Wayward Son (Jensen Family #3) (40 page)

“You are very insightful
.
”

“Not really, just observant. I sit on the outside looking
in, I see these things from a third party point of view,
maybe if I’d have taken a step back from my relationship with my parents, I
would have been able to stop them from splitting up, who knows?” he smiled “Let
him take care of you Angel, and take care o
f him, he
deserves some happiness
.
”

“Hey James” Gavin breezed into the kitchen, a towel around his waist, his
hair still dripping
.
“You and Jim
fallen out?” he grinned pointing to the bottle of Smirnoff Black on the table
,
when James usually favoured Jim B
eam.

“Yeah, Jim isn’t my buddy
anymore
,
 my clear
Russian friend however, gives me the same buzz without the hangover
.
” James smiled
.
“I don’t know what you guys have
planned for the rest of the day but I plan to sit here and get quietly smashed
in prepara
tion for the massage the lovely Gabby has
promised me
.
”

“Ah, guilt issues again?” Gavin laughed, James nodded.

“What are you going on about?” Angel asked.

“James thinks he should only be having sex in a committed relationship,
preferably marriage
.
” Gavin e
xplained
.
“But he
occasionally meets girls like Gabby who get under his skin and he finds he
can’t resist, so he goes all out, gets with the girl then has huge guilt issues
brought on by his largely Catholic upbringing
.
”

“The three of you are so incredibly
flawed
it’s
scary
.
” Angel laughed.

“We’ll grow on you
.
” James replied.

“We will
.
” Novak
spoke
this time
.
“I apologise if I upset you earlier my
dear, but if anything, it proved that at least your temper is intact
.
”

“If you are going to make back handed a
pologies,
then just don’t bother
.
” Angel sniped
at him.

“I only want to make the point that you are now officially one of us
,
that’s if the boy here did his job
properly
.
” Novak replied.

“He did
.
” Angel
confirmed
.
“And I’m sure
he managed it with more fine
sse that you could ever
muster
.
”

“Ouch
.
” Novak cringed.

“You deserved that
.
” Gavin laughed,
he picked up the bowl of beaten eggs
.
“I need to eat
.
”

“I was waiting for you
.
” Angel
responded.

With scrambled eggs on toast and a pot of tea loaded onto a tray,
Gavin and Angel disappeared to his room, sitting in his
living room, a film playing on his wide screen plasma as they ate.

“I’m tired
.
” Angel
stretched then snuggled against him.

“Go and sleep
,
” he told her,
his hand stroking her hair.

“I won’t sleep tonig
ht if I nap now
,
” she nestled closer into his side

“That won’t be a bad thing, I’ll try my best to keep you entertained
,
” he smiled, she looked up at him.

“I’m sure you will
.
T
o be honest, my thighs ache a bit, I’m
not used to having a man between them
.
”

He laughed, pulling her closer, “I’ll rub them better for you, I promise
.
”

“I know you will.” She rested her head back on his shoulder
.
“So how about we veg and work our way
through your movie collection for the rest of the day?”

“Sounds good to me
.
”

“Or..
....I could go and get my sketch pad and
you could let me draw you
.
”

“No” came the adamant reply.

“Why not?” she sat up, legs curled underneath her.

“I’m just not comfortable with it
,
” he frowned “Maybe
one day.
”

“Oh, alright
,
” she relented,
she leaned for
ward, stroked his hair from his face
and placed her lips on his cheek
.
“Of course, there’s nothing to stop me drawing you when you are asleep
.
”
S
he whispered, he sighed.

“Ok, ok, you can draw me when I’m asleep but I’m not ever going to
volunteer to sit fo
r you
.
”

Angel jumped up and ran to her room
,
returning with her sketch pad and pencils, she gave him a cheeky grin as
she passed him on her way to the bedroom before plonking herself down on the
sofa again where Gavin was good naturedly shaking his head.

“
Talk to me
.
”
S
he demanded.

“What about?” he asked.

“Erm, oh ok, what gave you the idea for the candles?”

“That’s easy, Mum loved candles, I’d come home from school some days and
she would have our dinner ready, all the lights would be off and we’d eat by c
andlelight and catch up with each other, we always had
candles going when Dad came to stay
.
”

“You miss her don’t you?”

“Yeah, I miss her a lot
.
”

“Tell me about her
.
”

“No. Not yet. I’m not ready to really talk about her yet, it still hurts
too much
.
”

Angel
snuggled into his side again
.
“It will help to talk about her you
know; her memory won’t be as painful
.
”

Gavin wrapped his arm around her
.
“I know you are trying to help
,
but at the moment, I feel like I want to hang on to the pain of losing
her, its mine
to deal with, I don’t want to share it
,
” he said firmly “Do you feel like
changing the subject?”

“Ok, what do you plan to do with your life?” she asked.

“Play rugby
,
” he answered.

“That’s hardly a career though is it?” she asked.

“It is. I was selected to
play for the county
when I lived in Gloucester and my match transcripts came with me when I moved
here, the next step will be to try and get selected for the England squad, I’d
love that, it’s my dream
.
”

“I thought you’d go down the music route, your voice
is fantastic and James told me you have written some, in
his words, outstanding songs
.
”

“Music is my hobby, I love it and it’s a great way to unwind
,
but rugby is my life
.
”
H
e moved around, making them both more comfortable, one leg along the back
of the
sofa, Angel between his legs, her back against
his chest
.
“What about
you, what do you plan to do?”

“I want to go to art school, there’s one in Brighton that I’ve applied
to, and they’ll take me regardless of my exam results and have even hinted that
I may
be able to start in the next month
.
”

“That’ll be good
,
” he mused
.
“Hang on, you’re going to Brighton?
What about us?”

“I’ll be there three days a week, the rest of the time I’ll be at home
,
” she turned around to face him “I’ll go
down Sunday night and be
home Wednesday night
.
”

“That sucks
.
”

“You’ll be so busy with college and rugby and battle of the bands that
you’ll hardly notice I’m gone
.
”

“I beg to differ
,
” he sulked.

“Come on Gavin, it’s three days, once my car is back on the road, I’ll
drive down Mon
day morning and be back Wednesday night
.
”

“Yeah, I know but what if you meet someone like you, you know, arty and
stuff and you get on with him better that you get on with me?”

“Do you honestly think I went through all that crap with Quinn so that I
could
be with you just to dump you for someone else?”
she asked.

“I don’t know
,
” he replied
.
“I’m guessing it won’t be long before
you get fed up of driving back and forth and decide to stay down there
.
”

“Not going to happen. We can do this, you and I.  You just
need to trust me
.
”

“I do trust you
,
” he reached for
her “Doesn’t mean I have to be happy about it” his lips met hers as she
flattened her body to his.

Chapter
14

“Bored
,
” Kiera
stretched, cat like on Novak’s lap, his hands coming up from behind to cup
her breasts, she promptly slapped them away
.

“Spoil sport
,
” he tickled
her, making her squirm.

“Let’s go and do something
.
”

“Such as?”

“I don’t know.”

“I could make a few suggestions
,
” he said.

“That don’t involve sex?” she asked.

“I got nothing
,
” he answe
red
.
“I know, it’s a
big house, we should explore
.
”

“Won’t Gavin mind?”

“Nah, he won’t be bothered, it’s not like I’m a stranger
,
” with his hands on her waist, he stood
up, grabbed her hand and pulled her inside the house.

“I take it you haven’t stayed
here before?”
Kiera asked.

“No, this place has only just been finished. I saw it from the outside
when
Mr. J
first bought
it, it was a total mess
.
I
t’s pretty damn impressive now though
,
” he led her into the music room.

“We’ve been in here already
.
”

“Yeah
I know, but I spotted a door in one of
the panels, it has to lead somewhere
,
” he replied, locating the door and
pushing on the panel
.
“Would you look
at that?” he breathed on discovering a white tiled spa complete with massage
tables and a small nail and h
air salon
.
“I think we may have stumbled on Mrs.
J’s inner sanctum
.
”

“Wow. Look at this place, it’s got everything you need
.
” Kiera wandered over to a counter and
picked up a hairdryer, flicking the switch and jumping as it roared to life.

“Silly bitch
,
”
Novak was behind her
.
“It’s plugged in, of course it’s going
to work
,
” he reached
around her, picking up some hair clippers, his eyes meeting hers in the mirror
.
“Cut my hair
.
”

“I like your hair
,
” she protested
refusing to take the clippers from him as he
sat in
the nearby chair.

“It’s time for a change, summers coming and I get so hot with my hair
being long. Cut it
,
” he told her.

“Don’t blame me if it looks crap
,
” she warned.

“It’ll grow again
,
” he shrugged,
his eyes focusing on the reflection in the mirr
or,
watching her as she lowered the clippers to his hair. She looked adorable,
biting on her lip, concentrating on removing his long blond hair. He
deliberately closed his legs when she came around the front of him, making her
put her legs either side of h
is, stretching the
material of her bikini bottoms to the max, his fingers began to stroke her
thighs, inside and out.

“Stop it
,
” she warned as
she removed the last of his hair, leaving him with a tight crew cut. She rubbed
her hands over his head feeling t
he soft bristles as
she looked down at him. Without his hair he looked young
er, those big brown eyes larger.
Not again
,
she thought to herself, her body
warming to his touch, she brushed the hair from his shoulders as the fingers of
one hand snaked their w
ay into her bikini knickers,
his other hand freeing
himself
from his swimming shorts before grasping her thigh, pulling her knickers
to one side and lowering her onto him and once they had established a rhythm,
he guided her breasts from her bikini bra, he
ightening
her pleasure and his by occupying his mouth and hands as she rode him.

“Kiera and Novak appear to be getting on well
,
” Angel commented to Gavin’s back as he
changed the DVD.

 “Won’t last
,
” he said under
his breath.

“I heard that
,
” she said
.
“No
w you have
to tell me what you mean
.
”

Gavin sat beside her and grasped her hand
.
“He has a girlfriend and even though I
warned him not to hurt Kiera, it would appear that’s exactly what he’s going to
do
.
”

“Is he going to tell her about this girlfriend?”

“I
don’t know, he said
it’s
pretty much over and that he’s going to
finish it when he goes home, I do believe him about that, he hasn’t called her
since he’s been here
.
”

“That’s because all he does is eat, drink and fuck
.
”

“True
,
” Gavin had to
agree
.
“I don’
t
know, I don’t want to see Kiera get hurt, but he’s my friend, I’m trying not to
get involved
.
”

“Too late
.
” Angel warned
.
“Just the fact that you know he has a
girlfriend involves you. You need to do something about this
.
”

“There’s nothing I can do
,
” he a
nswered
,
raking his
fingers through his hair.

“Talk to him
.
” Angel
insisted.

“Even if I do, he’ll do exactly what he wants to anyway, there’s no point
.
”

“Then I guess I should tell Kiera before she gets completely hooked
.
”

“Don’t say anything to her, I’ll
talk to Novak
,
” he relented
.
“He does like Kiera you know
.
”

“As he’s having sex with her at every available moment, I’d hope he does
.
”

“Yeah, liking someone and having sex with them doesn’t always go hand in
hand for him
.
” Gavin
admitted, a smile twitching
his lips.

“That’s not funny
,
” Angel warned
.
“Poor Kiera, first you use her and now
Novak is doing the same”

“I didn’t use her
,
” he protested.

“You only wanted her for one thing
.
” Angel pointed out.

“
The same thing she wanted me for.
” Gavin
stated
.

“I can
see why you and Novak get on so well,
you are both first class bastards
.
”

“That’s a little harsh
,
” he frowned, he
released her hand and stroked the inside of her arm
.
“Have we just had our first argument?”

“I think we have
.
”

“Do you want me to make it up t
o you?” edging
closer to her, he whispered in her ear.

“I don’t know
,
” she mused
.
“Is make up sex as good as it’s
reported to be?”

“Better
.
”

It was close to midnight before Gavin and Angel surfaced again. Having
noticed that Novak’s door was open, Gavin pe
ered
inside to see Kiera sleeping but no Novak. Following Angel down the stairs,
they discovered Novak watching horror films.

“Holy shit, what happened to you?” Gavin sat opposite his friend
,
he hadn’t seen Novak with short hair
since they were kids.

“Fanc
ied a change
,
” Novak ran his hand over his head.

“It suits you
.
” Angel
commented
.
“You look
younger
,
” she continued
as Novak rose to get himself a drink
.
“And somehow taller
.
”

Novak smiled on returning to his seat
.
“I owe you an apology
,
” he looked at Ange
l “I didn’t mean to upset you
.
”

“You pissed me off, but I’m over it now
.
”

“I won’t do it again
,
” he assured.

“Actually, you already have
.
” Gavin spoke.

“What have I done now?”

“You didn’t tell Kiera you have a girlfriend
.
” Angel finished.

Novak glared at
Gavin
,
“Why’d you tell her?”

“It just slipped out
.
” Gavin
admitted.

“Look, Angel, I didn’t tell her because there’s nothing to tell. The
relationship is pretty much over, my girlfriend of only three months kinda put
the kybosh on the whole thing when she a
sked me to
move in with her, I reacted badly which hurt her and then I jumped in my car,
grabbed James and we came down here, I haven’t spoken to her since I left
Gloucester and I’m going home to get on with my life and end it with her
.
”

“Where does Kiera
factor in any of this?” Angel
asked, a little taken aback by his honesty.