Red Dirt Heart 04 - Red Dirt Heart 4 Read Online Free Page A

were surrounded by people, that the dance floor was full, that guys were watching. So neither did I.
    We’d done away with condoms when we’d both had blood work done and tests came back all negative for everything. I’d never done anything remotely condom-less with anyone but Charlie, and knowing we were exclusive, permanent and real, made the experience even better.
    And it also meant that we’d never get caught out unprepared. I pushed Charlie off the dance floor and through the bathroom doors. We bumped into almost everyone, mumbled apologies we didn’t mean, and fumbled into a bathroom stall.
    Charlie pulled his face from mine, his lips all red and swollen and his eyes swimming with bourbon. “You’re better than this,” he whispered, out of breath. “Not in a bathroom stall. Let me take you to bed.”
    “Yes, here,” I told him, undoing my fly.
    “Trav.” He bit his lip.
    I knew he was going to object, so I pulled out my dick. “Blowjob now, more bourbon later,” I whispered.
    Charlie smiled, all liquored-hazy like. And right there in the cubicle, he oh so slowly went to his knees, looking up at me as he did. I knew I wouldn’t last long.
    The blowjob part of the deal lasted all of thirty seconds, but the bourbon part lasted until the sun came up.

CHAPTER THREE
    Hangovers and cricket. Two of my least favourite things.
     
    “Ugh,” Charlie groaned.
    “Two cokes, please,” I told the flight attendant. “And two bottled waters.” I looked over at Charlie, then back to the flight attendant. “And an airsick bag.”
    She hurried off and Charlie made a pathetic whimpering sound. “I’m dying.”
    “No, you’re hung-over.”
    “Don’t yell.”
    “I’m not. I’m whispering.”
    “Stop whispering.”
    “Stop whining.”
    “My head hurts.”
    “That’s because there’s a bourbon monster trying to claw its way out.”
    “That’s not funny.” He moved his head and made a weird meep sound, and then he kind of shrank back into himself and groaned. “If you really loved me, you’d be nice to me.”
    I laughed at that. “I was nice when I made you stop drinking at five this morning, remember?” I asked, but he frowned, his lips a watery thin line. I leaned right in and whispered, “And I do love you. Now shut up, close your eyes and go to sleep.”
    I took the supplied blanket from the overhead locker and flicking it out, covered him with it. I didn’t hear a peep from him until I had to wake him when we landed in Alice Springs.
     
    * * * *
     
    George met us at the airport, took one look at Charlie and laughed that old-cowboy chuckle of his. Charlie groaned at him. “S’not funny.”
    George just kept on smiling, but picked up Charlie’s duffel bag for him, leaving me to collect mine, and we walked out to the old truck.
    Charlie looked horrified. “Where’s the new Cruiser?”
    George smiled at him. “Had to get new tyres fitted to this, remember?”
    “But… I need air conditioning,” Charlie mumbled. He looked kinda green.
    “You can sit near the window,” George told Charlie in that ever-patient, no-nonsense tone. “If you’re gonna be sick, stick your head outside.”
    I laughed and threw my bag in the back with all the supplies he’d obviously bought for Ma and Nara. I climbed into the middle and tried to get comfortable for what would be an un comfortable three-hour trip in an old truck with no air conditioning and questionable suspension. We had the windows down, the sound of the engine roared and rumbled, and as soon as we were out of Alice, we hit a top speed of eighty kilometres an hour.
    We hadn’t gotten very far when Charlie’s head slumped against the door and he was snoring. A little farther along, his hand went from his lap to my thigh. I knew George didn’t care—he’d told me he didn’t mind one bit—and it felt nice that even in his sleep, Charlie wanted to touch me. It was a far cry from how he used to be. But I guessed a lot had changed in two