by Sabre Rose
“I want to see him,” I said.
“Just give him a few days to lick his wounds, okay?”
I said okay but as soon as he left, I quickly closed the café, leaving the cleaning of the cabinets for the morning staff and headed straight for the hospital. A nurse showed me to his room, scolding me for visiting after hours. He lay on the bed, shirtless, his chest covered in bruises and his eyes black. His lip was split and his jaw was painfully swollen. He didn’t say anything to me as I sat on the chair beside his bed and reached out to take his hand.
He pulled away. “I told him to tell you not to come.”
I placed my hand back in my lap. “He did. But I came anyway.”
“You shouldn’t have.”
I shrugged. “Well, I did.” I moved the chair a little closer. “Are you in pain?”
“I’m sorry,” he blurted out. “I was stupid, again. I just can’t seem to help myself. I never meant to do any of it. I never meant to punch that man, I just saw red when he shoved me away from you like that.”
I placed my hand back on the bed beside his, but not touching. He moved his fingers a fraction closer and I took them, my heart swelling when our skin connected. “Gabe, I—”
The door opened and I quickly withdrew my fingers, earning a withering look from Gabe just as a lady dressed in long flowing clothing, and looking like something out of the seventies, stepped inside and looked at Gabe questioningly. “Gable?” she asked.
“Mum, this is Lauren. We work together. Lauren, this is my mother, Lynda.”
She smiled sweetly at me as I got to my feet to shake her hand. She looked nothing like Gabe. Her hair was dark and streaked with grey, and the layered long skirts and flowing tops made her look like she should be adorned with flowers in her hair and driving a spray painted van.
“Nice to meet you,” she said.
“You too.” I wasn’t sure what else to say. Gabe obviously hadn’t told her anything about us, but I guess that was what I wanted. So why did I feel disappointed at being introduced to his mother as nothing more than a workmate?
Both Lynda and I stood awkwardly in the room, Gabe’s eyes firmly on his mother and not me. Finally, he spoke. “I’ll call you when I get out, okay, Lauren?” The way he said my name left me cold.
“Okay,” I stammered.
“Nice to meet you,” his mother called after me when I walked out the door. As soon as I was gone I heard her turn to Gabe and ask, “So who was she?”
“Nobody,” he replied. “Just someone I work with.”
* * *
After talking with Peta, she agreed I could have the next day off, so I spent it waiting for Gabe’s call. It never came. Finally, at nine o’clock in the evening, I admitted defeat and was walking down to the bedroom, Smudge purring contentedly in my arms when the doorbell rang. I dropped Smudge and flew to the door, pulling it open, desperately hoping that it would be Gabe on the other side.
“Gabe,” I breathed when I saw him. His hair was slicked to his face with droplets of rain and his white t-shirt clung to the swells of his chest. Even with the swelling around his jaw and the bruising around his eyes, I had never seen him look so sexy. He strode through the door forcefully and came at me, causing me to stumble backwards until I was pressed against the wall, arms caging me. His eyes were so blue, surrounded by the darkness, and they shone with an intensity that caused my knees to shake.
I reached out and stroked the swollen purple patch across his chin. “Are you okay?”
He didn’t answer, but instead, closed his eyes as my finger traced his jaw, breathing heavily. I drew my finger across his skin and tenderly ran it over the swelling of his lip, careful to avoid the open cut, although it was clear of blood.
“Are you okay?” I repeated breathlessly.
Gabe tilted his chin, inching towards me until our lips met and we kissed. It was gentle at first, his lips brushing against mine like a feather, but as he leaned closer, pressing his body to mine, his kiss intensified and deepened. I was scared it would hurt him and tried to pull away, but he pressed harder, not appearing to notice the way his lip dragged roughly against mine. My breathing hitched as he pressed every inch of his body against mine. His hardness pressed into me, begging for attention. Moving his kiss from my lips, he trailed across my cheek and moved down until he came to the soft flesh in the curve of my neck. I winced as he sunk his teeth in and sucked hard, marking me, claiming me with his mouth. But I didn’t protest.
Once content, Gabe drew back and ran his hand over the deep purple mark that now stained my neck, his eyes dark and hungry. His finger followed the line of my collarbone, leaving sparks of desire in its wake until it rested on the first button of my top. My heart was in my throat as he looked deeply into my eyes before they fell to my now heaving chest. Moving methodically, he undid each button and then slipped my shirt off my shoulders, allowing it to fall to the ground. Without speaking, he turned me around and unclasped my bra, my breasts swollen and heavy in anticipation. Falling to his knees, he pulled my pants and underwear down, his breath teasing my flesh with heat as his hands travelled down my sides and pulled my clothes out from under my feet.
Then he turned me around so I stood naked before him, my back pressed against the wall. He was still fully clothed as he bent his head and lay a trail of kisses from my neck down between my breasts, and over my stomach until he drew in a deep breath and groaned when he reached his destination. But he didn’t touch. He inhaled deeply before standing back up and turning me around again so my front was splayed against the wall. He held me there as he kissed every inch of flesh from my neck to my feet, his hands roaming over the places his mouth wasn’t.
For a moment, my awareness focussed on the open curtains of the window behind me, exposing us to anyone that chose to walk up the driveway, but it was only a fleeting thought as Gabe’s mouth scrambled my brain. My chest rose and fell heavily the more he teased with his mouth. Not one inch was left unattended. I’m not sure when he undressed, but soon he was naked and pressed against my back, grinding himself against me as his mouth came back to my neck.
“I don’t ever want another man to touch you,” he growled in my ear. But in that moment, other men didn’t exist. I wasn’t even aware of them being on the same planet.
He pushed me harder against the wall, flattening my breasts against the patterned wallpaper. I gasped as his cock pressed into the cheeks of my buttocks. “I want you.” Turning me around, Gabe slid down my body until I felt his tongue teasing me, begging for me to open to him. I reached down and ran my fingers through his hair, pulling and tugging the long strands as his tongue lapped, pushing him further into me until the intensity was almost too much.
“Stop,” I panted, scared I wouldn’t be able to resist the sensations that were now crashing against my skull, my chest, and pulsating in my very depths. But he only intensified his efforts, groaning gloriously as I cried out and dissolved over him, sliding down the wall and slumping to the floor. With no time to recover, Gabe dragged me under him and rose over me, his eyes dark and needy and determined. “I want you,” he said again. “All of you. Only you.” He entered me slowly and I arched off the floor, my insides tender and sensitive from their recent explosion. But Gabe didn’t stop. He rocked in and out, staring down at me from burning eyes. “I don’t care about the age difference,” he said, as he thrust into me. “I don’t care if I’m your dirty little secret.” He fucked me slow but hard, grunting each time he thrust. “I want you.”
As he started to move faster, my body responded, tightness and anticipation rising within me again. I reached up and ran my fingers over his glorious chest then over his shoulders, digging my nails into his back and leaving my mark. The hair that hung around his face jolted every time he moved, and I looked up at him, marvelling that this beautiful man wanted me. Not someone else. Not someone with perfect unmarked skin and flawless features. Me.
Tracing the bruising on his face, I pressed my hand to the
swollen flesh of his ribs. He winced, but it only made him move faster and harder. He drove into me time and time again and I whimpered with pleasure. He was so hard, I started to quiver around his length, unable to control myself for much longer. Pushing into me, he held himself still, looking into my eyes. “I want you, Lauren. And I will take whatever I can get.” And then he fucked me hard and fast until I couldn’t stand it anymore and surrendered myself, crying out as wave after wave of pleasure pulsated through me. I dug my nails into his arms and my insides gripped against his hardness, the cause of his undoing.
He slumped over me after he came, breathing heavily. “I love you, Lauren Greer,” he whispered in my ear. “I don’t ever want to be without you, whether anyone ever knows it or not.”
32
LAUREN
The next few days at work were filled with secret smiles and knowing glances. Gabe’s bruising faded and he was content with the way things were between us. He stopped sulking and I did my best to relax a little, even allowing him to pull me into the storage room for make-out sessions when no one was looking. By the time Christmas approached, we were in a good place and I was dreading leaving him to go visit my parents, even if it was only going to be for a couple of weeks.
“I’m going to miss this,” I said as we kissed, surrounded by bags of coffee beans and sleeves of takeaway cups.
Gabe nuzzled into my neck, cracking the door open and glancing out to the café to make sure it was still empty. His mouth had me hot and bothered and I desperately didn’t want to stop. Sometimes, just the mere sight of him made me wet. I reached down and pressed my hand under the waistband of his jeans. He sucked in his breath as I wrapped my fingers around his hardened cock.
“Careful,” he warned as I began to stroke his length, teasing and pleasuring him in ways I knew couldn’t be continued. He pulled away a little but I gripped harder. “Seriously,” he panted. “Careful.”
I jerked him back to me and stroked harder, attaching my mouth to his earlobe and nipping the flesh with my teeth.
He sucked in air sharply. “Mark’s going to walk in from his smoke break any minute. We should stop.”
I removed his hand from where it was placed against the door and guided it between my legs, knowing the wetness and warmth he would find.
“Oh god, Lauren.” His fingers moved over my swollen clit before sinking inside. “Lauren,” he panted.
I moved my hand faster, wrapping it around his bulging cock which strained against his jeans until Gabe jerked his hand out from my pants. “Shit,” he said, pulling away from me. “Shit, shit, shit. Mark’s back.” Gabe looked down at the large bulge in his pant. “What am I supposed to do with this?” he said, looking up at me. I reached over and ran my hand over him, delighting as he twitched in response. “You’re not helping, Lauren.”
I laughed and pushed open the door, grabbing an unneeded bag of coffee beans. “See you out there.”
For the rest of the shift, Gabe couldn’t keep his eyes off me. Every time I bent down, I would get back up to find his eyes attached to my backside or my chest. Every time I concentrated on a task, I would look back up to find him fixed on the way my tongue ran over my lips. And every time we found ourselves alone, he would stride over to me, forcefully bringing his lips to mine and shoving his hand down my pants, groaning each time he still found me wet.
After another close call when we repelled from each other before Mark’s entrance, Mark stood leaning in the doorway of the kitchen and crossed his arms. “So?” he asked.
My heart raced in my chest, certain that this was the time we had been caught.
“What are everyone’s plans for Christmas?”
Gabe breathed a sigh of relief and laughed even though there was nothing he should have been laughing about.
“I’m heading up to my parents’ place for a couple of weeks,” I said, turning my back on a chuckling Gabe. “You?”
“Home with the family,” Mark said dryly. He looked between Gabe and me. “As much fun as it is seeing you two squirm and trying to hide it, I know.”
“Know what?” I asked, attempting to look innocent.
“About you and him.”
The grin that overcame Gabe’s face was huge and he lifted an eyebrow at me. “I didn’t say a word,” he insisted. “I swear.”
“He didn’t,” Mark agreed, reaching into his pocket. “Here.” He extended his hand to Gabe. “I think I owe you this.”
Gabe took the notes and fanned them out, laughing. “Cheers,” he said. “This will come in handy for Christmas. There’s a certain lady I need to buy for and she did kind of help me earn it.”
I couldn’t help but roll my eyes.
Our shift finished and it seemed no time at all before Gabe was leaning through the window of my car, planting a kiss on my forehead, my bags resting on the back seat.
“Do you have to go?”
“It’s only for a couple of weeks,” I said.
“It will feel like forever. You’ve got to send me naughty pictures, okay? I’ll need to relieve the pressure while you’re away and you are kind of leaving me with rather blue balls since we never got to finish what we started earlier. Unless—” He tugged on the door handle but it was locked. “Never mind,” he muttered and feigned a pout.
We kissed goodbye and soon I was making the four-hour trip to my parents’ house. Gabe interrupted my journey with numerous phone calls and the four-hour trip soon turned into five. It was dark when I finally pulled up the drive. Morgan and Alistair’s car was already there so they must have arrived before I did. Mother came to the door before I cut the engine, and stood with arms crossed in the light of the doorway.
“You’re late,” she said. “Your father has been worried sick, afraid that you had driven yourself over the edge of a cliff by travelling this late at night.”
I opened the door and hopped out, grabbing my bags from the back seat. “Hello, Mother,” I said, leaning over to kiss her cheek and earning a wink from Dad as he came up behind her.
She swatted me away and threw a tea towel over her shoulder, reminding me of Peta, before retreating inside.
“How’s my girl?” Dad asked, patting me on the back. He had never been much of a hugger.
“Your girl is wonderful,” I said.
Dad lifted an eyebrow. “Wonderful, you say?”
“Wonderful,” I repeated.
Morgan, Alistair and Madison appeared out of the lounge and Madi threw her arms around me. “Merry Christmas, Aunty L,” she said excitedly as I hugged her back. Morgan merely nodded in my direction and Alistair stretched out to shake my hand.
“Did you bring me a present?” Madi asked, scanning the bag I carried. “I can go put it under the tree.”
I looked to Morgan questioningly. “A tree?” Mother had never allowed us to have a Christmas tree growing up. In her mind, having a tree did nothing but distract from the true message.
“She’s getting soft in her old age,” Morgan whispered.
Mother, coming in from the kitchen carrying a tray of hot chocolates, squinted her eyes and shook her head at Morgan. “I heard that, young lady. Your mother might be getting old, but her hearing is just fine.”
Christmas Eve was spent singing carols in our house. Mother would pull up a chair to the old electronic organ sitting in a corner of the lounge, and the notes of Silent Night and The First Noel filled the room. As much as I was dreading the time spent away from Gabe, it was good to be home.
Gabe texted through most of the evening, updating me on his mother’s strange habits, the organic, dairy and alcohol-free egg nog she had made, the quality of the weed they smoked, the vegan meal for dinner. The way he explained it all had me thinking that it was my family that was the saner of the two. Mother kept looking at me disapprovingly each time my phone buzzed, but I ignored her looks and replied each time a text came through, trying not to smile at his comical descriptions of his mother.
“So,” I said, putting the ph
one down, and turning to Alistair once the organ music had stopped. “How’s the app coming along?”
Alistair’s eyes lit up. “I sold it.”
“Did you not notice the new car in the driveway?” Morgan asked proudly.
“It was dark,” I replied.
“Made a pretty bundle on it too,” Alistair said. “At first, I was worried as there were certain hurdles I just couldn’t overcome, but then some developer got wind of it and offered to buy it off me. They were way ahead of me in the game, anyway. In fact, there were a number of apps already out there, but they still saw the value in mine. I couldn’t believe my ears when he mentioned the figure. It’s done very nicely for us.”
“Would have been better if you had you actually worked out those kinks,” Morgan said, taking a sip on her second hot chocolate.
I could have murdered a wine, but Mother refused to have alcohol in the house.
Alistair swallowed and smiled tightly. “I’m sure your new wardrobe would disagree. And the jewellery. And the makeup. Oh, and of course the students who now have access to a whole lot of new instruments.”
“They were ordered long before you sold the app, Al.”
“But they weren’t paid for,” Alistair said firmly.
I smirked a little as he held his ground.
“We’re all very proud of you, Alistair,” Dad said, interrupting Morgan and Alistair’s staring competition. “Aren’t we, Morgan?”
Morgan took another sip of her hot chocolate and simply shrugged her shoulders. “Would be nicer if we didn’t have the nuisance lawsuit to deal with now.”
Alistair rolled his eyes and turned to me. “There’s another developer claiming I stole his idea, all because we used the same graphic on one of our marketing packages. It will all wash over as soon as the judge sees the evidence.”
“Hopefully,” Morgan muttered.
I took out my phone and flicked through a text to Gabe.