Saviour (Saviour #1)(68)
He shrugs and looks at me from under his lashes, with puppy dog eyes “Forgive me?” He kisses me gently on the mouth.
“Go, get me a wine, then I will think about it” I can’t help but smile as I watch him heading over to the fridge. I realise we have an audience when Zac starts to slow clap.
“Oh my f*cking god, I do not believe this, the boy has got it bad, what have you done with my brother Lauren and who’s this *?”
Sam slaps Zac gently on the chest as Stella says “I told you, didn’t I, I told you how he sounded on the phone and how he speaks about her” Helloooo I am here.
The apple obviously didn't fall far from the tree with this family. The three boys look very much like their dad but with darker skin, Gabe, obviously, is the most handsome and he's taller and slightly more muscular. Stella is like her brothers in looks but her hair is darker, Ava looks a lot like her. They all have the blue eye thing going on, with Gabe and Stella having the very brightest blue. They are also all very outspoken, honest and have no filter when it comes to making comments.
“He called you baby again” Stella comments, “does he always call you baby, what is it you drink, looks like he's getting you a wine, oh yeah, he had a case of your favorite delivered yesterday, Jackie wasn't pleased. She said there's nothing wrong with the wine that she had bought. So you’re an interior designer? I could use some help with my place, you will have to come and have a look at it for me, I watch the block and all of those make over programs but I just can’t pull it all together, it never looks like it does on TV, mind you, there’s lots of things I’m not too great with, men being the main one of them, you will have to give me some tips on how you do it, you must have something special if you have got my brother falling at your feet, I thought he would just stay a single man whore for the rest of his life” Surely she needs to come up for air soon? I thought I could talk a lot but jeez, I was no competition for Stella. Gabe is back beside me, he passes me my wine, and I take a very large sip as I watch him do the same with his beer. We are leaning back on the huge granite kitchen island, he has his arm around me, and I am leaning into him, for protection possibly. Stella is just watching us intently now. Possibly thinking of her next line of interrogation. The rest of the family have switched their attention to the huge plasma on the wall, they all begin to shout louder and louder at a horse race being shown. Gabe becomes distracted as he cranes his neck to watch. In the end I lead him by the hand over to where he can see the TV. “Is this one of yours?” I ask
“Yeah, we have two racing in Sydney today… Come on!” He yells with the rest of them, I love horse racing when you have a vested interest in a race and the way people cheer their horse on. The whole lot of them gets louder and louder still and then they really shout and cheer as the horse comes in first.
“Yes” Shouts Gabe “You beauty” he turns to me and gives me a kiss. We are in a room full of people but I can't help the desire that runs through me.
“Get a grip and get a room” Zac calls out but Gabe is already pulling away from me, looking over my shoulder towards the stairs. My eyes follow to where he's looking, there's a dark haired woman staring right at us. I feel him tense and for the first time since knowing him, I watch as his eyes become like ice, this must be Jackie and he really doesn't like her!
She's tall with unnaturally jet black hair, her eyes are green with no warmth to them, her skin is dark, too dark, fake, and she is wearing a lot of makeup.
She heads straight for us, not taking her eyes off me.
“Gabriel, good to see you and this must be Lauren, is it? Glad you could join us” I don't believe she means that for a minute, her stare is cold, her tone icy, I can't quite put my finger on it but there's something off. She's still got her eyes on me as she offers her hand, I'm far too polite to do anything other than smile.
“Hi Jackie” as I take it and then I watch her as she leans in to kiss Gabe on the cheek, he leans back, out of her reach, I can feel his whole body tense, he really doesn’t like this woman. She steps back and looks at him, up and down, then right into his eyes and there it is, I know that look, I've been watching it on women's faces for years, when they've looked at my husband and my sons as they have gotten older but more recently I have seen it almost constantly these past weeks, on the face of just about every woman that's looked at Gabriel. It's desire. She f*cking fancies her own stepson. Is that why he has issues with her? Wow, that has to be awkward for him and wrong on so many levels, she’s his step Mum for crying out loud, she’s been with Charlie since Gabe was just fifteen, fifteen, my eyes fly to meet his. My heart stutters in my chest and my stomach roils. Fifteen, no, no way? I am aware of the sound of air or my own blood or something, rushing through my ears, blocking out all other sound, I lean back with one hand on the bench as a million different thoughts hit my brain.
It was her, do the math, she's the one, it adds up. No, surely not.
Sam appears at my side, but I ignore her, I need to focus on this horrible, nasty, little thought that has now popped into my overactive mind.
50-35=15, he said he was fifteen; Fifteen years old when he got his first blow job. From an older woman, it was her, his own step mother.
No, surely not, I’ve got this all wrong, I must have it wrong, I really want to be wrong but what if I haven’t? Was it him or was it her that instigated it, did it matter, did they have sex?