Audra sighed inwardly. It wouldn't get out – it was her job to protect the VIPs' privacy, no matter how many ridiculous things they did. Romance novels were barely a blip on the radar, from some of the whispered stories she'd heard in the staff dining room.
Speaking of which..."I'd best grab some breakfast. Busy day of work ahead." She moved purposefully toward the door again.
"But I got you breakfast! Look, look!" He uncovered the tray and held out a sandwich on a plate. "It's for you!"
Audra smiled politely and continued backing away.
"You can't say no to a bacon sandwich! Breakfast of rock stars!" Jay started to look desperate.
"Sorry, I don't like bacon. And I'm expected in the staff dining room." Audra escaped, jogging down the path until she knew she was out of sight of the villas. Only then did she take a deep breath.
Bacon. Her kryptonite. Actually, any sort of pork. Ever since that field trip for uni, checking out the ventilation and odour management systems for the abattoir, and watching the live pigs get slaughtered and sliced and...
She dropped to the ground, hoisting her knees up until she could wedge her head firmly between them. Breathe. Smell the brine and the ocean and the sand and the jungle and the...had someone burned breakfast again? If Penny didn't leave that poor sous-chef alone, he'd lose his job for sure. Better burned cinnamon than bacon, though.
Rising to her shaky feet, Audra continued on to the dining room. If she finished first, she might get a few extra minutes in the communal showers before one of the other girls tried to beat down the door. Hey, she could hope. Warm water caressing her skin for a few more minutes was the best she could hope for, after all.
SIXTEEN
Jason climbed into the helicopter, irritated and intrigued and itching to get off the island. Hence the helicopter. Not that he was flying it; he left the difficult stuff to other people like the pilot. He knew the press release would go out today, telling the world about Chaya's farewell tour. His days as a hot rock god were numbered and it fucking pissed him off.
And that girl...refusing him like he was a nobody already. Who did she think she was? She was a hotel maid, for fuck's sake. Not a rock star or a doctor or even the hotel manager, but the girl who cleaned the floors and took out the rubbish. He wanted some solace from normal girls. The sort that swooned at his feet. Not made him read fucking romance books full of shit no rock star would ever do. Cook a girl breakfast? Put her pleasure before his own? Tell her stuff no self-respecting rock star would ever admit to feeling when there was enough alcohol in the house to deaden it? Shit, he needed a drink just thinking about all that emotional crap. The stuff crazy people told their shrink.
He scratched his chin, or at least the hair sprouting from it. Could a rock star get away with a hipster beard? He was almost there. It'd be a shame to shave it off now.
As they lifted off the helipad, he watched the hotel staff spilling out of a building hidden among the palm trees. His eyes zeroed in on the one person he'd recognise anywhere – the maid who'd fallen asleep on his couch. When she lifted her gaze to the rising plexiglass bubble, he deliberately turned away.
Why hadn't he reported her? Called Security or Reception and had them remove her from his house? He'd even felt sorry for her and bought her breakfast, but she'd refused. What kind of girl refused to join a rock star for breakfast after sleeping with him? Well, sleeping in his house, anyway.
He'd pick up some girls in town and bring them back to the island for a few nights. That'd make him feel better. Let the maid know what she was missing out on. What was her name? Audrey, like the fool's shepherdess...Jason fingered the tattooed words on his arm, a constant reminder of who he was. At least until Chaya fractured and they all went their own ways. Then what?
Fuck, it was too early to be thinking about a future beyond the rest of the day. He wanted a drink. Then he wanted some damn accommodating chicks who'd do whatever he asked, because he was a rock star. He stared moodily out the window, where the clashing colours of red rock, aqua ocean, the muddy brown of rivers and the green swirls of vegetation marking the riverbanks looked more like an abstract painting than real land. Everything about this place was surreal, including the way all the rivers and inlets looked like tortured trees full of snakes. Next to them, the heart-shaped island that housed his hotel seemed nearly normal.
Not that he could get away with rubbishing the town in the residents' hearing, though. He knew that already. One chance comment that ended up in the news could linger for weeks. Talk about hypocrisy. He could do whatever he liked to his appearance, get drunk and sleep with half the town's female population, and all anyone would say is that he was living it up in Broome because it was paradise. Say the town had a trippy river and he'd get hate mail.
Beside the town helipad, he could already see the car he'd ordered. A brand-new, black four-wheel-drive with air conditioning that could bring an Antarctic blizzard to the Kimberley. He itched to drive it. Maybe even take it off road a bit.
The helicopter bumped gently to the ground. Driving time.
"I'll drive up to the pearl farm myself and meet you there with the chopper later," he told the pilot as he slid to the ground, doubling over to stay out of reach of the still-spinning rotors. "Oh, and make sure they know I'll be bringing guests!"
He climbed behind the wheel of his new car and pulled the door closed, sealing himself inside with the new-car smell. The cloying humidity could stay outside the glass as he drove with dream-like precision to the morning haunt of all rock stars: the nearest pub.
SEVENTEEN
"So how'd your hot date with Serge go last night?" Milk splashed out of Penny's bowl of cereal as she shoved it across the table.
Audra stared at Penny. "It wasn't a hot date. We just had a few beers, sat on the beach and talked."
Penny snorted. "Talked. Yeah, right. You're still wearing the same clothes you had on yesterday, Adam's threatening to strangle Serge because he won't stop whistling, and I know you didn't come home last night because I didn't hear your door."
"You must have been asleep, then," Audra said lightly, rising to leave.
Penny grabbed her wrist. "I wanted to borrow your argan oil. I'm out and Patel loves to stroke my hair, but I went for a swim yesterday and the salt's stripped it all dry. C'mon, I know you had heaps the last time you let me borrow it." She smirked. "Or are you saving it to grease up your lover boy?"
"Yeah, maybe I am," Audra snapped, yanking her arm free. Last time Penny had borrowed the bottle, she'd used a third of the expensive stuff and she certainly hadn't paid for it. Audra had no intention of being so gullible a second time – she wasn't sure when she'd be able to afford more for herself. "So no, you can't use it."
"You'll need all the lube you can get so that hunk of meat can slide into your puckered-up hole, Grumpy Guts," Penny retorted. "How long's it been since you spread your legs for a man? Months, definitely, seeing as you haven't had anyone over since we got here. Or longer than that? Was your boyfriend back home saving himself for marriage? Or is that you?"
Audra wanted to punch Penny for voicing what she was already thinking, but even she had to admit it wouldn't be fair. "It's been a while," she confessed quietly.
Penny hooted with laughter. "So kiss that personal trainer of yours, get him to back you up against the wall and do you in the shower block. With arms like his, I bet he could support your weight for hours." She smiled mistily. "I'd do him." She eyed Audra's top. "Looks like you already did last night. I knew you were lying. What's that, then?" She pointed at a blotch.
Peering at her shirt, Audra sighed. "Ice cream from dessert, most likely."
"Ha! You blew him! I'd never have thought it of you. That hot man practically owes you a decent screw now. If you were out with him all last night, why didn't you collect?"
"I wasn't..." Audra trailed off, knowing Penny would only get louder and more insistent the longer she protested. The fewer people who knew about last night, the better. "We were just talking and then I got paged over to the Pearls. I...it was a mess, and I was there most of the night, dealing with it." She avoided Penny's searching eyes.
"You blew a VIP? What'd he taste like? Did he tip you? How big was he? Was he hot?"
Audra winced. "Penny."
Penny finally noticed that they were drawing attention and lowered her voice. "Was he hot?" she repeated.
"I didn't do anything with anyone last night. You know we can't."
"If no one knows, it never happened," Penny intoned, waving her hands around as if she was casting some sort of spell.
Audra snorted. "Well, it didn't. It's all in your imagination." She glanced at her watch. "And now breakfast's over, so I should grab a shower before I have to finish cleaning the villas. Reception said we have a booking for Albina on the weekend." She hurried out, hoping Penny wouldn't follow.
"Tell me his name!"
Audra shook her head and kept going. Thumping helicopter blades make her glance up – surely the guests for Albina weren't arriving already? They weren't due until tomorrow. It was taking off, not landing, though, and she thought she recognised the passenger before he turned his head. Jay was headed off for an outing – a private heli-fishing expedition, a tour of the gorges or what she'd been told was a magical flight over Horizontal Falls, maybe. Stuff she'd never be able to afford. Especially not if she didn't get a shower before work.