Veer (Clayton Falls) (28 page)

“What?” He laughed deep in his chest. “Please tell me that’s a joke.”

“No… It’s only a five hour drive. I don’t mind doing it myself.”

He dropped
M
ax’s leash. “Becca, we’re not driving separately
,
and my family is going to love you. I have a better idea.”

“What?”

“How about you agree to come for
one
night, and if you really want to leave, we can come back
late
Saturday
after the party
? Otherwise
,
we’ll stay until Sunday.”

I knew I was making an important decision. Telling Gavin
‘
no
’
would
ring
a death knell
for
our relationship. I’d be telling him I wasn’t
serious enough, and I’d lose him. But going meant I was
opening
myself up to be
ing
hurt even m
ore. It was with some surprise that
I found myself nodding. “Okay, it’s a deal.”

“Good.” He kissed my forehead. “Ready to head home?”

He always said stuff like that—referring to his place as home
,
as if it were mine to
o
. I wondered if he knew that part of me wished it were. It wasn’t going to be easy leaving him at the end of the summer. I’d miss him
,
and I’d miss how incredibly safe and comfortable I always felt in
his arms. Just being at his side allowed me to live so much more
.
I wasn’t looking over my shoulder
.
I wasn’t worried about
anything or anyone hurting me
.

“Sure. Let’s go.”

***

“Becca, we’re almost there.”
Gavin
nudged me, speaking softly.

I yawned and stretched. “Wow, I was out a while
,
huh?”

He laughed. “Yeah, but that’s okay. The way you tossed and turned last night
,
I doubt you got much sleep.”

“No. I was pretty nervous.”

“I figured, but there’s nothing to be nervous about.”

“That’s easy for you to say.”
I trie
d to get out a crick in my neck. Sleeping in the car wasn’t always the best idea.
“I know you didn’t want to do this, but I’m glad you agreed to come. It’s important to me.”

“You’ve made that clear.”

He reached over and took my hand. “We’re doing this together
.
I’m not going to dump you at my house and run or anything
,
I promise
.
I’ll be with you the whole time.”

I forced a smile. “Okay, let’s do this.”

Gavin pulled into a long driveway in front of a
large
,
white
,
colonial style house
. “This is it
. Home
sweet home.”

I unbuckled my seatbelt, but was still sitting there when Gavin came around and opened my door.
He’d already pulled our stuff out of the back.
“You’re not going to stay in the car all night, are you?”

“They’re
here!” A woman’s voice broke through the quiet night. Gavin helped me down, and I grabbed my purse before he could close the door.

“Hi, Ma.”
Lit
only by a few outside lights
,
it was hard to
get a great look at the woman in front of me, but I did notice the way Gavin
hugged
her. He definitely loved his mom.

“And this must be Becca.” She
stepped in to the light and
smiled warmly, pulling me into a hug as well. “It’s so nice to have you here.”

“Thanks for having me, Mrs. Powell.” I was so not used to this. I’m sure my nerves showed.

“It’s Annie. Just Annie.”

I smiled
.
I was too nervous to know what to say.
I pulled my bag out of Gavin’s hand.

“
I’ll help you with that.” A man as tall as Gavin came out of the house and took my bag.

“Hey, Dad.” They exchanged a hug.

“Dad, this is Becca.”

“Hi
,
Becca, it’s so nice to finally meet you.”
He reached out a hand. “I’m Todd.”

“
I
t’s nice to meet you too.” I smiled politely. I felt Gavin’s strong hand on my back offering comfort.

“
Let’s go inside, shall we?” Annie suggested.

“Great idea.” Gavin kept his hand on my back as I followed his mother up the front steps.

We walked into the large foyer, and my eyes went immediately to the family portraits lin
ing
the walls. I knew Gavin had a
big
family, but it was different to see it. Four kids—so different from how I grew up.

“I set Becca up in Brody’s room
. T
hat way she’ll be right next to you.”

“Isn’t he coming home?” Gavin sounded pretty disappointed as he asked about his youngest brother. I’d
grilled Gavin about the entire family
.

“No, he’s staying up at UGA
for the rest of the summer
.”

“Oh. Well, hopefully I’ll make it
up there for a visit soon
.”

Annie touched Gavin’s arm affectionately.
She used her other hand to brush some of her curly brown hair off her shoulder.
“Why don’t you
two get settled, and then maybe we can all talk and cat
ch up a bit before bed. I told
Amanda
and
David
to wait until tomorrow to come by. I didn’t want to overwhelm Becca on her first night.”
I appreciated the thoughtfulness. It was already ten o’clock
,
and I was exhausted.

“All right.” Gavin picked up both of our bags and head
ed
up
two flights of stairs
. At the top of the second
flight
was a small hallway and two doors.

Gavin opened up the
door
on the right. “Here’s Brody’s room where
you’re
technically staying.”

“Technically?”

He dropped our
luggage
in the hallway. “
Mom didn’t want to outright put us in a room together, but she wanted to give us privacy
.”

“If they don’t want us sharing a room, we’re not sharing a room.” I picked up my bag and moved into Brody’s bedroom.
Pushed
up against the back wall
was a double bed with a red checkered comforter
.

“Seriously?”
Gavin stood
in the doorway.
“They really don’t care
.
”

“Yeah, seriously.” What if his mom came upstairs? I wasn’t dealing with that.

“You actually care what my mom thinks
,
don’t you?” He smiled. “I’m glad, so I’m not going to argue even though it’s going to be hard to sleep in the next room.
T
hese rooms share a bathroom
.” H
e opened a door
across from the bed.

“Oh
,
cool.”

“
I
f you change your mind later, you can come join me anytime.” He grinned before knocking me down on the bed and hovering over me. “Or maybe I’ll just come visit you.”

As his lips found my neck
,
I knew I had to push him off. “Gavin, your parents are waiting downstairs.”

“Okay, okay.” He moved off me, taking my hand to help me up.

“I just need to use the bathroom real quick.”

“Sure, do you want me to wait, or should I meet you down there?”
He ran a hand through his hair.

“You can go ahead. I’ll find my way.”

“All right.” He kissed my cheek before walking out.

I used the bathroom quickly and tied back my hair. Obviously
,
his parents
had
already
seen
me, but I wanted to
at least
make myself look a little bit more presentable.

I climbed back down the
stairs
and followed the voices into a cozy den. Gavin was eating a sandwich—no surprise there.

“Would you like something to eat?” Annie
offered me a plate with several sandwiches
.

“No
,
thank you
, we ate dinner on the road.” I glanced at Gavin as I said it.

“What? We ate hours ago.”

I smiled. “I know.”

Annie set down the plate.
“Gavin told us you’re
about to start your last year of law school.”

“Yeah, I’m definitely ready to be done.”

“Do you know what kind of law you want to practice?”
She crossed her legs, settling into an arm chair.

“I want to do criminal, ideally as a prosecutor
,
but we’ll see.”

“I’d be so intimidated to do criminal law. It’s got to be so much pressure.”
Annie studied
my face.
F
or the first time
that evening
,
I felt l
ike
I was being assessed.

“There is, but it’s important to me.”
I tried not to dwell on the fact that I still had no idea where I was going to work after graduation.

“You two are going
to make quite the crime fighting
duo
,
aren’t you
?
”
Gavin’s
dad chuckled.

“I guess I never even thought about that.” I yawned, covering my mouth just in time.

Gavin
gently
squeeze
d
my shoulder.
I could barely keep my eyes open.

“You can go on to bed if you want, Becca. I know it’s late. I’m sorry we kept you up, but we’re just so excited to have you here. Gavin’s never brought anyone home before
,
”
Annie said quietly.

“
Oh, I don’t mind
. I
t’s been nice to talk
, b
ut
I think I’m going to turn in.”

“All rig
ht, I’ll be up in a little bit,” Gavin said.

“I’ll see you in the morning,” I said pointedly, wanting to make sure his parents knew we were sleeping in separate rooms. “Good night
,
everyone.”

“Good night, Becca
,
” Annie said warmly.

“Good night.” Todd waved.

I changed into a comfortable set of short
and cami pj
s and washed up.
I slid into bed
,
hesitant to turn off the lamp. I contemplated leaving it on, but I knew if Gavin saw it on and came in
,
he’d probably stay, and I really wasn’t going to do that in his parents
’
house.

“
I can do this
,” I told myself
. I turned off the light, and it terrified me at first. I picked up my cell phone a few times to get the illumination
,
but then I heard Gavin come upstairs. Somehow
,
just knowing he wa
s next door
helped. I heard water run in the bathroom and then the door to my room opened
.
I knew he was coming in to check on me.

“Good night,” he whispered, kissing my head. The door closed quietly as he left the room. Eventually
,
I must have drifted off to sleep.

***

I woke up with a start as
bright light burned
my eyes. The scream caught in my throat as a large man walked toward the bed.

“
I
f coming home means finding a beautiful girl in my bed, I’m doing it more often.”

I pulled the sheet up higher as I tried to wake up enough to realize what was happening. “Are you Brody?” There was no other explanation, and he definitely looked like his picture.

“Yes
,
”
h
e said in an amused voice. “And you are?”