Resolution (Saviour) (15 page)

“
Thanks Lauren, You can’t imagine how embarrassed I feel over all of this, as you say, it was a long time ago and something I’m not very proud of, can we just forget about the whole thing?”

“
Sure,” I shrug.

She eyes my car again
.

“
New car?”

Bitch is judging me
.

“
Yeah, I um, I needed a car for work, Jay hasn’t let me have anything other than a few personal bits so Gabe has bought this through the business for me.”

“
So it’s serious then, between you two?”

“
About as serious as it gets, I’ve moved in with him.”

“
Wow.”

“
Yeah, wow.”

“
So there’s no chance of getting back together with Jason then?”

“
No, no chance, I have an intervention order out on Jay, he assaulted me.”

I don’t know why I’m telling her this
, she seems genuinely interested.

“
Oh really? It’s a shame it had to come to that; is he angry? That you left him for Gabe I mean.”

“
What? No, I didn’t, I’d only known Gabe a few hours when I left Jay. I left him because he assaulted me.”

This is probably what the whole world is thinking
. Poor Jay, who can blame him for lashing out. Lauren was shagging a younger man, deserved a back hander. I’m pissed off now and don’t want to talk about my private life anymore, especially with a client.

“
Well I wouldn’t blame you, he was good looking when he was young, he’s quite spectacular now and the family have done very well for themselves, he must be loaded.”

Is she for real?

“Karen, let’s get a few things clear; I never left Jason for Gabe, I am not with Gabe for his money and if you talk about him like that again, I will punch your lights out, keep your eyes and your hands to your fucking self and you and me will get along grand.”

I am shaking from head to toe, who the fuck does she think she is.

“Now I have a lot to get through with you, can we start work now and leave our private lives out of our working relationship, because if it’s going to be an issue for you, I will walk now and you can bring someone else on board.”

She is glaring at me and I just know she has so much she wants to say but at the end of the day, I know what she did and when she did it and with whom and the last thing she will want is any gossip about this, I wouldn’t do that, it’s none of my business but she can’t be sure about that. She swallows and gives her head a little shake, I bet it’s been a while since anyone spoke to Queenie like that
. .Am I bothered? Like fuck am I.

I grab all that I need from the boot and walk across the drive and into the hallway, I meet Dave
the site manager on his way out.

“
Dave, Karen Palmer is here, in six inch heels and no hard hard…go get her tiger.”

This should be interesting…

October sails along on a cloud of domestic bliss. Gabe proposes and brings me gifts on an almost daily basis, flowers, sexy lingerie, practical lingerie, a book on interior design from the 70’s that I absolutely love and a very plain and simple silver bracelet from Tiffany and Co. I’m not big on jewellery but this is simple enough that I can wear it every day, and I do. I could have been like the women you read about in books and have said “Oh no, it’s too much, please don’t keep buying me gifts”, but truth be told, I fucking love it, I love the gifts, I love the attention he pays me, I love the proposals, I thrive under his sexy arsed compliments and there are very few women out there that I know of that wouldn’t.

Jake stays with us for a further week, in which time we see him exactly twice, he then moves in with Jo. Gabe and I are flat out busy with work
, I am either up at Bella Vista –
what a crap name
, I think every time I pull up outside. So clichéd darling. Dave the Scotsman and I now get on like a house on fire after our first angry encounter, I don’t think he’s quite sure what to make of me and it’s not until he sees my number plate that he finally works out how I know what’s going happening on site before he has even told me. He broaches me on the subject when I come in the morning after he watched me pull away the afternoon before.

“
That rego of yours Lauren, I thought your surname was Day?”

“
Yep it is, my rego is to let the world know who I belong to.”

“
And who might that be, I can’t imagine a fiery wee thing like you belonging to anyone.”

Wee
thing? Aww shucks I’m blushing…

“
It’s a company car Dave; Gabe leased it through the business for me as I had no means of transport.”

“
Ah right so you’re… So you’re the one that…who, I mean.”

I
can’t help but smile as he struggles to find the right words; he’s blushing brighter than his orange hair.

“
Yes Dave, I’m fucking the boss, in fact, we live together.”

On that note I flounce out of the office and leave him to make of that what he will.

Things between
me and Gabe couldn’t be better and we settle into our own little bubble of love. We eat out in restaurants with friends and by ourselves, we eat out over at Jemma and Max’s place and we have Zach, Sam, Coop, Jen, Stella and Ryder all over to ours for dinner one night. We do normal, everyday ‘couple’ things and I enjoy every minute of it. We have Ava stay with us almost every weekend and one weekend she actually comes to us without Sophie, who is at a family wedding in Sydney. Gabe is over the moon as she has cancelled on previous occasions if Sophie couldn’t join her. We spend a quiet Saturday shopping for new clothes for her and a few bits for me, I have finally started putting weight back on and decide to treat myself to a few summer dresses as the weather is warming up nicely.

October ends and the whole Wilde clan prepare
themselves for a family break up at the holiday home they share at Lake Mulwala. The first Tuesday in November is Melbourne Cup Day and its labelled ‘The Race That Stops The Nation’ because that’s exactly what it does, a public holiday for a horse race. Yes really. Don’t remember getting that in England for the Grand National.

So on the Friday before
, we pick up Ava and Sophie and make the four and a half hour drive for some fun in the sun, it’s not summer yet but Mulwala is generally a few degrees warmer than the Peninsula and we have a few days of twenty five degrees plus, forecast. The family have a boat and jet skis that they keep up at their holiday home. The whole five day break sounds like it’s going to be fun, if only Jackie wasn’t going to be there. Gabe has made me promise to play nice and I will do my best, purely for Charlie and Ava’s sakes. Ava will be turning fourteen on Sunday and we have managed to get hold of four tickets for her to see One Direction in concert next year, she has gone on about these tickets for weeks and Gabe and I have played along in making out how sorry we are that we couldn’t get hold of the prized tickets as they sold out so fast. She will be stoked when we give them to her and the other bits we have bought her.

We arrive at the seven bedroomed house just after two, with only Sam and Zac there before us. Zac’s boys are setting up a huge tent in the back garden, whi
ch the older kids will sleep in, Ava and Sophie head straight outside to join them, Sam and I leave the boys to unpack while we go to the supermarket, bottle shop, bakers and butchers, there will be around twenty of us in attendance over the weekend so we buy enough supplies to last us until at least Sunday, then we will have to do another shop.

Things turn decidedly cool when Jackie and Charlie arrive, I’m polite but I make a poin
t of not giving her a kiss or a cuddle when she walks in, instead pouring all my affection in Charlie’s direction; it’s the first time I have really been in her company since the weekend I found out about her and Gabe and I’m morbidly curious to watch how he reacts in her presence now that I know the facts. I notice within the first half hour of her arrival he leaves the room as soon as she enters or he reaches for me, either with his hand, arm, just his fingers or eyes but each time she gets near him, he’s there and I’m not sure if the reassurance is for me or for him and my heart breaks for him; what a god awful position to be in and for so long, from such a young age, he clearly loves his Dad and I can’t begin to imagine the guilt he must bear for what went on between him and that fucking awful woman, I hate her, I truly hate the bitch.

The rest of Friday is uneventful,
even when Stella arrives and the discourse between her and Jackie is apparent to everyone except Charlie. The fire pit is stacked with wood and lit, we have steak, burgers and sausages cooked on the barbie for dinner and then all sit around the fire and chat and enjoy a drink. Gabe and Jen bring out the guitars and we all have a sing, or just listen, I find it a massive turn on watching him strum away, every now and then he closes his eyes as he loses himself in the music and every time he does, what I feel for him goes up just a notch, if that’s at all possible; Gabe starts to sing ‘I’ll be watching you’ as he opens his eyes they lock with mine, a shudder runs through me and I give him a little smile, in return I get the full on eye fuck treatment.

Zac can’t resist shouting out
, “Take it to the bedroom you two; there are children and old people present.”

Everyone laughs at our expense
, “Leave them alone, I think it’s great our Gabey Baby has finally found ‘The One’, gives me hope that one day I might get as lucky.”

Stella has had a fair bit to drink and I just smile at her remark, Jackie stands and
Mumbles under her breath and my mouth goes dry.

“
What was that Jackie?” Stella asks.

Jackie smiles at everyone and says
, “I said I’m very tired after the drive I’m going to go to bed, are you coming Charlie?”

“
Well that’s funny; it sounded just like you said ‘pathetic’ to me”

My eyes shoot straight to Stella and I ever so slightly shake my head at her
.

Charlie stands from his chair, saying to Stella
, “You’ve had too much to drink missy, you need to mind your manners, good night everyone.”

Gabe gestures with his head that it’s time to go, so I stand and stretch and say my goodnights
.

Gabe is right beside me as we make our to our bedroom
; he closes the door behind us and leans against it, he’s been drinking since we arrived just after lunch and I know he must be feeling the effects, his eyes are a little bit glassy but his smile is as sexy as hell.

“
Take off your clothes, slowly.”

“
Gabe…I…”

“
Lauren, I’ve spent the whole night watching you, imagining you naked, please for me, take your clothes off.”

My confidence has grown lately
, it’s so much greater than it was, thanks to Gabriel and his constant reassurance and the obvious desire he has for me and the conclusion I have reached is that as long as he loves me and wants me, that’s all that matters, I don’t need to be attractive to anyone else, for anyone else, I just wish I could find a way to see myself, the way he sees me, he turns the bedside lamp on.

“
Turn the light off.”

“
Lauren, come on baby, I thought we were past all this, come here.”

“
No, you come here, lay on the bed.”

The look in his eye, the smirk on his lips set me on fire
, he raises his eyebrows and walks over to the bed, kicks off his converse, pulls off his jeans and climbs up onto the bed; he leans his back against the headboard, interlocks his fingers and tucks them behind his head, he crosses his long legs out in front of him and looks up and winks at me and in that moment, he’s got me, no matter what he wants me to do, I am quite prepared to give it a try, apart from marriage that is. I pull my jeans off and my hoodie over my head; I stand in front of him at the foot of the bed in my boy leg knickers and my bra and put my hands on my hips. Faking confidence.

“
On or off?” I ask him, sounding much less nervous than I feel.

“
Off…slowly,” He says through a smile.

I undo my bra but place
my hands across my chest, leaving my boobs in the cups, I stop for a few seconds and make eye contact with him, running my tongue along my bottom lip.

“
Lauren.”

O
h fuck, the way he whispers my name, it’s barely audible but the effect it has on me is no less because of it, it’s like a caress, like his words have curled around me and are now stroking every girly part of my body. I drop my bra but keep my hands over my boobs, I look down at them, keeping my left covered and rake my fingernails over my right nipple, then start to roll my left between my index finger and thumb and look up at him as I drag my top teeth over my bottom lip, he actually growls, like a low rumbling sound, coming more from his chest and throat, not quite escaping from his mouth, I drop my hands to my hips and slowly pull my knickers down, not taking my eyes from his the whole time, I tilt my head and look up at the ceiling, I stroke my palm and finger tips down my throat, down to my belly button, then flatten my palm all the way down, reaching between my legs to cup myself, finally allowing myself to look up at him, he kneels up on the mattress and pulls his t shirt over his head, then beckons me with his finger in such an oh so sexy way I almost come, right there and then, watching that finger wiggle and thinking about the possibilities his fingertips possess.