Gavin (A Redemption Romance #3) (25 page)

Sure, they were both jovial, easy going and sometimes ridiculous, but Gavin was so laid back, he would easily fade into the background, which I had a feeling, was what he wanted. Trent on the other hand, was charming, as well as the other. His presence seemed to fill up a room, never allowing the occupants to forget him. Both men were kind, and protective, but Trent’s need to shield and protect women from anything that could ever hurt them, was almost obsessive.

He taught a self-defense class for women, he’d worked it out with the local YMCA to make the class completely free. He donated his own time, as well as had another local female officer who volunteered her time. He’d told me a long time ago, that it was his opinion, that every woman and child should be able to protect themselves from anyone who would try and hurt them. I knew that there was something driving him, something in his past, but he’d never told me. We hadn’t gotten to that point yet.

Asking the bartender for another, then another, gave me the liquid courage to keep up the happy facade. It was the only way I knew how to be.

Trent’s huge frame came into view; he was stalking over toward me. His blue eyes sparkled in the twinkling lights all around, his blond hair illuminated, the shaggy locks looking disheveled like he’d just run his fingers through it, or like someone else had. Downing my drink quickly, I tried to ignore him, to walk away from him - again - but I was too slow.

His large hand wrapped around my arm, strangely gentle and firm all in one touch. Just the feel of his hand energized my entire being. Tingles shot through me like I was being electrified, it never failed. He turned me on with just a touch, always.

“Where are you running off to?” He asked, pressing his body into my back. Even in heels, he was so much taller than me, he could shield me in a way that no one else would be able to see me.

“I was going to find Hope. I think they’re about ready to leave.” I explained, even tipsy, I was able to put the right amount of casualness into my tone. It was so difficult to act like he was no one special, when, in truth, he was everything. I couldn’t let him know it though, he couldn’t think that there was a chance for us, I wouldn’t do that to him. I loved him way too much.

“They’ve already left, sweetheart. Looks like you’re stuck with me.” Spinning around to look up, way up, at him, I teetered on my heels. Thankfully, he steadied me, and smiled at the glare I shot him.

“What?” I shrieked, exasperated, “they wouldn’t just leave me here.” I began to look around the area frantically, searching, but he was right, they were no where to be seen.

“Hope was tired,” Trent explained, with a sad smile on his face. I knew what he was thinking about. If I hadn’t - nope, not going there.

“That’s okay, I’ll just call a cab or grab a ride home with…” distractedly, I looked around once again, searching for anyone I could go home with. “Trinity,” I exclaimed, relieved to see her, she looked sober too. She was staying at Aurora’s house, but that wasn’t very far from mine.

Shaking his head, Trent smirked, a gleam of mischief in his eyes. “Nope, you’re stuck with me. It’s about time, don’t you think?”

Fuck, shit, fuck, no, it was not about time. It wasn’t that I’d be stuck with him, I’d never, never allow him to be stuck with me and that is just what he’d be.

Hanging my head in resignation, knowing just how stubborn Trent could be, I didn’t respond, but stopped fighting it, the ride anyway. Everything else, I would fight.

“You ready, sweetheart?” God, I hated it when he called me that. Okay, I loved it, but the constant endearments, sweet touches, calls, texts, looks, all of it made my resolve weaken. Why didn’t he understand that? Maybe he did, but he didn’t get it, not the big picture.

“Um, no, I,” looking around for the millionth time since he came over to me, I scanned the area for anyone I needed to talk to before leaving. “I need to tip the bartender; I haven’t done that yet.” Thankful I’d found a reason to walk away, I tried to move out of his grasp, but of course, Trent had other ideas. Damn the man, he was so quick, I had no chance.

“I’ll do it, sweetheart.” He whispered in my ear. He’d wrapped his arms around me from behind, it felt so good, so damned good to be in his arms again. God, I missed him, every damn minute of every day, I missed him.

“Okay,” I huffed out, faux annoyed.

Clasping my hand, he held it as we walked to the bar. Only Gavin, Dawn, Reed, Trinity and some other random guests were still in attendance. Luke and Aurora had said their goodbyes about thirty minutes before, heading to a swanky downtown hotel before flying to St. Thomas for their honeymoon.

I noticed that our remaining friends had eyes only for us, taking specific notice of our joined hands. I tried more than once to tug my hand from his, but instead of letting go, he entwined our fingers and held me tighter. Obviously, I didn’t want to let go, I wanted to hold on just as tight and in my inebriated stated, it was becoming more and more difficult to find the willpower to hold him at a distance.

The bartender gave me a sweet smile as we approached, throwing in a little wink just for good measure. Unfortunately, Trent saw it. Moving into my side, he finally let go of my hand, but instead of letting me go, he wrapped his arm around my back and pulled my body flush with his. Grabbing his wallet from his back pocket with the other hand, he fished out a bill and placed it in the tip jar.

A manly head nod in acknowledgment was tossed out before he muttered, “thanks for taking care of my girl.”

The boy-man’s eyes widened, a bit of concern crossed his face, probably worried that his obvious flirting was about to get him into trouble.

Glancing at the jar, I looked at the bill on top. It was a hundred-dollar bill. What the fuck, he just tipped the guy one-hundred dollars? Damn, that guy was going to be pretty happy later.

I was so baffled by the money and what Trent had said, I forgot to try and pull away again. He turned me, gave a head nod to the group and directed us toward the parking lot.

Trent guided me to a sleek, black Camaro SS, with an awesome blue rally stripe. It was new, still had the paper plates on it, was this his?

“Where’s your truck?” I asked, perplexed. This ride was awesome, totally Trent too, I knew he loved muscle cars, but as he opened the door and I slid inside, I could tell, this thing was top of the line.

Getting in on the other side, he replied; “thought I’d bring this today. Figured it would be easier for you to get into in a dress.”

Confused, I thought about it for a minute. I’d been planning to go home with Jake and Hope, “how did you know I’d be coming home with you?”

He smirked and shrugged his shoulders, but didn’t answer.

“Damn it, Trent, how did you know?”

Letting out a frustrated sigh, he looked at me, before looking over his shoulder to pull out of the parking spot. The engine purred beautifully and the powerful machine moved smoothly.

“I planned it.” He admitted without looking at me again.

“What do you mean, you planned it, how? Why?” Realizing how stupid the
why
was, I shut up. He’d been trying to talk to me, to get me alone for months. I’d just always been better at avoiding him. Somehow, I’d let my guard down today and allowed myself to get caught.

“Jake mentioned that you were riding with him and Hope to the wedding when we went out last weekend. So, I told him that I would take you home.”

Simple enough, I thought, but didn’t Jake question that? No one knew, no one, not even Aurora knew that Trent and I had dated.

“He didn’t ask you why?”

“We’re going to talk at home, I have a lot to say and I’m sure that you do too, but I’m done with this secretive shit. I didn’t tell him, but swear to god, Amber, we are the worst kept secret in Texas.”

What the hell did that mean? I had to wonder in silence, because he cranked up the radio and didn’t say another word. For the rest of the thirty-minute drive back to my house, I was treated to David Allen Coe, then Hank, Jr., blasting over the speakers.

Pulling up to the house, he pulled right in the driveway, like he’d never left, parked in his usual spot and shut off the car. Turning to look at me, he glared, placing his hand over the buckle for my seatbelt.

“If you get out of this car before I come around to get you, I’ll be pissed, Amber, and you don’t want to see me pissed, yeah?”

Pressing my lips together in a frustrated line, I didn’t answer, but I also didn’t make a move to jump out of the car.

As hard as it was, I sat there and watched him walk around the front of the. All I could remember was the last time he’d walked around his truck like that to get me. He’d opened my door, unbuckled my seat belt and lifted me down, cradling me in his arms. I’d clung to him that night, holding on and sobbing. He’d held me like I was the most precious thing in his world. Remembering the pain of that night sliced through me and just as he opened the door, an involuntary sob escaped my throat.

The car was so low, he bent down, balancing himself on his toes and clasped my face in his hands. “Sweetheart, please god, don’t cry.” The warmth on my skin was a soothing balm to my ravaged spirit.

Shaking off the memory, I pulled my shoulders straight and nodded. “I’m good, but tired. I need to go in and sleep.

He raised an eyebrow and one side of his mouth lifted. Reaching in, he unbuckled my belt, but thankfully didn’t lift me out this time. Instead, he stood to his full height, and extended his hand, gentlemanly as he was, to assist me. Keeping my hand firmly in his once again, he led me to the front door of my house. Even when I tried to pull my keys from my handbag, he didn’t let go. Instead, he stuck his hand inside, fished out my keys and opened the front door.

The motion sensor security light that he’d installed just under a year ago had turned on, illuminating his determined face. He held the door open for me, as he’d always done, and followed me inside. Turning, he caught the screen door, since it had a tendency to slam, showing me, once again, how naturally, in tune with everything in my life, he was.

I needed a minute. One fucking minute. I had to get away, to get some space, to clear my head, to shake some sense into myself. It was all too much, way too fucking much.

The sound of my heels clicking on the wood floors echoed around the room as I headed toward the hall, leading to my bedroom.

“You’ve got ten minutes, Amber. If you’re not back out here, I’ll come back there and find you.”

Letting out a deep, calming breath, I spun to face him, bracing for his reaction to seeing me this way. I glared at him as his eyes widened and his face paled.

“Sweetheart, no,” he pleaded in the sweetest, softest voice to ever exist on Earth, as he reached for me with one hand.

He seemed to be stuck in place, unsure of what to do next, though his arm had moved, nothing else did, which was good for me, I couldn’t be held just then. I’d break the rest of the way, for sure.

Uncertainty wasn’t his usual style, he almost always had a plan, at least when his world wasn’t tipped on its axis. Any contingent he was able to plan for, he did. Me, however, and all the shit in my life, he’d not been able to foresee.

“I need a damn minute, okay?” I asked, mock-calmly as the black mascara streaked down my face. I’d seen my reflection in the mirror before I’d turned around, I knew the frightening sign he’d see when I’d turned to look at him. Maybe it was a bitch move, but I needed a break here. I wasn’t trying to be difficult just to yank his chain, I was doing my level best to hold my shit together and save him from a life he didn’t want and would grow to resent.

I held his pained stare a few more seconds, then turned once again and headed to my room. I stripped out of my dress, then sat on the bed to remove my shoes. I rejoiced in the fact that I’d picked a dress that hadn’t needed unzipped by someone else. That would have been difficult. I never understood why I could zip something up, but about broke myself in half to get it down again.

Walking to my dresser in my underwear, I yanked off the strapless bra that had been cutting into my skin for the past three hours, tossed it toward the laundry hamper and pulled out my favorite hoodie and sweatpants.

Sweats were my guilty pleasure. Very few knew about them, I was totally polished and perfect at all times, in front of almost everyone. Trent knew, he’d seen them and had even added to my collection. The pants had to be loose enough that they weren’t tight against my rounded ass, and the inside needed to be as soft and fluffy as possible. Same with sweatshirts, except they had to fit my tits, always have a hood and the front uni-pocket thing. I could keep all kinds of crazy shit in there.

Never once in my life, except that one night, had I ever been out of the house in my sweats. Those sweats had been the first ones I’d ever thrown away. They’d been my favorite too, Trent’s old USMC hoodie and the perfect navy bottoms. I’d hoped to save the top, but it had gotten ruined too.

Once again, forcing the memories from my mind, I yanked on my new favorite clothes, a pair of super fluffy socks and walked into my bathroom, to find Snowball asleep in the sink, again. Thankfully, I had two, so my white, super fluffy baby kitty could sleep in the sink undisturbed.

I washed my face and brushed my teeth, then went through the tedious process of pulling out the nine-billion hair pins that Trinity had stuck in there. Considering my hair had been mostly down, I didn’t see the need for all the pins. Who knew, maybe she owned stock in the company. Once I was clean and unencumbered, I found my courage and walked back into the living room, to find Trent, standing at the front window, looking out over the quiet street.