You're the One Read online

  You’re the One

  By

  Angela Verdenius

  (Gully’s Fall series bk 5)

  Smashwords Edition

  Copyright 2015 Angela Verdenius

  All Rights Reserved

  Cover images courtesy of © vuk8691 and istock.com

  Cover by Angela Verdenius

  Smashwords License Statement

  This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each reader. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

  Table of Contents

  Glossary

  Foreword

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Bio

  Other Books by this Author

  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 Names/Terms/Slang

  Ambos - ambulance officers

  Arvo - afternoon

  Barbie - BBQ

  Beaut - beautiful, awesome, great, wonderful

  Berko - berserk

  Bewdy - as in ‘awesome, great’

  Biccies - biscuits. The same as cookies

  Bikie - biker, person who rides motorbikes.

  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.

  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

  Daks - pants

  Dander – temper

  Dill - silly, idiot

  Dogs - (as in attached to a truck) - trailers, enclosed or not, that carry goods or are empty.

  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

  Gob - mouth

  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

  Togs - bathers, swim suit

  Torch - flashlight

  Toot - toilet

  Tucker – food

  Twistie – a brand of cheese-flavoured snack food. Yummy!

  Up the duff - pregnant

  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!

  Vollie - volunteers

  Wacky baccy - marijuana

  Wanger - penis

  Waterworks - crying

  Whopper - a lie

  Yamaha & Suzuki - ‘brands’ of motorbikes.

  You wally - silly

  Foreword

  The RSPCA does a wonderful - and sometimes unappreciated - job of looking after the welfare of animals, mammals, birds, reptiles - anything that crawls, flies, swims, and walks. Educating people on the care of all creatures great and small is also part of their work.

  Some of our Inspectors have vast areas to patrol, and areas of hundreds of kilometres are no exaggeration. All hail these dedicated real-life heroes.

  While my hero is an RSPCA Inspector and I have tried to stay true to the job, I have taken some liberties
for the sake of the story.

  Chapter 1

  They were up to something, and knowing that mob, it couldn’t be good.

  Sipping on a bottle of cold water, Del watched the scene over the road. Sitting on the roof of her house, the silicone gun beside her for yet another patch-up job, she had her knees bent, her elbow on one knee, the water bottle in her hand, her sneakered feet resting on the veranda roof.

  Idly twirling the bottle, the water sloshing around inside, she squinted a little. Maybe next time she should bring the binoculars up here, have a decent look. Not that it mattered because she recognised the cars in front of the big house.

  The early morning sun shone down warm, almost a little too warm, causing her to half close her eyes in enjoyment while keeping her gaze on the people across the road. Her rickety old house might be a little isolated in the shelter of bushes that ringed the clearing, and her neighbours might be further away than her parents preferred, but she liked the privacy. Just as she liked being able to sit on the roof and look out over the bushes, watching the cars go past and see her neighbours’ places.

  It was the neighbour across the road that interested her right now. Pierce Harding, son of one of the wealthier farmers and a sleaze of the worst kind. He was keeping bad company, but then anyone who kept company with Brand Dawson, the town trouble-maker, kept bad company. The third man, known simply as Cutter, lived in Ellor’s Loop, two hours drive from Gully’s Fall. Now if Cutter was here as well, then some scheme was being plotted. An illegal scheme. Just had to be.

  Taking another thoughtful sip of water, feeling the sun starting to burn just a little, Del’s gaze switched to track the big ute with the canopy that slowed along the road, indicated and turned into the driveway leading to Pierce’s house.

  Hello, hello. The local RSPCA inspector.

  Her interest piqued.

  Now what would the walking mountain want with those three miscreants? What had they done? Her eyes narrowed as she watched the vehicle pull up near the car the three men were standing beside.

  The RSPCA inspector got out of the ute, his very height and breadth dwarfing the three men as he approached them, his back to Del. She couldn’t see the expressions of the men properly, but there was no mistaking their body language. Cutter took a step back, Brand held his place on the other side of the car’s bonnet, and Pierce shuffled a little closer to Brand. The inspector stood easily, big arms loose by his side.

  Nothing seemed to happen. They nodded, Brand gestured, the inspector obviously asked them something else, and Pierce suddenly led the way to a large shed not far from the house. Brand and Cutter stayed by the car as Pierce and the inspector disappeared inside the shed. They both emerged minutes later to disappear behind the shed. Finally, both strode back to the car, Pierce lagging behind the inspector’s much wider stride. The inspector spoke to them all before turning around.

  As Del watched, Brand suddenly raised his arm and waved. She blinked as all four men tipped their faces towards her, then Cutter waved.

  They’d spotted her. Big deal, it was her house, her roof, and she wouldn’t wave back to them if she was on fire. They were low scum who dealt in some shady deals. Except for the inspector. He could be an irritating arse, but he definitely was not crooked.

  The inspector turned to the men and almost immediately they stopped waving, Brand slouching back down over the bonnet, Pierce taking a step backwards, Cutter thrusting his hands into his pockets. The inspector got back into the ute, the vehicle dipping under his weight, pulled it into an arc and drove back along the driveway.

  Del tracked the utes progress along the driveway, watched it turn onto the road and unsurprisingly, it turned into her curving driveway at a sedate pace to wind its way along the bush-lined dusty track before coming to a stop in the wide space in front of the veranda.

  The inspector got out of the ute, strode leisurely around to the front and rested his lean hips back against the bonnet, his long, heavy legs crossed leisurely at booted ankles. His arms folded across his chest, the material stretching across the bulge of his biceps and triceps. Tipping back his head, he looked right up at her, the sun reflecting off the mirrored sunglasses he wore.

  Del took a mouthful of water while eyeing him back.

  Moz Baylon, the new RSPCA inspector of Gully’s Fall and the surrounding towns. His beat covered a large area, up to five hundred kilometres and even more if needed. He was, she acknowledged, one hunk of manhood. The man stood around six foot nine and had muscles that reflected his hobby of weight lifting, presenting an imposing figure. Add to that his face, well… To be fair, when she’d first met him at Ash and Scott’s wedding over a year ago, she’d agreed with most of the town women - he was handsome in a bit of a rough-hewn way. Fair hair in a short ponytail, dark brown eyes, tanned skin, square jaw, firm lips. Tack on a gravely voice that rumbled from deep in that muscular chest and he was a panty-dampener, no doubt about it.

  He didn’t make her panties damp. He did, however, have the power to annoy her at the most unexpected moments. Such as at the wedding.

  She took another sip of water, continued to watch him watching her.

  When the silence stretched a bit too uncomfortably, she drawled, “Keeping bad company nowadays, Moz.”

  His head angled a little to one side. “You’re up on the roof.”

  “You noticed.”

  “We all noticed.”

  “You and your bad company.”

  “What is so appealing about sitting on the roof?”

  “I can see everything that happens.”

  “Nosey parker, then.”

  “Call it what you like.” She shrugged. “I watch the cars, the houses, the bush. I enjoy myself. I like it.”

  “Did you like those men spotting you up here and waving?”

  “They’ve seen me up here before.”

  The corner of his firm lips tightened just a fraction, the only hint he didn’t like her answer.

  “So, what made you seek out that motley mob?”

  “Work.” His gaze flicked to the step ladder propped up against the side of the house. “You coming down?”

  “Why? Are you going to tell the boys if I don’t?”

  “I can deal with you myself.”

  Del arched one eyebrow. “I beg your pardon?”

  A small smile flickered around Moz’s mouth. “I don’t need Ryder, Simon, Kirk or Scott sorting out my problem. I can do it myself.”

  Cheeky prick. “I’m not your problem.”

  “You’d think so, wouldn’t you?” There was a definite smile around his lips now.

  That irked. She had half a mind to flip him off, but no doubt he’d come up and get her. Maybe. She wasn’t really sure because truth be told, he hadn’t been around much when she’d been perched on the roof. He’d driven past, honked his horn a few times, but he’d never come in and demanded she come down. Not like her male friends who were so certain she’d fall down and break her neck.

  Probably wouldn’t worry Moz that much if she did.

  For some inexplicable reason that thought had a small frown skittering across her brow. Abruptly pushing to her feet, she picked up the silicone gun and moved with sure-footedness across the roof, stopping near the ladder.

  As she’d moved, so had Moz, and he now stood at the bottom of the ladder looking up at her. “Chuck the gun down.”

  Made her life easier. She tossed it down, followed by the water bottle.

  Moz caught both quickly, not even juggling the second unexpected item. “Want me to catch you as well?” Amusement was clear in his gravely voice as he placed the items on the ground.

  That had her gaze jumping to those brawny arms, those broad shoulders. No doubt if she did jump off the roof he would catch her easily. That had her belly do a little dip and roll which, she assured herself, was perfectly normal for anyone thinking of jumping off a roof. Which she wasn’t - thinking about it, that was.

  Impatiently, she turned and rea
ched down to grasp the protruding sides of the ladder, swinging her leg down so her foot hit the first rung. As she’d done a hundred times since buying the ramshackle old house, she climbed down the ladder easily.

  Or as easily as she could until a passing car backfired loudly. Intensely aware of Moz watching her, the sound caught Del unawares. She jumped, her foot slipped, and before she could readjust her grip or step, a pair of big hands clamped around her waist and plucked her off the ladder to place her on the ground.

  Startled, she swung around to stare up at Moz. “What the hell…?”

  “I can’t stop you going up the ladder, Del,” he rumbled mildly, “but no way will I watch you fall down.”

  “I wasn’t falling. My foot slipped.”

  “People slip, people fall.” He shrugged, shirt pulling tightly across his shoulders.

  “I was fine.”

  “Sure.”

  “I was.”

  He nodded.

  Damn it, if she could only see his eyes. Bloody mirrored sun glasses.

  Taking a deep breath, she remembered her manners. He was only helping, she didn’t need to be so sensitive. Or rude. “All right. Well, thanks.” Man, that nearly choked her.

  Obviously he realised it, too, going by the quirk at the corners of his lips.

  Annoyed, she bent down to pick the water bottle and silicone gun up off the ground, using the momentum to get her frazzled emotions under control so that by the time she straightened, she appeared cool and calm.

  However, Moz wasn’t looking at her, his gaze flickering around the clearing, a frown creasing his brow as he studied the bushes. “I knew you had privacy here, but it’s really isolated.”

  She glanced around as well. “Yes, it is, but that’s part of the charm.”

  His gaze cut back to her. “Does your house have an alarm system?”

  “An alarm system?”

  “Yes or no?”

  “No. But-”