Wayward Son (Jensen Family #3) (6 page)

“Cool, I’ll be in my room
,
” leaving the
kitchen, he took the stairs two at a time and disappeared into his
room. Suzanne counted to five in her head then grinned as,
on cue, Gavin’s stereo started up and a heavy bass line vibrated through the
ceiling.

Paul stood in the kitchen doorway and cocked his head to one side,
listening:

“Ah, the dulcet tones of Lou Reed
, he does have
some taste
,
” he nodded his
approval then kissed his wife.

“Dinners almost ready, you’d better go and get him
,
” Suzanne told him

Before going to his son’s room, Paul removed his jacket and tie and
dropped them into his own bedroom, he caught
up with
Gavin as the boy left his room and headed for the stairs.

“Hey Dad
.
” Gavin greeted
the older man.

“How was your day?”

“Better than expected
.
” Gavin answered
.
“I’m starting the whole make new
friend’s thing and I have a date at the weekend
.
”

“That w
as quick
.
”

“Yeah, there’s a group of us going to the cinema, I am apparently saving
her from Gooseburyville, her word, not mine
.
”

“And how was work?” Paul asked gesturing for Gavin to sit at the table.

“Great actually, my boss, Mrs Palmer is a real sweethe
art; I think I’m going to like it there
.
”

The following morning on pulling into the college car park, Gavin guided
his car into the space between Quinn’s car and a very nice BMW M3. Stepping out
of the car he realised it was warmer out than he had original
ly thought, he removed his leather jacket and dropped it in
the car before locking it and heading to his form room. He winked at Kiera as
he walked towards her and acknowledged Angel with a nod, stopping dead as he
caught sight of her AC/DC t-shirt, he loo
ked down at
his chest and grinned.

“Great,” Angel moaned
,
“now we both
look as though neither of us has an original bone in our body
.
”

“Sorry, perhaps I should text you every morning to let you know what I’m
wearing
.
”

“I’m the rock guru around here newbie,
pick any
other genre and we will be fine
.
” She replied coolly.

“Ah, you also seemed to have cornered the Ice Queen market, don’t worry,
that title you can keep all to yourself
,
” he put his back pack on his table
.
“You’re only bitching because you have com
petition
in the music stakes and deep down you know you aren’t up to the challenge
.
”

“Oh please,” Angel stood
.
“You only
profess to like that type of music in a feeble attempt to make yourself look
cool
.
”

“Whatever your coldness
,
” Gavin mocked,
“I bow to
your superior knowledge
.
”

“Seats please
,
” their tutor
interrupted, abruptly ending the conversation.

Gavin didn’t see Angel or Kiera until lunch that day, he sat himself next
to Kiera.

“You ok with what we talked about last night?” he asked.

“Friends with
benefits? Sure, I’m not looking
to tie myself into a relationship either
,
” she nodded.

“Sweet, I’ll take you home after school, I’m not working tonight if you
fancy hooking up later
.
”

“Yeah, I’ll have to walk the dogs but I’m free after that
.
”

“I may even
come with you
.
”

“That would be good. Can I ask
,
what is it with you and Angel?”

“I don’t know, she just seems to have the knack of rubbing me up the
wrong way and I seem to do the same to her,” he shrugged
.
“I don’t mean anything by it, I
actually think it
’s amusing to push her buttons, she
bites so easily
.
”

“Try to be nice, she’s my best friend
.
”

“I’
ll try
,
” Gavin re-assured her, then, as Angel
sat down,
he shot Kiera a devilish grin, opening
his mouth to speak.
“Greetings all powerful Ice Queen, any
chanc
e of the thaw starting soon or should I just ask
you to hang onto my drink for a bit to cool it down?”

Kiera hit him.

“I suppose you think you’re funny?” Angel scowled.

“I think I’m adorable
,
” he answered.

Angel couldn’t help but smile
.
“There’s just
no ho
pe for guys like you
.
”

Gavin was about to reply when his phone rang
,
“Stan, you’re back
,
” he answered the call
.
“When are you going to get my guitar
finished?” he waited for the reply
.
“Another two
weeks? Come on dude, surely you can work some miracles and get it done sooner
,
” he wheedled, “I’ll even forgo the
custom paint job and let you do one of your standard colours,” he waited again
then chuckled
.
“You, my
friend, are a god
,
” he en
ded the call.

“You didn’t say you played guitar
.
” Kiera said.

“
You didn’t ask
,
” he replied
.
“I’
ve been waiting ages for my new one
.
”

“Angel is one of those really annoying people who can play just about
anything she gets her hands on
.
” Kiera told
him.

“I c
an’t play everything
,
” Angel spoke “But I do like to try
.
”

“I get by with guitar but I can’t read music so it’s a struggle
sometimes, I can sing though
,
” he told the
girls.

“I could teach you to read and write music,
it’s
easy
.
” Angel answered.

“I might ha
ve to take you up on that
.
”

At the end of the day, Gavin found Kiera waiting by his car, Quinn’s
monstrosity had already gone as had the M3 that had been parked on the other
side. On the drive home, Kiera asked if she could smoke and when
she was
told no s
he
replied,

“It’s only a bloody car
.
”

“Yes but it’s my bloody car."

"That your dad probably gave you!"

"Actually, I bought it with some money I was left, so it means a lot
to me."

"Oh." She sensed that there was more to that loaded revelation,
but knew she
shouldn't ask.

"It was in a pretty sorry state when I got it," he continued.
"I paid for all the mods and upgrades, the seats for example are hand
stitched and cost a fortune. Dad did step in when I ran out of money, but I
paid for a good 95% of it myself
. So you see, it’s my
baby, and there will be no smoking, drinking, eating or anything else in my
baby.”

She laughed at his possessiveness. "Have you always been like this
about cars?"

"This is my first car. It's the only car I've ever truly wanted and
oth
er than my driving instructors car, it's the only
car I've ever driven."

"Pretty flashy for a first car."

"Yeah, I couldn't even drive when I bought it. Once I passed my
test, my dad made me have lessons on how to handle a performance car. I had to
jump th
rough a lot of hoops to get it, but it was
worth it. I love it."

"You're such a boy," Kiera giggled. It's still just a
car."

 
“Don’t start that again
,
” he grinned
.
“Don’t you drive?”

“Oh I have a car, I’v
e just failed my test six times
,
so I figured
it’s p
robably not a good idea for me to drive, I’ve
taken it as
a sign that I may kill someone.
M
y parents are
looking into getting me a driver
.
”

Kiera left him in the living room with her three Labradors while she
finished drying her hair, joining him after a s
hort
time, she watched him with the dogs, smiling that he didn’t seem bothered by
the huge paws and slobber.

“Your dogs are crazy
,
” he laughed as
one of the dogs tried to sit on his lap

“No, just stupid
,
” she replied,
pulling the black Labrador off of him
.
“This is Rufus
,
” she told him
while she stroked
a silky black ear, “h
e’s the nosey one, the golden lab is Henry, the smart one and the
chocolate lab is Monty, the stupid one, Rufus is the leader though, shall we
go?”

The walk through Richmond Park was
very
pleasant; Gavin had her in stitches with his antics in playing with the dogs
and confusing the hell out of poor Monty. On the walk home, Gavin reached for
her and pulled her into a kiss, stopping her dead in her tracks.

“Hmm, can you stay for a bit wh
en we get back?”
she asked.

“I had planned to
,
” he grinned
, on reaching Kiera’s house, Gavin noticed a car in the driveway.

“Are your parents’ home?” he asked.

“No, that’s the nanny’s car, she must have picked up the step brat,
this’ll be fun.”

Entering th
e house they heard the television on
full volume in the living room
and found
Kiera’s step brother lying on the sofa.