Gavin (A Redemption Romance #3) (7 page)

“Trent, are you blushing?” Reed asked, a mock-serious look on his face.

“He is; he’s blushing like a virgin. What are you guys talking about?” Luke asked.

I stayed quiet, not wanting to out him, but this shit was hilarious. Just reminded me why these nights out were necessary. They provided plenty of comic relief.

“Shut the fuck up, I’m not blushing, it’s hot it in here.” Trent replied defensively.

“You wouldn’t be talking about Amber would you?” Luke taunted, causing Reed to start laughing too.

Instead of giving the guys any more ammunition, Trent motioned for the waitress and ordered another round. She walked over, putting a little too much sway in her hips and pressed her huge fake tits into Trent’s face as she leaned over and took his order. She couldn’t have been more obvious if she’d tried.

Badge bunnies weren’t uncommon, there were a couple of bars around that were Law Enforcement supporters, lots of officers from the different local agencies hung out there, but I hated those places.

Any woman who would willingly sign up for a life with an officer, simply because he was one, was suspect to me. It wasn’t glamorous, and it sure as hell wasn’t easy.

That thought made me wonder if Dawn would be able to handle the life of a deputy’s wife. My hours could be long, they could be spontaneous, I worked some weekends and plenty of holidays. We were more fortunate than those guys in the military, at least we were home for our children’s births, but still, it was a stressful job.

I wanted to pull my phone out and text her, but resisted. The last thing I wanted was the guys' attention to focus on me.

“Well, seems like if you can’t get Amber on board, you could get that waitress to take care of your – needs.” Reed cajoled with no little humor in his voice.

“Fuck off.” Trent had lost his comeback skills, it seemed. I didn’t really know what was going on with him and Amber, they’d been dancing around each other for months. There was something there, but it didn’t seem like Trent was going to tell me, surely not now that Luke and Reed were listening. I saw a quick flash of pain in my friend’s eyes, but he masked it quickly and I wondered just what in the hell had happened between him and the lovely Amber.

After leaving the bar, I noticed it was almost two, so calling Dawn was out. It was completely out of the way, but I found myself driving past her house, just checking on her. With all the shit swirling around Hope, my worry was on heightened alert, especially after the shit my brother had pulled. All was quiet.

I made a mental note of the vehicles, and thinking back to the ones I’d seen there on Sunday. Nothing stood out as odd, but I did look a little longer at the entrance to the trail than was necessary. I still didn’t know what had caused the strange feeling Sunday, or the one earlier at the bar, but something was going on. I just didn’t know what the fuck it was.

Since I was in the neighborhood, I swung past Hope’s house too. Though she hadn’t stayed there in weeks, it was late and if someone was going to cause trouble, this seemed like the perfect time. All was good there too. With nothing else to do, I drove back to my own lonely house and settled in for another night alone.

I dreamt of Dawn that night, the images were blurred, but it was so erotic, I woke up completely hard. It was early, and I needed a run, but I had to take care of my issue before I could. Climbing into the shower, I turned the water to hot, soaped up my hand and ran it over my turgid flesh, teasing the piercing at the head. Pulling on the ball always got me going, I tugged and pulled my hard shaft and imagined holding myself just this way, standing over her laid out on my bed and cumming all over her perfect skin.

I could see the image almost perfectly, her long, flowing blonde hair rumpled and messy from my hands, her legs spread, her pussy dripping, begging for me. I could imagine the feel of her hand stroking me, of her hot, wet mouth, draining me dry, the pull of her tight pussy milking me. Would she be shocked by the sight of my piercings? The frenulum and the apadravya, would make her scream in ecstasy when I finally got inside her.

The image of her wide, surprised eyes, looking up at me with innocence shining as she opened her mouth and I shoved inside, pushing in, fucking gagging her, oh Jesus. In the shower, my hand on the wall over her head, as I pressed in, fucking her mouth, making her huge tits jiggle and bounce, the sound of her wet flesh slapping echoing across the tiled room.

I could see it all, my eyes were shut tight, squeezing I could see it all. My pace increased, tightening and relaxing around the shaft and then the head, as I jacked myself to orgasm I moaned out her name and leaned into the wall, being careful to hold my body away from the sticky mess I’d just spurted all over it. In my daydream, it was her face and tits that got sprayed, the image was so hot, it was almost enough to get me hard all over again.

I’d relaxed after my session in the shower, gained clarity and focus for my morning run. It was crisp and clear today, and though it was much earlier than I would have liked, it did me a lot of good. My mind kept focusing back on Dawn. I wondered if she was asleep now. I longed to know what she looked like, what she wore, when she slept. It was difficult to run with a hard-on, so I did my best to think of other shit, but it didn’t work.

When I walked into my office that morning, I knew that my day was going to be fucked. Dawn and I, had lunch plans; plans I was looking forward to, but they were not to be.

Calling her and telling her that I had to cancel was the last thing I wanted to do, but hearing the disappointment in her voice bolstered my courage and gave me a renewed hope for our future. I promised I’d call her later and we disconnected, so I could get down to business.

We’d had two homicides overnight, one probably related to the dealers Jake was trying to bust and one, an older local business owner. His housekeeper had come in this morning and found him. The house had been destroyed, and obviously there was more to this apparently straight-laced guy than met the eye. It was a long day.

It was late when I finally climbed into my bed. Probably too late to call Dawn, but I sent a text, hoping that it didn’t wake her if she was asleep.

Gavin: Hey, Beautiful. Sorry I didn’t call you earlier. Hope you had a good day.

A few minutes later, her sweet response came.

Dawn: Are you okay? I’ve been thinking about you all day. Don’t worry about it, I know your job can be busy. You must be tired.

Gavin: I am, and yes, it was busy, but I’m fine. Tomorrow will probably be busy too, can I see you on Saturday?

It took her so long to answer, I didn’t think she would, but when I switched the TV on to catch Sports Center, I heard the vibration of my phone.

Dawn: I’m off this weekend, do you want to have lunch on Saturday?

Gavin: Of course, that would be great.

We texted back and forth for a few more minutes, we planned a late lunch so she could get some things done around her house. At first, I’d been a little irritated that I was getting lunch, instead of a dinner date, but then realized that I’d have more time to spend with her. Maybe I could turn lunch into the rest of the day and then into dinner and beyond.

Saturday morning couldn’t come soon enough. Shit had gone down the night before with Jake’s case, but since it happened in Dallas, I wasn’t involved. His partner had gotten shot and Jake was fucked up about it, but it seemed like he was starting to pull his head out of his ass.

I was antsy, unable to hold still, so I went for a long run to try and clear my head. I didn’t need to seem like a kid hyped up on sugar when I picked Dawn up later.

Pulling up to her house once again, I walked up to her door, before she came out this time. Walking slowly, I scanned the area, again, taking note of the cars and all the neighbors out on a mild Saturday, playing with kids and doing outside chores.

I’d helped at the self-defense class again, which had been good, it gave me something to do. But when Trent asked me to go to lunch with him and Hope, I happily declined and left them to it.

Dawn opened the door, she was beautiful, as always, but the wide smile on her face took my breath away. She was aiming it right at me, and I couldn’t have been more pleased. She seemed easy today, relaxed in my presence. I was grateful that the friend thing seemed to be working. I was going to amp it up today.

As we walked toward the truck, I placed my hand at the small of her back. When I helped her into the cab of the truck, I let my hand linger on her thigh longer than was necessary and kissed her cheek when she was settled. I watched as her cheeks flushed and I prayed that was a good sign. If she wanted me once, I could get her to want me again.

Our lunch was going really well. Dawn was animated, talking to me with ease and even demonstrative as she’d been when we were young. When she told a funny story about a client at the store, her eyes sparkled and her hands flailed around with her explanation. She touched me several times, laying her hand on my arm, putting her hand on my shoulder and even touching my hand with hers, all as she spoke. She didn’t shy away from me either, the afternoon was going perfectly.

We’d both finished, and pushed our plates away when my phone rang. I looked at it, saw it was Trent, so I ignored the call, not wanting to be interrupted. This time with Dawn was much too precious to listen to Trent be an idiot.

Not ten seconds after the phone stopped ringing, I got a text and it began to ring again. I glanced at the text and felt my entire body go rigid.

Trent: Answer your fucking phone, Hope has been attacked.

Grabbing the phone off the table, I swiped the green button as it began to ring again. “What happened?” I asked sharply, looking up to meet Dawn’s worried gaze. She hadn’t seen the text, but she could read me well enough to know that something was seriously wrong.

“I just got a call from Dupree, Hope’s been taken by ambulance to the hospital. It looks like her stalker caught up with her.” Trent’s voice was not only worried, but sounded regretful.

“I thought you were with her.” Not intending to, I knew my voice sounded accusatory. This shit wasn’t Trent’s fault, but knowing him, he’d take it that way.

“We had lunch, I walked her back to her car and I thought she was going back to Luke’s.” Trent said defensively.

“Shit, yeah, sorry, didn’t mean it the way it sounded. Is Jake with her now?” Dawn’s face paled, she knew who I was talking about now.

“Yeah, I’ll meet you at the ER.”

“Okay, on our way.” We disconnected the call, and I relayed what little I knew, to Dawn.

Tossing some bills down on the table, we practically ran to my truck. I held her hand in mine, giving comfort as much as taking it from her. Dawn and Hope were friends, I knew, she must be just as worried as I was.

“We should have kept someone with her all the time.” I mumbled once we were on our way.

Dawn laid her hand on my thigh as I drove. She didn’t offer me any platitudes, she was just there, supporting me, being a friend, as she always should have been.

We found Jake, pacing the hospital waiting room, staring blindly around. Worry emanated off him in waves. Dawn disengaged from me and rushed to him. She pulled him into her arms and spoke softly into his ear. I hated seeing her wrapped around another man, but there wasn’t anything intimate about this embrace. Obviously, I wasn’t so much of a jealous asshole that I’d bitch about my girl giving my friend comfort.

It took a couple of minutes before he registered her presence, but finally, he hugged her back, buried his head in her hair and I thought I heard a few sniffles coming from him.

Jake was a first class badass. That man never showed emotion, never. I’d served with him on our last tour and he was a rock, stoic, even when Dylan died. He was surly, angry and could be belligerent at times, but never had I seen him cry. Dawn got him to sit in a chair by the window and they continued to speak quietly, until Luke and Aurora rushed in.

Seeing them, Jake stood and Dawn moved back to my side. Without thinking, I wrapped my arms around her and held on.

“What’s going on?” I whispered into her ear so that the others wouldn’t hear.

She shook her head, “I don’t know, he kept saying it was his fault, she was unconscious when he got there and found her.”

“Was she at his house?”

“No, her house.”

I was shocked to hear that after everything that had happened, Hope had gone to her own house, presumably alone. If she’d only called one of us, we’d have gone with her and most likely, none of this would have happened, or would have at least had a different outcome.

Everyone settled into chairs near the back wall and waited for word. After about an hour, a nurse came out and we all stood.

“Mr. Thompson?”

“Yes, that’s me,” Jake said, as he stepped forward.

Looking around at the assembled group, that had now grown to include Amber, Trent and Reed, the nurse continued; “You can come back and see your wife now.”

Several of us stiffened at Hope being called Jake’s wife. Did they do something that none of us knew about? With the way they’d been lately, I didn’t think so. I didn’t think he’d give into her sleeping in another man’s house if they were married.

It was a full hour before Jake appeared back in the waiting room, to speak to us. The doctor was having Hope moved upstairs to a room, so he’d been kicked out until they got her settled again.