Wayward Son (Jensen Family #3) (26 page)

“Huh, my old man’s there too
,
” he got out of
the car and went to open the passenger door.

“My keys are in my bag, which is in Quinn’s car
.” S
he told him.

“We’d better go to mine then
,
” he moved to
usher her back into the car.

“I can probably fin
d the hide a key
.
”

“As Quinn has your keys I would be happier if you came to my house
.
”

Angel shook her head “I’ll
dead lock the door from inside and I
doubt he’d know what key to use
. I really need to be at home Gavin, I’m
safe here
.
”

It didn’t take long
to find the spare key with
both of them looking. Her hands began to shake again as she tried to insert it
into the lock, she gave up and handed the key to Gavin. Once inside, he dead
locked the door, making sure it was secure before turning to her.

“You sh
ould get out of those wet clothes
,
” he advised.

“Will you stay?” she asked.

“If you want me to
.
”

“I don’t want to be on my own
,
” she flashed
him a weak smile.

“Go and get changed, I’m going to see if I can find you some ice for your
face
,
” he headed
towards
the kitchen as Angel went upstairs.

Gavin double checked that all the doors were locked before he made his
way upstairs to Angel’s room where he found her in a pair of loose fitting
pyjama trousers and a clean t-shirt trying to brush the tangles ou
t of her hair and failing miserably causing fresh tears of
frustration to flow.

Gavin pressed the bag of ice wrapped in a tea towel to her face and
placed her own hand on it before taking the brush from her and, as gently as he
could, brushed her matted ha
ir until it was hanging
freely down her back. He reached down and grasped her elbow, encouraged that
she didn’t cringe or pull away as he guided her to her en suite and sat her
down on the edge of the bath.

Wetting a hand towel, he took the ice pack from h
er and with his large, capable hands began to clean the dirt from her
face, lightening his touch when he came to her bruises, relieved to see that
the ice had already begun to reduce the swelling.

“Let me run you a bath
,
” he said drying
her face with one o
f the fluffy white towels. Angel
nodded and moved away from the bath, watching him as he filled the tub with
warm water and lots of bubbles
.
“I’ll leave you to it
,
” he told her.

“Don’t go
,
” she grasped
his arm.

“I’ll be in the bedroom
,
” he assured
her. He
waited until he heard her lower herself into
the warm water before he called Novak.

“Did you find her?” his friends first words.

“Yeah, we’re at her house. She’s in the bath
.
”

“How is she?”

“Quinn’s used her as a punch bag, her face is bruised, I’m guessin
g she has more bruises that I can’t see, her clothes were
ripped when I got to her, she’s a mess
.
” Gavin’s voice had deepened in
annoyance.

“Did he touch her?” Novak asked, the silence on the end of the line
telling him his friend didn’t know the answer.
“
You should call the police
.
”

“I know, I’m going to try and persuade her when she gets out of the bath
,
” Gavin paused
.
“I want to gut him
.
”

“I bet you do
,
but you have to
let the police handle this
.
”

“Yeah, because they are going to believe anything I say
with my record. I can’t be here when she calls them in,
they’ll automatically think I did this and that she’s defending me because
she’s scared of me
.
”

“Perhaps
,
” Novak conceded
.
“But beating up women isn’t your M.O
.
Gav
. Y
ou generally wipe the floor with
the assholes who pick on their girlfriends
.
”

“True. I’m staying here for a while, you guys shouldn’t bother waiting
up, just don’t latch the front door
.
”

“Ok, take it easy
.
”

As he pushed the phone back into his pocket, he heard Angel sobbing in
the bathroo
m, he knocked on the door.

“Angel?” he called.

“I’m ok, I’m ok
,
” she called
back, “I’ll be out in a minute
,
” with the added
layer of her dressing gown she was finally beginning to warm up, she opened the
bathroom door and waited for Gavin to stop pacing.

“
Can I get you anything?” he asked.

“No, I think I’m just going to get into bed
,
” she shrugged out of the dressing gown
and slid beneath her duvet, Gavin moved the dressing table chair to the side of
the bed.

“Are you up
to telling me what happened?” H
e ask
ed.

“Promise me you won’t go after Quinn?”

“I promise
.
”

“The short version is, I told him we were over, in the middle of him
ranting about that, you called, he flipped totally and attacked me
.
”

He dragged his hands through his hair as he regarded her
bruised face, “did he do anything else? Did he…?” He
couldn’t voice the words.

She dropped her gaze as she whispered
,
“no.” Then, swallowing the lump in her
throat, “but I think he would have if I hadn’t fought him.”

“Je-sus.” Gavin growled before softenin
g his
voice.
“We should call the police
.
”

“What’s the point? His Dad is a top notch lawyer, nothing will happen to
him
.
”

“We have to at least try
.
” Gavin
protested.

“No
,
” she replied
sharply, causing him to frown, “I appreciate all you’ve done tonight, you
’ve been great but I’m not calling the police, I’m not
going to put myself through that
.
”

“What if he tries again?”

“Then I’ll call the police
,
” she stifled a
yawn.

“I should let you sleep
,
” he moved the
chair away from the bed a little way and sat down ag
ain
,
“I’ll be right here
.
”

It took a while for her to fall asleep; she kept opening one eye to check
he was still there but eventually her battered body gave in to sleep.

A little past 4am Gavin decided that as Angel was sleeping soundly, he
would go home.
He walked over to her bed and softly
pressed his lips to her forehead before turning to the door. He had almost
closed the door when she jolted awake, her eyes immediately going to the chair
he had occupied.

“Gavin?” she called, panicking now she was alon
e.

“I’m here
,
” he replied
coming back into the room.

“I thought you’d gone
,
” she was
standing by her bed.

“I was just going to nip home
,
” he answered.

“Please don’t leave me
,
” she pleaded
walking over to him
. “I feel safe when you’
re around
,
” she
slipped
her
arms around his waist and pressed her cheek to his chest sighing happily
as his arms wrapped around her, circling her in security.

“Go back to bed; I’ll stay until your parents get home
.
”

Angel refused to let go of his hand, insisting that he get into
the bed with her, pointing out that it wouldn’t be the
first time that they had shared a bed but she settled for him laying on top of
the covers while she snuggled beneath them.

“Hold me
,
” she whispered,
resting her head on his chest and closing her eyes.
With
his arms tightly around her and the sound of his steadily beating heart beneath
her ear she was soon in a deep, unmoving sleep.

The next time Angel opened her eyes it was approaching nine in the
morning. Unfolding herself from Gavin’s embrace, she hea
ded for the bathroom to survey the damage in the light of day. There was
surprisingly little swelling on her face but the bruises were already visible
black splodges on her skin. Lifting up her top she saw the bruise on her
stomach also turning black but n
ot as large as the
ones on her face. Her crotch protested each time she moved and her left breast
was hugely sore but all in all, physically, she had expected to feel worse.

Gavin was perched on the edge of her bed when she returned to her room.
While she
knew he would never physically hurt her,
her confidence had taken a huge knock and she hesitated before moving closer to
him.

“How are you feeling?” he asked not getting up or making any effort to
move towards her after witnessing her hesitation, a fresh w
ave of anger filling him at the sight of her bruises.

“Actually, not too bad
,
” she admitted
. “Why did he
have to go for
my
face? She asked, not expecting an
answer.

“I’d better get out of your hair
,
” he stood and made to leave the room.

“You could stay for
breakfast
,
” she suggested.

“Nah
,
” he shook his
head
.
“I’m good thanks
.
”

“I’ll walk down with you
,
” she said
following him out of her room.