Gavin (A Redemption Romance #3) (18 page)

Peter’s body had gone completely still, Nicole stared at her oldest son in shock, Gavin stood, rage still clinging to him, but an expression of utter bafflement covered his face, Chelsea finally jolted from her unmoving state and stood from the table to join the group. Nicole began to speak, to say something, but before she had a chance, Gavin bit out; “Mom, Dawn, go into the kitchen.”

It was sweet that Gavin wanted to protect us, but a weak woman, Nicole was not, nor would I ever be. Sure, if he’d brandished a gun, I’d happily move out, but as far as I could see, the only weapon he had was his irate mouth.

Coming back to herself, Nicole straightened away from Peter and asked, “Zach, what have you done?”

That was it, we all saw it. Zach’s body jolted, his face turned an unpleasant shade of red and he began to spew his venom all over again.

“She wanted it, she fucking did, now she’s telling everyone, lying bitch, I didn’t force anyone. Fucking cunt is jealous, she’s trying to ruin me, she came on to me, she swayed that ass, now she’s blaming me. You’re coddling little Gavin over there, acting like he is the perfect fucking child, like he never did shit wrong. I’m sick of this shit, all of you fake assholes, acting perfect all the time, you can all go straight to hell!” Zach’s shouting had gotten louder, the longer he spoke it was apparent, Peter wasn’t about to listen to any more, nor allow his wife to be treated to that type of spectacle either.

“That’s quite enough. You don’t come into my house and speak to your mother that way. She is my wife and she will be treated with the utmost respect at all times. If you’ve done something wrong, then take responsibility for it. Whatever your issues, you do not come in here and behave this way.” He said, sternly. Nicole was crying by now, but when Peter finished speaking, he had moved to stand in front of Zach, and Gavin had stepped closer to him. The two behemoths were creating a wall between us and Zach.

I sidestepped to Nicole and pulled her into my arms, and I saw Chelsea walk into the kitchen out of the corner of my eye. She came back seconds later with a handful of rags, so we could get to work on the floor, just as soon as the men moved out.

I heard Gavin’s low rumbling voice, though he spoke quietly, in the silence of the room, we could all hear him. “Don’t act like this, Zach, you don’t want to be Dad. He was an asshole, and now you’re acting just like him. What you’ve done, what you did to Dawn, the lies you fed her, the ones you told me, you tried to sabotage the best thing in my life, for spite.” From my position, I couldn’t see Zach at all, but I saw Gavin’s arm move, as if he were putting his hand up, probably to stop his brother from going off again.

“That’s on you, but it didn’t work. I’m going to marry that girl and unless you wake the fuck up, you won’t be there. You won’t be near any of us again. Is that what you want?” Gavin paused, just long enough for his words to sink in, my body tensed, but Nicole’s arms wrapped tighter around me and gave me a squeeze. I’d been comforting her, but it appeared the tables had turned now.

“Is it? To be alone, alienated from your family? Dad was, remember, he wouldn’t speak to his parents, or his siblings, he told us it was them, but I bet it wasn’t. I bet it was all him. Now, it’s all you.”

As Gavin spoke, he took small, measured steps forward, Peter at his side and the two men moved Zach from the dining room and toward the front door. It was a few more minutes and more muffled words, before we heard the front door shut.

I expected Peter and Gavin to come back in, but only Peter returned. He explained that Zach was drunk, which we’d all witnessed, so Gavin was going to take him to a nearby motel. For a moment, I was worried that he’d left me at his mother’s house, but Peter’s soft smile directed at me, told me just why Nicole had fallen for him.

“He’ll be right back, he asked me to tell you to relax and finish your dinner.”

He took Nicole into his arms, pulling her gently from mine, and leaned in to kiss the top of my head, it was odd for me, a very fatherly thing to do, I thought, though I’d never experienced it. They walked out of the room together, her tears were slowing now, and I hoped that he’d be able to comfort her. I couldn’t imagine what it would feel like to see your own child behaving that way.

“That was intense.” Chelsea said with a smirk on her face. Understatement of the year I thought, as a laugh bubbled up. Grabbing up the rags, we worked silently to clean up Zach’s mess, though sadly for him, cleaning up this mess was easy, it sounded like the other messes he’d made would be a hell of a lot harder.

We polished off the bottle of wine, sitting in the room alone, we began to talk. She told me about her marriage, how she’d found out her husband was cheating on her with a dispatcher and how difficult it had been to stay at work afterward. The new couple had carried on, right there at parties and functions, like Chelsea hadn’t meant a thing.

I told her about my mom, how I’d grown up and the events of my eighteenth birthday. I shared more with her than I had anyone, aside from Tyler. Somehow, I felt comfortable with Chelsea, she had this quiet strength that made me feel safe, not only physically, but emotionally too. I knew, without a doubt, that she and I would become great friends.

At least forty-five minutes passed, before Gavin came back. He was visibly shaken, and I felt bad for him, having to deal with Zach in that way, but he was holding it together. He strode straight to me, inspected my face and right there, in front of his cousin, kissed me like we’d been apart for years.

Peter entered the dining room minutes later, explaining that Nicole would be out shortly, told us that she was doing better, then went to get the beautiful orange soufflé Nicole had made for our dessert. She came back into the room, refreshed and together again, just as Peter was serving us.

They shared a secret smile, it was simple but beautiful, when he set her plate down in front of her. It was good to see a happily married, healthy, stable older couple. I knew they’d only been married a few years, but the bond they shared was encouraging.

Gavin visibly relaxed, but I could tell that he was on edge, under the surface. I thought that he was putting on a calm façade for his mother’s sake, though it could be for me as well, I knew he felt like he needed to protect me. That was something we’d have to work on.

Enjoying our desserts, Chelsea regaled us with stories from her years at the police department in Houston. She was two years younger than Gavin, and had been there since she was twenty-two. Her experiences with naked drunks had us rolling in laughter, and a particularly colorful story about a fight at a male strip club was absolutely priceless.

I shared about my time in Los Angeles, and all the crazy things I’d seen there. Chelsea looked at me, smiled and gave me a sly wink, she knew I was trying to keep everyone laughing, just as she had been.

The rest of the evening passed uneventfully, thank God. We retired to the family room, it was casually decorated, but had a wonderful view of the now dark backyard, though small islands of light were strategically dispersed around the space. Nicole and Peter had placed beautiful solar lights around the flower beds, illuminating some amazing foliage.

It was late by the time Gavin made our excuses, and headed to my house. The ride was quiet for the first several minutes, but when he turned right instead of left, I asked where we were going.

“I need to grab some clothes for tomorrow.” He explained simply. That made my mind wander. How long would he be happy sleeping over at my place? We’d stopped at his house Friday night as well, so he could grab clothes. Maybe sometimes, I could stay at his place too, taking some of the burden off him.

I figured I could clean out a couple of drawers for him too, at least somewhere he could keep things at my place. He had a few days’ worth of dirty clothes already, I could just wash them and put them in the drawers. It wouldn’t need to be some big deal, but it would tell him that I thought it was okay if he kept them there. I was hesitant to say too much, too soon, not wanting to disrupt the good thing we were creating. If I pushed now, he might think I was pushing for more.

Thinking back to earlier in the evening, remembering when he’d told Zach that he was going to marry me,
marry me
, I wondered if he maybe wouldn’t think it was too soon. I allowed my mind to wander, to consider all that our lives had in store for us. Of course, I hoped that we’d be together, to experience all the wonderful things I’d been denied as a child, and so had he.

My own father was an enigma, his was a monster, my mother was a little selfish, but kind, his mother, sweet and strong. What kind of parents would we be, if we were ever fortunate enough to have children? Did he want children? I had no idea.

I was startled when Charlie Daniels Band was cranked up on the radio and my eyes moved to look at Gavin. He was relaxed, after the night at his mom’s. I hadn’t known if he could calm himself again so soon, but the laid back man I’d always loved was again, right here next to me. No, not loved, I mean, I loved him, as a friend not
loved
him, right?

A smile crossed his handsome lips just as we pulled up in front of his house. “You keep looking at me like that and we won’t just be picking up clothes.” His salacious look, his brows lifted, and that damn grin did strange things to me. It didn’t take much for Gavin McNeil to turn me on.

Needless to say, it took a long time - a really long time - to pick up the things Gavin needed to sleep at my house. Actually, after the fifth orgasm and at least as many newly christened locations I passed out cold in his bed.

Waking in the morning, strong arms holding me close, his rich masculine scent surrounding me, I was just where I’d always wanted to be. I pressed back, into his naked chest and felt the evidence that he was already awake. He woke me fully, in the best way possible.

After a quick breakfast and shower, he drove me home. I looked ridiculous and the entire drive, prayed that we wouldn’t get pulled over. I was wearing one of his old concert T-shirts and a pair of his boxers. Pulling up out front of my house, I raced to my door, unlocked it and was inside in record time, but noticed the Gavin had hung back.

None of my neighbors had been out, so I didn’t know what was keeping him, but dressed like this, I wasn’t about to go find out. When I emerged from my room, dressed and ready for my day, he wore an irritated scowl on his face. The look stopped me cold, considering the sated and relaxed look he’d been wearing only moments ago.

“What is it?” I asked, watching him closely. He was peering out the front window, but I didn’t think he was actually looking at anything, he seemed to be deep in thought. Upon hearing my voice, his face cleared and he turned to look at me.

He shook his head, clearing his thoughts, and took me in and I watched as his eyes twinkled with that well known mischief. I was wearing a very professional gray peplum dress with leather accents and red stitching, and red patent leather pointed toe stilettos with two small straps and silver buckles across the toe.

Those old lessons my mom had taught me, to always be dressed nicely, just in case, were so engrained, I had a hard time shaking them. I didn’t have to dress so well for work, but I always did.

There were a lot of lessons she taught me, we hadn’t been hungry often, but being an eighteen-year-old single mother with no family support, we’d been extremely poor. We’d actually moved into the house she now owned just after my birth, it had belonged to mom’s great-aunt, who’d always liked her. When the aunt passed, she’d left the house to Mom. It was the only break, she had ever gotten, probably the only reason we’d always had a roof over our heads.

I knew that struggle had motivated me to do better in my own life, to plan, scrimp and save for everything; to be ready for any eventuality. I would actually start to panic a little if my cupboards weren’t full of at least a month’s worth of food. Those lessons were hard to unlearn.

Gavin prowled to me, stalking me like a panther, took me in his arms and kissed me thoroughly, so thoroughly in fact, that I had to reapply my lipstick – not that I was complaining. He had a long day planned, but promised he’d come here after work. I had dinner plans with Tyler, and was looking forward to catching up.

We’d spoken a few times through the week, he knew about everything, but I could only imagine his reaction when I told him about the crazy dinner from the night before.

Gavin left and I finished getting ready for my day at work. I was opening, so needed to get it in gear, after some more coffee, of course. Looking through my fridge, I found I only had one more bottle of creamer. Somewhere, I’d need to add a grocery run into my day. I couldn’t live without creamer.

Pulling over a piece of junk mail, I used the back of the envelope and began my list. Trying to think of things I could make, that Gavin would enjoy, I added several items for him as well. Remembering his bath products, I listed his shaving cream, shampoo, manly soap, deodorant and razors. He didn’t use any hair products, so I didn’t need to worry about that. Without saying anything overtly, I’d give him the message that he was welcome here, that I wanted him to be comfortable. I figured that buying his things and giving him space should do the trick.

…

It had been two weeks since the blow up at Nicole’s. Gavin and I were good. We’d fallen into this new relationship with relative ease. After he’d seen the things I’d bought for him at my house, he made space for me at his and told me to get the stuff I needed next time I was at the store. I didn’t expect him to go to Bath and Body to buy my girlie lotions and stuff, so I thought that was a good compromise.