by Michelle Day
“More,” she told him.
“I can’t,” he laughed. “I’m knackered,” he looked at his watch. “We need to get some sleep sweetie, we have college in a few hours.”
Angel sighed and snuggled into his side, both of them still sticky with sweat as they drifted into sleep on top of the duvet.
Paul slowly approached consciousness through his hangover, an annoying pain in his side. He opened his eyes to see Suzanne standing by his side of the bed nudging him in the ribs.
“Suzie, there are better ways to wake me up,” he groaned rolling onto his back.
“You need to get up, you have meetings to go to and my usual subtle methods didn’t work,” she told him. “I haven’t heard any hint of movement from Gavin’s room so you’ll have to get him up too.”
Swinging his legs over the side of the bed, he gingerly sat up to discover his hangover wasn’t as bad as he thought it would be. He reached for his dressing gown and headed across the hall to his son’s room.
Gavin’s living room was flooded with light streaming in the window, his bedroom door was ajar. Paul listened at the door and not hearing any sign of life, he knocked before pushing it open, the light from the living room creating a muted light in the bedroom, the dried blood on Gavin’s back had him smiling, the gouge marks from Angel’s nails unmistakable.
Paul cracked the curtains open a little and turned back towards the bed, he had bent to pull the duvet over the sleeping forms when his eye caught sight of Angel’s tattoo and he stopped, looking down at the young woman wrapped in his son, thinking to himself, she really is stunning. He didn’t feel bad for staring as despite their nudity, they were wrapped around each other in such a way that their modesty was protected. Gently pulling the duvet up, covering them both before going back to Gavin’s side of the bed and shaking his son.
Gavin stirred, he moved back from the heat in front of him and then he felt a cool hand on the top of his arm, shaking him, he turned onto his back, his left arm still trapped beneath Angel’s head.
“Dad?” he croaked. “Shit, my head!”
“Get up,” Paul told him. “You’re going to be late.”
“Do I really need to go in today?” Gavin asked running his free hand over his face.
“You want to stay home and not give yourself a chance to gloat at Quinn?” Paul grinned when his son finally opened his eyes.
“Good point,” Gavin agreed, he turned back to Angel, heaving himself up onto his side, he pressed his lips to her cheek. “Angel, we have to get up,” he said softly, he eased his arm from under her and turned to sit on the edge of the bed, groaning quietly, his body ached from the combination of the tackle he had taken the previous day and the over enthusiastic sex last night, his shoulder was sore and stiff and his head was pounding, his Southern Comfort induced headache an unwelcome visitor on what would otherwise seem to be a beautiful morning.
Angel had woken when she heard Paul’s voice in the room, she turned to see Gavin sitting on the side of the bed when the older man had left, she wriggled over to the other side of the bed, sitting up and pressing herself into Gavin’s back, her cheek resting against his uninjured shoulder.
“I have a headache,” she groaned.
“Me too,” he replied “For some strange reason, my shoulder aches too,” he told her.
Angel pulled away from his back, “I drew blood,” she pressed her lips to the nape of his neck “You’d better let me clean that up.”
Gavin arrived at college to somewhat of a hero’s welcome fitting for the Captain of the winning team. The match was relayed in detail during the hour long assembly that morning with the members of the rugby team being called onto the stage and formally congratulated.
Thursday was one of the days where he and Angel didn’t see a lot of each other so they arranged to meet outside the cafeteria at lunch time where they were greeted again by a large crowd intent on congratulating Gavin much to Quinn’s chagrin as he passed by without a single head turning in his direction. Angel slipped her hand into Gavin’s and led him into the cafeteria amidst much back slapping and hand shaking.
“I think every single person has just hit me where you scratched me,” Gavin murmured into her ear as they waited in the queue.
“Oh man up,” she told him. “You like the pain, you told me so yourself.”
They passed their lunch break surrounded by friends, all in high spirits, unaware that Quinn was watching their every move. He observed each and every time Gavin touched Angel and the way she looked at him when he spoke to her. Quinn hated the way Gavin would pull Angel’s hair away from her neck and lightly press his lips to the exposed skin and the way her fingers lingered on his when she passed him her phone, leaning heavily into his side. Aware that Angel had always been very tactile, Quinn was all the more vigilant in his observations of her actions towards Gavin, in public at least, she was definitely the more open one with their relationship and while Gavin would touch her and kiss her neck, Quinn could tell he was holding back for when they were alone.
Gavin and Quinn had had a few classes together so far that day, some of which they were required to share a table. Quinn had quietly passed insults to Gavin. Quinn didn’t even register on his radar until he brought Carmen, Gavin’s mother, into his tirade. “Your mother abused her position of trust and your father paid the price for it.”
“My Dad was fully aware of what he was doing.” Gavin hissed.
“Bullshit,” Quinn replied “Your Dad was love struck and easily influenced. And your mother proved herself to be a whore.”
Under the table, Gavin’s hands involuntarily bunched into fists, he felt his skin begin to prickle as waves of anger shot through his body. He took a deep breath, calming himself, counting to ten, still unbelievably angry, he turned to Quinn.
“My Mum was a whore?” he asked. “I don’t think so, that title should be reserved for your Mum, after all, she was the one on her knees begging my Dad for more after he’d given her the ride of her life, something that your old man obviously falls short on. Huh, like father, like son I suppose Quinn, seeing as I succeeded where you failed.” he growled. Turning his back on Quinn, he stood and excused himself from the lesson, knowing that if he stayed, he would more than likely beat Quinn senseless. He made his way to the boys’ bathrooms and wrenched his phone from his pocket, he called Novak.
“Dude, I’ve just got on the train. You were gone by the time I woke up.” Novak spoke, “I’m going to get some transportation sorted when I get home and I’ll be back down after the summer holidays, do you think you can behave yourself until then?”
Gavin smiled. “I’m not too sure about that,” he said and relayed his confrontation with Quinn to his friend.
“Gav, the guy’s a cocksucker and a bad loser. You are everything he’s not so don’t stoop to his level, stay out of his way and everything will be fine. Trust me.”
“Yeah, yeah. I’m going to miss you bro.”
“I know you are. Listen, I talked to your Dad about staying down there over the winter, he’s said that he’ll keep my room for me and may even find a vacancy at the club, so in another couple of months, I’ll be there until spring, by which time you will probably be glad to see the back of me.”
“That’s going to be awesome, for the first time in ages, I wish it was winter. We could hit the slopes in the October half term.”
“That’s a given. I’ll call you tonight ok?”
Gavin looked up into the mirror in the boys’ bathroom as he hung up and gave himself a stern talking to, he wasn’t going to lose his temper, he was just going to let Quinn say anything he wanted while he smiled politely at him knowing that actually, smiling at him would in fact irritate him more than if Gavin were to blow up in his face. He grinned at his reflection as the bell rang and headed to his locker to change his books.
Sorting out his books, chatting to one of his new band mates and replying to a text from Paul, Gavin was so distracted by what he was d
oing that he didn’t notice the pin drop silence in the corridor, it wasn’t until Angel spoke in a loud, clear voice that he realised the characteristic corridor noise wasn’t present.
“Let go of me,” Angel stood, pinned by her throat to her locker, one of Quinn’s hands holding her firmly, Kiera was sprawled on the floor next to her where Quinn had pushed her out of the way. Angel refused to struggle or to show the rising panic rushing through her.
“Shut up bitch,” Quinn spat, his face inches from hers. “You broke my nose, look at my bruises, you did this.”
“You tried to rape me,” she replied. “Now get your hands off me.”
The watching students moved aside, parting like the red sea as Gavin made his way over to his girlfriend.
“She’s told you twice now to let her go, I suggest you do it.” Gavin spoke, his temper barely concealed.
“What are you going to do about it if I don’t?” Quinn jeered.
Gavin held his hand out to Kiera and pulled her to her feet before answering. “I will make you remove your hand if I have to,” he said quietly. “I would prefer it if you did it of your own free will.”
“I would like to see you try.” Quinn smirked as he tightened his grip.
Putting his backpack on the floor, Gavin wrapped his left hand around Quinn’s wrist. “Trust me,” he said to Angel moments before he tightened his hand, squeezing Quinn’s pressure point.
The release in pressure around her neck was instantaneous and she immediately moved out of the way as Gavin bent Quinn’s wrist back on itself causing him to try and turn away from the pain. As soon as Gavin was sure Quinn was far enough away from Angel, he let go of his wrist and turned away.
“Neat move,” Angel smiled at him, comforted by his warm hand stroking her neck, making sure she wasn’t bruised.
“It’s something Dad taught me,” he murmured, he stooped to pick up both of their bags and hadn’t quite straightened up when Kiera yelled.
“Look out!”
Gavin glanced to the side to see Quinn’s knee accelerating towards his face, he moved slightly away but wasn’t quick enough to avoid the blow completely; he felt his lip split against his teeth as he hit the floor. Shaking his head to clear the fuzziness and shrugging off Angel’s hand, he came to his feet, grabbed Quinn and slammed him against the lockers delivering a swift, lightening quick elbow blow to his face causing Quinn to crumple, stunned to the floor.
Grabbing his bag, he turned and headed for the door, “I have to go,” he told Angel as she trotted beside him.
“Not without me you don’t,” she grasped his arm. “We’re in this together.”
“Where are you going?” Kiera asked as she caught up with them.
“Kiera, call my Dad for me, tell him we’ve gone to Sussex.” Gavin asked her.
“Sure,” Kiera replied. “Are you coming back?” she called to no reply.
They ran to his car, threw their bags in the back and sped out of the car park. Angel was shaken, not only by Quinn’s actions but also by the quick flash of temper she’d seen from Gavin, the way he had shrugged her off, entirely focused on his prey. She looked across at him as he straightened the car out and reached for his seat belt, he was frowning, hunched down in his seat, his lip was still bleeding. She rammed her hand into her pocket, pulling out a tissue, she leaned closer to him and dabbed at his lip.
Concentrating on the road as well as his reeling thoughts, Gavin didn’t notice Angel lean closer, the first he knew was the sting in his lip seconds before he flinched and moved his head away.
“You’re bleeding,” Angel persisted in cleaning his lip, her hand eventually being pushed away by his, his fingers touching the wound.
“It’s ok, it’s nearly stopped,” he answered.
“Are you ok?” she asked, he was silent for a long moment.
“I think I’ve just screwed myself over,”
“He hit you first,” she pointed out.
“I know and I’m hoping that’s going to be enough.”
“We should go home, your Dad will know what to do.”
“I can’t go home, there’s no point, Dad isn’t there. I need to be as far away from Quinn as possible.”
“Why?”
“To stop me from walking back into the school and really taking him out, I don’t have that good a handle on my temper just yet and he’s pushed me to the limit today,” he went on to explain the jibes and insults he’d endured throughout the day. “I guess once he realised I wasn’t going to rise to his words, he did the only thing that he knew would guarantee a reaction, he went after you and I gave him exactly what he wanted, I’m such a fool.”
Suzanne listened to Kiera’s account of the fracas before thanking her politely, hanging up and dialling Paul’s direct line. She heard it ring, then an odd silence followed by the voice of Collette, Paul’s super-efficient, ex-lover, secretary.
“Hi Collette, it’s Suzanne, I thought I dialled direct,” she said, slightly irked that Paul had dropped her call, he would have seen the number on his caller display.
“Hi Suzanne, you did dial the direct line. Paul isn’t taking any calls right now, he’s in the middle of a take-over meeting.”
“He’ll speak to me, please put me through.”
“I’m terribly sorry but I can’t, he said only to put calls through if the world was about to end, his words not mine.”
“Look Collette, I appreciate that you are only doing as you are told and also that you don’t want to be on the end of one of his rebukes but for all intents and purposes, the world is about to end and I absolutely need to speak to my husband,” she snapped, she heard Collette’s miffed sigh.
“Hold the line,” the secretary replied, all business now.
“Suzie, there had better be a major problem my love, you could cost me this deal.” Paul admonished her.
Suzanne could hear the general bustle of the office in the background and realised that Paul had stepped out of his office to take her call, his meeting must have been of a highly sensitive nature for him not to speak to her from his desk.
“Get your head out of the deal Paul and think like a parent. Gavin’s in trouble. He hit Quinn and now he’s running down to Sussex, he has Angel with him.”
“Shit,” Paul ran his fingers through his hair then turned to perch on the edge of Collette’s desk. “I’ll leave now and head down there.”
“Do you need me to do anything?” Suzanne asked.
“Yes, call Jake and let him know to be on standby then call Linda and Julian, actually, I’ll call Julian. Can you call the college and find out what actually happened? Ask if they have any CCTV footage. Do you have any idea what sparked him off?”
Suzanne told Paul word for word what Kiera had told her. “He was provoked Paul.”
“Yeah, doesn’t make it right though. Let me know what you find out.” Hanging up, Paul turned to Collette “Make my apologies to my clients, I’ll call them to re-schedule, explain I have a family emergency,” he grabbed his jacket and ran for the door, dialling Julian’s number.
A lengthy conversation with Julian on his tortuous drive from London to Kingston resulted in Paul ending up at the Palmer home, a most thankfully received cup of coffee was handed to him as he took a seat.
“I had a quick chat with Gavin,” Paul started. “Both Angel and him are fine. He confirmed pretty much what the school said so I think for now, I’m happy to leave him in Sussex and deal with the police myself as I’m sure they will turn up at some point. I’ll go down and get Angel if you decide you want her home.”
Julian answered, “I talked to Angel, I don’t think she will leave Gavin so I guess ultimately, whether we want her home or not, she’ll stay with him.”
“My boy seems to have caused you quite a bit of trouble, I can only apologise and assure you that his actions have been in the best of intentions.” Paul said.
“We know Paul, you don’t need to apologise. We do think this relationship of their
s is going to take some careful management though.”
“I agree, they are moving very fast.” Paul nodded.
“Angel is going to art school in a few weeks, we don’t want Gavin to put her in a position where she doesn’t want to go.”
“He won’t, he is mature enough to know that he will have to let her go,” Paul rose from his seat. “I’m going to the college to take a look at the CCTV footage, after that I’m going home, call me if you hear anything.”
Gavin latched the door of the Sussex house after closing it behind him and headed for the kitchen, filling the kettle and placing two mugs on the side, preparing to make tea before turning to Angel.
“I’m sorry you got dragged into this,” he said as he leant on the side, his arms folded across his chest.
“I haven’t been dragged into it Gavin, I’m your girlfriend, I’m a part of this.”
“Yeah, but if I hadn’t made a play for you in the first place, none of this would have happened.” He protested.
“You don’t know that. I had a thing for you anyway, why do you think I gave you a hard time? It’s the Angel Palmer coveted treat em mean pick up method.”
Gavin smiled then. “Does it work as well every time?” he asked. “Because I am one hundred percent hooked,” he poured the boiling water into the mugs and made the tea.
“One hundred percent huh?”
“Yep, I am totally yours,” he confirmed.
She took the mug he offered her. “Hmm, I may use that against you at a later date.”
“I’d be disappointed if you didn’t,” he smiled. “I’m going to have a quick work out, I need to hit something.”
“Ok, I’m going to go brain dead on daytime TV then.”
Gavin went from the gym to his bedroom, stepping into a piping hot shower, standing still and letting the water run over his body. Tiring of daytime TV, Angel wandered up to Gavin’s room, taking her sketch pad with her, she sat on his bed and began adding to the sketches she had done of him while he was sleeping, she was very pleased with the way they had turned out but hadn’t yet had the courage to show them to him, immersed in her art, she jumped when Gavin’s mobile rang and glanced over at it, seeing the caller was Paul, she decided to answer it.
