Mara didn’t want to let him in the house. “It’s insane in there. Once you see it, you won’t want to marry me.”
“Baby, the place could be full of used condoms and animal heads, and I wouldn’t care.”
She didn’t smile. “Daddy, seriously.”
“I mean it. Just show me.”
He didn’t have to wait long to see the changes. The entrance that used to have a little coat-stand and family pictures was covered in red marker drawings of ghouls and dragons with dripping jaws. “Wow…”
“Yeah, um, welcome to my nightmare.”
Derek grinned. “Love what you’ve done with the place.”
The kitchen was also covered in whacky wall drawings, the floor in paper and empty food packets. The walls were full of holes and the dining table and chairs were in the corner in a splintery pile.
Derek let go of Mara’s hand to walk to a wall covered in newspaper articles. The pictures were arranged with a symmetry he couldn’t place. Then he saw it, a small patch of clippings about him.
Hardiman, First Player to Win Norm Smith Twice.
Hardiman’s Injury Won’t Keep Him From Finals
Hardiman a Shoo-In For The Brownlow, says Coach.
The patch was marked by a giant X. He had been crossed out. He turned to see Mara rocking on her toes, clearly terrified. “You didn’t cross out my eyes. If you’d done that, I’d be really worried.”
She gave a nervous smile. “I’m sorry. I know it’s… serial killery.”
“It might be if I didn’t know you’d been collaging your whole life.” He pulled her close. “Don’t worry, fiancée. Your nutty secrets are safe with me.”
“But it’s insane.”
“Yeah, but I deserved to be in your fucked up collage. Do you own this place now?”
She laughed. “Imagine if I didn’t. Imagine if my old landlord just showed up?”
“He’d have a heart attack.”
“Probably. No, it’s mine. It’s been my dark little secret for years.”
Derek took in another wall covered entirely with lipstick kisses, a hundred colours over and over. “Baby, this doesn’t change anything.”
Mara threw up her hands. “But it’s so weird! I’m still so weird! Even though I have a blowout and a Porsche and a bazillion dollars and I’m still like this.”
“And that’s a good thing.” He took her hand. “M, it’s okay. You can be weird and like weird stuff and keep this fucked up house if you want to. I love you.”
“Promise?”
“I promise.” He kissed her nose. “Now, will you please just be my girlfriend again?”
She giggled. “I don’t know. I’ll have to eat a lot of crow. I told my friends I’d never have another boyfriend.”
“Well, I come with a lot of perks.”
“Like what?”
“I’m pretty good at footy.”
She tilted her head from side to side.
“I’ve been told I’m a decent fuck?”
“This is true, although inappropriate to mention at dinner parties.”
Derek tapped his temple. “What if… I pick up after the dog whenever we walk her.”
“Interesting…”
“And I’ll do the washing. And I make good toasties. And…” he lifted her up, hauling her against his chest. “I’ll worship the ground you walk on, talk you up to everybody I know, and fuck you every single night for the rest of our lives.”
She moved in to kiss him, then paused. “What about football?”
“You want me to give up football?”
“No, of course not,” she said with a laugh. “I mean you moving to Perth to join The Rattlers? There are all these rumours online…”
Relief flooded through him. “Oh! Don’t worry about that. Fuck Perth. I’m staying with The Hammers.”
“Not because of me?”
“Nah, it’s what I want. And what my new best friend, Chase Hansen thinks I should do.”
She smiled. “Chase?”
“Yeah, he’s coming onto my management team, but we’re not talking about that now.” He kissed her lightly. “Do you want to be my missus or what?”
“Hmm… okay.”
He kissed her until Pan padded into the room and scratched his leg. Amused, Derek put Mara down. His fiancée bent at the knees and petted her dog. “You jealous, bubby?”
Pan eyed him with such curiosity Derek’s heart twanged. Laughing, he picked her up and clasped her to his chest. “Hello, my little princess.”
“Are you going to carry her like she’s a baby a lot?” Mara asked.
“Probably. So, what’s your house in Fitzroy like? Is it covered in whacky shit, too?”
She stuck out her tongue at him. “No, it’s nice.”
A loud rumble made them both stare at her stomach.
“You hungry, baby?”
She nodded. “Yes, Daddy.”
Derek’s cock throbbed. “None of that, Little Miss. There isn’t a single surface I want to fuck you on in here, and you’re hungry. Let’s go into town and get burgers. We can take Pan.”
“Are you sure? People might see you.”
“Ah, who gives a fuck?”
They strolled into town without incident, collecting two greasy bags of burgers. The teenager in the window in Hungry Jack’s couldn’t have given less of a fuck. And why not? It was a sleepy Sunday evening, and everyone was heading home or already there. Just like he planned to be.
“We’re not staying at your evil clown castle—no offense,” he said, kissing Mara’s jaw.
“That’s fair.”
“I’ll get a big coffee and we’ll drive back to your place?”
She smiled. “Okay. It’ll be strange to see you in there though.”
Derek lowered his mouth to her ear. “Not as strange as the things I’m gonna do to your perfect little body. I’ve got three hours to come up with something good.”
She shivered, pressing against his side. And that’s when he saw it—the man walking toward them.
Despite the uniform, he could have recognised Troy Baker in a line-up of millions. And before he could turn Mara away, Troy spotted them too. His face cracked into a wide, shit-eating grin. “Well, well, well. It’s the fancy new couple.”
Mara jolted in his arms and Derek vowed that whatever happened, Troy wasn’t going to hurt her. He’d spend the night in lock-up first. “Sorry, Baker, we’re just heading off.”
“Sure.” Baker’s gaze fixed on Mara. “Long time no see, Mara. Won lotto, did you?”
Derek pulled Mara closer and moved to walk around him. “We’ll see you later.”
“Hang on.” Troy blocked their path, gaze fixed on Mara. “After all we did together, you never said goodbye, missy.”
Derek froze in his tracks. Did Troy want to die? Had he been hit on the head so hard he couldn’t control his speech? He stood there, trying to decide what unreasonable thing to do when Mara squeezed his arm. She smiled at Baker. “After all we did, you never made me come, Troy. So, I think we’re even.”
She steered Derek away like he was her little dog too. They turned a corner and euphoria crept under his confusion. He turned to his fiancée, the most beautiful, amazing woman in the world. “I can’t believe you fucking said that.”
“Well, I’m not the girl you left behind.” Mara tucked his hand under her arm. “He couldn’t, you know. Make me come.”
“Oh, I fuckin’ bet.” He grinned at her. “I love you, Mara Kennedy.”
She rolled her eyes “I know, Daddy.”
But she didn’t know. He did. At that moment, the whole world opened itself up and he could see right into the future. Him and Mara. Moving in. Getting married. Having kids. Going on holiday. Fucking during thunderstorms. Watching movies. It was all laid out before them like the road to El Dorado. As shining and perfect as this moment. All he had to do was wait for her to see it too.