Saviour

by Lesley Jones

  An hour later I'm sitting at the table eating a medium rare rib eye steak. Cooked to perfection, by Mr Perfection, Jacket potato and salad, sipping on a nice cold glass of wine and looking across at Gabriel as we both tuck in.

  “Did you read the text I sent you earlier?” He asks. My stomach flips. Here we go, I put down my knife and fork, take a sip on my wine, and say as casually as possible “Yeah....what's that all about, something you need to discus, sounds very serious, should I be worried?”

  I take another sip of my wine, I am shaking inside, what is he about to tell me?

  “May be. But I hope not, I was wondering if you wanted to come and stay at mine for the rest of the week. I have to go and pick paint and flooring for the rental and as you’re going to be living there, I thought you might wanna help me chose? But, if I'm picking you up and dropping you off I don't want to run the risk of bumping into your husband and causing you any more trouble. It's just a thought. You would be in your own bedroom, if that’s what you want, and have your own bathroom. There's no ulterior motive, other than that I enjoy your company and I would feel better knowing you are safe”

  He tilts his head to one side and gives me the most amazing smile that affects me right between my legs and makes me shift in my chair. I blink, several times, trying to take in what he's saying.

  “You want me to move in with you?” I make it sound like it’s a ludicrous idea and regret my tone instantly. He looks down at his food. “Sorry, bad idea? I just thought it would be a safer option than you staying here. I’ve worried all day about you being here on your own, and it would only be till the weekend. I've taken the rest of the week off to get your place fixed up so we should be able to get you in by then but if you would rather stay here, that's no problem, like I say, it was just a thought.”

  He swallows, hard, and looks up at me through those lovely long lashes. How can someone with fair hair, have such a great tan and such dark lashes? Must be the Italian gene from his mum’s side but he doesn't look remotely Italian. More like your typical Aussie boy, tall, tanned and gorgeous but he speaks Italian, imagine, a man that looks like that, who smells like he does, with the name of an angel, imagine him making beautiful love to you, speaking words of love and desire in Italian, imagine….

  “Yes, no, yes, no? I'm dying here Lauren”

  “Sorry” I say as I jump back into reality. “Do you really think it’s a good idea so soon, what if Jay finds out, he would kill me, and everyone would think I've left him for you”

  “Lauren, your homeless, I'm offering you somewhere to stay, not asking you for a lifelong commitment and it would only be till the weekend, like I said, no strings” He pauses, tilts his head and gives me a devilish smile. “Maybe ropes, belts or handcuffs. But definitely no strings”

  My stomach lurches at the thought of handcuffs and a gazillion dirty, filthy thoughts race through my obviously perverted mind. We stare at each other for a few seconds, grinning like idiots. He wiggles his eyebrows up and down. Ropes, belts, handcuffs and Italian lingo? Oh my fucking, fucking for fucks sake, I can’t think clearly and my mouth opens and words come out, that I’m not entirely sure that I agree with but I say them anyway.

  “Okay, I'll come and stay at yours, no strings. Definitely, maybe, belts, ropes handcuffs and possibly even, some Italian? And only if I can stay in your room, with you” Shit, I’ve agreed to move in with him, I’ve known him a matter of minutes and I’ve just agreed to move in with him. He blows out as if he's been holding his breath, just as Jo walks through the door.

  “Mmmmm smells good in here, hope you saved me some? I'm starved, you two look very cosy. Lauren, your husband has rung me nine times today. I've told him over and over I don't know where you are but I don't know if he's believing me. I've been worried sick that he would turn up here while I was out”

  Gabriel gets up from the table, leans towards me, and says into my ear…

  “Non vedo l’ora di scopare te baby”

  What was that? What did he say to me? I don’t think I care, it just sounded so hot, so, so hot. He moves over to the hob and turns the gas back on and proceeds to cook Jo a steak, whilst I resist the temptation to take him to the bedroom and fuck him senseless. I am squeezing my pelvic floor so tight, I feel it in my throat. If I were to cough. Let’s just say it would be messy!

  “Ohhh, he really is just too much Loz, you do not want to be letting this one go. Ever”

  Oh Jo! You really have no idea.

  “I’ve been thinking the same Jo” Gabriel says. We both stare at him. He wants me to never let him go?

  “Not about never letting me go. Although I'm always open to persuasion...But about it not being safe here for her. I've said she should come and stay at mine, just until the weekend, I should have her place ready to move into by then”

  Jo has sat down at the table, kicked off her shoes and poured herself a wine. She looks across at me.

  “Well, it's not a bad idea, there's no way Jay would know to look for you there and if it’s only for a few days. I would feel happier than leaving you here on your own. If I wasn't so busy I would take time off but I just can't right now. But, at the end of the day, it's up to you, you can stay here as long as you like. Or you can go shack up with wonder boy here, who you've only known for a matter of hours, I won't judge, I swear” she smiles and winks at me.

  An hour later we are pulling off the esplanade and onto Gabe’s drive. He presses a thingo on his visor and a set of gates open. He pulls up in front of a very modern double story house.

  There are three guest bedrooms downstairs, all with double doors opening onto a decked area that leads to an in ground pool and spa. At the opposite end of the garden is a Bali style Tiki Hut, housing a bar with a dart board, and pool table, kitchen, shower and toilette.

  Upstairs, there's a huge meals/family room combined with a kitchen. There are floor to ceiling glass and timber doors opening onto a decked veranda, from which there are views right across Port Phillip Bay and the city of Melbourne, the lights from the office blocks and apartments making it look like Gotham City in the dark. There's a hallway off the family room. Along this are two more bedrooms both with doors that open onto the veranda and another spa in the corner as you come out of the doors of the master bedroom. I just keep repeating "wow" and "oh wow" as he shows me each room.

  The master suit is huge. Double doors open to a bedroom with a huge timber bed in the middle. There are matching bedside tables and a long low unit against the wall opposite the bed with a huge plasma screen above it. To the left are the same style tall glass and timber doors opening onto the veranda, the views and the spa. Behind the bed is a long walk through wardrobe and to the left is a huge open bathroom/wet room, next door, is a smaller version of the master also simply stunning.

  I have nothing to unpack as I have nothing. Nothing at all. Gabriel brings me a T-shirt and a pair of his jocks and says “jump in the shower, then put these on, I'll pop to the supermarket and grab you a tooth brush and stuff”

  “Stuff?” I question.

  “Well, yeah, stuff, you know, deodorant, face cream, all that sort of stuff women need”

  “Okay, I'll take a shower; you go get me some stuff” I say with a smile, touched by his consideration.

  I shoo him out of the room. The high pressure jets on the shower are heaven on my aching body and the shower gel smells divine, fresh, citrusy and of him. When I get out, there's body lotion, face cream, cleansing wipes, deodorant, a comb and a toothbrush, all laying on the bed. I slather the lotion all over me, put on deodorant and then pull on his shorts and T-shirt and drag the comb through my hair, finishing off with face cream and the cleaning of my teeth. Once I'm looking fairly presentable I go in search of Gabe. The doors in the family room are open and I can see him leaning against the balcony, looking out across the bay.

  I'm wearing Uggs, his jocks and his oversize T. He turns around and looks at me as I'm looking at him. He leans back against the balcon
y and wets his top lip with his tongue, I sigh, obvious I know but I can’t help it, he’s just so lush and just the thought of that tongue, on me, in me, I give a little involuntary shudder as I think of how that might feel. I really am becoming obsessed with doing bad things with this man.

  “Come here”

  I walk to where he’s standing and stop right in front of him. Anticipation is building inside me and making my breaths come quickly and my heart to feel like it’s about to beat out of my mouth. He lifts my chin with his index finger, looks me in the eyes and says, “you look beautiful, all fresh, and squeaky clean”

  He breathes in the scent on my skin and then kisses me so, so gently on the lips. I close my eyes and stand on tip toes so that I can increase the pressure, my head swims. I don't know how long I stand there with my eyes closed and mouth open after he has pulled away but I'm brought back by Gabe’s voice, “come inside” he orders “it’s too cold out here”

  He leads me back inside by the hand and I sit on a stool at the kitchen bench as he gets himself a beer and pours me a wine. Marlborough Sav Blanc no less, my favourite, how does he know?

  He sits on the stool next to me and pulls it closer, so close I can feel his breath on my body. My skin automatically tingles and I get goose bumps, my nipples harden and I can feel my heart pounding in my ears, I slowly let out a breath as I sip my wine .

  “That shower was fantastic” Is all I can think of saying.

  “Glad you enjoyed it”

  We sit in silence for a bit, I have a million thoughts running through my head until he leans in and kisses me; just a little inoffensive kiss on my forehead, my mind goes blank. He slides off his stool and opens my legs so he can stand in between them. I run my fingers through his hair and sigh, “What’s wrong?” he asks

  “Nothing just a bit achy, the shower was great, I think it’s just where I am beginning to relax and release some of the tension that’s been weighing on my shoulders these past days, weeks, months even, you don’t notice it’s there till it starts to go”

  “Didn't that little kiss help take your mind off things?” He pouts and gives me his best puppy dog eyes, which makes my stomach do a little back flip, which is a strange reaction as puppy dogs don’t generally have this effect on me. I need to stop this rambling conversation I’m having with myself, in my head and answer him.

  “Indeed it did but there are other parts of me you could kiss that would take my mind off them more. My forehead isn't really one of my erogenous zones” WTF, what am I saying? Who mentioned anything about erogenous zones?

  “Oh I am sorry. I didn't realise you wanted me to kiss you on your erogenous zones, my mistake”

  He licks his lips, still looking at me, and then kisses me gently on the mouth. My hands are still in his hair and I pull at it slightly. He kisses me harder and whispers.

  “Dya fancy getting stoned?”

  NOT what I was expecting! Hmm, is this a test, is he trying to work out how old and frumpy I am, I wonder?

  “It’s fine if you don’t, if it’s not your thing. I just thought it might help you relax, your mind and your muscles and help you sleep better” He says into my ear, in-between kisses on my mouth .I really cannot think straight all the time he continues with this

  “Sounds like a plan” I shrug like it’s something I do every day. I’m feeling a bit chilly so I go off to the bedroom to get my hoodie. When I return, he's on the huge leather sofa, just about to light up. I sit next to him and curl my legs underneath me.

  After only a couple of puffs I feel myself relax and some of the tension leave my body. We smoke the joint between us. Then we sit, for a while in a comfortable silence. Then Gabriel asks

  “When was the last time you did this?”

  “Last Christmas actually, we’ve always been open and honest with the boys about drugs, Ryder was still living at home then, he had friends over and one of them asked if we minded if they sparked up. Rather they did it at home, than somewhere they could get arrested so we said yeah fine. They were happy to share and I hadn't had a smoke in about two years before then so I went for it” I reply

  “Just you or did your husband kick back as well?"

  “No just me, Jay hates smoking, in any form. I've made cakes for him in the past but not in years. We've tried different things, we were big clubbers for a while in the nineties so we dabbled in this and that but we already had the boys and not a lot of disposable income so it was just an occasional thing. Before that, just the usual weed and whizz at school and college” I pause for a second and study his face as he listens to me and he does, listen I mean and it suddenly dawns on me how lonely I’ve been within my marriage, for such a very long time, I swallow these thoughts down and carry on. “Remember, I was a mother at twenty one and so have always had to have an ‘all things in moderation’ type attitude. Perhaps if Jay smoked more weed he would be more chilled and we wouldn't be in this mess”

  “Thanks” he says sarcastically. I'm confused, why the sarcasm? “That makes me feel wanted” he continues, “if you wasn’t in this mess, then you wouldn't be here with me now”

  “Oh yeah, sorry, I didn't mean it like that” I lock eyes with him and we instantly both start to laugh. We talk shit and laugh and drink beer and talk more shit and Gabe laughs while I giggle snort, which makes him laugh some more. We are lying on our backs in the middle of his family room and find something amusing in every topic from childbirth and football to pap smears. I feel…Free, content and without pain. And at three in the morning, we are starving and Gabe makes us pancakes.

  ~

  I awake the next day and again take a while to get my bearings. My head is on Gabe’s stomach, my arm slung across his hips. He's wearing just his jocks and my eyes wander across his Abs and that V that runs down the front of his hips. His arm is around me and I'm hot and a little bit uncomfortable but I don't want to wake him. I turn my head slightly and kiss his belly and as I do he sighs and ever so slightly tilts his hips up towards me. He has a sheet lying over one leg but the other is bent out to the side and I can clearly see the bulge at his crotch. God I really want to lean across and reach inside his pants. I want to climb over and get on top. I want to lower myself down on to him until I can feel him inside of me, filling me and then I want to ride him into next week. So what's stopping me? I'm now a free woman, I’m definitely old and wise enough to know what I'm doing, so really, what’s stopping me? I can do what I like, so, why can't I just go for it? Especially as I want it so badly. Confidence is the key and that is most definitely something I am severely lacking. Gabe shifts and puts his own hand in his shorts and adjusts himself and thoughts of my dream pop into my head and for some reason I get an uncontrollable fit of the giggles. I manage to keep quiet but can't stop my shoulders shaking up and down and I even have tears rolling down my cheeks and begin to feel slightly out of control.

  “Something funny down there?” Gabe asks and I can't control my laughter any longer. It's painful physically but cathartic mentally. I lay back against the pillow, cross my arms over my face and laugh some more, out of nowhere though, my laughter turns to tears and great, heaving, wracking sobs escape from me. Gabe pulls me into him as gently as possible and just holds me while I cry. I'm not sure if the drugs from the night before have anything to do with it but I just feel extremely sad today.

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  We end up hanging around the house for most of the day. We look at paint and flooring on line but I don't physically make it out to the shops. Mainly we talk and talk about anything and everything. I feel so acutely aware of him and his presence actually changes me physically, I switch from hot to cold continuously, depending on how close he is to me and whether or not he is speaking, and sometimes it’s just simply watching him watching me, I can be mid-sentence and the fact that this man is listening so intently to what I’m saying, completely throws me and I lose all track of my words. I cannot believe I have slept in a bed with him for three nights and we still
haven’t had sex, and that worries me a little, my horrible insecure self makes an appearance and forces the thought into my head that it’s because he doesn’t find me physically attractive but I try really hard to push thoughts like that aside. Gabriel eventually goes out to the supermarket and buys in some food and grog and because of waking at such a late hour; the day seems to have flown by. We cook dinner together, just a simple pasta and sauce. I’m feeling fairly relaxed and surprisingly, quite happy compared to when I first woke. Gabe’s iPhone is playing, the music system blasts the sound throughout the house and out to the deck and around to the pool area. We are both singing along to Silver chair’s Straight Lines as we cook.

  The weather is unseasonably warm for the end of September so we eat out on the veranda and watch the sun go down over the bay. As we sit back and admire the view, sipping on a nicely chilled Sav Blanc, I unconsciously roll my shoulders. They still ache but I think it’s more because I'm starting to relax, not because I'm tense. It's surprising what a physical effect mental stress can have on your body. I drink my wine and with Adele’s First Love playing over the speakers, I reflect... It’s been over a month since Jason and I had managed a civil word to each other. When it was good between us, it was really good. That was the last time I had sex with Jay, it was the last time I had had sex with anyone, even myself. That evening, Jay had cooked us a couple of steaks on the barbie and we had sat looking out over our own pool, drinking beer and discussing taking a trip away in October. My husband, at forty nine, is still fit, toned, tall, dark and very handsome, he has turned heads all of our married life and until recently, my desire for him had been as strong as it had ever been. My thoughts turn back to the last time we had sex. We had gone to bed that night and made slow beautiful love, he knew my body inside out and knew exactly what turned me on, the only issues we had ever had in the bedroom were when the boys were young and I was often too tired for sex, although just lately we have had issues too, now I understand why. My husband has been fucking someone else. I thought he had just gone off me, which, I suppose he has, otherwise, why else would he be dipping his wick elsewhere?