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  When I was dressed and ready for my morning run, I crept back into the bedroom and over to the side of the bed. Stone had stretched out on the mattress, his big body taking up the whole space, his feet hanging off the end. He’d pulled the covers over himself, but his bare feet were poking out the bottom. I stifled a giggle as I stared at the huge, pale appendages. For some reason, seeing his bare feet felt strangely intimate and sexy. He looked so calm and approachable when he slept, his usual harsh ‘Don’t fuck with me’ expression no where in sight.

  He frowned in his sleep and I slowly backed toward the door, not taking my eyes off him. I opened the door, but paused as I caught sight of my camera on the bookshelf next to me. I grinned and quickly removed the lens cap, snapping a shot of Stone to develop later. I carefully placed the camera back and shut the door quietly. I walked briskly to the stairs, feeling invigorated and ready to tackle the day.

  ***

  Stone slept in my room every night that week, and each night it was the same. He’d knock on the door at nine o’clock, and then we’d listen to relaxing rock ballads until Stone lay down to sleep. Sometimes he’d be there in the morning and sometimes he wouldn’t. I asked Candy about it and she claimed that Stone suffered from sleeping problems, sometimes waking up in the middle of the night or early in the morning and wandering around campus. He didn’t act any differently toward me during the day, and I was slowing starting to accept his place in my bed. It was strange and incredibly confusing, but at least that was all he was doing.

  Saturday arrived and I woke to an empty bed. I decided to forgo my run and instead, stretched out over the large single, savouring the extra space I hadn’t been able to enjoy lately. I must have fallen asleep again, because it was some hours later that I woke to Briar leaning over me.

  “Morning sunshine!” she greeted cheerfully, her dimples showing and a wicked twinkle in her eye.

  “Morning,” I whispered uneasily.

  “Time to get up and dressed,” she said, throwing me some clothing. I held them up for inspection and my eyes widened with disbelief.

  “What’s this?” I asked worriedly.

  “Your cheerleading outfit!” Briar announced, jumping up from the bed so that I could see her outfit…an exact replica of mine.

  “Cheer outfit?” I asked in confusion, “For what?”

  “The race!” she explained, “We have to cheer on the band!”

  A switch flicked in my head and I realised what she was talking about. The Henley-on-Todd dry river bed boat race. Every year, people formed teams and entered ‘boats’ of their own crafting to race down the dry river bed of what used to be the Todd river. The boats are raced ‘Flinstone’ style, contestants using their feet or hands etc. to power the boat forward. Logan and his work mates from the Flying Doctors entered a team every year. Apparently, the band had been working like crazy for the last three weeks to build their boat.

  I sighed and glanced again at the outfit Briar wanted me to wear. A plain white T-shirt with ‘Rabid Manifests’ written in bold, multi-coloured print. Briar was wearing a pair of very small black shorts, but she’d given me a pair of tight, black pedal pushers to wear. She’d cut off the bottom of her shirt to expose her stomach and her long riot of blonde curls was hanging loosely. On her feet were pink Ug boots, but I decided to wear my trainers. I crawled out of bed and trudged to the bathroom to get dressed, hoping that she wasn’t expecting me to actually cheer.

  The clothes fit well and soon we were making our way downstairs to catch a lift with Candy and Mason. Once we reached the race, Bri handed me a bright pink cowgirl hat, placing a matching one on her own head. Next, she passed over a pair of aviators, grinning to herself as she place her own sunnies on her nose.

  “What?” I asked.

  “Don’t scratch them,” she said with a chuckle, “Those are Stone’s.”

  I thrust them back at her. “Does he know I have them?” I asked frantically, “I don’t want them.”

  She snorted. “Relax,” she said with a laugh, “He gave me them to give to you. He doesn’t care if you break them. He’ll just buy another set.”

  “Oh…” I muttered, “Okay then.” I slid them on and gingerly placed the hat on my head. Briar took my hand and led me towards the barricades.

  “Hey there,” a strange, deep voice said in my ear, making me jump. Logan laughed and wrapped an arm around my waist.

  “Got you sis,” he said in his normal voice, chuckling roughly.

  “Oh hi Logan,” I murmured, blushing slightly at my skittishness, “Aren’t you racing?”

  “Not this year,” he replied good naturedly, “Just watching the others.”

  “Why? Did you come to watch me?” he teased.

  “No,” I admitted, but didn’t offer any more information.

  “We’re here to cheer on the band,” Briar supplied, thrusting her chest out so he could read the band name written there. Sure enough, Logan’s eyes drifted down with a smile. His eyes flickered back to my outfit and face.

  “Almost didn’t recognise you, Eve,” he said with a smile.

  I nodded briefly and turned back to the ‘river’ to see the ‘boats’ lining up. There were too many people in front of me though and I growled softly in annoyance.

  “Need a boost, kiddo?” Logan smirked at me.

  “I’m not a kid,” I mumbled and then squealed as he picked me up and placed me on his shoulders. I clutched at his head for balance and my bottom dropped behind his neck, pulling my weight backwards. Logan grunted and moved his hands from my thighs to push my ass back up.

  “Jeez, Evie,” he said with a laugh, “Have you forgotten how to sit on my shoulders?”

  “No,” I snapped, “I just wasn’t expecting it!”

  Briar glanced up at me in surprise at my sharp tone and I took a deep breath to calm down. Logan had touched a sore spot.

  “Besides,” I murmured, “I’ve never sat on your shoulders before.”

  Logan stilled, then twisted his head in an attempt to look up at me. “Yes you have,” he argued, “I used to piggy back you and sit you on my shoulders all the time.”

  “No, you didn’t,” I argued back, “That was Zane and Daddy.”

  “Yes, I did,” he said firmly, “When you were really little, the big trips and I used to get into fights over who got to carry you.”

  “Really?” I asked incredulously, “Did you carry Charlie too?”

  Logan snorted, “No. She was a chubby kid and only two years younger than me.”

  “Besides,” he said, “You’ve always been the baby of the family, even after the little trips came along.”

  I flicked his ear.

  “Ow!” he said with a laugh, “What was that for?”

  “I’m not the baby,” I mumbled.

  The gun went off and the race started. I hastily uncapped my camera and trained it on the contestants. I got a few of Logan’s work mates for him in their aeroplane boat. I grinned when I saw the band’s boat. It was a large cardboard constructed boat, each side shaped like an electric guitar. ‘Rabid Manifests’ was spray painted down each side along the strings and the band members stood inside the ‘craft’, using their legs to run. They were dressed in various metal band shirts and Jamie was holding a cardboard flagpole, with numerous ‘metal band flags’ tapering off it. I snapped several pictures as they ran past. I zoomed in on Stone, smiling at the way Fredi was clinging to his neck as he ran with her on his back. Apparently Fredi hadn’t been moving fast enough for the boys.

  At the end of the race, Briar grabbed Logan’s hand and dragged us over to the finish line where the team was climbing out of their vessel. Stone took off his band shirt and tucked it into his back pocket. He ran a hand over his shaved head, a tired, but content expression on his face. I quickly snapped the picture before his stony mask could slip back into place.

  “GG!” Briar shouted, jumping up and down and waving so he’d spot us. He raised a hand briefly, but his gaze shifted t
o me and it dropped. He scowled at me and I hastily dropped the hand I’d been tentatively raising to wave.

  “Shit, what’s his problem?” Logan asked with a chuckle.

  “I don’t know,” I whispered as Briar ran toward the band, “Put me down.” He gently lowered me to my feet and we started walking towards the band members. His phone rang though, and after glancing at it, his face suddenly froze over and he stopped walking.

  “Hey, Evie?” he said, “I’ve gotta go.”

  “What? Why?” I asked.

  He didn’t answer though, he just kissed my cheek and flipped open his phone, briskly walking away.

  “Bye,” I murmured, staring after him curiously.

  Mum was right. Something was going on.

  Shrugging it off, I made my way over to the band, stopping next to Donny who was guzzling a bottle of water.

  “Hey Evie-baby,” he greeted cheerfully, “Having fun?”

  “I suppose,” I murmured. The race had been pretty amusing.

  “Where’s that guy you were with?” he prodded, looking around, “Logan right?”

  “Yeah. I think he’s gone home,” I replied, “Someone rang him.”

  Donny frowned. “So he ditched you?”

  “He didn’t ditch me,” I said with a frown, “I didn’t come here with him. I just ran into him.”

  “Oh,” Donny replied, “That’s better I suppose.”

  “It was probably work anyway,” I murmured, not really believing it.

  “Sure,” Donny said with a smirk, “But if he hurts you in any way, you just let me know sugar.”

  I wrinkled my nose at him. “You’d be the least of his worries if he hurt me,” I answered.

  “Really?” he asked, raising a brow, “How so?”

  I shifted uneasily, knowing that I couldn’t really lie and I’d have to face his disbelief and amusement over my large family.

  “Because,” I admitted reluctantly, grateful that the rest of the band had moved on, “The rest of my brothers would be less than impressed.”

  “Rest of?” he repeated, looking confused.

  “Yes,” I replied, looking away, “Didn’t Briar tell you? Logan is my older brother.”

  “What?!” Donny exclaimed, looking thoroughly shocked for a few moments…then he started laughing. “Oh man, that girl is sneaky.”

  “What?” I asked with a frown.

  “Never mind,” he said quickly, “What do you mean, ‘the rest of your brothers’? How many do you have?”

  “Nine,” I grumbled.

  He gaped at me and I had to bite my lip to stop myself saying something sharp.

  “Nine!” he rasped in disbelief.

  He chuckled quietly. “Let me guess. You’re their one and only baby sister?”

  “No,” I answered shortly, “I have two older sisters and I’m not the youngest. There’s a set of triplets a year younger than me.”

  Donny’s eyes lit with understanding. “The triplets I saw on your phone?” he asked.

  I nodded.

  “Damn,” he said with a grin, “Fredi must be in on it too.”

  “In on what?” I demanded.

  “Nothing,” he replied, “Just girls playing with a man’s head.”

  He cocked his head to the side and stared at me hard. “And Cooper?” he questioned, “Is he a brother too?”

  “Yes.”

  “Man!” Donny said loudly, then swore under his breath. A smile slowly worked its way back onto his face.

  “Don’t worry Evie-baby,” he said, “I’ll play your game. I’ll keep your secrets. This will be fun.”

  “What game? What secrets?” I whispered, suddenly feeling very lost, “My family isn’t secret Donny. I just don’t go shouting about that I’ve got eleven siblings.”

  “Shh,” Donny said, putting an arm around me and leading us away from the river bed, “Don’t you worry your pretty head, sugar. Let’s go find the others.”

  ***

  We found the others pretty easily. They were sitting on the cars, waiting for us to join them. Chloe had joined the group, also wearing a fan T-shirt of her own making.

  “Oh hi Evie,” she greeted me with false sweetness, “I thought you would have left with your date.”

  “No,” I muttered awkwardly, looking down at the ground, “I’m riding with Mason and Candy.”

  “Oh honey,” Chloe cooed with insincere sympathy, “Did he ditch you? What an asshole!”

  Stone pushed her away when she tried to wrap a leg over his.

  “He wasn’t her date,” Briar snapped, “We just ran into him and then he had to go to work.”

  Chloe glared at Briar and opened her mouth to say something nasty back.

  “Don’t,” Stone growled softly from beside her. Chloe’s eyes widened, as if only just realising she was about to have a fight with Stone’s best friend. She shut her mouth and sat quietly.

  “Let’s go,” Briar said, grabbing my hand and moving toward Mason’s car. As usual, my phone chose the very worst moment to ring. It beeped first with a message from Cooper, warning me that Harvey was mad. Then my phone rang and I knew I had to answer it. If I delayed it, Harvey’s anger would be allowed to stew and the explosion would be worse.

  “Sorry,” I mumbled to Briar, “I have to take this. It’s important.”

  “I’m sorry Harvey,” I whispered frantically into the phone as I started to walk away from the group. I must have hit ‘talk’ twice though, because his angry voice came through loud and clear on speaker phone.

  “Fucking hell Evelyn!” he shouted at me, “What the fuck did you think you were doing?”

  I started in surprise and dropped the phone. I hurried to pick it up and turn off loud speaker. Tears of distress started to flow down my cheeks as I listened to him rant.

  “I’m sorry,” I whispered again, my voice cracking and wobbling as my lower lip trembled uncontrollably. I hated it when my siblings were mad at me.

  “Whatever Eve,” he growled, “Just keep your mouth shut in future.”

  “And you better call Mum and distract her! You owe me!” he shouted, before hanging up on me.

  I knew that he was just grumpy from having to sit on his ass all week and take pain medication, whilst being bombarded with annoying phone calls from Mum, but it still upset me. I was sobbing into my hands when Briar wrapped me in a hug. Candy and the rest of the group were right behind her.

  “Who the fuck is this Harvey guy?” Fredi demanded angrily. Stone’s eyes narrowed on me and Alec and Jamie cracked their knuckles as if spoiling for a fight.

  I didn’t answer her. I just passed the phone to Candy. Her face softened and she started flicking through my phone book.

  “Cooper?” she asked me.

  I nodded.

  “Hey Coop,” she said a few moments later, “It’s Candy.”

  “Yes,” she said stiffly, “Harvey did just call.”

  “Who’s Harvey?!” Alec demanded. Briar shushed him and Candy handed me the phone.

  “Hey Coop,” I whispered on a sob.

  “Evie,” he said in a low voice, “What did he say to you? I’ll go around and break his good leg if you want.”

  I shook my head, even though I know he couldn’t see. “Don’t,” I mumbled, “I deserved it.”

  “No you didn’t Evie. Don’t worry about it. Charlie has been here all week and he’s been just as snarky to her. She took time off and flew down here to look after him. He’s been acting like a child.”

  “It’s fine Coop,” I said.

  “Are you alright now?” he asked stiffly and I knew he was still going to rip into Harv when he hung up.

  “Yes,” I answered honestly, “I just needed to hear your voice…Don’t tell Zane.”

  Cooper snorted. “Are you kidding?” he said with a low laugh, “If Zane knew Harv had made his baby sister cry, he’d get on the next plane home and shoot him again.”

  I sighed with relief. “Thanks,” I whispered.
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  “Bye, Evie,” Cooper said quickly.

  “Bye,” I mumbled, “Go easy on Harv.”

  “No promises,” Cooper said, before hanging up.