Wayward Son (Jensen Family #3) (48 page)

“I think that has more to do with Angel than me
.
”

“She’s a large part of it
,
” Novak agreed
.
“But he likes living here Mr.
J and alth
ough
you probably won’t believe it, he loves you, I know him well enough to know
that
.
”

“Don’t you think it’s about time you called me Paul?”

“Nah, it doesn’t feel right
.
” Novak grinned
.
“Can I ask you something?”

“Sure
.
”

“You and my Mum? You never did the
dirty did
you?

“No, your Mum detested my relationship with Carmen and what she perceived
as the way I treated her, even if I had made a move on her, she would have
shot
me
down in flames
. She’s an attractive woman
though
and I have to say, the though
t
cro
ssed my mind several times
,
but after weighing it all up, I
realised her friendship and continued support were far more valuable to me than
a quick roll between the sheets and she had far too much decorum to get
involved with me on that level.” Paul explai
ned.

“Oh cool,
because
I would feel really uncomfortable calling you Dad
,
” he laughed
.
“Thank you for everything you did for
us
,
” he became serious then.

“It was and is my pleasure Novak. I meant what I said about considering
you to be my son
,
you know you
can come to me if you or your Mum ever needs anything?”

“Yeah
I do, thanks.
Everything will work out with you and Gavin
.
”

“I hope so. I’m going to try and put things right between us
.
”

Chapter
17

Gavin arrived at the health club a little
early
and wasted no time in getting changed and jumping into the pool to wait for
Liana. The little girl hadn’t progressed as well as expected and Linda had
suggested to Gavin and the child’s mother that it would be advantageous for her
to have one on one
lessons with Gavin so instead of
using the training pool, Liana and Gavin had their own sectioned off area in
the shallow end of the main pool.

Tanya, Vicki and Rachel, the three receptionists, greeted Angel briefly
then went back to their poorly disguised
drooling.

“What’s so interesting?” Angel asked, leaning over the desk.

“Gavin’s shift just started,” Rachel replied pointing to the pool as
Gavin stood up in the shallow end and greeted his pupil. “It has to be illegal
for any guy to be that hot.”
     “H
e’s even hotter when
he’s wet,” sighed Vicki.

“He’s just a guy,” Angel put in to disbelieving looks.

“He may be just a guy, but he’s a hot, single guy.” Tanya replied.

“Who doesn’t give us the time of day.” Rachel added.

“Maybe he’s gay,” Tanya mused.

“I d
on’t think so,” Angel interjected. “That’s
not how it seems at school anyway,” she
bluffed
, she’d let them know before she left
that Gavin was hers. “You have a customer,” she turned to face Novak as he came
through the door.

“Holy shit, he’s huge,” Tanya
whispered.

“And gorgeous,” Rachel replied.

“He’s a total shit,” Angel told them. “Hi Novak.”

“Ah Angel, long time no see
.
” he smiled.

“Why are you here?” she asked, allowing Novak to wrap her in a hug, she
whispered, “don’t let the girls know I’m seeing Ga
vin
just yet.”

“I came to find you,” he released her. “And I fancied a swim, are you
going to join me?”

“Not today, the gym calls,” she replied.

“Shame, I like the way you look in a bikini.”

“You aren’t too bad in trunks yourself,” she flirted. “It’s just
such a pity that you err on the side of arsehole.” She
smiled.

“Bitch
.
” Novak threw at
her as he turned to face the three young ladies watching the exchange
.
“Good afternoon ladies
,
” he turned on his heart stopping smile.

“Hi
,
” chimed the
three flustered f
emales.

“Novak, this is Vicki, Tanya and Rachel, girls, meet Luke Novak
.
”

The three girls vied for the best spot behind the desk in order to get
right in front of him.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you
,
” Novak crooned.

Angel left him to it and made her way to t
he
gym, stealing a glance at Gavin as she went, the comments from the present
yummy mummies about his physique and the bruises on his shoulders didn’t pass
her by and she was grinning like a Cheshire cat as she entered the gym.

Gavin caught the collective
intake of breath
from the watching women and glanced up, all eyes were on the other end of the
pool, he turned to see Novak sauntering his way to the deep end, his rock hard
abs tensed in order to show them off at their best. Gavin smiled and shook his
hea
d
,
his friend would forever be the king of
posers when there were women present. Novak saw Gavin’s smile and returned it
,
along with the fist of rock before
diving into the water. Gavin turned back to Liana who had also witnessed the
stares and the smile e
xchanged between the two boys.

“Is he your friend?” she asked.

“He’s
my brother
,
” Gavin replied
. “Let’s get on shall we? You’
re doing really
well, maybe next week we’ll try a bit of front crawl
.
”

With the lesson over and Liana handed safely back to her
mother, Gavin unclipped the floating rope line and put it
away before joining Novak and being drawn into a friendly speed competition as
they swam laps.

Novak gave up first
,
“I have to give
up smoking
,
” he panted,
treading water
.
“You’re pretty
good with t
hat kid, I’m impressed”
     “Cheers
,
” Gavin answered
.
“I’m getting out, I’ve started to
wrinkle
.
”

“That’s the best excuse yet
.
” Novak called
as Gavin glided away.

As Gavin stood and stepped out of the pool he turned back to his friend
,
“I’m sorry, which one of us still has a
girlfriend?” he asked.

“Ok, point taken
,
” Novak stood in
the shallow end
.
“Talking of
girlfriends, yours appears to be waiting for you
,
” he gestured towards the waiting area.

Angel came down the steps that separated
the
pool from the viewing area, a towel in her hand, she stopped on the fourth step
down, Gavin had
reached
the step below her.

“Hi
,
” she smiled and
handed him the towel.

“Hi
,
” he replied
.
“Can I take you home?” he asked.

“My home or yours?”

“Er, wherever
you want to go
,
” he replied
.
“But I’d prefer it if you came to mine
.
”

“Oh
,
” her smile
broadened, she lent closer to him
.
“Why would that
be?”

“Because that way I get to go down on you
,
” he whispered, enjoying her blush.

“You only want to take me home so t
hat you can
have sex with me
,
” she clarified.

“I don’t want sex; I just want to eat you
.
”

Angel giggled then closed
t
he gap between
their lips, making him stretch to kiss her.

During this exchange, Novak had wrapped his towel around his hips, and
headed t
owards the now stunned young ladies occupying
the reception desk. Since it was evident that Gavin would be with Angel yet
again this evening, he figured the least he could do would be to try and hook
up with one of these pretty young things.

“At least now
we know how Angel knows he’s not
gay
,
” Rachel said.

“What a bitch, she let us sit here and make fools of ourselves drooling
over him while all along she’s his girlfriend
,
” Tanya answered.

“I thought she was seeing Quinn?” Vicki asked.

“Was, past tense
.
” Ta
nya said.

“Ladies?” Novak interrupted them
.
“I appear to have lost my locker key; I don’t suppose you have a spare?”

Vicki got to him first
.
“Sure
,
” she told him
.
“I’ll get the master set and join you
in the locker room
.
”

Novak walked away thinking And the
winner is
Vicki
.

Angel and Gavin turned a few heads as they walked through the college
corridors hand in hand. Gavin left her at the door of her first lesson and
headed off to his, telling her would meet he at her locker at morning break.

The morning flew
and before she knew it, Angel
had her locker open and was loading her art equipment into her bag. She felt
someone stop next to her and fully expecting it to be Gavin she turned smiling
in his direction
.

“Hi Angel
,
” Tim, one of
Quinn’s closest friends was
where Gavin should be.

“What do you want Tim?” she asked, she liked Tim, he had always been nice
to her and had put Quinn in his place a few times and perhaps her tone was a
little harsh.

“Quinn’s been trying to call you, says you won’t pick up. He’d like
you to call him
.
”

“Well I’d quite like him to drop dead
.
” Angel shrugged
.
“But I guess we don’t always get what
we want
.
”

“He says he’s sorry
.
” Tim persisted.

“I don’t care
.
” Angel replied.

“I don’t believe everything he told me
.
” Tim said.

Angel stopped
stuffing her bag and turned to
look at him
.
“You don’t?”

“No, I know I’m his friend
,
but his ideas
and opinions have been a bit off lately, I only agreed to come and talk to you
so that I could make sure you were ok. He told me he rescued you from Gavin, is
that right?”

“Try turning that statement around
,
” she huffed.

“Hey sweetheart
, sor
ry I took
so long getting here
.
” Gavin appeared
on her other side, he scowled at Tim
.
“Are you ok?” he asked her squeezing her arm.

“I’m fine
,
” she leant back
against him, then addressed Tim
.
“Do you
honestly think I’d be with Gavin if he’d beaten me up?”

“No.” Tim replied, stepping back from Gavin’s scowl
.
“I’m sorry I disturbed you, I hope you
didn’t mind
.
”

“I mind
.
” Gavin spoke
.
“You and the rest of Quinn’s followers
need to stay well away from Angel
.
”

“I’ll spread the word
.
” Tim replied
before turning t
o his own locker a small way down the
row.