Gavin (A Redemption Romance #3) (9 page)

He agreed to meet me after the self-defense class, he helped teach with Trent. I would be working, so he’d come into the store and we could walk somewhere close from there.

The good thing was, time would again be limited again, since I’d have to get back to work. I liked having a time restriction, since it cut down on any awkward or in-depth conversations.

***

It was Amber’s weekend off, so Aurora and I were hopping all morning. When twelve-thirty came and went with no sign of Gavin, I picked up my cell to see if I’d missed a call. It was entirely possible he’d been called into work for an emergency. There was a missed text.

Gavin: Sorry, beautiful, my cousin came into town early, can we get together later instead?

I was disappointed, but happy he got to see one of his cousins. His mom had a couple of sisters, and I remembered meeting some older boys, closer to Zach’s age, I could only imagine the trouble they’d get into. As kids, when the boys got together, they did all kinds of crazy things.

Aurora called Gillian, who brought down coffees and sandwiches. She stayed and visited with us, until Reed walked through the door. Gillian blushed and escaped out the front door so fast, I had to wonder what was going on between her and the gentle giant.

Gillian was the beautiful woman who owned Café Fantasia. I’d noticed that Reed had quite a little crush on her. The funny thing was, every time he was near, she disappeared.

Reed and Aurora were such close friends, it had confused me when I’d first met him, I could tell that Luke was protective of her, that he loved her, so seeing her close relationship with Reed, I had to wonder how Luke felt about it. It didn’t take long to recognize the amazing friendship they shared. In the beginning, it had made me think of Gavin and the relationship we’d lost. Little did I know, it was these people that would bring that back to me.

We worked through the rest of the day, closing the store at six. I’d gotten a call from Tyler, asking me to meet him for dinner, so I headed toward his condo in Dallas after leaving the store. Half way there, I realized that I hadn’t ever responded to Gavin’s text from earlier in the day.

I thought it was odd, and maybe a little disheartening that he’d canceled our lunch via text and hadn’t made sure I’d gotten it. Mentally shrugging it off, I focused on the road. It had begun to rain heavily and the traffic going into the city was heavy.

Tyler didn’t mention Gavin, thankfully, but he waxed poetic about Marc and how well things were going with them. After dinner was done, he paid the bill, regardless of my protests, and we walked the three short blocks to a great pub he’d found.

After college, Tyler had stayed in Los Angeles, and once I finished, he asked me to move out there with him. Nothing, aside from my mother, held me in Texas, so I’d agreed. My boyfriend and I had recently broken up, which was messy, but necessary, so the move was perfect for me.

It had helped me to spread my wings and see things outside of my small community. I’d secretly hoped to run into my father, not that I knew what he looked like. I had some ridiculous fantasy that I’d see him on the street and he’d see me and just know. He’d love me and be the father I’d always wished for. Of course, that didn’t happen. Girlish fantasies rarely did, as I’d learned from Gavin.

We spent two great years in Southern California before the stress of my job had gotten to me and just in the nick of time, Ty had gotten a great offer in Dallas. We'd both moved back just a few short months ago.

During that time, we shared a two-bedroom apartment and spent a lot of nights just like this one. I’d worked for a large department store, wanting to work my way up the ladder to become a buyer, I found myself in a horrible environment where good, talented workers were overlooked for promotions all the time. If that hadn’t been bad enough, the head-buyer was an evil cow, she swore and screamed at anyone who got in her way. The atmosphere was wretched, and the so-called friends I’d made there ended up being back-stabbing jerks.

It hadn’t taken me any time at all to agree to return to Texas with Tyler when he’d gotten his new job. He was a sports writer for one of the large newspapers, having been a jock all through high school and college, he was perfect. Tyler was extremely intelligent and loved the journalistic side of sports. His commentaries were hilarious and his columns had huge interest.

In high school, we dated for a few months, before he got the nerve up to kiss me. That kiss was the most awkward kiss I’d ever had, not that there had been many. When we’d pulled away from each other we looked at each other with confusion and started to laugh.

Not too long after that, Tyler admitted to me that he was gay. He hadn’t been sure, but our kiss was the catalyst to make him face facts. He’d told me that if anyone would get him going, it would have been me. That was the beginning of a beautiful friendship. We’d been almost inseparable ever since.

Even when we were at different colleges, we stayed close, he was the only person to know all my secrets and I knew his. He never
came out
or anything, he just lived his life and dated who he wanted.

His dad had died the year after high school, but his mom was supportive. I knew it had been hard for him to wrap his head around, he was such a jock, and still, being a homosexual was looked down upon in the locker rooms. We’d shared many bottles of vodka talking about it.

I was glad to have him as my best friend, though many people in school thought we were more, since we went to all the dances together, but since that first kiss, we’d been friends.

I noticed a lot of the same characteristics that I loved about Tyler, in Reed’s relationship with Aurora. It warmed my heart to know she had that, after the horrible year she’d had. Losing her brother must have been so hard for her, though I didn’t know her then. I’d seen a dark cloud over every one of her friends for the first couple of months.

Tyler had been texting with Marc on and off for the past hour. When my phone rang, he was distracted, so I answered it. The pub was loud, so I got up from my seat and motioned toward the back hall where it was quieter. Ty smiled up at me and gave me a thumbs up, acknowledging that he’d seen me.

“Dawn?” I heard called over my phone. I thought it was Gavin, but it was so loud closer to the speakers, I couldn’t be sure.

“Hold on a second,” I shouted back, moving through the crowd.

“Are you there?” Gavin asked, sounding irritated.

“I’m here, sorry about that.”

“Where are you?” Why was he asking me that? It wasn’t his business, he’d blown me off earlier, and I was still annoyed about that.

“What?” I asked, not needing him to repeat himself, just wanting clarification.

“Where are you?” Oh, he sounded way more annoyed now. If I’d been drunk I probably would have found this comical, but I wasn’t.

“What’s up, Gavin?” I asked, shortly.

“I asked you, where are you?”

“Yes, I heard you, I’m in Dallas if you must know, so what’s up?” I did not appreciate his tone one little bit.

“Why are you in Dallas?”

“What’s the difference? Why are you calling?”

“Dawn, what the fuck?”

I was about to lose what little patience I had. He’d not called me all day, now he was asking me questions, he didn’t need answered.

“What the fuck, what?”

“Don’t play with me, come on, why aren’t you home?”

“Hold on a second,” I said, then lowered my phone and scrolled through the missed texts. I’d gotten two in the last hour, both from Gavin. He’d told me he’d be at my place in twenty minutes and another asking where I was. Did he think I was going to sit around and wait for him all night? I hadn’t made plans with him.

“I’m back. Now, why would I be home?”

“We were doing something tonight.”

I looked at my watch and saw it was ten-thirty. He was coming to my house after ten o’clock to do something? Was I high right now?

“No, we weren’t.” I knew my tone was surprised, and probably pretty annoyed, which made sense, because I absolutely was that.

“Well, I texted you earlier and said I’d see you tonight since we couldn’t have lunch.”

“I saw one this afternoon. You suggested that we might be able to do something later, but I didn’t respond.” I was sure the bewilderment was clear in my voice. This entire conversation was strange

Gavin was quiet for a minute, when I called, “Gavin, are you still there?”

“Yeah, um, sorry. Are you going to be out a lot longer?” He didn’t sound like he was trying to be an ass, he was just confused, or maybe holding back asking me something else. I could sense something in his tone, but I wasn’t sure what it was.

“Not sure, maybe another thirty minutes or an hour. Why?”

“Call me when you get home, yeah?” He’d phrased it as a command, but his annoyed tone was completely gone, so I relaxed and agreed.

Heading back to the table, I saw someone toward the front of the pub, swinging my head that way, I looked for the man who had caught my attention, but didn’t see him. I wasn’t sure who I’d recognized, it was a strange subconscious thing. Scanning the area, my eyes locked on Marc. I held in an eye-roll and plastered on my perma-grin.

I gave Marc an overly enthusiastic hug and walked back to the table arm in arm with him. I was trying really hard to like him. He was a good guy, but the drama was over the top, I was concerned for my friend. Tyler may have been a big strong man, but his heart was soft and easily bruised.

A strange prickling feeling came over me, making the hair on the back of my neck stand up, I turned my head, and scanned the area but didn’t see anyone. I felt like I was being watched. It was unsettling, but Tyler caught my attention again with his antics and hilarious locker room stories.

An hour had passed since my phone call with Gavin. I yawned for the third time and Tyler caught it. He smiled, and rose from the table.

“Come on, sleepy head. Never could keep you out late.” He laughed as I grabbed my things and Marc followed us out. We walked back to where my car was parked, I hugged them both and climbed in, heading toward home.

Gavin

The shrill sound of my phone ringing woke me, I’d begun to doze on the couch, waiting for Dawn to call.

“Dawn?” I asked, sleepily, without checking the screen to see who was calling.

“No, dumbass, but I just saw her out with that guy I told you about. Looks like your little pussy is getting away.” Zach slurred, he was apparently drunk and being an idiot again.

“What? Where did you see her?” I asked, too tired to realize just how desperate I sounded.

“Some pub in Dallas, she was awfully cozy with him. Guess you’d better give up on your little crush. She’s a stuck up whore anyway, I have no idea why you’d want that little bitch so much.”

Sitting up straight, I was pissed at Zach for talking about Dawn that way. “Shut the fuck up, Zach, you don’t know what you’re talking about.” I snarled, irritated at just how close to home he’d come with the crass comments. How had he seen her again? I was starting to worry that we’d started creepy stalker times two. Since Hope’s stalker had been caught, was my brother going to turn into Dawn’s?

I heard the click of another call coming in, so I hung up on my brother and took Dawn’s call.

“I’m home,” she said, sounding tired.

“Good, did you have fun?” I knew my words were clipped, I was frustrated by what Zach had said. Was she out on a date? Who was he?

“I did, but I’m tired. I should have come home sooner; tomorrow morning is going to come way too early.” She’d ignored my tone, thankfully, and sounded happy.

“No kidding, what time do you get off?”

She giggled over the line, I assumed it was thanks to my Freudian slip. “Five, probably, unless it’s really busy.”

“Okay, let’s grab dinner, I can pick you up at six.” I didn’t want to ask her, I liked to phrase it as more of a done deal, though that hadn’t worked so well for me tonight.

“Make it six-thirty, I should come home and change first.”

We talked for a couple of more minutes, then hung up. I hadn’t asked who she’d been out with. Part of me didn’t want to know. Maybe I could find out from one of the girls if she was seeing someone seriously.

I didn’t sleep well all night; I’d been annoyed by my brother’s call. Not only was I frustrated that Dawn was apparently on a date, but that he’d somehow seen her again. I didn’t believe in coincidence, not that kind anyway. I worried that Zach was following her, was he trying to find her alone, would he talk to her, or would he do something else?

I hated to think that Zach would hurt a woman, not after the childhood we’d had with our father, but I didn’t know him. I hadn’t spent any time with him since he’d gone into the Army when I was fifteen.

During dinner with Dawn the following night, I was distracted. I’d spoken to Luke earlier in the day and he’d confirmed seeing her with a guy the week before. It was late, and he didn’t know who the guy was, he hadn’t gotten a good look at him, but they’d seemed close. The only bright spot to that, was they’d only hugged when he walked her to her car, they hadn’t kissed. For some reason, that gave me hope. I’d felt like a douche asking him about it, but fuck it, Luke got it, he would have done the same thing if it had been Aurora.

After the food had been served, I decided to just put it out there. I had to know what was going on. Did I even have a chance?

“So, you had fun last night?” I asked, beginning my inquisition.

“I did, it was great to-” her words were cut off by my vibrating phone. I’d turned the ringer off, but it was sitting on the table. Looking down, I saw Chelsea’s name flash.

She was in town, I needed to take the call. I looked apologetically at Dawn. She flashed me the fakest smile I’d ever seen and flipped her hand in the direction of my phone, indicating that I should take it.

“Sorry,” I muttered, as I rose from the table and answered.

I stepped outside so that I could speak without being rude to the other diners, but I could see Dawn through the front windows. She’d pulled her phone out and was texting someone. She didn’t look happy, not even a little bit. Did she wipe her cheek, like she was crying? What the fuck? Had something happened? Was she pissed because I was on the phone?

I was distracted, so I almost missed it when Chelsea told me she had to head back, and that the next round of interviews had been postponed until the following week. She lived about four hours away, so she was going to head back tonight. She talked for another few minutes, but I was trying to hurry her along, without being obvious, only wanting to get back to Dawn. Finally, I disconnected the call and walked back to the table.

Dawn was distracted for the rest of the evening, and a cold chill had settled between us. The distance she’d put up had only grown since I’d taken that call.

She was definitely upset with me for taking that phone call? If that was going to be the case, she’d hate my job, I got interrupted with calls all the time. I’d had to walk out in the middle of Thanksgiving dinner last year at my mom’s because of work. That was just something that everyone in my life had to deal with.

She hardly spoke, except to ask after my mom and Peter. She was excited when I told her all the details surrounding about my mom’s marriage a few years ago. She liked Peter and was happy Mom had found him, which I was too. He was a great guy and perfect for my mom. Dawn didn’t mention Zach, and didn’t mention seeing him, which was promising.

Dawn told me how her own mother made plans to sell the house that she’d lived in since we were kids. Sarah, apparently, was ready to move on. The older neighborhood was becoming a bit run down and the crime rate had been steadily on the rise for the past couple of years. Thankfully, there hadn’t been more than some minor property crime, but I would be happy to see Sarah get out of there before things got worse.

I could tell that Dawn was holding something back, she’d wanted to say something, but held back. Part of me wanted to ask, to encourage her to talk to me, but the other part, the scared part, didn’t. What if she told me about this other guy and told me that she didn’t want to be my friend? It might be stupid of me, but I had decided that I’d keep my foot in the door, and just pray she’d give me a shot, when I made my interest known. If nothing else, we’d be friends again.

Could I be her friend if she was dating someone else? Fuck, that might just kill me. If I didn’t get my shit together and figure out how to get past her barriers, to get closer to her, would I be destined to watch her fall in love with someone else? To have his children, to wear his ring? That thought was too much. I needed a plan. I had to do better.

After taking Dawn home, I sat in my truck for a few minutes and thought. I’d wanted to go inside, to spend more time with her, but she’d said she was tired from working and being out late the night before, so I hadn’t pushed it. Looking down at my watch, I saw it was only eight-thirty. After doing another scan of the surrounding area, I headed toward Luke’s. I needed to talk to Aurora.

Shooting off a quick text to Luke, I let him know I was headed that way, just in case they were naked or something. We’d all caught them, at one time or another, in a compromising position.

I knew that Aurora was closer to Dawn than Hope was, and after all that had happened between Jake and Hope lately, they needed their space. I needed Aurora’s insight. Maybe she’d know something and would be willing to share it with me.

When I pulled up, Luke swung the door open and chuckled at my irritated expression.

“Come on in,” he laughed, as I walked past him.

Aurora was just rounding the corner, coming into the living room, from the kitchen, holding three bottles of beer in her hand as Luke shut the front door. Getting a look at my face, she smiled.

“Looks like you could use one of these.”

“Thank you,” I grumbled and took the bottle from her hand.

“I think I’ll let you boys talk, I can go into the office and get some work done.” She offered, as she handed Luke a beer and turned to walk out of the room.

“No, wait.” I called, “I need to talk to you.”

Luke raised his eyebrows in question at that, but motioned to the couch. We sat and they waited expectantly for me to talk. I didn’t miss the amused looks they gave each other.

“Is Dawn seeing someone?” Deciding to just get this shit over with, then I sat nervously for her answer, and for Luke to wipe that smug-ass grin off his face.

“Besides you?” She asked, knowingly. Damn woman was too smug for her own good.

“Yeah, I mean, no, she’s not really seeing me. She’s, we’re, I, I think we’re just friends.”

“Then, no, she isn’t dating anyone. Is that what you want to know?”

“Who was the guy she went out with after work last week? Luke saw them when they walked back to her car.” I was fidgeting, rolling the beer bottle nervously between my hands.

She paused, seeming to think back for a few seconds, before her, she smiled wide and looked at me again.

“Tyler?” She asked, like I knew.

“Who’s Tyler?” I asked, shrugging uncomfortably, almost not wanting to know.

“They went to school together; didn’t you go to school with her too?”

“No, I graduated before her, I was in the Marines when she was in high school.”

Luke had begun to smile now too. I wish I knew what the fuck was so funny.

“Wait, is that the guy she went to prom with?” I asked, not sure if Aurora would know that. I remembered seeing pictures of them together when I’d been home on leave. We were still close then. I thought she’d spent a lot of time with some guy, but couldn’t recall him, didn’t know if I’d met him before.

“That sounds about right, they’re really close.” Aurora confirmed.

“Are they dating?” I asked, completely pissed off now. If I was thinking of the right guy, he was decent looking, played football I thought. Why were they still friends? No way I would have been able to hold off and not be more with her after all that time.

“He’s really great, they lived together in Los Angeles.” Aurora offered, unhelpfully.

Fucking shit, she’d lived with the guy? Why didn’t I know any of this? Did they break up?

“Why are you here asking me this stuff? Didn’t you have dinner with her tonight?” Aurora asked, switching from amused to protective.

“I don’t know,” I admitted, dropping my head to look down at the floor.

“What are your intentions with my friend?” She asked, sounding like an over protective parent.

I had to chuckle at the tone of her voice, shook my head and laughed as I met her eyes.

“I wish I knew. I can’t get her to drop her guard.”

Aurora just nodded, seemingly thinking about something.

“You were good friends when you were younger, right?”

“We were.” I looked away, not wanting to go there with Aurora.

“So, I’m assuming that something happened to change that.” I nodded, but didn’t say anything.

“Well, since you’re here, I imagine that you are looking for some guidance?”

“I am; I don’t know what to do.”

“You need to talk to her, you need to come clean about whatever happened in the past and tell her what you want now.” She reached over and clasped Luke’s hand as she continued. “I had a huge crush on Luke for years, but until he was honest with me about his feelings, I had no idea he felt the same. We didn’t have a chance until he told me, bluntly, what he wanted. Even then, there were some misunderstandings and I convinced myself that I’d gotten it all wrong.”

Aurora looked at me for a long time, allowing that to settle in before she went on. “She can’t read your mind, Gavin. I think she has feelings for you, but she’s afraid. I don’t know of what, but she’s afraid of something.”

“You’re right. Thanks.” I said, standing up. “I gotta go.”

I needed to know what was going on with this, Tyler, and I had to tell her what I wanted. Without doing that, she’d never know the truth.

Fifteen minutes later, I was standing on Dawn’s front porch, pounding on the door. The house was dark, I hated to wake her, but not enough to stop me. After a few minutes, the porch light switched on.

“Dawn, open up, it’s me.” I called through the door, wanting to alleviate any worry she might have about a strange man pounding on her door.

“Gavin?” She asked as she pulled the front door open.

I took her in, from the tips of her pink painted toes, over those long as hell, sexy legs, barely there sleep shorts, tiny, tight tank top and her long hair loose and messy. She was a vision. Dawn could have been every pin up girl, every fucking calendar model I’d ever seen. Her curves were rocking, her body, fucking perfect. She was the embodiment of every wet dream I’d ever had.

“What’s wrong?” Her confused eyes met mine about two seconds before I reached out, grabbed her around the waist and lifted her. Pulling her hard into me, I slammed my mouth down on hers.

I let the screen door slam and shoved the front door closed with my foot. Dawn’s arms had encircled my neck and she kissed me back. Fuck, did she ever kiss me. Her plump lips were soft and warm, just the right amount of wet. She tasted like mint and smelled like oranges. Jesus, my dick was throbbing from just a kiss.