by Sabre Rose
I had lost count of the times we had made love, and if I was perfectly honest, I was beginning to feel a little tender. But at the same time, it seemed a waste to refuse him. I knitted my brows together.
“It won’t take long.” He raised one eyebrow and grinned suggestively as he walked over and stood in front of me. The sight of him glistening wet had me reaching out to him just as a droplet of water ran down his body and got caught by the fine trail of hair that ran down to his pelvis. He led me back to the shower and my skin tingled as the warm water ran over my skin. He grabbed me from behind and I felt his hardness press against my backside. The water ran over us as he kissed me urgently and groped at my body before pushing me against the wall. I sucked in my breath as he flattened me against the cold tiles and nudged me open with his knee. He entered me quickly and held my arms out wide as he moaned in pleasure. He was true to his word and came quickly, grunting with satisfaction and sucking the curve of my neck.
Pulling away from me, his eyes shone cheekily. “I promise to tend to you later.” He washed quickly and stepped out of the shower while I stayed under the warm stream and watched as he dried himself and pulled on his jeans and his work t-shirt. “I really need to bring a fresh change over when I come,” he muttered. “And a tooth brush.” He looked up at me hesitantly. “That is if you don’t mind.”
I had become distracted watching him. His attention in the shower only served to awaken a part of me, not satisfy it. “You’d better leave.”
He looked over, a little concern carried on his expression as he ran my hair brush through his hair. “Why?”
I let my eyes fall over him and, as realisation dawned, he grinned wickedly. “Oh, don’t you worry. I won’t forget I owe you one.” He pulled open the door and leaned in to kiss me, but dropped his head when I tried to meet him and instead ran the width of his tongue across my breast. My nipple swelled immediately and I breathed in sharply.
“God bless you, Mrs Robinson,” he muttered as he walked out the door and down the hallway.
“That song doesn’t even mention anything about an older woman and a younger man!” I yelled after him.
“But I’m pretty sure the movie did!” he yelled back.
24
LAUREN
At work, I hovered around Peta. I knew I had to tell her, but I just couldn’t force myself to bring up the subject. It didn’t help that big-ears Mark kept popping his head around the corner, either.
“Your snots over their colds yet?” Mark asked. It was a slow day in the kitchen and Mark had been poking his head into the café whenever he felt bored, which turned out to be rather often.
Peta groaned. “Just as soon as one recovers the next one starts. By the time it makes its way around all three boys, the first one catches it again. It’s horrible! Snot and tears everywhere!”
Mark screwed up his face. “Unwanted visual.” He shuddered and walked back into the kitchen.
Placing her hands on her hips, Peta frowned, worry lines creasing her forehead. “I’m shipping them out to the in-laws for your birthday dinner.”
I shook myself out of my Gabe-obsessed headspace and shrugged. “It wouldn’t worry me, they don’t have to go. Actually, I haven’t seen them in a while and I’d love to.”
“I’ve managed to ship them off for an entire night. You’re not taking that away from me.” She walked over and placed her hand on my shoulder. “But something’s worrying you. You’ve had a permanent frown on your face since you walked in this morning.”
“Have not,” I insisted.
“Not to mention that rather suspicious looking bruise on your neck.”
My hand flew to the left side of my neck where Gabe had attached himself rather forcefully in the shower. Blood flooded my cheeks and a wave of panic washed over me.
Peta looked at me sceptically, and a little curiously. “You may as well just tell me. You know I’ll harass you until you do.”
I sighed and swallowed the lump that had risen to the base of my throat. “Fine. But can we sit down for a bit? I don’t want a certain someone overhearing.”
Peta grinned. “Sounds juicy.”
“You have no idea.”
Mark manned the counter while Peta and I sat at the furthest away table. My hands were clammy and I wiped them against the legs of my pants. It was stupid to be so nervous about telling her. What was I afraid of? Peta had been my friend through thick and thin, it wasn’t as if anything I told her would change that. I was more nervous about what she wouldn’t say to me, the things she would go home and say to Shrek. She wouldn’t think badly of me, but she would be surprised.
And probably a little shocked.
Even though to some people the age gap wasn’t that big, the visual appearance of that age gap was. With his long hair, cheeky smile, and baggy pants, Gabe looked young. I, on the other hand, looked every one of my twenty-nine almost thirty years.
Peta groaned and laughed. “The suspense is killing me, spit it out. Who gave you the hickey? Did you make up with Derek? Is that what you’re afraid to tell me?”
“Hell, no! Derek and I are done.” I stretched my neck, trying to catch a glimpse of the bruise in the reflection of the window. “It’s not that noticeable, is it?”
“Only when you tilt your head to the side,” Peta snickered. “So if you didn’t make up with Derek, did you have an unfortunate accident with the vacuum cleaner?” She burst out laughing, but I was having difficulty seeing the funny side. I was angry and suddenly flustered. I was doing my best not to show it, but the fact that he had marked me, somehow feeling that he could stake his claim even when he knew full well how I felt, had left my thoughts writhing in resentment.
“OMG,” she laughed. “It’s like we’re sixteen again!” She saw my face and tried to contain her laughter. “I’m sorry, Ren. But you’ve got to admit…” She pressed her lips together but they trembled as her eyes welled with mirth. “I’m sorry, I’ll stop now.” Peta stretched her mouth wide, as if to rid it of the urge to twitch into a smile, and looked at me solemnly, only the faintest hint of a grin remaining. “So you’re not back with Derek?”
I shook my head. It was worse telling her now. “It was Gabe.”
Peta’s eyebrows shot skywards. She blinked a couple of times but other than the eyebrows, her expression was blank. It was her ‘panic-while-I-scramble-to-think-of-something-to-say’ look, a look she would usually give other people then turn to me, her best friend, roll her eyes and smirk.
So I started from the beginning and told her everything. It just poured out of me, every little thing, even the stuff I was ashamed of, which, in the cold light of day, seemed like everything.
“Well,” Peta said, lowering her eyebrows and sinking her head to her hand that was propped on the table. “Gabe?” she said. It wasn’t really a question, it was more a request for a second confirmation. “Gabe gave you the hickey.”
I nodded. “Are you disappointed in me?”
“In you?” She shook her head. “Never. I’m just a little shell shocked. More that you didn’t tell me than that it happened.”
A breath I hadn’t realised I was holding exhaled out.
“And Derek doesn’t know?” she asked.
I shook my head. “You’re the only person I’ve told. Though Gabe said he told his flatmates.”
“And the bet?” She frowned. “This was after the bet?”
I shook my head and Peta’s frown deepened. “He paid up even though he hadn’t lost? With the money I advanced to him?” She elongated the ‘I’.
“I know it’s weird, and a little strange, well, for me, anyway, but he’s so sweet.”
“He’s sweet? Gabe is sweet?”
“He is. I know with the bet and all, it really doesn’t sound good for him, but he does care about me. And, in my own way, I care about him too.” I shrugged and looked up at her, hoping my eyes were weighted with enough honesty.
“So it’s not about the…” Peta shielded he
r mouth from the rest of the café and the twinkle returned to her eyes. “The sex?” she mouthed while grinning wolfishly.
I couldn’t help the smile that widened across my face. “Well, that certainly has its advantages, but honestly, he’s sweet and nice. And he tells me I’m beautiful. Can’t I just enjoy it without feeling guilty for a bit?”
Peta laughed and shook her head. “Lauren James Greer, you do astound me.” She creased her expression into a frown. “It is going to take a little getting used to though.” She snorted and shook her head again in disbelief. “You and Gabe.”
“Well, that’s why I wanted to talk.”
“There’s more?” she asked, her eyebrows tilting.
“No, nothing more like that, it’s just, well, he wants to come to my birthday dinner on Sunday night.”
Peta blinked once. “Sure,” she said and smiled widely. “Sure. It will be fun. You’ll have to give me more details later.” She took the last sip of her coffee. “Or maybe I don’t want to hear them.” She tilted her head. “Do I want to hear them, or will I get jealous?”
I didn’t say anything, but my smile may have curled up, just a little.
“Don’t tell me.” Peta stood and pushed her chair back from the table, and then she added, “Okay, do. But later. You can tell me later.”
When Gabe arrived at work, Peta stood with her hands on her hips and looked between us. She didn’t say anything, but just glared at Gabe for a moment, and returned back to the kitchen, only to come back a fraction later and glare at Gabe again.
“I hear you’re coming to dinner on Sunday night?”
Gabe looked over at me quizzically, then back to Peta. “If you can find someone else to handle the close, I’d be grateful… boss.” He scratched his nose and grinned wryly.
“Mark!” Peta yelled. “You’re covering Gabe’s close Sunday night.”
Mark strode to the door. “Like f—” He looked around the café. “I don’t do the weekends.”
“Well it’s Lauren’s birthday and I’m having her over for dinner. Gabe has also requested some unexpected time off. What do you suggest I do?”
Mark held up his hands at her clipped tone. “Fine. I can close Sunday night.”
Peta closed her eyes and breathed deeply before opening them again and looking at me. “I’ll be fine by Friday.”
That was why I never wanted to tell her. It wasn’t the disapproving look or the amused look that I had feared, it was the look of utter shock. Like she honestly thought me never capable of such a thing, and it had momentarily disbanded her from knowing who I was. That was how Peta had looked at me.
Like I was a stranger.
“So you told her?” Gabe asked. It was a question yet somehow his expression held a nervous apology.
“She’s fine. Just a little shocked. You’re a little out of my normal, Gabe.”
“Well, you’re a little out of my normal too.” He stepped close and chewed on his lip, releasing it slowly between his teeth as his mouth was overcome with a smile.
I pushed him away and laughed before controlling it into a faint smile. “You’re an idiot,” I said. Then his eyes fell to my neck and I remembered. “You’re also an arsehole.”
* * *
As soon as Gabe arrived at my place that night, I ripped into him. “A freaking hickey?” I said, tugging the collar of my uniform aside.
“Oops?” He offered an apologetic, but not really sorry, smile. “And I’d prefer it if you called it a love bite.”
“You know I don’t want anyone to know and yet you do this to me.”
“I didn’t mean to, I just sort of got carried away. Besides, no one will know it was me that gave it to you.”
“If you hadn’t noticed, no one my age walks around with hickeys or love bites on their necks!”
Gabe shrugged which infuriated me. “I hadn’t done it before now, either. It just sort of happened.”
“Well, it better bloody not happen again.” I crossed my arms and glared at him.
He tilted his head to the side and grinned slightly. “Are you done?”
“Only if you know that I’m serious. You can’t do that again. Ever. Okay?”
“Never ever?”
“Never,” I said again. The closer he stood, the weaker my anger became. I sighed when there were only inches separating us. “Promise me.”
“I promise you.” Gabe kissed my forehead. “No, I solemnly swear to you,” he kissed each cheek, “Lauren Greer,” he kissed my nose and then stood so his lips touched mine when he spoke, “that I will never ever touch my lips to your neck again.”
“Gabe… be serious,” I said, though my resolve was wavering.
Gabe straightened. “I promise never to mark you like that again.”
“Thank you.”
“Unless, of course, you ask me to. Then I’ll do it again quite willingly.”
25
LAUREN
By the time my birthday arrived, the hickey had faded and was barely noticeable under a thin cover of concealer. Gabe was coming to pick me up and I was ready and waiting when the doorbell rang. He was perfectly on time. I swung the door open and was greeted by wide arms and a smiling face.
“Happy Birthday, Aunty L!”
“Madi!” I said, surprised as my sixteen year old niece wrapped her arms around me. Behind her, my mother, father, sister and brother-in-law stared back at me. Mother held a large box in her arms while Dad stood dutifully beside her, looking at the overgrown ivy climbing up the wall of my house. My sister and her husband, Alistair, stood arm in arm, Morgan smiling apologetically while Alistair stared down at the ground.
“You always come home for your birthday so, when you called us and said you couldn’t, we knew we had to come. Happy Birthday, darling.” Mother bustled past me and walked into the lounge, staring at every corner of the house and frowning. “Where’s your kitchen? I need a cup of tea.”
Madison, who still had her arms wrapped around my waist tightly, grinned. She was a pretty girl, with a wide, innocent smile. Her eyes were hazel, touching on the golden side, the same shade as her hair. Across her cheeks was just the lightest dusting of freckles. She looked like the pastel version of her mother. Water colour to Morgan’s oil canvas. “Happy Birthday, Aunty L.” She squeezed me tight before letting go.
Morgan strode past, her arms burdened with bags, while Alistair stood in the doorway. “Happy Birthday, L,” she said wryly. “Surprise.”
“Where’s your kitchen, Lauren? All I can seem to find are hallways and living areas.” Mother yelled from down the hall.
“This way, Mother,” I yelled back to her while I ushered Morgan through to the kitchen and told Alistair to stop standing in the doorway and come in.
“Oh,” Mother said when she found us again. She looked around the room disapprovingly. “Your kitchen is part of your second living area. How quaint.”
“It’s called open plan living,” Morgan said, dumping her bags and collapsing onto the couch. “Al, come grab these and put them in a room somewhere.” She turned to me. “Which room, L?”
“Must you do that, Morgan? Her name is Lauren, not L. And how do you not find it confusing to call both your husband and your sister by the same name?”
Morgan rolled her eyes. “They are not the same.”
“L and Al?” My mother blinked and held her eyebrows high, waiting for Morgan’s response.
Unfortunately, my mother and I looked undoubtedly similar. All my life, people told me I was the spitting image of her. Morgan took after Dad. Open face, dark eyes and deadly straight hair, only, Dad didn’t have his anymore.
“It’s perfectly clear in my mind,” my sister replied.
“Well, we don’t live in your mind, Morgan. We live out here in the world where L and Al sound exactly the same.”
Morgan rolled her head in my direction. “Lauren,” she said sarcastically sweetly. “Which room are we staying in?”
My mind went blank. I st
ared around the small room, now crowded with people and I couldn’t think of one thing to say.
Then the doorbell rang.
Gabe opened the door before I could get to it, and walked in carrying a single, white lily. He grinned divinely when he saw me, and it wasn’t until he was halfway across the room that he noticed the others. He stopped and held the flower out, clearing his throat. “Ah, Happy Birthday.”
“Who is this, Lauren?” Mother said, coming up behind me and staring at Gabe and his outstretched lily.
I stepped forward and took it from him. “Thank you.” I smiled and tried to express my panic in one desperate look before turning to my mother. “This is Gabe. I work with him and I was giving him a ride out to Peta’s tonight. She invited us over for a sort of birthday-work thing.”
“Does he know that a white lily is a symbol of death?”
Gabe looked at me, slightly panicked.
“I love it,” I assured him.
“I thought we were going out for dinner?” My father said, walking through the door. He must have finished his inspection of the outside of my house. “You said we were going out, Clementine.”
Gabe looked at me and mouthed, “Clementine? As in, ‘Oh my darlin’?”
“Of course we’re going out for dinner,” Mother said. “You can just call Peta and tell her to meet us at the restaurant. What’s that one you wanted to go to Morgan?”
During the conversation that ensued over which restaurant we should go to, Gabe sidled over to me. “A bit of a surprise, huh?”
Madison took the opportunity to stroll over to Gabe and smiled widely. “Hi. I’m Madison.” She held out her hand and smiled shyly when Gabe shook it. “Do you work with Aunty L in real estate?” Her eyes skittered excitedly over him and I had to stop myself from scolding her.
I left Gabe fixated in her gaze and went to call Peta from behind closed doors. “My mother is here,” I said as soon as she answered the phone. “No, correction. My mother, and father, sister, brother in law, and niece are here.”
“Fuck,” she muttered.