Club of Western Australia. Covers insurance,
holidays, loans, etc

Rubbers
- condoms

Servo
-
service station

Shag
-
sex

Shag
wagon
- panel van

Sheila
-
female

Snaggers
- sausages

Soft
drink
- soda, fizzy drink

Tea
-
some people call the evening meal dinner. In my family, we’ve
always called it tea, as in breaky, dinner and tea, or breaky,
lunch and tea.

Thongs
-
worn on the feet, same as ‘flip flops’

Tickled
pink
- delighted

Tim Tams
- a brand of Arnott’s Biscuits. Yummy!

TLC
-
Tender Loving Care

Torch
-
flashlight

Tucker
-
food

Ute -
small truck

Vegemite
- most Aussies find this spread yummy, many non-Aussies find it too
salty. Here’s the hint - if you ever have Vegemite, use it spread
thinly, never thickly!

Yamaha &
Suzuki
- ‘brands’ of motorcycles.

You
wally
- silly

Wanger
-
penis

Waterworks
- crying

Whopper
- a lie

Driving
- In Australia, you cannot get a driver’s licence to drive a car
until you are 17 years old. You get your Learner’s Permit (which
requires you to drive only in the company of a qualified driver),
then at 18 you can go for your Probationary licence (you can drive
on your own but at restricted speed limits), and then finally you
are a fully qualified driver.

Chapter 1

“Damn it. Damn
it, damn it,
damn it
.” Ali glared at the disappearing
taillights of the car.

Great, she was
stuck out here in the middle of nowhere. Glancing around, she took
in the dark bushes and trees that lined the equally dark roadside.
There were no street lights out on the highway and she was stuck
out here with no transport.

Mainly because
her mode of transport had vanished with her disgruntled date.
Ex-date. Whatever. Jerk more suited him.

Heaving a sigh,
she hefted her little clutch in her hand and started walking back
towards town. It wouldn’t take long, surely, it wasn’t as though
they’d travelled far out and - crap. The sign she drew level with
plainly stated twenty kms to town.

Hells bells,
she’d be still walking when the sun came up.

Unless someone
stopped to pick her up. Ali chewed her thumb nail as she trudged
past the sign. Of course, whoever stopped might not be a friendly
face from town, it could be a menacing stranger who’d murder her
and dump her body in the bushes.

Geez.

Rustling came
from some nearby bushes and she shivered, her heart doing a little
jump in her chest. Anything could be in the dense bush - owl, fox,
feral cat, a snake as big her arm with sharp fangs, an axe
murderer, a vengeful ghost…

Really, she had
to stop reading her friend’s books.

Squaring her
shoulders, she continued walking at a faster pace. There was
nothing to be afraid of, absolutely nothing. It was just some
animal keeping her company, going about its business, in fact.
Doing its thing, just like she was doing her thing.

Namely going
home alone, again. Another stupid date gone wrong, this time
because she wouldn’t put out for him, and really, did Brian think
she would when he’d said he’d never screwed a ‘chubby bubby’ and
could she please flip her skirt up for him so he could inspect her
thighs?

He definitely
couldn’t say that he’d never been slapped silly by a
chubby
bubby.
She’d near on knocked his lights out. Even now her hand
still stung a little. His cheek would be bright red for a week.

Of course, that
had resulted in her being out here all alone, in the dark, on a
deserted highway, walking home in high heels. All alone. In the
dark.

Turning, she
cast a longing glance down the dim road. No headlights. Swinging
around, she sighed and continued walking.

If she had a
mobile phone she could ring for a taxi. Unfortunately, the mobile
phone wouldn’t fit in her sweet little clutch and convinced that
Brian was the real deal, an honourable man, Ali had blithely left
it on the dressing table.

Big mistake. In
hindsight, everything was a big mistake.

Within ten
minutes her feet were killing her. High heels weren’t made for long
walks, never mind bitumen roads, and the combination of both had
her longing to take them off. Unfortunately, the undersides of her
feet were tender as she always wore shoes or sandals, never liking
to go around in bare feet, so she was stuck with the
blister-inducing high heels.

Damn, what she
wouldn’t give for a pair of flats right now, or thongs. Hell, even
her slippers.

Plodding
onwards, she felt her spirits start to droop. The road stretched
out in a long black ribbon into the darkness and now she was afraid
that someone would stop and turn out to be a maniac, or that some
nice person wouldn’t stop thinking
she
was a maniac and that
she’d still be here come the sunrise. Her sister had the all-night
shift at the local twenty four hour service station and wouldn’t
notice her missing until she got home at seven in the morning.

It was going to
be a bloody long, scary, painful walk home unless a friendly face
showed up behind the wheel of a car heading into town.

Hopefully a
friendly face and not an axe murderer.

No sooner had
that thought again crossed her mind unpleasantly than headlights
flickered behind her. Moving to the verge of the road, Ali stood
and chewed her lip as the lights shone beyond the bend before
coming around fully. Shading her eyes from the glare of the
headlights, she watched as the high beam switched to low beam, the
car slowed down, indicated, and pulled to a halt beside her.

A dark blue
panel van. Thank God, a friendly face.

And a lecture,
but that came with the territory.

Folding her
arms, she waited for the inevitable.

The window
rolled down and a deep voice asked, “Dumped again?”

“Whatever gave
you that idea?”

“Oh, I don’t
know. The dark, you, no one else?”

“I could just
be going for a walk, enjoying the night.”

“Dressed up in
high heels and a fancy dress?”

“I’ve heard of
weirder.”

“Honey, no one
is weirder than you. Get in.”

She didn’t need
to be asked twice. Grabbing the handle, she opened the door and sat
down in the van. Immediately the fresh pine scent hit her. “Cripes,
Ghost, how many of these things do you go through a week?”

In the dim
light of the dashboard, he simply looked at her.

Leaning
forward, she plucked the air freshener tree from the radio dial and
waggled it. “Three? Four?”

Silence.

Replacing it,
she heaved a sigh and buckled up the seat belt. “Okay, let’s get
this over with.”

The van rocked
a little as he moved, his arm going up, and then the cabin flooded
with soft light. Keeping his hand near the switch on the roof, he
looked her over.

Ali returned
the scrutiny with a raised eyebrow. Ghost was dressed in his usual
old jeans that hugged his muscled thighs and the long-sleeved
flannel shirt with the arms rolled up to just below his elbows,
showing off his muscled forearms. It hung open to reveal the white
t-shirt he wore beneath, the soft material hugging all those
luscious muscles.