“I see.” His words were sharp.
Dusty could tell from his tone he wasn’t at all happy to hear what she was saying.
“Separate rooms, then?”
She swallowed hard. Looked through the reception glass door. Aaron finished talking to the man, picked up a key and turned around. He smiled at her. Dusty shivered. Aaron strode through the door to her.
“Got us a double bed for $200, thought you’d like to save a bit of money.” He grinned at her.
Dusty felt her blood chill.
“What the hell, Dusty?” said Blaise.
She put the phone to her ear. “Don’t worry, you can trust me. Nothing will happen. It’s just unfortunate the store was closed, and that there’s not a lot of cheap options for accommodations out this side of town.”
“I’ll pay, then you can have a room of your own. Don’t worry about the money.”
“Don’t worry, city boy, I’ll take care of Dusty better than you could. This place is better than you think.”
“Fuck off, Aaron, don’t you bloody touch Dusty, or I’ll beat the shit out of you.”
“Blaise,” Dusty scrambled to think of something to help cool Blaise down. “I’m exhausted. I need sleep. It’s probably better this way so we drive home safely.”
“Get separate rooms,” he yelled.
“Too late. It’s all paid for, my shout.”
“Fuck you,” Blaise swore.
Dusty looked at Aaron. Whatever he was thinking, it wasn’t going to happen. “I’ll sleep in the ute.”
“Too dangerous, you don’t know who will approach you around here. Come on, best we find somewhere to eat, you can shower first if you like.” He smiled broadly at Dusty. “I’ll even let you choose what side of the bed you want to sleep on.”
“You better hope there’s a couch, otherwise you’re sleeping on the floor,” said Dusty firmly.
“Dusty, I can wire through some money. You don’t have to—”
“Blaise, I need you to trust me on this one. Nothing will happen between us. I love you.” Then before the argument could continue, she hung up. She glared at Aaron, then realized what she’d said to Blaise. If felt right. The ‘I love you’ felt right, which was saying something because this situation with Aaron wasn’t.
“I mean it, Aaron, you’re on the couch or floor, or I get into the ute and drive away leaving you to make your own way back to your farm.”
“Fine. You just remember, I’m trying to help here.”
“Booking a room where we share a bed isn’t helping.”
“Fussy.”
She glared at him. He was a tough nut to get through to. She’d faced him once before, and sure as hell she would do so again. “I’ll remind you in another way then?” She held up her fist.
“Okay, okay, settle down. I’ll sleep on the couch. You remember I was trying to save money. You’ve got a new bearing to pay for, and they aren’t cheap, you know.”
Dusty didn’t need to be reminded of that. New bearings were thousands and thousands of dollars. It was going to hurt. Not as much as losing Blaise because of Aaron’s interfering behavior would, though.
She snatched the keys from him. Room number five. She saw the number on the door up ahead. “Neighborly help doesn’t extend to physical activities of any kind, remember.” Her words were sharp and to the point.
She saw the surprise in his eyes and hoped she was finally getting through to him.
