Burn for You

Burn for You

By

Angela Verdenius

(a Gully’s Fall novel #1)

(BBW Romance)

Copyright 2014 Angela Verdenius

All Rights Reserved

Cover by Book Cover Zone

ebook Edition License Notes

No part of this book may be reproduced or copied in any form without prior consent of the author & publisher.

All characters and towns are figments of the author’s imagination and bear no resemblance to any person living or deceased.

Table of Contents

With Thanks

Glossary

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Bio

Other Books by this Author

With Thanks

*

With thanks to Murray Smith, a Bushie fighting for the Bushfire Brigade, for his help and information in regards to fire fighters. All mistakes are my own. I admit to having taken some liberties with the information to suit my storyline, but I’ve tried to keep the authenticity intact.

And thanks to all those brave men and women who risk their lives every day while serving in our emergency services.

Glossary

*

I found that some overseas readers were having difficulty with the Australian slang, so I thought a list of the slang I’ve used will help while reading the following story. If I’ve forgotten any, I do apologise! Also, you’ll find some of our Aussie words have different spelling to the US. Interestingly enough, as I’ve grown (gracefully) older, I find a lot of our slang is bypassing the younger generation, so if a young Aussie says they have never heard a certain word, don’t be surprised! But trust me, I’ve used these words all my life growing up, and so have a lot of my family and friends. Does that make me an older Aussie? Heck yes! LOL

Cheers,

Angela

Australian Terms/Slang

Ambos - ambulance officers

Arvo - afternoon

Barbie - BBQ

Beaut - beautiful, awesome, great, wonderful

Bewdy - as in ‘awesome, great’

Biccies - biscuits. The same as cookies

Bikie - biker, person who rides motorcycles.

Bloke/s - man/men

Bloody - a swear word ‘no bloody good’, in place of ‘no damned good’

Boofhead - idiot, simpleton, etc. It’s an insult, though sometimes we use it as a term of affection. It depends on how it is said and meant.

Boot (of a car) - trunk

Brown nose - currying favour, sucking up. Has a cruder description, but let’s not go into that here. Means the same thing!

Budgie smugglers - men’s bathers, small, brief and tight-fitting

Buggered - many Aussie use it as a slang word for ‘broken’ (it’s buggered), ‘tired (I’m buggered), and ‘no way’ (I’m buggered if I’m going to do that). Just some examples

Bung/Bunging - as in ‘bunging onto something’, putting on something (bung veggies on a plate, putting veggies on a plate), usually in a careless or ‘easy’ manner.

Cark/carked - die, died.

Chemist - pharmacy

Chips - in Australia we have cold crunchy chips form a packet, or hot chips known in some countries as French Fries

Crash cart - resuscitation trolley in a hospital or medical setting - used for life threatening situations such as cardiac arrest

Dander – temper

Dill - silly, idiot

Doona - like a padded quilt that fits inside a cover and lies on the bed. Can have the warmth of two, three or four blankets, etc.

Donger - penis. Also another meaning is a place people sometimes sleep in, such as ‘dongers’ on mine sites.

Dunny - toilet. When used in the terms ‘built like a brick dunny’, it refers to something built solid, unmoveable.

Firies - fire fighters

Garbo/s - the person/s who drive and/or load garbage onto the garbage truck.

Gee-gees - horses

Giggle-box - TV, television

Got his/her/their goat – annoyed him/her/them

Hoon/s - person/people who indulge in antisocial behaviour. Great explanation in Wikipedia

Iced coffee/chocolate - a milk drink flavoured with chocolate or coffee

Jumper - sweater

Local rag - local newspaper

Lolly - sweetie, candy

Loo - toilet

Lug - face

Milo - chocolate malt drink. Can have it hot or cold. Yummy!

Moosh - slang for face/mouth

Mobile phone - cell phone

Mozzie - mosquito

NAD - No Abnormalities Detected

Nong - idiot

Nooky - sex

Paddy wagon - four wheel drive police vehicle carries four police in the double cab and has a filled-in imprisonment section in the back to place prisoners.

Panadol - paracetamol, similar to Tylenol in the US

Pav/s - Pavlova/Pavlovas - best dessert ever!

PCYC - Police and Citizens Youth Club

Pedal Pushers - three quarter pants/knickerbockers

Porking - having sex

Primapore - sticky patch with a pad in it, a medical dressing

Pub – hotel

Quack – derogatory term for a doctor

RAC - Royal Automobile Club of Western Australia. Covers insurance, holidays, loans, etc

Red backs - poisonous spider, black in colour with a red stripe on its back.

Rotty – Rottweiler breed of dog.

Rubbers – condoms

Sack - bed - as ‘in the sack’ meaning ‘in bed’

Servo - service station

Shag - sex

Sheila – female

Slab – carton of beer.

Snaggers - sausages

Smoko - morning tea and afternoon tea break

Soft drink - soda, fizzy drink

Stiffy - erection, boner

Tea - some people call the evening meal dinner. In my family, we’ve always called it tea, as in breaky, dinner and tea, or breaky, lunch and tea.

Thongs - worn on the feet, same as ‘flip flops’

Tickled pink - delighted

Tim Tams - a brand of Arnott’s Biscuits. Yummy!

TLC - Tender Loving Care

Toastie - toasted sandwich

Togs - bathers, swim suit

Torch - flashlight

Toot - toilet

Tucker – food

Twistie – a brand of cheese-flavoured snack food – very yummy!

Ute - small truck

Vegemite - most Aussies find this spread yummy, many non-Aussies find it too salty. Here’s the hint - if you ever have Vegemite, use it spread thinly, never thickly!

Wacky baccy - marijuana

Wanger - penis

Waterworks - crying

Whopper - a lie

Yamaha & Suzuki - ‘brands’ of motorcycles.

You wally - silly

Chapter 1

*

The road to Gully’s Fall was long, the bitumen stretching out as far as the eye could see. Either side of the road was farmland, and not a lot of traffic to break the monotony.

Ash looked at the sheep near the fence on the side of the road. Gully’s Fall was miles from anywhere, which made it the ideal place to stop for a couple of weeks, see if she could get a job. See if she wanted to stay in the small town. If nothing else, it was thousands of miles from where she used to live.

Thunder rumbled overhead, the spring storm suiting her mood. Always the promise of something dashed by a hint of threat. She liked rain, but not right now. Not when she was stuck on the side of the road with a broken down car and no mobile phone after accidentally dropping it in the last town, where a car had run over it. Whoever said car parks were safe was wrong. Stupidly, she hadn’t bought another mobile so she had no way to call for help. Stupid stupid stupid.

Cursing silently, she removed her glasses to pinch the bridge of her nose. No traffic in sight, and even if there was, part of her was afraid they’d not stop to help and another part afraid that someone would stop.

God, would she ever get over seeing a threat everywhere she went?

Moving back to the front of the Magna, she looked helplessly at the engine under the open bonnet. It was just an engine to her, bolts, parts, rubber belt thingies. Before she’d left the city, she should have taken a crash course in mechanics or something, if there was such a thing. She’d checked the oil and water, all was well there, but apart from that she had not a clue.

Dumb dumb dumb. But then, worst things could happen - had happened, as she knew first hand - and worse things could happen again.

No sooner had the thought surfaced than she tensed at the sound of something in the distance. Something loud, powerful and noisy. As the sound grew nearer, she tensed even more, straightening to move to the side of the car and look in the direction from which it came.

Powerful engines, their roaring ripping through the calm, peaceful countryside.

Motorbikes, and more than one. Pushing her glasses up the bridge of her nose, she could see them now as they topped the hill from which she’d come over not twenty minutes ago. Four bikes, big and heavy, chrome shiny and catching the filtered sunlight peeking through the clouds. Four bikies dressed in black leather and helmets.

Her palms started to sweat, the instinct to run making her heart pound. Maybe they’d go past, maybe she wouldn’t interest them, maybe they’d be turned off by her build, overlook her plus-sized body. Attraction had to count, right?

No, it didn’t, and she had first hand experience to prove it. It hadn’t mattered then, and it might not matter now. She knew enough to stop fooling herself.

Fooling oneself was dangerous, stupid.

She could feel the fluttering of panic set in when the motorbikes neared, the instinct to run and hide strong, but there was nowhere to run, nowhere to hide, and if they wanted her the car windows weren’t going to stop them.

Sliding her hand into her pocket, she felt the reassuring presence of the tiny perfume bottle she now carried. The perfume spray could sting an attacker’s eyes, buy her some time. But against four bikies? Not going to happen, but regardless she could give back some hurt if they meant her harm.

Please God, please God…

She kept her hand there as the motorbikes slowed, indicators flicking on, the riders easily guiding the powerful machines to a stop not far in front of her car. Swallowing, she watched as every one of the riders kicked their stands down, but only one of the riders swung his leather-clad leg over the seat and got off, the other three staying on their bikes, flipping their visors up and talking to each other.

That was a good sign, right?

The bikie took off his helmet, running his hand through thick, brown hair that was carelessly tousled and just barely grazed the collar of his jacket. His face was clean shaven, she saw as he laid the helmet on the seat. Warily she took several steps back when the bikie strode up to her. He was tall, broad-shouldered, intimidating in his leathers, towering over her when he stopped to look down out of dark grey eyes. His face was all strong planes and square jaw, mouth firm, and authority exuded from him.

Authority, threat, he just plain scared her. Her fingers smoothed over the glass of the perfume bottle as she took another step back, coming up against the front of the car.

Those grey eyes studied her, not dropping below her chin which made her feel just a little better. Then he smiled slowly and reassuringly, the laughter lines at the corners of his eyes crinkling engagingly. Car problems, ma’am?

Um… She swallowed again.

Bonnet’s up. Usually indicates car problems. Moving forward, he looked down at the engine.

Immediately Ash stepped several feet to the side, her gaze flicking from the brown-haired bikie to the three still talking and back again.

Straightening, he looked at her, his gaze direct and understanding. My name’s Scott, ma’am, and those three are my friends. We spotted you with the bonnet open and pulled over to see if we could help. His eyes softened just a little. Just to help.

Just to help, but still strangers to her, and still bikies.

And she was stuck with a car that wasn’t working. Ah…thanks. I…

When she stumbled to a halt, he returned his attention back to the engine. What happened?

Casting another quick glance at the other three bikies, Ash swallowed when a second bikie turned off his motorcycle and swung his leg over the seat. Oh God. Convulsively, her hand tightened around the perfume bottle. This bikie was just as big as the first, tall and broad-shouldered, daunting in his leathers. Taking his helmet off, she saw the thick, black hair that tumbled around his face, almost brushing his shoulders.

Casually, he turned and strode across to the car, smiling at her as he did so, which didn’t make her feel any better.

Two off, two to go?

She had to steel herself not to take another step back, forcing herself to stay still. If they didn’t mean her harm and she did run, how stupid would she be? She’d sworn not to let panic take control and she had to stick by that decision.

Ma’am. The second bikie nodded at her, dark blue eyes twinkling. I’m Ryder. Problem with the car?

What gave you that idea? Scott asked.

Just a hunch, Ryder replied.

The bonnet being up did it, didn’t it?

That was the hunch.

Laughing, Scott looked at Ash. So, what happened?

The car started jerking and sputtering.

It’s an older style Magna. Could be timers or plugs. Taking a rag from his back pocket, Ryder pulled out the oil dipstick, checked it, wiped the dipstick, put it back in and withdrew it again. Got enough oil.

I know, she said, annoyed that he thought her silly enough not to keep an eye on it. I checked it yesterday.

Mmm.

Scott slanted her a look before leaning over the engine and checking the various wires and plugs and stuff of which she had no idea. Ryder did the same.

Ash was growing increasingly wary when the third and fourth bikie suddenly dismounted, holding their helmets under their arms as they approached.

Oh God, they were big, too. Brothers maybe? They didn’t look like brothers, because although they all had good looking, strong features, they didn’t look related, also the one on the right had red hair, the one on the left golden.

Uneasy, she couldn’t stop from taking another step back, adrenaline starting to course through her as the two bikies studied her. They both smiled easily but had the same authorative air as though used to people doing what they said.

Probably beat the shit out of anyone who dared refuse their orders.

Giving her glasses an extra little push up the bridge of her nose, she took a deep breath. Stay calm. Nothing’s happened, nothing probably will happen.