Wayward Son (Jensen Family #3) (11 page)

“But Sir, I’l
l fail the exam if I don’t crack
this
,
” Angel
protested.

Mr. Benson looked from Angel to Gavin and an idea came to him,

“I think I may have the perfect solution, Gavin, you have a firm grasp of
the genetics coursework we are currently covering don’t you?”

“Yes Sir, I’m fine with it
.
” Gavin replied.

“Excellent, right, Gavin, as your punishment for flaring up in class, you
will tutor Miss Palmer here in Genetics
.
”

“I thought you were punishing him not me
.
” Angel murmured.

“It kills two birds with one stone Mi
ss Pa
lmer, you get the one to one tutoring
you need and Mr. Jensen gets to give up some of free time tutoring you
.
”

“Sir, you are aware that Angel is Quinn’s girlfriend?” Gavin asked coming
to stand beside Angel.

“
The relationships of my students are of
no
relevance to their education, which is my only
concern. If however, I happen to be punishing Mr Masters by denying him
time with this young lady, in the course of my actions, then I’m ok with that.
Perhaps having to accept that the result of running his m
outh in my class is that he loses out, will humble him into
keeping his tongue firmly behind his teeth. If it doesn’t, Mr Jensen, it will
at least afford you plenty of opportunity to practise keeping a firm lid on
your temper.
”
Mr Benson
answered
with a sa
tisfied
grin
.

“Looks like you are stuck with me
.
” Gavin told Angel.

“You may as well make a start tonight
.
” Mr. Benson put in as they left his
office.

“No time like the present?” Angel suggested as they walked out of the
college
,
“p
lus Quinn has already
left so you need to give
me a lift home
.
” she added.

“Very subtle Angel, I’ll give my Dad a call, let him know I’ll be late
. T
hen I’m all yours for however long you
need me
.
”

Angel grinned
.
“Now there’s a
thought. You know Quinn is going to take the piss o
ut
of you for having to do this don’t you?” she warned.

“Yeah, I know, what he will fail to see is that I will be spending more
time with his girlfriend over
the next few weeks than he will.
I’m sure that will keep me amused long en
ough to save me from my
temper,”
he opened the passenger door for her, she slid into his car.

“Such a gentleman, you never cease to amaze me
.
”

Gavin went around to his own side of the car, pulled his seat forward and
dropped his bag onto the floor before sitting in the driver
’
s s
eat and
looking over at her.

“If you were mine, I wouldn’t need to amaze you because you would know
everything there is to know about me
,” he told her.
T
he
n
started the engine.

Chapter 5

Angel was a little stunned, she knew he liked her, he’d made that clear
but she never expected to feel the little twinge of regret that she was dating
Quinn. She had never dreamed that she would like him as much as she
did.
S
he recovered from her stunned s
ilence by saying
,
“n
ever going to h
appen, I’m dating Quinn and you’
re banging my best friend
.
”

“Ouch
,
” he laughed
.
“The Ice Queen returns
.
Y
ou need to
direct me to your castle Your Coldness.”
H
e mocked.

As they pulled into the driveway at Angel’s house, th
e front door opened and a heavy set man with thick dark
hair stepped out of the house.

“Hi Dad
.
” Angel called.

“Hi,
” Julian Palmer greeted his daughter.
“
I didn’t think
that sounded like Quinn’s Pimp Mobile
.
”

“Dad
.
” Angel warned.

Julian Palmer regarded
the young man that
climbed out of the immaculately clean, gleaming black Supra; the boy had heard
the comment about Quinn’s car and was trying hard not to smile.

“This is Gavin Jensen
,
Dad he’s going
to be helping me with some biology coursework
.
”

“Ah Gavi
n, I’ve heard an awful lot about you
from my wife
.
”

“Oh dear
,
” Gavin replied
shaking the older man’s hand
.
“That’s never a
good thing
.
”

“You have no need to worry; you’ve been given a glowing report
.
”

Gavin grinned
.
“Cool, it’s
very nice to meet you Mr. Pa
lmer
.
”

“Come on in lad. I think I may have sold a car to your Dad if I’m
thinking of the same Jensen family, it was a black Jaguar if I remember
correctly
.
”

“You did, it’s a very nice car
.
” Gavin confirmed.

“Oh God, seeing as you two are obviously going to
do the whole
“
car talk
”
thing, I think I’ll make a start on
dinner. Gavin, you will stay and eat with us?” Angel asked.

“Er, no, it’s ok Angel, I told Dad I’d grab a take away on the way home
.
”

“Nonsense, I insist you stay
.
” Julian Palmer
cut in.

“Well ok
, if it’s not any trouble
.
”

“No trouble at all
,” Angel confirmed
.
“
Go on Dad, I
know you are itching to show Gavin your project
.
”
S
he took Gavin’s bag from him and disappeared into the kitchen.

“Come with me
,
” Julian led the
way out of the side of the hous
e to the detached
double garage
,
“That Supra of
yours is pretty impressive and in very good nick for
its
age
,
” he commented.

“It’s had a full refurb and a new engine. They’re an acquired taste I
know but I love it
.
”

“So you should, have a look at this baby
,
” Julian opened the double doors.

“Nice. MGB
GT
.
” Gavin smiled.

“Yep, still quite a bit of work to do on her as you can see, I’m having
the engine re-built and I’m in the final stages of prepping and spraying. I’m
going to get a polytunnel attached to the
garage as
my clean room and take the parts in there to spray
.
”

“You’re doing it yourself?” Gavin asked.

“Yes, that‘s how I started in the business, body and paint
.
”

“I’d like to see how it’s done
.
” Gavin told him
.
“I’m a real
talentless hack when it comes to things like that
.
”

Julian smiled at the boys’ honesty
.
“You’re more than welcome to come and see me at work
.
”

“What’s under the cover?” Gavin asked
,
pointing to an obvious car form covered
by a thick tarpaulin.

“That’s Angel’s car, we are just waiting for the engine then the bonnet
can go back on and she can get back on the road, grab that corner and I’ll show
you
.
”

Gavin grasped the edge of the cover and between them they rolled it off
the car, Gavin whistled.

“My other dream car
.
”

“Triumph Stag? Really?” Julian replied.

“Absolutely, and its manual, love the overdrive button these old
Triumph’s have
.
”

“It is pretty special, that’s British Racing Green paint too, sadly not
my work
.
”

“It’s a very sweet ride, huh,
” Gavin paused
.
“You know what puzzles me? If Angel has
such good taste in cars, why the hell does she let herself be seen in Quinn’s
monstrosity?”

Julian chuckled
.
“Is it just his
car you can’t stand or is Quinn included in your dislike?”

“Quinn is, in my
opinion, a total douche, Angel
could do better
.
” Gavin replied
honestly.

“By dating you?” Julian asked.

Gavin straightened from peering into Angel’s car and looked her Dad
straight in the eye
.
“I’d like that
.
”

Julian smiled
.
“I have the
same opinion of Qu
inn as you do
,
but I’m not sure Angel jumping from one
bad boy to another is progress
.
”

“Difference is, I’d treat her properly, Quinn doesn’t know how much of a
good thing he’s got and I’m only a bad boy in the sense that the problems I
cause are usually f
or myself.”

Julian came around the car, reached out and patted Gavin on the back.

“You don’t have to defend yourself Gavin. You are far more Angel’s type
and I’m an over protective father. My wife absolutely adores you, she’s an
excellent judge of characte
r, she says you are her
diamond in the rough and you have a heart of gold so therefore, if you were to
date m
y daughter at some point I
would be more than comfortable with it as long as you remain honest with
me
.
”

“I’m basically an honest person
,
Mr.
Palme
r.
I would never let any harm come to Angel whether I am dating her or not
.
”

“Call me Julian.
” He smiled, this boy was either
startlingly genuine or he knew how to play on a fathers affection for his
daughter. Julian strongly suspected the former.
“
Now
,
th
at car of
yours, what exactly have you had done to it?”

As Gavin began to reel off the list of mods on his beloved car, Angel
appeared at the garage door.

 “Mum’s home,”
she called
.
“I’m just about to dish up,”
she told her father.

“Dude, you are so taking
me for a cruise when
this thing has an engine in it
.
” Gavin said
to Angel
as he helped Julian re-cover the Stag.

“I will if you let me drive your car
.
” she grinned, pleased that he approved of her car.

“Nu
-
uh, no way
,
” he answered
.
“Unless I’m blind drun
k and otherwise incapable
.
”

“Subtext, date me.” Angel quipped.

Gavin waited for Julian to go into the house before he answered.
“I can’t date you
,
because as you keep pointing out,
you’re with Quinn and I’m doing the nasty with your best friend
.
”

“You
want to though
,
” she challenged stepping closer to him.

“More than you can imagine
,
” he told her
.
“I’m starving, let’s eat
.” H
e reached past her and opened the back
door
.
“After you Lady Ice
,
” he bowed slightly as she passed.

“Stop calling me that
,
” she sp
un back to face him not counting on him being so close
behind her, he stopped dead, his body just an inch from hers, a slight smile
playing on his lips.

I could easily kiss her now
,
he thought.

Angel put her hand on his chest and pushed him back
.
“That’s close enough
,
” she told him but she was thinking
,
d
id he just
tremble when I touched him? No, I must have imagined it
.

Gavin stepped back a little further
,
not trusting himself not to grab her and pull her into the long imagined
kiss.