Fenny nearly slipped into sleep for the third time. Her head hit the window and she jolted into alertness again. She had had to relinquish the wheel to Brad due to the sleepiness caused by a big dinner and three hours of driving and singalongs, and now she was supposed to be navigating. Peering at the tiny print over the tops of her glasses, she realized she had no idea where they were or where they were headed. Fenny refolded the map and tried to find the road they were on.

“Berri,” Brad said with a knowing smile. “Saw a sign a few miles back. It’s not far.”

“Oh,” Fenny yawned, peering out the window into the dark landscape. It seemed much more pleasant than the dusty, arid view they’d had in the daylight. Now there were orchards of silhouetted trees whizzing past. She turned round to see the other three asleep in the back, Paul with his head against Gina’s as she leaned on his shoulder, and Greg flumped over on Gina. “It’s only nine o’clock,” Fenny noticed, “we shouldn’t all be this exhausted.”

“We haven’t gotten much sleep with all this kidnapper stuff,” Brad reminded her. “I got my second wind about 50 miles back though,” he shrugged.

Fenny nodded and they continued in silence. She dozed off for a few minutes and woke when the motor stopped. Brad smiled at the collective groan emitted as the trio in the back seat untangled themselves. “Where are we?” Greg asked.

“A quaint little town called Berri where we can spend the night,” Brad announced as they all piled out of the car, stretching stiff muscles, popping sore joints, and looking at the tiny hotel Brad had found.

“I can’t wait to get into bed,” Paul murmured as he wandered into the hotel lobby. Greg got as far as a chair before he decided to collapse. Gina gave a full body stretch and groan in the middle of the room and Fenny grabbed Brad’s arm so he could lead her to the front desk.

“We’d like a room, please,” Brad said pleasantly.

“Yes sir,” the receptionist said. “And what about you three?”

Both Greg and Paul looked expectantly at Gina. “I’d like a room,” she said, “a single.”

“What’s going on with Gina?” Brad asked as he and Fenny found their room down the hall from the others.

“I think she’s confused,” Fenny sighed. “She wants Paul but Greg wants her.” She slipped her jeans off and murmured to herself, “What I wouldn’t give for a good pair of pajamas.”

“Maybe in the morning we can actually get to a store and buy some clothes that aren’t becoming rancid and crusty,” Brad sighed.

“I’ve got to take a shower,” Fenny announced. She slipped her glasses off her face and onto the night stand, gave Brad a peck on the cheek, and wandered into the bathroom. The water turned on, the shower sputtered a moment and Fenny waited for the water get appropriately hot. She peered at herself in the murky mirror; she couldn’t remember ever looking that tired. Once she got herself back to Sydney, she decided, she was going to sleep for a week before venturing onto a plane back to the States. With a sigh, Fenny stripped off the rest of her clothes and slipped under the welcoming stream of refreshing hot water.

Gina flumped on her bed feeling strangely recharged from her nap in the car and wondering what she could do the pass the time. She knew perfectly well what she wanted to be doing to pass the time, but there were issues to be addressed. Gina could very easily march into Paul’s room, jump into bed and spend the rest of the night shagging him senseless, which was exactly what she wanted to do. There was, however, Greg. Gina wanted so much to patch things up with Paul, maybe give things another go, but having Greg fawn over her certainly wasn’t helping any. On one level, she wanted them both, but knew that it would never work with her and Greg—they had both known that since the beginning, the very beginning, but neither seemed willing to admit it. Things between her and Paul, however, had every likelihood of being just wonderful again.

Gina frowned out the window. As far as she knew, Greg had no idea that she and Paul were on such…friendly terms. Greg was suspicious maybe, but not certain. She knew she needed to sit Greg down and explain things to him, but the last thing she wanted to do was hurt him, and she knew he would be inconsolable and impossible to deal with the rest of the way home…

There was a knock at the door and Gina jumped. Considering Fenny and Brad were probably rooting around in their room, it had to be either Greg or Paul. She opened the door cautiously to find Greg leaning against the door frame, his hair still a bit damp from a shower. “Hi,” she said.

“Would you come to my room for a minute, I have something to show you,” Greg said.

Gina sighed and stepped out into the hallway with him. “If this is a trick,” she began as he opened the door to his room, but snapped her jaw shut as he ushered her inside. The small battered table in the corner was lit with candles and, as he led her by the hand towards it, she saw it was set with two plates of—be still her heart—chocolate fudge cake. “Greg,” she tried again, “this is, I don’t know what to say. Why?”

“We haven’t had any time alone together, and now that things have calmed down, I thought maybe you could, you know, use some chocolate.” He grinned stupidly at her.

‘Damn him,’ Gina thought to herself as her heart began the familiar palpitations again. ‘There’s no way I could give him the drop now.’

Fenny rinsed the last of the hotel-issue shampoo from her hair and wiped the water from her eyes to find Brad sticking his head into the shower from behind the curtain. “What do you think you’re doing?” she asked, more amused than angry.

“Enjoying the view,” he smiled. “Can I wash your back?”

“I’ve never stopped you before,” she shrugged.

He pulled back the shower curtain and stepped into the bathtub behind her. Carefully he moved her hair over one shoulder, kissing the back of her neck playfully before lathering up her back and gently massaging her. She sighed contentedly under his hands. “You couldn’t possibly believe how much I love you,” she said over the gentle pounding of the water on the floor of the tub.

“I’ve got a pretty good idea,” he replied. He turned her around and kissed her, a hungering kiss full of need that made Fenny go light headed. She pulled away, gasping for breath.

“I always forget what you do to me,” she panted. “It’s hard to believe,” she smiled and took the soap from him and began to lather up his chest.

“Lower,” he chuckled, and she obliged. “Lower,” he urged when the bubbles reached his stomach. She passed his belly button. “Lower?” he asked with that lopsided smile.

“Bradley,” she teasingly admonished, “what kind of girl do you think I am?”

“The kind that’s never had a good screw in a shower,” he said. “Wanna try?”

Fenny giggled as he grabbed her round the waist and pushed her against the wet tile wall. “OW!” she shrieked. “Fuck.”

“I’m sorry babe,” Brad cooed as he jumped away from her, “what’s wrong?”

“Stupid fucking soap holder thingy on the wall, oww,” she moaned as she grabbed at her lower back, trying to rub away the pain but only making it hurt more. Brad leaned down to investigate her wound, the red mark already showing signs that she was going to have one hell of a bruise in the morning. “It’s okay,” she sighed, “I’ll be fine.”

He stepped back to see if the mark was swelling, see just how much he had hurt her, and promptly backed into tap, let out a squeal as he jumped up and hit the shower head. “Damn it!” he cried as he grabbed the back of his head. “Fucking thing’s too low, shit, that hurt!”

“That’s what you get for being so tall,” Fenny said, giggling though she knew she shouldn’t. “Maybe we should get outta here before one of us gets killed.”

“Rain check maybe?” Brad asked hopefully. “In a shower we know how to navigate?”

“Deal,” Fenny agreed as he turned off the shower. “Ouch,” she added as she stepped out of the tub, wincing as her back throbbed.

“Ditto,” Brad said, still rubbing his head and checking his fingers for blood.

Their bodies and their pride battered, the need for sleep overcame Fenny and Brad and they were contented to just fall asleep in each other’s arms, still a bit wet from the shower.

Gina groaned into Greg’s mouth as his hands reached for the buckle on her belt. This was not what she had planned on, but she couldn’t stop herself and kissed him back fervently. It was as if someone had spiked the cake. Gina had come into his room to humor him, kissed him because she couldn’t bear telling him about Paul, and was now ready to let him ravish her because of this undeniable power he had over her. Together they fell to the bed, the springs squeaking in protest under their weight. Her fingers pulled at his hair as he left a trail of kisses down her neck while he pulled her jeans off…

Paul was pacing his room, ignoring the television that he’d turned on for a distraction. He’d tried sleeping, but his mind wouldn’t shut down: Why wouldn’t Gina share a room with me? Did she want to run off for another steamy night with Greg? Does she just not want me? Why do I want her again after all those months of being angry at her? Is she with Greg? Maybe she’s just asleep. Maybe she’ll come to my room. Maybe she’s waiting for me to go to her room. What the hell is wrong with me? This is one real fucked up situation, I wish I’d never come. No, I take that back. I think. I don’t know what I think anymore.

He flumped back on the bed and decided a trashy talk show was in order to assure him that his life was not as screwed up as it could be.

It never ceased to amaze Gina how quickly Greg could fall asleep. She didn’t know if sex just wore him out that much or if he was just naturally tired, but she was glad he was asleep. She gently slipped out of bed and into her clothes. As she tiptoed to the door, the boots she was carrying scraped against the wall and she froze. “Gina? Where you going, love?”

She cringed and closed her eyes. “Back to my room,” she answered.

“You don’t have to do that,” Greg said sleepily.

“I need to take a shower, I got all dusty from all that hiking and now I’m all sweaty, not that I mind so much,” Gina added with a cautious smile.

“You could have showered here, I don’t mind.”

“I didn’t want to keep you up. I’m sorry. Just, go back to sleep, I’ll see you in the morning.”

“Yeah, okay.” Greg collapsed back onto his pillow.

“Good night.”

“Night.”

Cursing herself for doing what she had done, Gina stomped back up the hall to her room where she took a long shower, then proceeded to stomp through her room getting progressively angrier at herself, not so much for sleeping with Greg for all the wrong reasons, but for wanting so badly to go sleep with Paul for all the right ones. “What would Mum say about this one?” Gina asked herself. “He is, technically, still my husband, of course. But it’s still wrong to go do the deed with your husband right after you’ve done the deed with someone else’s husband. My god,” Gina gasped, “I’ve turned into Fen. I’m not. I’m not gonna let that happen to me.”

She slipped under the sheets and turned on the television, flipped irritably through all six channels it offered, and leapt back out of bed. “Fuck it.” Seventeen seconds later Paul opened his door to find Gina looking as anxious as he was. “I love you,” she babbled and threw herself into his arms, kicking the door closed as they stumbled backwards into the room, lost their balance, and fell to the floor in a confused, slightly embarrassed and passionately kissing feverish heap.

Fenny woke with a nagging, throbbing soreness in her back and wondered how hard it would be to get some aspirin at 1:30 in the morning. She glanced over at Brad, who was sprawled on his stomach, both hands thrust under his pillow and his hair already frazzled beyond repair. As she smiled at him, he rolled over onto his side to face her, and he grinned lazily, evidence of a pleasant dream of some sort. In the dim light that spilled in from the window she could see the small tattoo over his heart that bore her name. They’d not discussed it, but Fenny planned to in the morning, along with whatever Gina had said he was “bottling up.” She looked at Brad worryingly, brushed a few stray hairs from his forehead, and held his hand until she fell back to sleep.