A Town Called Nowhere

by VK Tritschler

  A young man from behind the counter approached Dru, ‘Can I help?’

  For a moment, as Dru turned to look at him, there was the look of someone wanting to lend a hand. But recognition blossomed on the young man’s face. Dru paled. ‘You’re...’ he stammered, seemingly unable to complete the sentence.

  ‘Yes, I am.’ Dru’s looked resigned, knowing what the next sentence would be.

  ‘Can I..?’

  ‘Sure, grab me a pen.’ He turned and looked at Nicci and rolled his eyes. The kid scampered off in a great hurry, causing the two others patrons to stop and pay attention. Dru let out a small sigh.

  ‘You get this a lot, I guess,’ Nicci observed.

  ‘Yup.’ He gave her a tight smile, but the lines by his mouth did not reach up to his eyes. The boy returned clutching a piece of paper and a pen and thrust them at Dru. Taking them from him, he asked, ‘Did you want me to make it out to you?’

  ‘Yes, please!’ the boy’s voice rose an embarrassing octave at the end and he blushed.

  Dru looked at him and paused. ‘Your name is?’

  ‘Oh sorry.’ The kid was stammering again, his face still a bright red. ‘Jase.’

  ‘Ok, Jase.’ Dru scribbled a small note to him and signed with a flourish. ‘Here you go, mate.’

  The kid held the signed paper aloft like a trophy, and his smile was ecstatic. ‘Thank you so much Mr Maxwell!’ he gushed.

  ‘Call me Dru, kid,’ Dru replied, tapping on the side of the display cabinet. ‘Now can I please grab one of these? My phone got broken.’

  ‘Yes, sir!’ chirped the boy, rushing back to the counter to retrieve the keys. In the meantime, the onlookers had congregated into a small posse and were staring at Nicci and Dru from across the other side of the room. Nicci tried to ignore them, but she felt uncomfortable under their gaze. She had never enjoyed being the centre of attention, and there was something invasive in the way people looked at Dru. As if they felt like they knew him intimately. It made her uneasy. She barely knew the guy, but she didn’t like people judging him.

  The boy retrieved the phone and handed it to Dru, before stammering out some more words. ‘Did you want anything else?’

  ‘Yes,’ Dru was looking around now, seemingly oblivious to the eyes that were staring at him. ‘Gimme a minute and I’ll find everything.’ He looked over at Nicci, ‘Did you want to grab a drink and something for dinner tonight?’

  She could feel the sting of everyone’s eyes shift to her, and their cutting assessments, ‘Sure, I’ll go grab some stuff.’ Staying off peoples radar had kept her safe until this point, and it felt dangerous to be watched with such scrutiny.

  She wanted nothing more than to leave this place and not have to be stared at like that again for the rest of her life. But she suspected that this was something that Dru lived with every day. No wonder he was keen to escape it for a while. She grabbed a small hand basket from near the door and started cruising the aisles. ‘Nothing flash, just the basics,’ she reminded herself. But each item she put in she felt guilty for. She didn’t even bring her wallet, and even if she had, the few stray coins and notes that she had in it would not cover these essentials. Dru in the meantime had grabbed a couple items of his own, such as a sim card, along with the new phone, and placed them on the front counter. He smiled at her as she returned to his side and took the basket from her hands. The soft touch of his skin against her own brought forward a bolt of electricity, so she snatched her hand away.

  ‘I haven’t brought my...’ Dru interrupted her as she tried to explain her lack of funds. ‘This lot’s on me,’ he said, unloading the contents onto the counter. ‘My shout.’

  The boy looked up from scanning the goods and looked at her.

  ‘Cousins,’ Nicci stated to him giving him a half-shrug, and his face relaxed and he grinned back at her.

  ‘Cool,’ he said, putting the last item across the scanner and into the awaiting bag.

  ‘That’s one hundred and sixty-eight dollars and fourteen cents,’ he tallied. Nicci felt her stomach constrict. She normally never spent over a hundred bucks, even if she was doing a large shop for herself. And they had a quarter of what she would normally get.

  ‘All good,’ Dru pulled a couple of hundred dollar notes out of his wallet and passed them over to the boy. He gingerly placed them into the cash drawer and printed a receipt before passing the change and the bag of goodies back over the counter.

  ‘Thank you, Mr Maxwell. Have a nice day.’

  ‘You too,’ Dru replied, turning to usher Nicci back out of the door. The two onlookers were still stuck in their stationary position watching them leave, so he gave them a casual smile as he passed and they both beetled away to the opposite corner of the room.

  As they took a step outside, Nicci her breath out. She hadn’t even realised she had been holding it until the sunshine hit her face and she felt her shoulders relax.

  ‘Holy fuck,’ she cursed. ‘That had to be the most expensive shopping experience ever.’

  Dru laughed, the rumble of it reminded her of his car. ‘Small towns can afford to hike up the prices. Where else are you going to get this stuff? Anyway, the phone was about half the cost, so really it wasn’t that bad.’

  He walked back to the car and popped the boot, placing the bag inside. Nicci turned to look back down the street and her eye caught on a rack of real estate brochures which was hanging on the outside of the garage wall.

  ‘Hold on, I’ll be one sec.’ She walked across the road and towards the garage. Behind her, the car roared to life, and she felt the instant flush of fear snake down her back that he was going to abandon her there. She had been abandoned many times in her life, and the instant recall of that feeling and its consequences made her grit her teeth. ‘Stop being stupid,’ she scolded herself. As she walked to the garage, his car pulled up alongside her and sidled along. He wound the window down and she could feel his eyes following her, causing her legs to feel weak.

  ‘What is it?’ he asked through the window.

  ‘Looks like they have a real estate brochure here,’ she said, pointing ahead to the rack.

  ‘Oh!’ She didn’t need to turn to look at him to know he was now smiling. ‘Excellent. Race ya!’

  The station was a mere fifty metres away, and whilst his car won by the time he had parked it, it was her hand that pulled the brochure from its rack.

  ‘Gimme that,’ he grinned, snatching it from her hands and lifting it above his head. She reached up laughing to try and grab it back.

  ‘Hey! I haven’t opened it yet!’ She liked that he was playful with her. She didn’t have many people in her past who would bother to goof around with her. In fact, most of them were the complete opposite.

  ‘You could always try to steal it back,’ he teased, dancing it in-front of her, his blue eyes flashing. She noticed how close he was. The waft of scent radiating from his skin. The widening of his pupils as he stared down at her, and the soft wave of his hair as it fell forward against his brow. She stopped being able to breathe and the urge to pull him closer overwhelmed her. The sound of a car pulling into the garage broke their trance, and she took a step backwards, her lips tightening into a thin line. This game they were playing was dangerous, and she knew it. She reached high and grabbed the brochure from his fingers and pulled it to her chest before making a beeline towards the car. She could feel him following behind her, but she refused to make eye contact again. She couldn’t.

  ‘No fair,’ he grumbled as he sank into his seat. Relaxing into her own, she clipped on her seatbelt before she opened the cover.

  Inside it was short but sweet. House prices here were modest and land had little value left. She assumed they had suffered from the downturn in the area after the last financial crisis and had never fully recovered. Either way, the surrounding area was seemingly ripe for the taking. If only she cou
ld afford to take part. She sighed.

  ‘Well, that sounds very serious,’ he joked, leaning over the gearshift to view the brochure. ‘Look! It’s super cheap to buy around here. Do they have any listings for Nowhere?’

  She felt her body tremble as his breath arched across her cheek and neck. Stoically, she turned the pages until she reached the end. There, laying hidden at the back like a defeated visage, was a single listing.

  Be your own Mayor! It proclaimed. Listed as you would expect a ghost town to be written up, it talked about the endless possibilities. Thirty-six houses, a decommissioned mill and several business or larger buildings, with the chance for the town to be reconnected to the phone companies and electrical lines. It lay on a massive block of land that extended far beyond the township and into the surrounding bush land. They did not, for obvious reasons, describe the actual state of the buildings, as Nicci knew full well many of them were not currently habitable, and potentially would never be.

  All of that for a mere three quarters of a million. Nicci gulped. Sure, in the grand scheme of things, that was not a lot. A plain house in Melbourne alone would put her back the same amount. But there was no way she could afford this. It was more than thirty years of working as a waitress would ever allow for.

  ‘Jesus that’s cheap,’ Dru proclaimed, taking the brochure from her hands. He stabbed a finger at the advert. ‘I could pay for that tomorrow and still have enough change to rip out the bad bits and get them redone.’

  He paused and put his finger to his lips. ‘Dad did always say I should diversify my investment portfolio. And property is an investment.’ A sly grin drew out the edge of them. ‘Well, I guess Dad’ll get his wish.’

  Dropping the key back into the ignition, he passed the brochure back to Nicci, before giving her a little wink. ‘Let’s head home then, shall we?’

  The drive back, she could feel her body shaking. Surely this was a dream? She had wanted nothing as badly as she wanted to revive the town of Nowhere, but good things like that never happened to a girl like her. Or did they?

  #

  CHapTEr EleVeN

  As Dru navigated his way back to Nowhere, plans were forming in his mind. Sure, the town was a rundown dump now. But he could imagine the houses being rebuilt, and businesses starting up again. He would invite his mate Corey to help. He was a builder with a great reputation, and he was outgrowing his pack. Corey’s Dad was also high ranking, but Corey had an older brother. But here Dru could make up new rules. Where pack leadership was elected, not born. Where those in charge were there because they were the strongest pack members and could offer the greatest support. Where women like Nicci could feel included and safe.

  He stole a glance at her from the side of his eye. She was staring at the road ahead, a small scowl on her face and nibbling on her bottom lip. He could almost taste the sweetness of them, and his body hardened. He shook his head slightly and returned his gaze to the road. He would need to plan this thing out. Not rush it, like he usually did, he reminded himself.

  And then there was his fiancée, and he hated the idea of hurting her again. He had done it so many times. He still loved Ashley and despite both of their flaws they had both worked to try and overcome his inability to commit. Every time he swore, he would never cheat again, some woman would come along, and he couldn’t control himself. They always were so compliant. So willing to be whatever he wished them to be. And it was intoxicating.

  When Ashley had complications after a routine surgery which left her unable to get pregnant, things soured in their relationship, but they were the only two people in the world who knew about it. He had promised her that he would keep her safe, and they both knew that if the rest of the pack were to find out, everything would change. Especially his father.

  After years of abuse at the hands of her own brutal father, Ashley wanted to have the safety and security of being Beta by Dru’s side. Her grandfather had challenged Dru’s family for leadership many years ago and been defeated, and the anger at his loss had been taken out on his son, Ashley’s father. Who, in turn, turned that same anger and hatred towards her. Ashley saw the safety of being part of the Alpha circle, and she yearned more than anything to have that for herself. She set her sights on Dru from a young age. She was very protective of that relationship and her own image. She didn’t spend all those years becoming a better version of her family to have it taken away now.

  He sighed. He could imagine her face right now if she knew what he was doing. She would have that look of disappointment that she timed so perfectly. The arched eyebrow, thin tight line of her lips and the piercing scowl. And he felt like a little kid again, getting told off for being naughty. Like he had so many times before. But he couldn’t bring himself to protect her over his own happiness any longer.

  ‘Everything okay?’ Nicci asked him, dragging his thoughts back into the present.

  ‘Yeah absolutely.’ He dropped the gear down as they hurtled into a corner. ‘I’m just thinking about Ashley.’

  ‘Oh,’ she replied. The silence that followed cut between them.

  He finally broke it. ‘Yeah, we’re breaking up.’ It seemed a strange relief to finally admit it, as if he had been holding in a terrible secret.

  ‘Oh,’ she echoed, the surprise audible in her voice. ‘I thought you two were...’ Her sentence petered out.

  ‘The power couple?’ He stole a side glance as her and noted that she looked visibly shaken by the news. ‘Yeah, that’s what she wants the world to think. But it’s been coming for a while.’

  He caught the glimpse of Nicci’s eyes widening. ‘Really?’

  ‘Yup.’ He stared at the road ahead and was grateful that they were returning into the bushland where the road stared to twist and turns. It gave him the chance to refocus on his driving, which always soothed him.

  ‘Does your Dad know?’ Nicci asked, and Dru felt a chuckle escape his lips.

  ‘I think so underneath it all, but he’s in the land of denial. He thinks I still have time to fix things between us. God knows he’s going to go mental when I do. It completely ruins his greater plans for the pack.’

  ‘What plans are those?’ Nicci seemed genuinely interested.

  ‘For us to take over the pack and dynasty, keeping up the good name of Maxwell and create an abundance of offspring to ensure that the pack never dies out for eternity. And beyond. The irony is that he doesn’t know as much as he thinks he does.’

  He could tell that she was absorbing the information, so he waited in silence for her to reply. ‘I see. That’s a tall order.’

  ‘Yes, it is.’ Another sigh escaped his lips. ‘But he doesn’t see it that way. For him, pack is everything. What we want to do, or be, is irrelevant. We have to protect what he calls the greater good.’

  ‘Seems archaic,’ she admitted.

  ‘Well, that and Ashley can’t have kids.’ Again, a soft balm seemed to ooze across him at the release of the words. He hadn’t spoken to anyone about her fertility issues, but it had weighed heavily on his shoulders. But strangely, given he had only just met her, he trusted that Nicci wouldn’t tell anyone.

  ‘Wow, uh okay.’’ Nicci shifted in her chair.

  ‘Without her being able to have children, her place in the pack becomes precarious. Especially since her family has a disreputable name within our kind anyway. She worked so hard to win favour with my Dad to even get to the point of being allowed to date me which is, let’s be honest, ridiculous. If Dad was to find out that she is barren, well...’ he shrugged.

  He tried to catch her response out of the corner of his eye. She nodded. ‘Yeah, I could see that being a problem. Would she be banished?’

  ‘Maybe’’ he sighed, ‘but more importantly, she would be shunned. And that would mean that she would unprotected, and there would be nothing I could do to help her without directly disobeying my father’s rules wh
ich would be seen by him as a challenge for Alpha. There are plenty who would take the chance to try and improve their own situation who would feed into the bullshit. But I can’t keep lying to the pack and the world about us. If I break it up and claim responsibility, there’s no reason for them to dig deeper. I’m sure you already have heard of my reputation.’ He swallowed hard. ‘Long term, I think this will actually keep her safer than if I married her. Sometimes things just happen for a reason.’ There was a slice of silence between them as she didn’t reply.

  ‘Take us, for example,’ he continued. ‘What would be the chances that two unknown panthers from two fresh packs, would wind up in the middle of nowhere together one night. With nobody else around for miles. Just the two of us. Would you think that was fate?’

  He could feel his pulse increase as the words hung between them. He hoped that she felt it too. The rushing sense of destiny. The inevitable pull of the longing that he felt every time he looked into her eyes. He wanted to stop the car and pull her to his lips, and prove his point. But he didn’t dare. Instead, he waited, unable to breathe.

  ‘Well, it’s weird,’ she mumbled, her eyes refusing to turn towards him. ‘But I think it’s a long stretch to call it fated.’

  He let go of his breath, his shoulders dropping. ‘Yeah, suppose you’re right.’ He felt like he had to agree, even though every cell in his body told him she was wrong. He had never felt this way before for anyone, especially not a stranger. Sure, she was sexy as hell and he knew the signs of his body yearning for her touch. But there was something else. Something intangible that clung between them like soft tendrils of attachment. Never had he ached when a person left his side. Or yearned for attention in the way that he did for Nicci. But he would not be the one to make this first move. Not this time. This time she would have to come to him. If he could bear the waiting.