Wayward Son (Jensen Family #3) (44 page)

“Hi
,
” he echoed
Angel’s greeting, slightly embarrassed at being caught and thinking I wonder
how much they saw
?

“You two are together now I take it?” Julian a
sked.

“Er, yeah
,
” Gavin replied.

“I thought you knew
,
” Angel added.

“I guessed, but it would have been nice to have actually been told
.
”

“Sorry
,
”
they both said at once
.

“There’s no need to apologise, I would appreciate it if you kept the
public displays o
f affection to a minimum though
,
” he said and was satisfied that both
youngsters shuffled guiltily apart. Further rebuttal was brought short when
Paul joined them and engaged Julian in conversation. Linda gave her daughter a
quick cuddle and smiled at Gavi
n.

“We’ll be going home as soon as I can pry Dad away from Paul
,
” she said
.
“Are you coming with us or will you
bring her home later?”

“Actually Mum, do you mind if I stay here?” Angel asked
.
“Paul’s ok with it
.
”

Linda looked from Angel to Gavin, the
latter
not quite meeting her eyes
.
“I guess that
will be ok
.
”

“Thanks, I’ll be home early
.
” Angel assured,
she let go of Gavin’s hand as he wandered away to speak to his uncle.

“You are being careful aren’t you?” Linda whispered.

“How do you know I need to
be?”

“I’ve never seen a young man kiss a girl that way unless he’s on a
promise
.
” Linda replied.

“Oh
.
” Angel replied,
she hadn’t considered that her mother would spot her involvement that quickly
.

“We are being careful
,
” she confirmed.

“And he’s nice to
you?” Linda persisted
.
“I wouldn’t like to think he’d use you
but you never know these days
.
”

“He’s lovely
.
” Angel smiled
but she
felt more than a little awkward
.

“Shall we go?” Julian joined the two ladies in his life.

“I’m staying here
,
” Angel told him
.
“I’ll be home
in the morning
.
”

Julian frowned and looked over to where Gavin was now deep in
conversation with his Uncle Matt and Paul
,
he caught Paul’s attention and beckoned him over.

“Angel tells me she’s staying here tonight, is this alright with you?”
Julian asked much to Angel’s embarrassment.

“Yeah,
it’s
fine by me
,
” Paul answered
.
“Are you off?” he asked, steering the
conversation away from that night’s sleeping arrangements as Angel kissed Linda
goodbye and joined Gavin but he didn’t miss the look
that
Julian shot at his son.

Returning to the kitchen after seeing Julian and Linda off, he couldn’t
suppress his grin;

“You are going to get the talk next time you go to Angel’s
,
” he told his son, Gavin frowned, Matt
laughed.

“Oh no, not the talk?” he smi
led, regarding the
confused expression of his nephews face.

“What talk?” Gavin asked.

“The
‘
you hurt my
daughter, I’ll hurt you talk
.
’
” Matt filled him in.

“I have been on the end of so many of those
.
” Paul laughed.

“I don’t think my Dad has that talk in h
im
.
” Angel spoke.

“Trust me, he’s the father to a daughter, he has the talk all prepared,
you can bet on it
.
” Paul replied.

“Fantastic
.
I’m never coming to your house again
.
”
Gavin
told Angel.

“I’m really looking forward to giving the talk when Marissa get
s older
,
” Paul mused.

“Oh yeah, you’re really going to enjoy that aren’t you Dad?” Gavin
grinned.

“I’m going to relish every second of it
,
” Paul nodded
.
“I’d better get back to my guests and
my disapproving in laws, and yes, I did get the talk, several times from
Suzanne’s Dad, I still get it from time to time
,
” he confirmed
.
“They strongly disapprove of our
marriage
,
” he told his
son.

“Why? You two are g
reat together
.
” Gavin asked accompanying the older man
through to the lounge.

“It’s not our marriage as such that they don’t like,
it’s
more like they just don’t like me or
the way I conducted my life. They have always been close family friends through
Suz
anne’s connection with Tessa so they’
ve been party to most of my escapades,
, from the suspensions from school, the escape from boarding school,
getting your mum pregnant etc
,
etc
.
A
nd all through everything, Suzanne and I would hook up which they were
full
y aware of. They blame me for ruining her first
marriage
,
” he shrugged
“Suzie
is mine and she always will be. I stand
by my vows.
”

“Wow, I knew you loved her but I didn’t actually realise you felt that
strongly about her
.
”

“I’m not as shallow as you think
I am son,” he
paused
.
“We need to
make some time to talk, soon
.
”

Gavin frowned
.
“What about?”

“You, me, Carmen
.
” Paul said
simply.

“I don’t want to talk about Mum
.
”

“I know you don’t
,
but I think
we’ve reached a point in our relationship where we need to discuss a few
things, you still hold me responsible for a lot of things that happened when
you were growing up and so far I’ve let that slide, it’s time we cleared the
air
.
”

“I guess
.
”

“Think about it
,
” Paul said
.
“We’ll leave it until after your match
on Wednesday, maybe next weekend you’ll be able to spare me some time
.
”

Not if I can help it
,
Gavin thought
.
“Yeah, maybe
,
” he said out loud
.
“Is it ok if I hide out in my room
now?”

“Ye
ah, Gran will be going to bed soon
,
” he replied referring to Gavin’s Great
Grandma
.
“If you don’t
want a lecture about how skinny you are, you’d best disappear
.
”

Novak appeared out of the living room, a sleeping Marissa in his arms
.
“Where do you want her?
” he asked Paul.

“I’ll take her
.
” Paul held out
his arms.

“I’m good
.
” Novak shook
his head.

“My room then
,
” Paul answered
.
“She’s on the airbed
,
” he watched as Novak went up the stairs
.
“See, you’re not the only one who has
to abstain tonight
,
” he commente
d to Gavin as he rejoined his guests.

Gavin joined Angel and Novak in his living room, the pair were setting up
his playstation, smack talking each other as they did.

“Are you sure you want to do this?” Gavin addressed Angel
.
“He’s very good
.
”

“You’ve had
firsthand experience of how good I
am
.
” Angel started,
rolling her eyes as Gavin grinned and Novak commented.

“That could be misconstrued on so many levels
.
”

“Get your minds out the gutter guys
,
” she smiled indulgently.

“I didn’t really test your skills th
ough did
I?” Gavin answered
.
“I’m seriously
crap at racing games
.
”

“You’re seriously crap at all games unless it’s Dungeons and Dragons
,
” Novak pointed out.

“I’m ok at worms
,
” Gavin
protested.

“Only because its strategy and doesn’t involve either steering
or running around killing people
.
” Novak replied
.
“You’ve got to stop being such a geek
and get your gamer head on
.
”

“I’ll stick to being a geek thanks
.
” Gavin said, he sat next to Angel as
she
and Novak they set up the game and
started to play.

They only
played the game for an hour, Angel
finally admitting that she couldn’t beat Novak.