No Ocean Deep

by Cate Swannell

  “Yeah,” Jo said. “But dig it out. It doesn’t look like these guys are going anywhere in a hurry.”

  They both climbed out, Cadie rushing to the back of the truck and opening the tailgate. She clambered up and ducked under the roof line, disappearing amongst the bags and boxes. Jo wandered around to the passenger side, watching the large birds milling around. She leaned back against the vehicle, one leg bent, the foot against the tire, her hands jammed in her pockets.

  The emus were on the other side of a light wire fence that ran along the road, marking the boundary of someone’s property. Jo dug back into her memory, trying to remember the geography of the area and who lived where.

  “This might even be the edge of Phil’s parents’ place,” she muttered, remembering riding the boundaries on horseback with her childhood friend. “Then again I might be wrong.” All the properties around here looked pretty much like the others, after all. It bothered her a little that she couldn’t remember exactly.

  “Did you say something, sweetheart?” Cadie was still scrabbling around deep in the inner recesses of their luggage.

  “Nah,” Jo said, lifting her voice a little. “I was just talking to these silly birds out here.” She chuckled at the emus. The biggest of them probably topped her six-foot frame by a good half a foot or so, but what they gained in height, the big flightless dumb idiots lacked in brain. Emus were known to try and run through an obstacle rather than figure out a way to walk around. “Not more than one brain cell between the whole flock,” Jo murmured. “Having any luck back there?”

  “No, damn it.” Jo grinned at the sounds of frustrated American. “Maybe I put it in your bag?” Renewed activity ensued and Jo laughed at the whirlwind of destruction that was her determined partner.

  Her giggles trailed away as she caught sight of a trail of dust approaching from the north. They hadn’t seen another vehicle in either direction since they’d left Bourke and Jo suddenly had a bad feeling she wasn’t going to be too happy to see this one. She walked slowly to the rear of the truck, unconsciously putting herself between Cadie, who was still rooting around in the gear, and whatever was coming. The dust cloud drew closer and now she could hear the rumble of the big semi-trailer as it bore down on them.

  “Great. Just great,” Jo grumbled, recognizing the rig as belonging to Mr. Smelly. “This guy’s too dumb to know when he’s had his arse kicked.” She glanced over her shoulder quickly, making sure Cadie was still buried in the back of the truck. “Cadie?”

  “Yeah?”

  “Stay where you are, okay?”

  “Huh?”

  “Just stay where you are.”

  Cadie heard the tone in her lover’s voice and didn’t argue, though she did squirm around so she could see what was going on. Jo was between her and the approaching rig but she didn’t need more than a glance to fathom what was happening.

  “Wonderful,” she griped. She tucked herself back out of sight.

  Jo stood casually in the blazing sun. She assumed her best bad-ass attitude and placed her hands on her denim-clad hips. The battered black Akubra sat low over her eyes and the sleeveless checked work-shirt showed off her tan and her lithe, muscled arms.

  “You are such a poser, Madison,” she muttered to herself. She grinned anyway, allowing herself feel the rush of knowing just how intimidating she looked. It felt good. Very, very good.

  The rig eased to a halt, the dust settling around it as air brakes squealed and hissed. Jo held herself still, waiting to see what the congenital idiot behind the wheel would do next. She didn’t have to wait long. Mr. Smelly opened his door and jumped down to the ground. He’d come prepared, hefting a large crowbar in his right hand. He walked towards Jo, slapping the end of the iron bar into his left hand rhythmically. The damage Jo had already inflicted on him was painfully obvious. There were bloodstains on his grubby singlet and his broken nose was bent between two rapidly blackening eyes.

  “Fancy meeting you here,” Jo said, keeping any hint of interest out of her voice.

  “Shut up, bitch.” Mr. Smelly stopped about 15 feet away from her.

  She let a slow, dangerous, sexy smile touch her lips. “Nice. Do you kiss your mother with that mouth?”

  The hairy freak took a step forward, brandishing the crowbar like it was a baseball bat.

  “Is that a crack about my mother?”

  Jo rolled her eyes and sighed.

  “My god, you really are from the shallow end of the gene pool, aren’t you, mate?”

  “Huh?”

  “Get lost, ya buffoon.”

  Enraged, the still-bloody man charged her, lifting the crowbar above his head and letting out a wild yell. Unfortunately he hadn’t allowed for Jo’s greater height, not to mention the gulf between their IQs, mobility and strength. The tall woman saw the telegraphed blow before it was little more than a spark between the man’s ears. She blocked the blow with one simple movement, grabbing the crowbar as it swung towards her shoulder. Then she shoved back, catching the man in the midriff with his end of the iron rod, knocking him on his backside for the second time that morning.

  “You take a long time to learn a lesson, don’t you?” Jo pointed out. Her hand was stinging from the crowbar, but there was no way she was going to let him know that. Mr. Smelly scrambled to his feet, still grasping the makeshift weapon. “Isn’t getting beaten up by a woman once a day enough for you?” She knew she wasn’t doing much to placate the big bag of shit, but she was taking a kind of perverse pleasure in watching the man make a complete fool of himself, over and over. She grinned again.

  Once more he came at her, this time swinging the crowbar from side to side. But before Jo could do anything about it, she heard the unmistakable sound of the bolt action on a hunting rifle behind her right shoulder.

  Oh boy, Jo thought. I wonder if she’s loaded it.

  Mr. Smelly stopped in his tracks, his bloodshot eyes widening at the sight of the diminutive blonde standing on the tailgate of the truck, a large Winchester tucked up against her right shoulder. Its muzzle looked big and black and menacing to him.

  “Why don’t you just take your ugly, fat butt back to your rig, mister, and be on your way?” Jo had to smile. Somehow the words and Cadie’s cultured Midwest accent just didn’t go together.

  “You bitches are insane!” the man yelled. “You can’t just pull a gun on a bloke.”

  “This from the imbecile who just tried to take my head off with a crowbar,” Jo answered, one eyebrow raised as she folded her arms casually across her chest.

  He stepped forward again. This time Cadie shifted her aim and fired, the bullet kicking up the dust a foot to the right of the man’s feet. She winced at the thump of the recoil, surprised by its force. Not gonna let him know that, she decided, resetting her feet determinedly.

  Guess she loaded it, Jo thought, impressed by her partner’s accuracy. Not bad for someone who’s never fired a gun before. She didn’t flinch or move a muscle. God knows what she’ll hit next time, she chuckled internally.

  Mr. Smelly was dancing around like some kind of enraged lunatic.

  “You bitches! You goddamn, motherfucking, dyke bitches! Who do you think you are?”

  “We’re the motherfucking dyke bitches kicking your ass for the second time today,” Cadie called out. Jo still hadn’t turned to look at her lover, but she knew the rifle was still trained on the man. “Go on. Get out of here, before your luck with my aim runs out.”

  “Did I mention that she’s actually the one with the hair-trigger temper?” Jo said cheerfully, leaning forward slightly and hitching a thumb in her partner’s direction.

  Finally, the message seemed to get through. Mr. Smelly dropped the crowbar and backed up towards his rig, his hands raised above his head. He stumbled when he ran into the massive bull-bar in front of the radiator grill, but then he sidled to the driver’s side door before clambering up. Cadie kept the gun on him the whole way, even as he fired up the big semi-trailer, pulled out
onto the road and passed them, heading south.

  Jo swiveled on her heel to watch him leave then completed the turn, gazing up at her partner. Damn if that’s not the sexiest thing I’ve seen in … well since the last time she looked sexy. Jo grinned up at the blonde, who finally lowered her guard, shouldering the heavy rifle.

  “Think you’ve found your calling, Thelma?” Jo said in her best imitation southern US accent.

  Cadie picked up the cue, green eyes sparkling.

  “Maybe, Louise, maybe. The call of the wild.” She beamed down at the dark-haired woman. “Y’know, I know it’s crazy, but I just feel like I’ve got a knack for this shit.” Cadie jumped down and sauntered over to her lover.

  “I believe you do,” Jo murmured. She slid a hand into Cadie’s silky fair hair and around to the back of her neck, pulling her closer. Jo ducked her head and brushed her lips against Cadie’s. The blonde lowered the rifle, keeping it well clear of their bodies as she melted against Jo’s tall frame. The long fingers in her hair set her scalp tingling and Jo’s strong arm around her waist made her feel safe and supported. The kiss deepened, their tongues exploring and teasing as the women gave in to the knee-weakening passion that welled up in them. Jo broke off first, humming her pleasure on a ragged exhale of air. “Mmmmmm.”

  Cadie looked up into the desire-darkened blue eyes and smiled dreamily. “They didn’t do that in the movie.”

  Jo kissed the corner of her mouth lightly, tempting her with just the tip of her tongue. “They should have,” the dark woman purred.

  “No argument from me, gorgeous.”

  They lost themselves for a few more seconds, drinking in each other’s warmth.

  “Um, Jo-Jo?” She’s the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen.

  “Mmmmmm?” Please don’t let this be a dream.

  “I have a loaded, deadly weapon in my hand and it’s…”

  “Making you uncomfortable? Scaring you?”

  “Getting heavy.” Cadie grinned.

  A fine, dark brow lifted.

  “Well, I think I can do something about that,” Jo drawled. She placed a hand on the rifle’s stock and took it out of Cadie’s grip. Quickly she unloaded it, her expert handling of the piece not lost on the blonde.

  “You’ve done that before,” she stated, looking up into hooded eyes.

  “Many times,” Jo said bluntly. She flashed Cadie a quick smile. “But not where you think. Out here, guns are just part of life on the farm. I was shooting cans off the old stump in the back garden when I was 4.” She took a long look at the Winchester. “This one’s a bit flashier than the ones I shot back then, though.” Carefully she placed it on the truck’s tailgate. “I’m afraid you scared off the emus.”

  Cadie looked around, disappointed to find no trace of the flock.

  “Damn,” she said. “Guess they recognized a lucky shot when they saw one, huh?”

  Jo laughed.

  “I guess so.” She vaulted up onto the tailgate and replaced the rifle and bullets in their metal box. “Come on, Calamity, let’s hit the road.” She extracted herself and jumped down into the dust.

  “What’s your hurry, Louise?” Cadie teased, reverting to her best Oklahoma accent.

  “No hurry,” Jo answered. “I just want to put distance between us and the scene of our last GODDAMNED CRIME!!”

  “Woooooooohooooooooooooooooooo!”

  “So, can I expect that kind of behavior from all the males of the species out here?” Cadie asked once they were settled back into the drive and their adrenalin levels had flattened out.

  Jo clasped her hands on top of the steering wheel, the big truck not needing much help to stay on the straight and narrow track. She considered her reply.

  “Well,” she answered. “On the one hand, I think our friend there was from the lower end of the evolutionary ladder.” Cadie snorted her agreement. “On the other hand we are smack bang in the middle of Ocker Central.”

  Cadie turned to look at her. “Ocker?”

  “Uh, yeah. Um, ocker is Australian for redneck,” Jo replied.

  “Ahhh. No more public make out sessions, huh?” The blonde grinned at her lover who flashed her a smile.

  “The good news is we’re not exactly going to be out in public from now on, sweetheart,” Jo said. “We’re gonna be on 60,000 acres of private land in a couple of hours.”

  “Cool. What’s the bad news?”

  Jo smiled, a little grimly.

  “The bad news is I have no idea how my parents, and whoever else is working on Coonyabby these days, are going to react. For all I know we’re walking into a den of homophobes.”

  “Hmmmmm.” Cadie glanced around at the passing landscape. “And I guess I can’t pull a gun on your parents, huh?”

  Jo laughed, letting her partner’s lighthearted response ease some of the tension that was balling up in her guts.

  “No, hon, somehow I don’t think that would go down well. Hell, I don’t even know if we’re gonna get to sleep in the same bed.”

  Cadie swung her head around quickly. “Jo, I’m not sleeping away from you. They’ll just have to get over it.”

  Jo raised her hand in a placating gesture.

  “I know, I know. And I’m not going to let them pull any ‘while you’re sleeping under our roof you’ll live by our rules’ bullshit. We’ve got the camping gear. If they can’t deal with us sleeping together then we’ll go camp under the stars.” Apprehension welled up again and she tempered it with a little anger. “Screw ‘em.”

  A gentle hand came to rest on her thigh and she felt the reassuring squeeze.

  “Easy, skipper,” Cadie soothed. “You know your mother better than I do …”

  “Not much,” Jo murmured. Another squeeze.

  “You know what I mean. Anyway, all I meant was that in the brief conversations I’ve had with her, she hasn’t struck me as the type to get uptight about that.” She thought about it a little more. “Of course, she might think twice when she hears us in the middle of the night.”

  Jo’s head whipped round and shocked blue eyes widened. Cadie was alarmed to see the color draining out of her lover’s face even as she gripped the steering wheel tighter.

  “Honey, I was kidding. Relax.” Jo didn’t say anything, just gazed ahead up the long, straight road. Oh boy. Cadie unclipped her seatbelt and sidled across the bench seat until she was up against Jo’s side. She could feel the tension thrumming through Jo’s body. “Sweetheart, it’s okay.”

  “I-I never even thought about that,” Jo whispered, trying to concentrate on driving even as her brain was flying in a million different directions. "Cadie, I don't think I can... I mean, not with them..." She shuddered involuntarily.

  Cadie smiled. There were parts of her more than capable lover that were still so adolescent it was like watching a kid grow up before her very eyes. She patted Jo's belly.

  "Pull over, love, before you drive us into the desert," she said calmly.

  Jo sighed and did as the blonde requested, bringing them to a halt in a convenient byway. Cadie let them sit for a minute or so until she saw the panic start to abate in Jo's eyes.

  "Sorry, I had a bit of a moment there," Jo muttered.

  Cadie kissed her on the cheek softly.

  "It's okay. You're running headfirst into a bunch of issues you've never had to think about before, huh?"

  Jo rested her arm across Cadie's shoulders, pulling the blonde closer.

  "I guess so. It just never occurred to me."

  "What, that we'd be sleeping together in close proximity to your parents?" Cadie rested her cheek against Jo's shoulder and slid her hand under her shirt, trailing fingertips over tense stomach muscles. "Sweetheart, sex is not a requirement." She laughed softly. "We don't have to do anything you're not comfortable with. And believe it or not I can go a couple of weeks without it."

  Jo could feel the blonde's grin and it flicked a switch in her head. Get over it, Jo-Jo, ya big coward. You're 33, not 13
.

  She unclipped her seatbelt and turned slightly so she could duck her head and capture Cadie's lips in a soft, sensual kiss. Cadie moaned faintly into her mouth and Jo met the sound with one of her own. Playfully she nibbled the blonde's bottom lip then gasped as Cadie turned the tables, using a hand through Jo's dark locks to pull her closer and intensify the contact.

  Jo gently nudged her backwards until they were stretched along the narrow bench seat. She ignored the discomfort of the steering wheel digging into her thigh, concentrating instead on the entirely too sexy movements of the woman under her.

  "You can't be comfortable," she murmured, knowing Jo's lanky form was tangled around the wheel and the gear stick.

  "I'm just perfect," Jo burred, the sound turning to a whimper as Cadie explored the edges of her ear with her tongue.

  The next several minutes were spent in a happy reconnaissance of each other's bodies, neither woman pushing the moment past the point of low burn.

  "Mmmmmm, Jo-Jo?" It was a gasp more than a question, as Jo's fingers found a particularly sensitive spot.

  "Yes?" the skipper breathed.

  "I think the logistics of this are going to get the better of us."

  "I know, but God, I'm having fun trying."

  The words rumbled down Cadie's spine like a hum of electricity.

  "You are driving me crazy. You know that, right?"

  In answer, Jo nuzzled the curve of her breast one last time before pushing herself upright.

  “Are you sure?” she asked, smiling as she pulled her partner up as well.

  “Am I sure about what?”

  “Are you sure you can go a couple of weeks without sex?”

  Cadie laughed as she rearranged her fetchingly mussed hair. “Sex I can live without, darling,” she said. “Doing without making love with you is another question altogether.”

  They giggled their way around another kiss as Jo fumbled for the ignition key. Before long she had the truck fired up and they were on their way again.

  “We’re taking a lot of detours on this trip,” Cadie observed, happily settling her hormones into an undercurrent of tingles.