Wayward Son (Jensen Family #3) (15 page)

“You
’
r
e
just jealous because he
’s more popular than you are and the general consensus
throughout the college is that he’s a stand up guy who’s fitter, better looking
and wealthier than you are
.
Y
ou only dislike him because he won’t bow
down and be one of your yes men, you need to get
over
yourself
,
” she shouted.

“See, you defend him way too easily, why don’t you just admit that you
like him?”

“So what if I do? I’m with you, I wouldn’t do anything with him while I’m
dating you
,
” she lied,
remembering the kiss
.

“I don’t believe you. I d
on’t want you anywhere
near him
.
”

“You don’t own me, I will be friends with who I like, you don’t get a say
in that
,
”

“He’s turning you into a bad tempered little slut; you’ve probably
already let him have you when you’ve been refusing me
.
”

Angel jumped up
from her seat
.
“You are unbelievable, go fuck yourself
Quinn
,
” she whirled away and stormed out of
the house.

She had been walking at a vast rate of knots for fifteen minutes
,
when she realised that not only had
Quinn not bothered to come after her
,
but s
he also had an almost three mile uphill
walk home in most unsuitable shoes.

“Shit
,
” she murmured
to herself. She stopped walking to rummage in her bag, making sure her credit
card was in her purse, once she had established that it was there, she took a
lef
t turn onto the main road and headed for the
nearest off license.

Chapter 6

Gavin finished his shift at the health club, he pulled on his jeans and
stuffed his life guard shorts into his bag along with the long sleeved t-shirt
and vest top that he had wo
rn to college that day and
left on his white health club t-shirt. He headed for the car park fully
expecting to see Angel waiting by his car, sorely disappointed when she wasn’t
there. He stashed his bag behind the driver’s seat then fished his phone out o
f his pocket to see if she had left him a message, again he
was disappointed when he saw there were no text messages or voice mails.

He dialled her number, concerned that she hadn’t been in touch, she
answered on the first ring.

“About time you called. So
rry I’m not there, I
can’t wait to see you. Can you pick me up outside the Wine Rack on Kingston
Road?” She gabbled.

“Are you ok?” He asked.

“I’m fine,” she replied, then he heard shuffling. “Whoops, missed the
wall,” followed by giggling.

“I’m on my way,”
he told her. He found her
exactly where she said she would be, sitting on the wall outside Wine Rack, two
carrier bags and her school bag at her feet, taking deep gulps of a Bacardi
Breezer.

“Hello little boy,” she greeted him as he stepped out of the car
.

“Are you drunk?” He asked.

“Nearly,” was her reply as she came unsteadily to her feet.

“I thought you were meeting me at work.”

“Yeah I was, didn’t make it. I had a row with Quinn, stormed out of his
house, the fucker didn’t even come after me,” she lean
ed
on him.

“I’d better get you home,” he wrapped an arm around her waist.

“Nooo, I can’t go home like this, can’t we go to yours?”

“Ok,” he picked up her bags, still supporting her with one arm wrapped
around her. “Give me the bottle.”

“I haven’t finished
it,” she protested.

“You aren’t drinking it in my car,” he told her.

“I won’t, I’ll put my thumb in the top of the bottle so I won’t spill any
in your precious car ok?”

Making sure Angel was safely in the passenger seat; he put her bags by
her feet and wen
t around his side of the car. Angel
took a swift sip of her drink while he was walking around the car. As he
occupied himself with fastening his seat belt she took another sneaky slug of
her drink.

“I saw that
,
” Gavin said
reaching for the bottle
.
“Give it
to me
,
” he told her
,
wrapping his hand around the bottle.

“Just let me finish it
,
then I can’t
spill it can I?”

“I’m not taking the chance
,
” he jerked the
bottle from her grasp resulting in the remainder of the orange flavoured
alchopop spilling down the
front of his white
t-shirt. Angel was unable to hold back the snigger, covering her mouth with her
hands to stop herself from bursting into a loud laugh.

Gavin looked from her
,
to his now
nicely wet t-shirt to the bottle in his hand
.
“Terrific” he got out
of the car and dropped the bottle in the nearest rubbish
bin, returning to the car and once again strapping himself in, he turned to
Angel who was still trying not to laugh
.
“Thanks for that, now I’m all sticky
.
”

“Wouldn’t have happened if you had just let
me
finish it
.
”
S
he replied.

“I’m beginning to wish I had
,
” he huffed as
he started the car.

Arriving home, Gavin left his car in the driveway at the front of the
house
instead of puttin
g it in the garage as he normally
would
and took Angel in through the front door instead of his usual method of
going around the house and through the kitchen via the fridge. Suzanne was
coming down the stairs, linen basket in her arms.

“Hi Suzanne, can I ask a favour?” Gavin said
,
once again w
rapping
his arm around Angel as she began to sway
.
“Could you make me a pot of coffee and
bring it up to my room, I’ve got to sober her up before I take her home
.
”
H
e guided Angel towards the stairs.

“Sure, I hope it wasn’t you who got her in that state
,
”
she
admonished.

“Hi
,
” Angel grinned,
giving Suzanne a little wave.

“I’m not the one who got her drunk, she did that all on her own
.
T
hanks Suzanne
,
” he called over
his shoulder as he helped Angel up the stairs. He stopped dead outside the door
of his room.
Above the door was a fuzzy black and
white cow print sign emblazoned with the name
,
“Daisy.” By the side of the door was a
push button bell.

“I’m going to kill him
,
” he muttered
then “Don’t
!
”
He warned,
too late, Angel had pushed the bell
which emitted a l
oud Moo, sending her into another
round of giggles. Opening the door to his room Gavin was appalled to see Astro
turf on the floor where his carpet had been that morning, “
I’m seriously going to kill him.
”
S
tepping into his room, he heard Paul
shout.

“Die
worm scum
!
”

“Awesome
,
” Gavin looked
at Angel
.
“I don’t even
have to go too far to kill him
.
”
S
tepping further into his room
, he asked,
“Dad, where the hell is my carpet?”

“Hello boy
,
” Paul got to
his feet and turned off the games console, turning to look a
t his son
.
“Hell-o
,
” he repeated
smiling at Angel.

“Hi
,
” Angel smiled
back at him
.
“You’re pretty
,
” she finished.

“Thank you
,
” Paul grinned
watching his son’s frown deepen.

“Seriously Dad, where is my carpet? And were the sign and the bell
strictly necessa
ry?”

“Don’t you like my gifts?” H
e asked laughing
.
“The carpet is still here, I just
thought I’d make a point
.
”

“I got the message loud and clear Dad thanks
,
” Gavin replied, he needn’t have
bothered as Paul wasn’t listening.

“And who are you?” H
e was
asking
the pretty brunette leaning on his son.

“I’m Angel, nice to meet you Mr. Jensen
.
”

“Please, Mr. Jensen is my father, call me Paul
.
”

“Ok Paul, I will
…
, wow, you two
look alike
!
”

“I’ll take that as a compliment
.
” Paul nodded.

“Christ Dad, Angel is the
girl I’m tutoring as
punishment for flying at Quinn
.
” Gavin finally got Paul’s attention.

“Punishment? I’m sure I could think of something more appropriate. This
is going to be a real chore for you isn’t it son?”

“Like you wouldn’t believe
,
” Gavin answered
.

“Here you go
,
” Suzanne had
entered his room with the pot of coffee, mugs and biscuits.

“Thanks,” Gavin told her
.
“Dad, it’s
about time you got lost
.
”

“Ok, I’m going
,
” he watched as
his son carefully lowered Angel into the sofa
.
“She’s far too drunk to kn
ow what she’s doing
,
” he commented.

“I know, that’s why I’m trying to sober her up, her parents would freak
if she went home in that state
.
”

“Gavin, she’s a very attractive girl” Paul warned.

“Dad, I do have some morals, I know where you are going with thi
s, I just want to get her sober and take her home
.
”

“Are you sure you are my son?” Paul asked.

“Nice Dad, n
ice. If I do anything with her then I
want her to remember it and come back for more, I’m hardly going to take
advantage while she’s smashed now am I
?”

“I would hope not. You certainly know how to pick ‘em boy
.
”

“We’re just friends
,
” Gavin said
guiding Paul to the door.

“Uhuh, of course you are. I know you, you wouldn’t be putting yourself
out this much for someone you don’t have feelings for
.
”

“I sure
ly can’t be that easy to read?” Gavin
asked.

“Son, you are so transparent a blind man could read you
.
”

“Dad, fuck off
,
” Gavin laughed
closing the door; he sat himself beside Angel and turned his sixty inch plasma
screen on to a music channel. Angel was hap
pily
munching her way through the plate of biscuits that Suzanne had left. Gavin
poured her a black coffee and told her to drink it. He left her side to rummage
through a draw looking for a clean t-shirt. While his back was turned, Angel s
urreptitiously to
ok a sip of another
Bacardi Breezer; she wasn’t ready to be totally sober just yet.

“What ya doin?” S
he asked.

“I need to get out of this shirt
,
” he replied
,
pulling the
stained garment over his head and taking a clean one from the drawer.