Fly with Me (34 page)

Everyone
stopped laughing, their attention riveted on this latest
development.

“What’s it
about, babe?” Dee asked serenely.

“This is about
that ridiculous seventy six dollar bill you tried to make me cough
up the other day!”

“Do you think
so?”

“I know
so.”

“Huh. Well,
perhaps if you hadn’t been such a dumb arse and left the door open
for your furry grandchildren to run wild through my shop, this
wouldn’t have happened, would it?”

“Furry
grandchildren?” Elissa looked at Ash.

“I’ll explain
it later,” Ash replied, eyes dancing.

“Anyway, the
bill is paid now.” Dee paused, cocked an elbow on the back of the
chair. “Amazingly, the inflated price of comics covered the bill
nicely.”

“Really?”

“Yep. Now it
would be nice if you paid your poor little brother his money back.”
Dee smiled slowly. “Your Mum wouldn’t be impressed if she knew you
made him pay seventy six dollars for
your
comic.”

“Me? I didn’t
make him pay that!”

Dee studied
her nails.

Ryder almost
snarled, his teeth clenched and jaw tight.

Elissa felt a
twinge of alarm, but a glance around the table showed everyone else
just watching, captivated and in various stages of amusement.

Dee arched an
eyebrow and met Ryder’s glare. They stayed like that for ten long
seconds before Ryder finally bent down, bracing his hands on the
back of the chair either side of Dee’s shoulders. “You are in so
much trouble, babe.”

She actually
smirked.

“
So
much trouble.”

Her smirk grew
bigger.

“When I knock
off tonight, you better be here.”

“Where else
would I be at eight o’clock at night, dumb arse?”

“Hiding at
your mother’s.”

She laughed in
his face.

“So,
so
much trouble.” Ryder shoved back from the table, straightening to
his full height to tower over his chortling fiancée. “So bloody
much trouble.” Turning on his heel, he strode out the
kitchenette.

“Well, that’s
that bit of amusement done for the day,” Scott announced. “Time to
go back to work.”

Grinning, Kirk
gave Molly another kiss on top of her head before following Ryder
out, Scott on his heels, Simon right behind him.

Elissa’s heart
fell a little when it appeared Simon hadn’t really noticed her that
much, but then he cast a fleeting glance back over his shoulder,
his warm, friendly gaze unerringly falling on her before he
disappeared from view, making her heart skip a beat. The sound of
amused male voices was interspersed with those of a low, irate one,
the dinging of the old fashioned bell on the front door announcing
their departure.

Now the men
had left, Elissa looked uncertainly at Dee, to find her grinning
widely.

“Man, he is
steamed,” Molly observed.

“And you’re in
trouble.” Del sing-songed it. “
So
much trouble.”

Dee cut her a
sideways glance, a gleam in her eyes. “I topped dumb arse. That was
so worth it.”

“And tonight
he’ll top you,” Del said. “We all know a tussle with you means he
ends up humping the hell out of you.”

“So elegantly
put.” Molly rolled her eyes.

“It means I’ve
got my seventy six dollars
and
I get the hell humped out of
me.” Dee smiled demurely, which actually looked a little scary
because the gleam in her eyes was pure devilment. “I’d say it was a
win-win for me.”

“He’s a
little...um…intimidating when furious,” Elissa ventured.

“All bark, no
bite,” Del assured her. “Well, unless it’s with Dee, then he bites.
Luckily, the deviant sheila likes it so no worries.”

“He can be a
drongo sometimes,” Dee stated with affection. “But he’s my drongo,
so it’s all good.”

“Hmmm, while
we’re on the subject.” Molly cast Elissa a sly look. “Simon’s eyes
were doing a bit of wandering.”

“Ah, you
noticed, too?” Del jumped on that titbit like a dingo on a bone.
“He was fair eyeing Elissa up and down, wasn’t he?”

Ash looked at
Elissa. “Yeah, sorry about this.”

“About what?”
Elissa was gamely trying to ignore Del and Molly, eager to grasp
onto anything Ash said to divert the conversation.

“You’ll
see.”

“What?”

“So, for
someone who says she isn’t Simon’s girlfriend, he sure does look at
you a lot,” Del said.

“We’re not-”
Elissa began quickly, intent on cutting that train of thought off
fast.

“That hunk of
fireman looked like he wanted to lick you like an ice cream,” Molly
added.

Actually, he’d
already licked her. Elissa couldn’t help it, her cheeks reddened.
Not to mention a flash of heat went right through her.

“Cripes.”
Molly eyed her closely. “You’re either embarrassed or…”

“Bugger me
dead,” Dee said. “Well, not literally, because that’d hurt.”

“Marjorly,”
Molly agreed without looking at her. “But yeah, I get your drift.
You.” She pointed at Elissa. “What’s going on between you and our
redheaded firie?”

“Nothing.”
Elissa took a huge mouthful of sausage, which effectively meant she
couldn’t answer.

“Oh my God,
did you give him a blow job?”

Elissa almost
choked, her mouthful making it difficult to get air. Spitting out
the chunk of sausage in a napkin, she grabbed another napkin from
the little pile in the centre of the table and placed it over her
mouth, coughing and eyes watering.

When she
finally came up for air, Ash handed her the tin of Diet Coke.
Gratefully taking several swallows, she wiped her eyes and glared
at the women watching her while calmly continuing to eat.

“I did say
sorry,” Ash muttered.

“What the
hell…?” Elissa balled up the napkin. “What makes you think I did
that?”

“All the signs
were there,” Molly replied.

“Signs? What
signs? I just said no.”

“You said no,
but then you put that sausage to your mouth - which is a phallic
symbol, by the way - and took a big mouthful. What is any
intelligent woman supposed to think?”

“What?”

“Yeah.” Del
nodded thoughtfully. “I can get that a sausage can be a phallic
symbol.”

“And putting
it to her mouth and taking a huge bite like that?” Molly tapped her
temple. “Doesn’t take a genius to know what happened.”

Holy heck.
“Nothing happened.” Taking a deep breath, Elissa leaned back in the
chair. “There’s nothing going on between me and Simon.”

“You just keep
telling yourself that.” Del looked at her cousin. “You saw,
right?”

“Not her
giving him a blow job I didn’t,” Dee replied.

Geez. Elissa
couldn’t believe the conversation.

“I think dumb
arse is rubbing off on you,” Del said.

“He rubs
on
me a lot.” Dee’s gaze switched to Elissa. “But yeah, I
sure as shit did see.”

Maintaining -
or trying to - her calm façade, Elissa forked up more sausage.
Unfortunately, that now gave her visions that were a little
X-rated, but she wasn’t going to give these floozies the
satisfaction of knowing she was having those X-rated thoughts, so
she took a bite and chewed.

Actually, it
was also delicious, so… She eyed them all calmly.

“Nah.” Del
shook her head. “Not going to work, sister.”

Elissa
shrugged.

“Silent
treatment won’t stop us,” Molly informed her.

Big surprise
there. Not.

Molly, Del and
Dee looked at each other before returning to studying Elissa. Ash
just sat back and kept eating.

‘Simon’s quite
protective of you, isn’t he?” Molly queried.

“I’m thinking
the men are quite protective of you all,” Elissa returned.

“Don’t worry,
you come under their protective wings, too.”

Nice thought,
but… “I don’t think so. I’m new here.”

“Sweetie,” Del
said with false sympathy, “you’re part of our group now. That means
you fall under those clowns’ jurisdiction, or so they like to
think.”

“I’d imagine,
working in the emergency services, that everyone does.”

“Oh yeah, of
course, but we fall in a different category.”

“Oh?”

“Yeah. They
can yell at us.”

Elissa
blinked. “That’s a good thing?”

“Emphasis on
the ‘can’. They don’t yell. I don’t think I’ve ever heard any of
them yell. Well, except Ryder, but he does it to Dee and she baits
him, so…” Del shrugged.

“I do.” Dee
nodded unashamedly. “It’s fun.”

“Entertaining,
actually.” Molly saluted her with the soft drink tin. “Thanks for
that, by the way.”

“You’re
welcome.”

Cripes. Elissa
shook her head. This lively bunch of women was just so
unpredictable at times with what they would say. And she liked
them, even if they were nosey bitches. Not Ash, she was as far from
a bitch as one could get, but as for the rest of this little
mob…

“Something on
your mind?” Del asked.

“Just thinking
what a nosey bunch of bitches you are.”

“Got that
right,” Molly said. “Took you awhile, though.”

Elissa looked
at Ash. “Not you, though. You’re my sweet, best friend.”

“Thanks,” Ash
said dryly.

“Yep.” Del
tapped the table, recapturing Elissa’s attention again. “And as
nosey bitches, we have keen eyes and ears.”

“Really? I’m
doubting it.”

“I’m not being
diverted by getting into an argument. Now, all those blokes think
they have to watch out for us, and that’s sweet but very annoying
at times, and that means they think they’re at liberty to talk to
us in ways they wouldn’t to other people. But what the hell, we can
handle them. Right, girls?”

They all
nodded, Ash included, which had Elissa staring at her. Ash blushed
a little and looked down at the sandwich in her hands, but a small
smile played around her mouth. Then Elissa remembered how Scott had
been giving them both a big lecture and she’d diverted him with a
kiss and some words in his ear. Oh yeah, he’d looked downright
lusty then. Hmmm, okay, maybe Ash could handle him and the poor
bastard just didn’t realise it.

That had
Elissa grinning.

Dee eyed her
shrewdly before picking up her fork and having another bite of
food. As she chewed, she continued to eye Elissa before glancing at
Molly and Del, her eyebrow rising slightly.

“Can I tell
her?” Molly asked.

“Why you?”

“Because I’m
pregnant.”

“The bump
doesn’t give you special privileges, you know.”

“Goldie says
it does.”

“He thinks the
sun shines out your arse, of course he’d tell you that.”

“You’re rather
coarse at times, aren’t you?”

“Jesus.”

“Simon had a
go at Brand Dawson for fronting you up at the supermarket,” Del
announced with relish before dropping back in her chair and
spreading her arms out while Molly and Dee glared at her. “What? If
I was going to wait for you two to finish rabbiting on about who
had the right to tell Elissa, I’d have cobwebs.”

“You’re
single, no boyfriend, no sex life. You already have cobwebs,” Dee
pointed out with glee.

“Excuse me.”
Elissa couldn’t believe she’d heard right. “Simon did
what
?”

“Had a go at
the Dawson prick for grabbing you in the supermarket,” Molly said
quickly before Dee could reply.

Dee flipped
her the bird which Molly returned with spirit.

Ignoring the
byplay, Elissa looked around at her friends. “He didn’t.”

“He did.” Del
nodded.

“To be fair,”
Ash said, obviously in an attempt to smooth things a little, “Scott
also had a word to Brand.”

Okay, Elissa
could kind of accept that Scott did, because he was the fiancée of
her best friend and she was currently living under his roof,
so-

“Goldie gave
him a warning, too,” Molly added happily. “My hero.”

Okay, Kirk was
a cop, so-

“Ryder told
him he’d break his leg if he did it again,” Dee put in. “Just
saying.”

Hang on, Ryder
had no business-

“But Simon got
to him first,” Del said happily. “Shirt-fronted him and shoved him
up against the wall. Told him in no uncertain terms that if he ever
got near you again, he’d punch his lights out.”

Elissa’s mouth
fell open.

“Del,” Ash
admonished her.

“Fine, fine.”
Del threw up her hands. “Simon told Dawson if he ever laid a hand
on you again or spoke disrespectfully to you, he’d have Simon to
answer to. And he
did
shirt-front him.” Del shrugged. “Same
thing, really. If Dawson looks sideways at Elissa, Simon will punch
his lights out.”

“Which isn’t
the kind of reaction Simon does,” Molly put in.

“It’s true,”
Ash agreed when Elissa looked at her in astonishment. “Simon’s
usually the calm one of the blokes, the easy-going one. Normally
he’d give a warning, but the shirt-fronting is new.”

They all sat
and watched her with interest.

“You knew?”
Elissa asked Ash in disbelief. “You knew and didn’t tell me?”

“Well, there
was nothing to tell.” Ash looked at her friends and sighed. “I
thought.”

“It’s because
she’s not a nosey bitch,” Del pointed out. “We are, however, so we
told you.”

“Yep.” Molly
drained the last of her drink. “Still trying to tell us there’s
nothing between you two?”

Unbelievable.
“Just because Simon acted a little caveman?”

“And you gave
him a blow job. Let’s not forget that little fact.”

“That never
happened!”

Chapter 10

Two days. Two
days and he’d only seen Elissa at lunchtime. She hadn’t rung him or
approached him.

Checking the
upcoming roster Hank, the Station Officer, had put out, Simon
copied down the dates and times to put on his calendar at home.