Outlast the Night by Ariel Tachna Read Free Book Online Page A

he was fifteen. Even if his family was no longer there, Caine ought to be able to find some record of him.
    “Okay, so where’s somewhere you’ve always wanted to go?” Caine asked. If he gave up on the vacation idea that quickly, Macklin would suspect something, and Caine didn’t want that. If he wasn’t successful or if he didn’t find good news, he didn’t want Macklin to be disappointed.
    “Perth,” Macklin said.
    “We can look into that,” Caine said. “What do you think?”
    Macklin shrugged. “No harm in looking, I suppose. I’m just not much of a traveler. I only went to Sydney all those years because Michael insisted.”
    “My homebody,” Caine said with a smile. “Come to bed now?”
    Macklin shot him a wolfish smile as he pulled off his thick shirt. Caine leaned back against the pillows and prepared to enjoy the show.

Chapter 5

     
    S AM looked around the canteen, trying to decide where to sit. With the breeding finished, three weeks into his tenure on the station, the seasonal jackaroos would be leaving in the morning. Kami had broken out the barbie and grilled up more meat than Sam figured three times as many people could eat, along with more sides than Sam knew what to do with. Everyone was in high spirits, the emotion rubbing off even on Sam, but that didn’t solve his current problem. Molly and Neil had left for Yass as soon as Macklin declared the work done for the day so they could look at venues for their wedding and reception, leaving Sam with no one he really knew. He’d spent the days working in the office and the evenings with Neil and Molly, or else alone in his room if the other two seemed to want some privacy. He’d gotten a lot of work done, which was good, but he hadn’t made any new friends beyond his soon-to-be sister-in-law.
    “Don’t stand there blocking the food. Come sit down.” Sam couldn’t remember the name of the kid who spoke, but he followed him back to the table where he was sitting with another kid, two jackaroos… and Jeremy Taylor.
    “I’m Jason, by the way,” the kid said. “I don’t think we’ve been properly introduced.”
    “Sam,” he said automatically. “Sam Emery. So what do you do on the station?”
    “My dad’s the head mechanic,” Jason said, “but I don’t really like engines. I’d much rather work with the animals. Macklin lets me help out some now that I’m old enough. I’m going to be a vet some day and come back here and take care of all the animals.”
    “How can you not like engines?” the other kid interrupted. From the look on both boys’ faces, it was a familiar argument.
    “And just like that, we won’t get another word out of them tonight not related to the merits of engines versus animals. I’m Chris. That’s my brother, Seth. This is Jesse and Jeremy.”
    “Nice to officially meet you all,” Sam said. “I’m Sam, Neil’s brother, and I guess Caine’s office manager, at least until we can get everything straightened out with the inheritance taxes and everything. I don’t know if he’ll need me after that.”
    “He’d rather be out with Macklin on the station,” Jesse said. “As long as you’re willing to put up with the station and the job, he’ll keep you around.”
    “Why wouldn’t I?” Sam asked.
    “Because a lot of people think life on a station is all romantic, like you see in the movies,” Jeremy answered before Jesse could, “when really it’s a lot of isolation and hard work, extremes of temperature, and the weather trying to beat the shit out of you. There’s nothing romantic about life on a station.”
    Chris and Jesse snickered.
    “I didn’t say you couldn’t have a romance on a station,” Jeremy said, rolling his eyes, “because that obviously happens. We’ve got three couples on this station right now who met here, and that’s just the ones I know about. That’s not what I mean. I mean the way it’s portrayed in movies. We saw it every year at Taylor Peak. We’d