Resolution (Saviour) (17 page)

As much as they thought otherwise, I love my brothers and love spending time with them
, so I pretend to think about it for a minute, “Yeah okay, let’s do it.”

We have a drink in a few different places and around nine
o’clock we end up in our usual bar, which is packed and has a band playing old tunes; I grew up drinking in this place and know a lot of the staff and the regulars, as do my brothers, difference being, I’ve fucked most of the female regulars, unlike my brothers, who are both very happily married and do not mess around on their wives. We have a few drinks and I talk to a few Sheila’s but there’s nobody in the house that’s taking my fancy tonight.

“
Fuck, Jo Myer has just walked in, if I weren’t a married man I would so go there.”

Zac and I both laugh, comments like that are more Zac and my style, not something Cooper would usually say
, but I totally got it; Jo owns the accountancy firm the looks after our tax affairs and she is fucking smoking hot but for some reason has never fallen for my charms, no matter how many times I’ve hit on her, all she ever repeats is that she doesn’t mix business with pleasure. I look over Zac’s shoulder to where Jo is standing with some friends and my eyes are instantly drawn to the woman that she’s talking to; she has the most gorgeous red hair hanging way down her back, she is standing sideways on to me and I can’t really make out the rest of her through the crowd, as she is so short, I can see Jo leaning down slightly to talk to her, Jo is pretty tall for a woman and is obviously wearing heels tonight as she looks about five feet ten, her friend is only about five-three, five-four at the most. I have no idea why I am standing there trying to surmise on this woman’s height. Why the fuck do I care how tall Jo’s mate is? But I do love the colour of her hair; I’ve always had a thing for redheads but don’t think I have ever had the pleasure of au naturel… To coin a phrase, their collars never matched their cuffs, if they had any cuffs that is!

I go
to the bar and got us another round of drinks and as I pass them to my brothers, I watch Jo and her friends move closer to us as they head for a table by the dance floor. Zac and Cooper are deep in conversation about the Frank Carroll situation, the fucker owes us about two hundred grand and has so far evaded all our attempts to accidently bump into him, tomorrow we won’t bother with the accidental part, we are going to knock on the fuckers door, very early in the morning and wait with him till the banks open, at which time, we will very kindly escort him to the bank so that he can withdraw what he owes us. My Dad didn’t turn my pop’s small building firm into the successful development company that it is today by doing things the conventional way and us three Wilde boys had every intention of continuing with Charlie, my Dad’s way of running things. I’m only half listening as I watch the red head finally turn around and face me. Fuck and fuck, I get this weird sensation in my chest, that moves to my belly and out of nowhere, my dick has jumped to life in my jeans. Thanks Ava for talking me into buying these stupid skinny chino things. They show every little lump and bump; I let out a deep breath and adjust myself before anyone notices.

“
Dude, leave your cock alone. That’s so not what you do when you’re standing in a bar man.”

Trust Zac to notice
, “Fuck off man, I had an itch.”

“
You have a dose more like, caught something nasty from one of your skanks have you? When was the last time you got checked out bro?”

“
Fuck off Zac, I always wear an overcoat, got caught once remember and as much as I love Ava, I learnt my lesson big time, and I got the all clear from the company medicals we just had and I haven’t been with a Sheila since then.”

“
They were three weeks ago Gabe” Cooper harks up.

“
Dude you’re single and you haven’t had a fuck in three weeks? Man, you must be on like stage five restrictions as you are in a severe draught period – three weeks, that’s a seriously long time.”

I don’t hear any more, everything just fades to background noise as
I watch shorty look around the room as she – shit, is she crying? She keeps her face away from her friends and I watch her as she quickly wipes tears from under each of her eyes and then turns back to them and laughs at whatever is being said, a smile plastered on her face, a smile that doesn’t reach her pretty eyes, which I think are blue but I’m not sure, I need to inspect them closer, much closer.

She suddenly pulls off her jacket and grabs an empty beer bottle and starts to sing along to the
song, it’s an old Clash tune and I can’t help but smile as she really goes for it, another friend joins her and the pair rock out together and as she moves I notice her tits – fuck me, how did I miss those babies, she’s wearing a silky blouse thing and apparently no bra, definitely no bra, every time she moves they jiggle, every time. Every. Fucking. Time. My mouth fills with water.

“
Gabe…Gabe…What the fuck are you looking at? Gabriel.”

I can hear Cooper but I can’t answer him and I can’t tear my eyes away from her, she’s, she’s just so fucking small and cute and soft looking, with bouncy tits and red hair and she’s just perfect
.

“
He’s in the zone Coop, who’s the victim?”

I look up at Zac as he stands next to me following the line of site my eyes were taking
.

“
Who is she Coop, dya know her? The red head with Jo.”

We all watch as the redhead, Jo and two other women deliver a word perfect rendition of American Pie
, all verses.

“
Na, na I don’t, but she’s got a great rack.”

We all suddenly look away as Jo turns and starts to head towards us, my brothers being the cowards that they are, disappear and leave me standing there, alone, with Jo heading towards me and a raging hard on, I quickly turn toward the bar
, Jo stands next to me but seems to be oblivious to my presence.

“
Hey Jo, how ya going?”

“
Gabe, how are you?’

She leans in and gives me a cuddle and a kiss on the cheek, I’m careful not to get too close, I don’t want her to notice my boner, I know Jo and she will announce it to the whole bar and find it hilarious, which it fucking
isn’t.

“
Out with the girls I see.”

“
Yep, night out with the besties, one of them has some shit going on that she’s trying to hide from us…so we thought we would get a few shots into her and try and get her to spill.”

“
That’s a bit slippery Jo.”

“
That’s women Gabe, and you should know all about slippery women. In more ways than one.”

Fuck, this isn’t good, what if she tells shorty about my rep and she blanks me
. What the fuck am I on about, was I planning on talking to her then?

“
This is true Joanne, very true – so which of your mates is going through shit right now?” I ask as casually as I can.

“
It’s the gorgeous red head you’ve been staring at since we walked in.”
Fuck.

“
Busted,” I shrug, “Tell you what, let me pay for the drinks and I will buy the gorgeous red head an extra shot from me. Is she married, shorty, the red head, your friend, is she married?”

“
Gabe, you want deets on my girl? Well then you grow some and go ask my girl herself.”

We both look across at her friends, just as they laugh loudly and all turn towards
us, shit did she see me staring, perving, staring, whatever? What the fuck is wrong with me?

I lean forward and say to Jo
, “Be sure to let her know the shots are from me.”

Jo nods as I put the drinks on the tray that she’s carrying
, “Jo?”

She turns back to me
, “Will you at least tell me her name?”

“
Shit, you have got it bad!”

We both turn and look at shorty, who is looking right at us
, busted again. Jo shakes her head.

“
I loves ya Gabe, but no can do, she’s my girl and my job is to keep her away from boys like you. Thanks for the drinks. Mwaaaah.”

Boys like me?
What the fuck does that mean and who the fuck is she calling a boy?

I watch Jo walk back to her girlfriends and they all seem to giggle and chat amongst themselves
. Shorty looks up and right at me and my chest does that weird thing again, what is that? I try to think back over what I’ve eaten today, it must be indigestion of some kind; it’s the strangest sensation. All the while, my eyes are locked to hers; I want to go over and introduce myself and ask her why she looks so sad when she thinks no one is watching her. No I don’t, what am I even thinking? Before I can take a step, Jo passes her the shot I bought her and she suddenly looks devastated. I watch intently, puzzled by her reaction, it’s just a shot. I didn’t send a note over asking for a root. She knocks back the shot, looks at her mates and bursts into tears. What. The. Fuck?

My brothers being the slippery pair that they
are suddenly reappear now that Jo has left the scene.

“
You still perving over the ranga with the big tits bro?” Zac asks from beside me.

“
Fuck off Zac, she’s not a ranga, and stop looking at her tits.”

The three of us stand and watch as the four women huddle together
. Then all turn together and head outside to the decked area. I watch until I can’t see her anymore, which doesn’t take long because of her lack of height. I suddenly become aware of the fact that my brothers are standing either side of and staring right at me. I look from one to the other; instinctively I wipe my hand over my mouth and chin, making sure I haven’t actually dribbled over them. Then through my hair.

“
What?” I look from one to the other, puzzled.

It was one of those nights
. They look at each other and laugh, they high five each other right in front of my face, then shaking their heads, they both say “Nothing, nothing.”

Zac walks over to the bar just as I see Paige walking towards me
.

“
Shit.” I turn to follow Zac to the bar but I’m too late.

“
Hey Gabe…Wait a sec, how ya going?”

My eyes meet Coopers
.

“
Fuck,” I say quietly.

“
Busted,” Cooper laughs as he walks away and joins Zac at the bar.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not an arsehole to women, I like women
, a lot, but only to have sex with and I always make that clear before I have sex with them, I don’t do relationships, I like my life as it is and I have no room in it for a woman. Apart from my daughter, my sister, my two sister in laws and probably my Mum, although I can’t be sure on that score because I can’t really remember her but I am assuming she was a good person. Apart from these women, any other women I have had any kind of relationship with have been sly, devious, manipulative, abusive, liars and I have no room in my life for any of that shit, I have been used and abused by women and I will never let that happen again; fortunately, I have never fallen in love, I love my daughter. God do I love my daughter, she is my life and I love my sister, I love Sam in much the same way; Jen, I care for, we have had a bit of a strained relationship since I caught her cheating on my brother but she has been a part of my life for a long time and Coop loves her and I have to respect that, but that is as far as it goes, any other women in my life are either in the ‘just friends’ zone, or the ‘fuck buddy’ zone, the problem is, no matter how clear I make it, they always want more, they always tell me they are totally cool with a one night stand but then they start turning up at places that I wouldn’t usually see them, or they start kicking off if they see me in the pub with another Sheila and I am seriously over it and Paige is one of those who has tried to make herself busy and get involved in my life after I banged her in my Ute a couple of months back; I never give out my mobile number but she knew the name of our company and had managed to get a call redirected from our office to my mobile about two weeks ago and asked me to see her again, I declined and she chucked a tanty over the phone at me until I hung up on her and I thought that was the end of it, but here she is, again.

“
Paige, how ya going?”

She moves in for a cuddle but I step back and avoid her, as Ava would say ‘Awkward’

“So you trying to avoid me Gabe?”

“
Why would I be trying to avoid you Paige?”

“
You tell me? You hung up when I called you and I haven’t seen you around in a while.”

“
I’ve been busy.”

“
I heard you were busy with Alyssa a couple of weeks back, what ya wanna be hanging with that skanky moll for?”

“
Because she likes uncomplicated sex Paige, she likes to fuck and walk away, she doesn’t stalk me at work and trick my secretary into putting calls through to me and she doesn’t piss me off when I see her in the pub.”