Father & Son: Book two of the Jensen Family Series (43 page)

Paul’s skin glistened with droplets of
water as he hauled himself up onto the boat. He dragged a towel across his
hair, drying the worst of the drips. Although she must have felt the boat move
under his weight, Suzanne had yet to acknowledge him so he took the opportunity
to go to the galley and gather up a bottle of champagne and two crystal
glasses.

This boat or rather yacht, was a far cry
from the humble cruiser his grandfather had owned. Paul had purchased it on a
whim a few years ago and although it had been maintained to the highest
standard since he took over ownership, this was the first time he had had the
opportunity to take it out to sea.

Suzanne lay stretched out on one of the
well acquainted sun beds, her skin turning a lovely golden brown. She sat up
when she heard the chink of glasses and the pop of a champagne cork. Smiling up
at her bronzed God of a man as she accepted the glass of amber liquid, she
couldn’t help but notice his somewhat stiff demeanour.

Instead of sitting beside her, he perched
his behind against the safety railing and sipped his champagne as he looked at
her. For this moment alone, he was happy that Carmen had refused to let Gavin
come away with them.

“This is where it all started Suzie. Where
we began.” He spoke softly, remembering. “I knew then that one day we would
make this work. My only regret is how long it’s taken, how much time we have
wasted but here we are, finally together, in it for the long haul.” He pushed
off from the railing and placed his glass on the table next to her. She had yet
to speak but she watched him closely as he reached behind the cushion of his
sun bed and dropped down onto one knee. “I will do anything in my power to make
you the happiest woman alive. I want to be your everything like you are mine. I
love you Suzie. I would be truly, deeply honoured if you would agree to become
my wife.” He opened the dark blue velvet box in his hand and pulled the tear
drop shaped diamond ring from it. Then he waited.

He waited some more and then a little
longer before she swung her legs over the edge of the sunbed and closed her
hand over his. “Yes. God yes. I want nothing more than to be Mrs Jensen.” She
held her hand out and smiled as he slid the ring onto her finger. “I’m going to
need a bodyguard to wear this in public.”

“It’s just a trinket. A token of my
affection.” Re-filling their glasses, he raised his in a toast. “To us.”

Echoing his words, she held her hand out
in front of her, completely mesmerised by the gem adorning it. She loved
diamonds, for her there was no other stone but never had she imagined owning a
gem such as this. Saying it was huge did it an injustice of magnificent
proportions. The central pear shaped diamond was big enough in itself but it
was surrounded by smaller ones that caught the sun and reflected it back onto the
larger stone. The shoulders of the white gold band were also diamond encrusted,
making her finger a beacon bright enough to warn ships of impending doom on the
reef. It must have made a terrific dent in his bank account.

“Trinket my arse.” She looked at him.
“This screams this woman is mine. I love it”

Grinning stupidly at her comment, he had
been going for just that. If he could have got her a ring that shouted from the
rooftops “Property of Paul Jensen” he would have but he thought it might have
been a bit too much for her delicate hand.

“You are mine and there’s plenty more
where that came from.”

“It must have cost a fortune.”

Reaching out, he pinched her lips
together, shaking his head. “You never have to worry about the price of
anything ever again. Even if the club failed and the gardening business went
catastrophically in the shitter, money is something we will never have to worry
about. I have enough squirrelled away to last four lifetimes and then some so
from now on, no more talk of how expensive things are.” He released her lips
and leaned in to kiss her.

“You have offshore bank accounts don’t
you?”

“What? Avoid paying tax on my wealth? Me?
Never! I’m an upstanding, fully paid up member of society.” He was laughing and
nodding his head as he denied everything.

Moving from her sun bed onto his lap, she
wrapped her arms around him as she laughed “I knew it.” Resting her hand on his
bronzed chest, she found it difficult to take her eyes from the diamond
glistening on her finger. She straightened her back and faced him. “I love you
Paul Jensen. Not for anything you can give me, not for whatever amount of
wealth you have amassed but for you. The boy who wasn’t ashamed to stare at my
boobs or flirt with me when his sister wasn’t looking, for the young man who
knew he wasn’t ready to commit even though deep down that’s all he wanted and
for the man you have become.” She wrapped her legs around him as she kissed
him, pouring every ounce of feeling she had into him.

He leaned into the kiss, holding her tight.
His whole life in this moment with this woman, knowing he had made the right
choice. He had never been so certain of anything in his life.

Burying her face in his neck, breathing in
his scent, she sighed with contentment before stiffening and sitting up again.
“My parents are going to freak.” She told him.

Paul stood, carefully placing her back on
the sunbed before downing his entire glass of champagne in one gulp. “It must
be such a disappointment when your daughter marries a millionaire.”

“It’s not about the money for them.”

“No, it’s because they think I ruined your
perfect marriage. I didn’t touch you when you were married to him. I wanted
too. I’d have given anything to swoop in, your knight in a shiny black Porsche
to save you from the drudgery of life with him but no, I kept my distance.”

Giggling from a mixture of his words and
the champagne on an empty stomach, Suzanne came to her feet, pressing herself
in to him. “My knight in a shiny black Porsche?” She asked. “I’m not sure the
armour would have fit inside.”

It was amazing how the feel of sun warmed
breasts pressed into him could break the tension and lighten his mood. “I’d
have found a way.”

Three weeks into life at his new school,
Gavin was bored. He rolled his eyes as his mother explained to the head teacher
that it was completely out of character for him to be disruptive in class. He
sighed deeply, his shoulders slumping when he was told he would spend the rest
of the week working from the head teachers’ office. It worked to his advantage
as the head quickly realised how adept and advanced Gavin was and made
arrangements for him to join the sixth form upon his return to the school’s
population the following Monday.

Being moved up two whole years brought
about its own problems. Gavin found it easier to relate to the older pupils but
they in turn resented him and his work ethic, especially when he maintained
excellent grades with ease.

Sitting on the wall outside the house with
his good buddy James, Novak dropped his backpack into the front garden as they
waited for Gavin to come home.

Novak had had a very fruitful but late
night causing him to oversleep. Leaving the house late, he was now locked out
having forgotten his key and with both his mother and Gavin’s at work, he found
himself waiting.

His animated conversation with James
continued as he spotted Gavin but he stopped mid-sentence when he saw another
boy closing in on his friend.

“Oh no, don’t do that.” Novak said as the
other boy reached for Gavin making James lean around him to watch. “Dude, you
really don’t want to do that.” He continued his narration as the stranger took
hold of a handful of Gavin’s hair and wrenched his head back.

Gavin whirled around as his head was
released, instantly fired up and ready to fight, he snarled at one of his new
classmates who now seemed to see the error of his ways and took off at a run,
Gavin hot on his heels.

Flinging his backpack in the general
direction of his home, Gavin put his head down and chased the other boy.

“Bollocks.” Novak spat as he got to his
feet. “Don’t they realise I’m on a sure thing tonight?” He asked rhetorically
as James retrieved the contents of Gavin’s bag. “I can’t go turning up battered
and bruised.” He sighed dramatically as he eased into a run.

He caught up with the pair just as Gavin
got a hand hold on the back of the fleeing boys shirt. Wrapping one arm around
his friend’s rib cage, Novak planted his feet, hauled Gavin backwards and
reached for his assailant. “I won’t be rescuing you again dude so don’t go
starting shit you can’t finish.” He warned, giving the other boy a healthy
shake before shoving him away.

Turning back to the house, heaving a
struggling Gavin with him, he finally lowered his friend to the ground and gave
him a shove. “Thanks Novak, sorry I nearly fucked up your evening by getting
you grounded by association.” He mimicked Gavin’s voice while saying what he
wanted to hear. “Don’t be a twat Gav, get in the house.”

“He started it.” Gavin sulked. Thanking
James for grabbing his things from the floor and pulling in vain at the broken
zip on his bag, he found his door key. “Thanks bro.” He looked at the taller,
calmer boy beside him.

Novak smiled, his agitation already
forgotten. “Anytime Gav.”

The boy who had misguidedly been egged
into following Gavin home and seeing just what it took to push his buttons was
mysteriously absent from school for the rest of the week much to Gavin’s
amusement. He could only presume that the way he had reacted was the reason he
stayed away. He kept his head down and tried to ignore the jibes from the other
pupils but it was getting to him and they could see it.

Returning to school on Monday morning,
Gavin spied the boy who had grabbed him in the midst of a group of other
students. He kept his eyes averted but his blood was still boiling from the
incident as well as the constant shoves and nudges he received as the others
tried to get him to rise to the bait. It seemed the reason for his expulsion
had become common knowledge.

Someone slammed into him, a petite red
head who had done nothing more than trip. Helping her upright as she apologised
and blushed. His mood was lightened somewhat by her charming blush and he
couldn’t help but smile but it was short lived as the group of approaching
older students laughed and jeered.

The girl scuttled away as Gavin turned to
face the group, keeping his face a mask of impassivity. He continued to walk
forward and didn’t miss a beat as he swiftly kicked his previous assailant in
the crotch. When the boy buckled forward, Gavin brought his knee up sharply,
forcing his head back up whereon he delivered a single punch to his already
bleeding face before shaking out his hand and walking on, glancing down to see
if his knuckles had split open, pleased to see the skin still intact.

So swift was the attack that those on the
periphery of the group missed it. To the casual passer-by, it seemed to be
completely unprovoked. The group that gathered around the moaning and bleeding
boy drew the attention of the teachers and it wasn’t long before Gavin was
apprehended within the corridors of the school.

“Gavin’s been expelled.”

Paul had a huge case of déjà vu over
Carmen’s opening gambit. “Again? What for? No, don’t answer that, I can guess.”

“We need to do something about him.”

“I thought you were looking in to that.”
Paul scratched the side of his nose, his concentration distracted by Suzanne in
a bikini as she prepared to try out the freshly filled and heated pool.

“He’s in therapy. So far it’s not
working.”

“Give it time, something will get through
to him. Do you want me to come up?”

“No. I don’t think there’s any point. The
only school that will take him now is the one Luke attends. That in itself
might be a good thing. Luke has a calming effect on Gavin and besides, Helen
has her first lot of foster children arriving today, there’s no longer a spare
room so you’ll be relegated to the sofa when you come to visit.”

“Ok.” Paul stood and flicked open the
button on his jeans, preparing to follow his fiancé, “Let me know if you need
anything or I can help.” He didn’t wait for her response before stripping down
to his boxers and diving in the pool.

Sitting in the window seat, Gavin watched
as the removal van next door was unloaded. He wasn’t allowed in his room. He’d
devised several ways of irritating his mother while confined there and she’d
finally snapped. Ordering him downstairs and over to the window seat. So here
he sat, serving time for not only getting expelled but for his belligerence
too.

“Whatcha doing?” Munching on an apple,
Novak came to keep his friend company.

“Watching the new people move in.”

Leaning on the window frame, the boys
watched in silence for a while. Novak suddenly straightened, slapping Gavin
around the back of the head. “Dumb arse.” He chastised.

“What?” Rubbing his head, Gavin looked up
at the older boy.

Novak pointed out the window. “Are you not
looking in the same direction as I am? Do you not see the shit hot girl about
to move in next door?”

“Yeah I see her. Grounded remember? Can’t
even set the tip of my toenail outside.”

Laughing, Novak began to walk away. “Too
bad.”

Sitting back, crossing his legs, Gavin
settled in to watch the master at work. He had become accustomed to girls
throwing themselves at the blond god’s feet. This should be easy for him.

Dropping his apple core into the dustbin
and being sure to rattle the tin lid as he replaced it, Novak was entirely
unsurprised to find the eyes of the hot new neighbour on him.

“Hi.” He moved closer to the low fence
dividing the properties. “Moving in?”

Looking the tall, strikingly good looking
teenager over from head to toe, Cara, the neighbour, promptly decided that he
probably had girls dripping off him and while she conceded she was pleased
something nice to look at was living next door, she certainly wasn’t going to make
it easy for him.

“What gave it away?” She asked. “The
massive truck or our shit all over the front lawn?” She placed her hands on her
hips, cocking an eyebrow.

Novak smiled that smile that got girls to
drop their knickers with ease, thinking
Ooh sassy
. “Yeah, something like
that. I find the visual signals make situations easier to read. I’m Novak”

Snorting at his smart arse answer, she
relented “Cara, nice to meet you Novak.”

“So,” Novak shuffled his feet. “Are you
going to be hitting up the local school? My brother and I go there.”

Her initial thought was
oh God, there’s
two of them.
“Yeah, I’ll be going to the one down the way a bit. No, it’s
ok, I don’t need your help getting there or being shown around. I’m quite
capable of doing all that on my own.” She turned and walked away leaving Novak
goldfishing in the driveway.

Gavin was laughing so hard he was almost
crying. He’d never seen the tried and tested Novak charm fail quite so
miserably.

“Nicely done.” He laughed as his friend
joined him.

Shoving Gavin along the window seat and
sitting, Novak shot him a pissed off look and simply said “Shut up.”

“Fuck! My stomach hurts from laughing. You
made no impression at all dude.”

“She’s in to me. She just doesn’t know it
yet.” He sulked. “Did you see the way she looked me up and down?”

“She was probably wondering why they were
moving in next to the abominable snowman.”

“Think you could do better?”

“Positive.”

“Go on then, lets see what you’ve got.”
Novak dared.

“Grounded. I’d quite like to be allowed
out again before I’m fifty so no. Not today.”

“Oh yeah, nice work Mr Can’t keep his
mouth shut, grounded for a month. You are going to miss an amazing party this
weekend.

Getting up, bored now with Novak’s ribbing
“Thanks for pointing that out Captain Obvious.”

Gavin settled well in to life at his new
school. Already being friends with those who hung around with Novak, he was
readily accepted into the group and for the first time in an age, began to
enjoy school.

He integrated easily with the older pupils
and settled quickly to the heavy workload. It didn’t take him long to make
friends and he was sure he heard a sigh of relief from his mother when his
first term passed incident free. He was still fighting, just not in school
grounds and he made sure not to get caught.

It didn’t take long for him to catch the
eye of the rugby coach and following a few fitness assessments and speed trials
in which Novak beat him consistently, he was accepted onto the rugby team. The
coach paid him close attention on his first match and couldn’t fail but notice
while he wasn’t the quickest person into a sprint, once he got there, little
could stop him. He was agile and dodged other players with ease and those who
got in his way soon lived to regret it as Gavin would put his head down and
power through, fearless.

Within three months, he was made Captain
of the team much to his delight. Rugby all of a sudden became a very large draw
with the girls in the upper sixth form. Novak always garnered attention but now
with Gavin by his side, the two were quite a sight and made a formidable duo.

Sorting through his locker, talking over
his shoulder to Novak behind him, Gavin had to keep stopping his conversation
to repeatedly greet the stream of girls walking through the corridors much to
Novak’s amusement. Gavin had been on a few dates but hadn’t said anything about
them afterwards. He lived vicariously through Novak, his older, experienced
friend and was content with that and his hand thus far.

“Hey Gav.” Cara stopped next to him,
opening her locker, glancing over her shoulder, she eyed the blond god behind
her, “Novak.” She winked at him. She’d enjoyed Novak in several ways since she
had moved in next door but she had made it clear it was a no strings
arrangement. “What are you planning for your birthday?” She asked the younger
boy.

“Nothing, just hanging with James and
Novak I think.” He shrugged. He would be turning sixteen within the week and
didn’t want a fuss made.

“Hey Gavin.” Another female voice drifted
into the trio’s conversation.

“Oh, erm, Hi Lucy.” Gavin mumbled as he
briefly made eye contact with the girl.

“See you in Chemistry.” Lucy smiled and
blew him a kiss as she turned to leave.

Leaning against his locker, Gavin dragged
his hand through his hair, completely unaware of the effect that gesture had on
Cara. “Wow.” He breathed.

Novak looked between his friend and the
departing girl. “Why aren’t you hot on her heels dude? She’s so in to you it’s
like a punch in the gut.”

“She’s just being nice.” Gavin denied any
interest as he slammed his locker shut. “Catch you later.”

Cara slid her arm around Novak as they
watched Gavin depart. “He needs to get laid.” She spoke to no one in particular
but she was mirroring Novak’s thoughts.

“He’s not the only one.” Novak grumbled.

“I can help you with that.” She grinned up
at him. “In fact, I can help Gavin with that too.”

“You’d do that for him?”

“Sure, why not? He’s a bit droolworthy, it
won’t exactly be a chore.”

Novak laughed “Happy birthday Gav.” He
pulled Cara against him, leaning down to thrust his tongue into her mouth
knowing she would eagerly respond. “You rock Cara.”

Smiling, she looked up at him, “I know.”
They began to walk in the same direction as Gavin. “He has no idea how hot he
is does he?”

“Doesn’t appear to have a clue.” Novak
confirmed.

“And I’ll just bet you have used that to
your advantage.”

“Can’t have him steeling my thunder.”
Novak admitted.

“I have a feeling you won’t be the top
kahuna for much longer.” Laughing, Cara pinched Novak’s toned behind and
skipped away from him.

“Never going to happen.” Novak called
after her.

The trio met up again in that afternoon’s
religious studies lesson. Required as a part of the curriculum, it was widely
accepted as a doss lesson and was the easiest subject to pass as very little
was required from the students.

This afternoon was to prove a little
different and the pupils gathered with an air of curiosity when they noticed
the visitor to the class. In this lesson, Gavin sat next to James, Cara hogged
one of the back corners of the classroom and Novak was front and centre.

The opening gambit of the visitor was to
ask what religious denominations were present in the room, asking for a show of
hands as he recited a list. When Novak raised his hand as the Catholic faith
was mentioned, the visitor perked up. Novak looked around the classroom and
seeing that he was the only one affiliated with that religion made him slump
his large form further down into his chair.

As the visitor began to fire questions at
Novak, Gavin turned sideways in his chair, making himself comfortable with his
back to the wall and his feet resting on the side of James’ chair. James was
grinning as Novak squirmed under scrutiny.

When the visitor pointed out that Novak
seemed to lack the appropriate amount of respect for his religion, he sat up
straight and glared.

“Why would I respect a religion that was
chosen for me? “ He asked. “I didn’t ask for it, it was foisted on me probably
without a second thought and as I have never attended mass or even stepped foot
in a church, I class myself as unreligious.”

“You have never attended mass?” The
visitor was stunned, up until this point, the young man in front of him
appeared quite knowledgeable about his religion.

“Nope. I guess you could say our faith has
lapsed.” He smiled, hoping that would end the discussion.

“I presume then that you have never been
to confession?”

Novak barked out a laugh, shaking his head
no.

“No time like the present young man. I am
ordained and can take your confession.”

“Nah, I’m good.” He held his hands up in
defeat. “Anyway, isn’t confession supposed to be a private thing?”

“Yes but I see several curious looks about
this subject. Am I right?” The visitor addressed the class to a resounding yes
then looked straight back at Novak, eyebrows raised in question.

On a sigh, Novak answered “Fine, let’s get
it over with.”

“Go ahead my son.”

Taking a moment to compose himself, Novak
glanced over to James and Gavin, the latter had amusement written all over his
face while James mouthed “I dare you.” At him.

Sitting back, placing his large hands on
his desk, making himself comfortable, Novak took a breath and spoke loud and
clear. “Forgive me Father for I intend to spend my entire weekend waste deep in
sin.”

The entire classroom exploded into
laughter, even their regular teacher covered his mouth with his hand to hide
his smile.

The visitor however, was less than amused.
“How dare you make a mockery of this?” He shouted, going red in the face.

Coming swiftly to his feet, Novak stepped
forward, his bulk making the other man take a step back. “In my opinion,
religion is a complete crock of sh….”

“Novak!” The teacher warned.

“Hypocrisy?” Novak asked, the teacher
nodded and he turned back to the visitor. “In my opinion, religion is a
complete crock of hypocrisy. It creates more problems than it solves and
brainwashes desperate people into something they wouldn’t otherwise give a
second thought to. That is just my opinion though, one which I am entitled to
as you are to yours.” Having clearly vindicated himself and dodged a detention
for rudeness, Novak returned to his seat to whooping and cheers from his
classmates.

Sitting on his bed, quietly strumming on
his guitar, frustrated that Novak seemed to do this rift so effortlessly, Gavin
started over, taking a deep breath to calm his irritation. He began to hum
softly and then form the words to the song. This somehow made his fingers move
with less tension. He was nearing the end of the song when he became aware of
Cara standing in the doorway of his bedroom and quickly clamped his hand over
the fret board, cutting off the bum note he’d just played.

“Boy can sing.” Cara smiled.

Gavin set his guitar aside and dragged his
fingers through his hair, noticing Cara bit her lip as his hands moved. His
mouth was suddenly dry. Totally the fault of the tiny cropped top she was
wearing which highlighted the underside of her braless breasts. He suddenly
regretted not having his guitar on his lap as his groin began to tighten. “Erm,
thanks.” He mumbled.

Knocking the door shut with her heel, Cara
sauntered towards him. Pushing her fingers into his hair, she tipped his head
back, satisfied when his hazel eyes lingered on her chest before flicking up to
her face. “I’m going to kiss you Gav ok?” She didn’t wait for his answer before
lowering her lips to his.

She straddled his lap as his lips parted
and his hands glided up her back, holding her gently but with just the right
amount of pressure to keep her in place. Gavin leaned backwards, taking her
with him as he lay back. He groaned into her mouth as she pressed her spandex
covered mound into his ever growing erection.