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Miriama and her little coven of nasties continued to rile Leilah on the bus ride home. She stared through the window, watching the town pass by like a fragile movie set and worked hard to ignore them. Vaughan’s shirt brushed against her arm and she considered telling him about the bra, stopped by Miriama’s proximity in the seat opposite.
“Hey, Vaughan, have you ever snogged a girl?” Miriama’s side-kick got the ball rolling. Leilah cursed herself for letting her irritation show during the girls’ interaction with Tane. Having got a result, they’d pick all her friends off one by one just to annoy her.
“Was it Leilah?” Miriama giggled behind her hand. “Kevin Donnelly said she’s doing all of you.”
Vaughan didn’t reply. He turned his dark-eyed glare on the girl’s face. Piercing and silent, it succeeded in making her falter and Leilah leaned around to watch as Miriama’s colour paled and she gnawed on her lower lip. Leilah hooked her fingers around Vaughan’s pinky as he leaned sideways into the bus aisle. A warning vein ticked in his neck. “Leave it!” she hissed beneath her breath. “Ignore her.”
“You can’t touch me.” Miriama scooted back in her seat and crushed her friend against the window. “I’ll tell.”
Leilah felt Vaughan’s body shake next to her and his laugh sounded cruel. “I don’t need to touch you to hurt you, kid,” he replied, his tone older than his years. The threat hung like a cudgel in the centre of the bus and Miriama turned away to consort with her poisonous friends.
“Thanks.” Leilah shot him a look containing gratitude and Vaughan nodded without smiling. He looped his fingers through hers and gave them a squeeze before releasing her hand and folding his into his lap. His body remained still, his eyes staring forward and his aura reflecting calm. But Leilah saw his fingers writhing together as they picked at a piece of skin on his thumb.
Miriama flipped Leilah the finger as she exited the bus, distance giving her false courage. Leilah shook her head and looked away, the tiny settlement gone within the blink of an eye. Irrelevant, like Miriama.
“Why’s she so aggro at you?” Vaughan asked the question as they walked home, his long fingers pulling grass stalks from the hedgerows and dismembering their seeded heads.
“I don’t know.” Leilah shrugged. “I think she likes one of you, but doesn’t understand how our group works. She’s testing it out, seeing if she can pull one of you away.”
Vaughan wrinkled his nose and lifted one corner of his mouth. “Why doesn’t she just ask? I’m sure Dante would give her what she wants. He talks about it enough.”
Leilah felt herself stiffen, anxiety spreading from her toes to the roots of her hair. “Does he? What does he say?”
“Just stuff.” Vaughan’s eyes narrowed. “You’ve heard him.”
Leilah shook her head and pursed her lips. She doubted he’d tell the truth. He couldn’t repeat what he’d done. She shuddered and Vaughan saw, reaching out to touch her shoulder. “Thanks for doing my homework.” He smirked. “You faked my handwriting great.”
Leilah nodded. “I didn’t see the cops at your place this morning. Have they let you speak to Horse yet?”
“You wanna know now?” Vaughan kicked at a loose stone and sent it skittering into the hedge. “Didn’t care this morning.” Nearby cattle spooked and moved away from the road side of their paddock. Leilah frowned and Vaughan shrugged. “The cops left the house, but we’re not allowed beyond the property into the bush. They let Horse go last night. He said they’ve got no evidence.”
“That’s good.” Leilah’s brow furrowed. “The bush? So the drugs aren’t on your property?”
“Nope. I sneaked across last night for a look after I left you and Dante, but there’s a cop guarding it until they can take it away. I’m guessing it’s quite far up the mountain and deep into the bush. The cop said there were traps set around the site, so not to go poking about.”
“Traps?” Leilah’s eyes widened. “What sort of traps?”
“Man traps. Shotguns set to go off and other nasty stuff. I didn’t want to see after he said that.” Vaughan shrugged. “They let Horse go and they’re taking it away. That’s all I care about.”
“So, how does Malcolm fit in.” Leilah chewed her lower lip while she processed information in her head. “Do you think they’re his drugs?”
“Na. Sounds way too sophisticated for an egg like him. This is grown-up stuff. The cops are putting a chopper up to check the rest of the mountain for more growing areas. They think there’s more.”
“Oh.” Leilah slowed at the sight of Hector’s truck parked at the bottom of Vaughan’s drive. Her father leaned against the rear bumper, arms folded across his chest and his legs crossed over. She felt her body stiffen and Vaughan winced.
“What does he want?”
“Don’t know,” she whispered through the side of her mouth, managing a fake smile and a wave. As she picked up her pace, an expensive car slid to a halt next to Hector and a blonde head poked through the driver’s window. He glanced at Leilah before relaxing his stance and placing both hands on the window ledge to speak to her. “Who’s that?” Leilah asked, but Vaughan shrugged.
A ute driver honked at the woman for parking on the wrong side of the road, nosing its way around the car’s rear bumper and almost sending itself into the ditch on the other side. Leilah drew close enough to see pink polished nails haul the steering wheel around and the tyres edge forward. Hector moved with the car, his back flat and his feet crossed at the ankles. The moment looked intimate and Vaughan shot her a glance of pure curiosity.
Fear budded in Leilah’s heart as she watched the exchange. She didn’t need a stepmother, not at her age. They’d come this far on luck and Mari’s charity. The woman patted Hector’s hand and he removed his fingers from her windowsill, righting himself as she pressed the accelerator and the vehicle slid to its rightful side of the road. Leilah saw her father push something into his top pocket.
Hector turned as Leilah reached the truck, saying nothing but jerking his head towards the passenger side. She gave Vaughan a nervous wave and clambered up into the cab. “I don’t want you around that boy,” he remarked, giving Vaughan a dismissive wave of his hand and pulling the truck out onto the main road. “Kid’s gonna be a loser like his old man.”
“You knew his dad?” Leilah faced him with surprise in her expression. Nobody knew Vaughan’s father. Not even Vaughan.
“No!” Hector spat the word, his tone bridling with impatience. “I meant his damn uncle, Deleilah! Stop acting thick!”
“Oh.” She glanced sideways, taking in the sweat beneath her father’s armpits and the strands of hay tucked into the creases of his clothes. Exertion had made him testy of late and she receded into herself for protection. “Who was that woman?” she asked, keeping her tone light and faking lack of concern. “She looked pretty.”
Hector grunted and Leilah saw his lips purse. He didn’t answer.
At the house, she changed into a tee shirt and shorts, planning to climb the fence into Vaughan’s and see if the cops had finished with the grove of drugs. Curiosity made her want to see what it looked like. The chance of watching a helicopter sounded exciting. Passing Hector’s bedroom, she noticed the rumpled sheets and wondered why he’d felt the need to sleep during the daytime. The faint scent of floral perfume made her linger in the doorway. She blinked and shook her head at the notion. No. Not since her mother. Never. Had the woman in the expensive car been in her house and in her father’s bed?
“Where are you going?” Hector stood on the driveway with a broom in his hand. He brushed hay from the bed of the truck onto the gravel.
“For a walk.” Leilah put her hands behind her back and crossed her fingers, wishing she’d sneaked through the laundry and out the back. The crossed fingers didn’t work.
“Sort that filly out.” Hector jerked his head towards the nearest paddock and Leilah stiffened.
“I’ll do the colt.”
“Do the filly!” He raised his voice and Leilah cringed, temper budding in her chest.
“I told you no!” Her fists balled by her sides and she sensed herself losing control. “I don’t want to.”
Hector leaned the broom against the back of the truck, his movements precise and careful. Leilah watched a flash of exhaustion cross his rugged features. Worry raised its head as her father walked towards her. He lowered his voice, his tone placating. “Please, Deleilah?” he asked. “There aren’t enough hours in a day for me to do everything. I’ve started on the colt and he’s going well, but I need you to train the filly.”
“What did you do today?” Her voice sounded screechy and desperate and she hated the timbre of it. “Looks like you spent it in bed!”
Hector swallowed and his dark irises reflected alarm. Then anger. He jabbed a finger towards Horse’s property, the ramshackle house just visible in the distance. “I took hay to that useless heap of shite because his mares are starving.” Hector kept his voice as a growl, seeing the moment when Leilah baulked and lost the argument. “That’s how I spent my day; loading up and then unloading. Now do as you’re bloody told!” he snapped. “Or bugger off!”
His movement caused a draught of warm air and sweat as he stamped up the porch steps and into the house. Leilah remained on the driveway alone, her body rigid and her mind whirring. Her father hated Horse, yet he’d taken him hay. She wondered for a fraction of a second if guilt drove the act. Or money. Leilah gave herself a mental shake. Everything pointed to Horse being broke. The growing hole in Vaughan’s shoes said his uncle wasn’t a drug baron. It also said he wouldn’t pay Hector for the hay and her father must know that. Had Hector tipped off Tane’s father about the drugs, perhaps thinking they belonged to Horse? If so, he’d lost Horse a day’s work at the cattle market and lost time on his own property. That would be enough to induce a healthy dose of guilt.
Leilah shook her head. Hector never listened to town gossip and visited only to run errands. Too busy to trek into the bush at the back of their property, he hardly had time to survey the acres behind next door’s. With a bitter sense of defeat, Leilah stomped to the lean-to next to the car port and hefted a halter and lunge rope onto her shoulder. She suspected she wouldn’t get to use either for quite some time, but took them, anyway. “Here goes nothing,” she murmured to herself, unlatching the gate into the filly’s small area.