Lost in the Moment (A Savioe Family Novel)

by Ginny Atkinson

  I placed a hand on her shoulder. “Marie, luv, it’s okay. He just wants to make sure you’re safe from the big bad wolf.”

  She spun around gaping at me. “You’re not that bad.”

  I ran the back of my knuckles down her cheek. “I’m not an angel, pet. Your brother knows that.”

  She closed her eyes and leaned into my caress. “Fine. But if he or those fucktards try anyting, I’ll make dem wish dey had never been born.” She leaned up and kissed me on my cheek before walking over to the table.

  I sauntered over to Beau, leaned against the back of Grace and crossed my arms across my chest drawing the coat tight against my shoulders. “So, mate. What do you want to discuss?” Beau stared at me not saying a word. His hazel gaze gave nothing away. I suddenly felt the need to shuffle my feet like an errant child. Instead, I let out an impatient snort and pushed away from Grace. His two friends stood at the tailgate of the truck leaning against it watching us.

  Beau placed a hand on my shoulder slowly leading me back to the bed of his truck. I shrugged his hand off and took a step back away from them. There is no way I was going to fall for this trick. With my legs braced apart awaiting their move, I glared at Scott then Payne before settling my flinty gaze on Beau. Mustering all the contempt I could I raised my eyebrow and demanded. “What do you want, Beau?”

  He glanced over at them nodding once. They pushed away from the down tailgate and encircled me. Shit! They were going to try to jump me. My senses now on high alert I prepared myself for their first move.

  Beau scrubbed his face with his hand showing his agitation. “Drez, this thing wasn’t supposed to go this way and you know it.”

  “Just how did you envision this Beau?” My jaw clenched just waiting for someone to try to attack.

  “You’re supposed to protect her from Jackson and the rest of them. Not move in and claim her for yourself.” He took a step toward me.

  “The rest of them. Like the two behind me?” I gestured to them with a slight nod of my head. “I thought we all agreed no one but the five of us would know. Now you bring in these bumders?”

  Scott whispered to Payne trying not to attract attention. “What did he call us?”

  “Fuck if I know.” Payne answered.

  “You know what, mate. You got me. Yes I want her, a blind man would. Does that mean I’m going to give her a good stuffing? No.” I took a step forward letting my anger get the best of me and towered over Beau as I got in his face and spat at him. “Do you want to know why? I am living in your house and I would never do anything to disrespect your parents after they’ve opened their doors for me.”

  Luke ran over to us, stepping in between his brother and me, and tried to diffuse the potential violence. “Beau. I need a word with you. Now!”

  Beau narrowed his eyes at me as he allowed his brother to pull him next to the Harley. Luke stood facing us, his face turning red as he rapidly spoke to Beau. I couldn’t quite catch what he was saying to him but I recognized the aggressive stance and the sudden slump of Beau’s shoulders signaling his acquiescence.

  He ran a hand over his shoulder as he rolled it and shook his head at Luke. He then turned back to us and stomped over to me. “I want to apologize for my attack on you earlier. I was out of line.” He hissed out between his clenched teeth.

  My eyebrow rose in question at his obvious forced apology. I had two options here. Accept his blatant bullshit apology and shrug the incident off for what I thought it was, a brother trying to protect his little sister from some guy sniffing around her. Or disregard it and ensure that this growing hostility between us blossomed into a full on hatred. I choose the former. I nodded at him. “There is no need for that. If I had a sister I would have reacted the same way.”

  I heard Scott let out a sigh of relief. Payne shook his head and snorted before he walked away.

  Beau placed his hand on my shoulder and I tensed. “Thanks, man. I normally don’t act like that much of an ass. It’s just….” He ran his hand over his face. “Hell, I don’t know.”

  I shrugged at him before heading back over to the table and took a seat next to Marie. Charles was flipping through a graphic novel at the end of the table completely clueless as to what just happened. Jess was talking to Roxy about some guy she wanted to shag as Luke turned his glacial gaze to me. His brow twitched up a scant millimeter as I nodded my head to him.

  Luke took a drink from Roxy’s milkshake before he leaned against the metal table. “You owe me.”

  Marie inhaled a sharp breath, pinched my leg and whispered. “What happened?”

  “I’ll tell you on the ride home.” I pushed her hair over her shoulder before placing a chaste kiss on her temple.

  *****

  Marie

  The ride back to school after lunch was a quiet one. I could tell that Beau was fuming over something but I didn’t have enough nerve to ask what it was. When we pulled into the parking lot and exited the truck, I pulled Charles off to the side.

  “Hey, find out what the shit at lunch was about.” I whispered in his ear.

  His face scrunched up in confusion. “What shit at lunch?”

  “Seriously? You didn’t see Beau and Drez almost get into it and Luke run over to stop it?” I gasped in shock.

  “No.” He shook his head slowly.

  “Gawd, get your nose out of those comics for once and pay attention.” I smacked his arm as we headed up the steps to the commons. “Ask Luke what he said to Beau to make them stop. If you do this for me I’ll take your dish duty for a week.”

  He scratched the side of his face. “Make it twin duty for a week and you got a deal.”

  Dammit! I didn’t want that. They would be out for blood since they’d been caught pranking Drez. I bit my lip and thought about just how badly I wanted to know everything. “If I take twin duty you take my dish days.”

  “Deal.” He stuck out his hand so we could shake on it. I clasped his hand and shook it. “I’ll text you with what I find out.”

  He rushed away from me toward his third block class bumping into one of the science geeks on his way. He stopped, bent down and helped her pick up her books before continuing on his mad dash down the hall. The girl just stood there in awe before pushing her glasses back up her nose and ducked her head as she entered the Science pod.

  I walked over to my locker shaking my head and pulled my bag out. That boy needs to be more attentive when he walks. Speaking of attentive, Drez really needs to stop giving me so much attention. It was making it harder to keep my heart separated from this faux relationship. I know I almost melted in his arms today when he whispered that in my ear. Gawd, that was hot.

  Of course, I could just go along with his want of making this a real thing. I was nearly ready to tell him that, until I found out that he and Beau had a clash in school then again with that mess at lunch. There was no way I could go along with something that could end up with either of them hurt. I closed my locker as the warning bell rang. Charles better have some information for me before we get home.

  *****

  By fourth block, I still had yet to hear from that little shit of a brother. I pulled my phone out under the table and sent him a quick message.

  Me: Um… find out nething?

  I slipped the phone under my sleeve when my math teacher looked up. He scanned the class to see if we were copying the work on the board. I ducked my head and picked up my pencil pretending to still be working on it. My sleeve vibrated against my arm. I placed it under the table waiting for the teacher to look back down before checking the message.

  Charles: Yeah. Luke reamed Beau over it being his idea in the first place and told him to back the hell off or he’d tell mom and dad about everything.

  Me: Oh okay.

  That was it? I shrugged putting my phone back in my purse. I’d have at least thought Luke would mention that Drez was still helping with Roxy or something like that. I picked up my pencil and quickly copied down the rest of the math pr
oblems. We only had a few minutes left before the end of school. Hopefully, by the time everyone got home things will have calmed down some.

  My purse vibrated against the metal leg of the chair. The teacher popped up his head and glared at me. “Ms. Savioe was that your phone?”

  I cringed when he said my name. No one here pronounced it right except for my French teacher. They always managed to make it sound like savory or sav- oie. I rolled my eyes and lied to him. “That’s Sah-vwah and no it wasn’t my phone.”

  He narrowed his eyes in my direction, shook his head and scolding me just as the bell rang. “Ms. Sah-vwah, next time leave it in your locker or put it on silent or I will take it and read whatever message you received to the class.”

  I grabbed my bag, gathered my things and walked out of his class. Read my messages to the class? Yeah I’m not going to let him do that. I fished my phone out of my bag and pulled up the text.

  Luke: Next time ask me yourself. So you don’t get stuck with the twins. LOL good luck with that.

  That jackass. I dropped my phone back in my bag and yanked open my locker. I bet he is having a big laugh over that deal. I shoved my math book in the locker and jerked out my history. Mom and dad must have dropped him on his head when he was a baby. That’s the only explanation for him. I snorted before grabbing my French book.

  “Hey, Marie!” Scott yelled drawing my attention to him as he and Hunter jogged over to me.

  “Wha’ y’all want?” I slammed my locker and turned to face them with my book clutched to my chest.

  Hunter stopped next to me and draped an arm over my shoulder while Scott stood in front of me giving his friend a nervous look before he asked. “You coming to my party Friday night?”

  “Uh.… Why?” I tried to shrug Hunter’s arm off me only to get a soft chuckle and his arm tighten around my neck. I took a deep breath trying to control my annoyance. “Can you remove your arm?”

  “That would be really painful considering it’s attached.” He laughed in my ear.

  I rolled my eyes and elbowed him in the ribs. “Then I suggest you keep it away from me or you will find out just how painful it can be.”

  Scott hid his snicker behind the back of his hand. “I’m serious, girl. Come to my party. Bring Drez with you. You guys will have the time of your lives.”

  “I’ll mention it to him, okay? I don’t know if we have any plans that night or not.” I elbowed Hunter again when he put his arm back over my shoulders.

  Scott nodded rubbing his hand over his now shaved head. “That’s cool. That’s cool. Jackson, leave. I need to ask her something.”

  Hunter tightened his arm around me in a lame attempt at a hug and winked at me before walking away.

  “Tell Beau to make an appearance at this one, please? I have this girl coming by that just might interest him.” Scott leaned against the locker shoving his hands in his pockets.

  I raised my eyebrow at him. “You want me to help you pimp out my brother?”

  He smirked at me. “Never thought of it like that but yeah. Honestly though, I just wanted to make sure he is occupied so you could actually have some fun.”

  “Why would you care?” I frowned at him. What game was he playing?

  “I know what it’s like to have your older siblings try to run your life. Hell, my brothers held me down this morning and shaved my head just to prove they could.” He rubbed his head again before his expression became serious. “At lunch, I felt bad for you and the Brit. It must really be hard to get any alone time with your big brother breathing down your necks. Consider this a token of camaraderie from one younger sibling to another. Plus, I want to let your man know that I’m on his side. So think about it okay?” He lightly tapped his fist to my shoulder in a sign of friendliness before walking off.

  My eyes widened before shaking my head. “That was weird.”

  *****

  Later that night long after the twins were tucked in bed and everyone else was in their rooms, I snuck downstairs to grab a bottle of water. At least that’s what I told myself I was doing. I never got the chance to talk to Drez after school. He had an interview at the garage where Beau worked so I had to bum a ride from my brother. Needless to say, that was an awkward ride.

  Then after all of our homework was done, I was saddled with the twins the rest of the night. I barely had the chance to say hi to him when he walked in through the front door. At dinner, he announced that Tommy was going to put him on the next schedule. Beau congratulated him in his normal fashion by grunting. After dinner while Charles washed the dishes, I was stuck with the little monsters. They were not in a good mood.

  Apparently, mom had punished both of them for this morning’s key incident and they were plotting their revenge. I caught them twice trying to get into Drez’s room to plant something in his bed and once messing with his razors upstairs. I know Remi disappeared for a few minutes while I was wrestling with Dev over the shaving cream. Lord only knows what he managed to do in that time.

  I tiptoed to the kitchen and walked over to the fridge. I gently opened it, grabbed a bottle and headed back to my room. I glanced down the hall, noticed that his light was still on and quietly slipped down the corridor. I looked at the bottom of my father’s study door to see if he was still in there then pressed my ear against it to see if I could hear anything. After a few moments of debating with myself if it was empty, I slipped passed it and made my way to Drez’s room.

  I softly rapped on his door before slipping inside carefully closing it behind me. When my eyes adjusted to the dim light, I noticed he was lying in bed with just a sheet covering him. His arm was slung over his forehead, mouth slightly agape. His long lashes rested on his cheeks. He looked so peaceful.

  My gaze traveled down his body and my breath hitched in my throat as I took in the sight of his muscled chest. His other arm disappeared under the sheet covering his bent knee. Damn I shouldn’t be in here. I turned toward the door with every intention of leaving and stopped when I heard my father’s voice. Crap, he was in his study! I glanced back at Drez making sure he was still sleeping before I knelt down by the dresser and opened the vent.

  When we first moved into this house, Beau used to sleep in here until his room above the garage was finished. He found out that if you wanted to eavesdrop on someone’s conversation in the study just open the vent. I laid down on my stomach with my ear to the opening and listened.

  “Good morning, Inspector. Yes, this is the attorney from the States calling about Marcus Dresden the second’s case. My interest in it is largely due to his son whom is currently residing in my home.” My father paused, I heard him take a drink and then clear his throat. “Yes, I received that fax a few moments ago. That’s why I called. I had a few questions. First, if the uncle was suspected then why was he allowed to leave? I see. No verifiable motive? Well, I think I could help with that. I have some information here that shows one Robert Cooper was in financial straits. He had over one hundred fifty thousand dollars in gambling debts; he was in an upside down mortgage and had been fired from his job prior to visiting his in-laws. I say the money is a damn good motive for killing. Yes, I’ll fax everything I have over to you. My second question was about the young child, Nicolas. This says that his body was never recovered. Has that changed? Really? Can that be proved? I see.”

  What do you see? Come on, Dad give me more here. I chewed on my lip and strained to hear more of the conversation.

  “Yes, Marcus is living here. No, I have not mentioned anything to him. I did see that stipulation in the will, yes. That came as a shock to me. Why? Well, he was living out of his car after he left his abusive uncle; he had no job, and no food. So finding out he had that kind of lineage came as a surprise. Why would his parents keep that information from him until he turned twenty-one? Oh, so he has the right to deny it? I didn’t think that was possible. Uh-huh…. I see…. So he’d have to deliver an instrument of disclaimer to the Lord Chancellor within twelve months of his twenty-
first birthday if he chooses to deny it, then his first-born would receive it after his death. That is interesting…. Yes, I am ignorant when it comes to the peerage. If it wasn’t for my wife watching Downton Abbey and reading those Regency Era romance novels, it wouldn’t even cross my mind. Yes, she is fascinated by it all.” He chuckled. “Yes, she cried her eyes out too when that happened to Sybil and Matthew. No, the new season doesn’t air here until January. Really? What does Bates do about it? Interesting.”

  I rolled my eyes and started to get up to leave when I heard him clear his throat again. “Yes, I hope that helps further your investigation. Once that can be proven about Nicolas, give me a ring and I’ll make the arrangements. I won’t mention anything to Marcus just in case it is false. No need to get the boy’s hopes up for nothing. Until then, Inspector.”

  I heard the phone click on the receiver and him pick up his glass. His footsteps were muffled as he walked to the door, opened it and left the study. I closed the vent and sat back on my legs. Huh, I wonder what exactly that was about? I cast a quick glance back over at Drez’s sleeping form. Peerage, what was that? And why would Drez get his hopes up? I stood up, picking up my now warm bottle of water and crept over to the door.

  I should probably wait a little longer just in case dad was still moving around the house. I chewed on my lip as I placed my ear against the door to hear if anything was moving. Getting caught coming out of this room would be suicide. A soft moan coming from the bed startled me. I spun around almost dropping the bottle as my hand flew to my throat. Thank God, he was still sleeping.

  He had rolled over on his back and kicked off the sheet covering him. My mouth dropped open and promptly went dry before flooding with saliva. He was naked. Completely and totally naked. I’m not completely ignorant when it comes to guys. I mean hello I have five brothers and three of them have no shame. So I know what everything looks like and I did catch that glimpse of him in the dressing room. But the sight of him in all his glory left me with a powerful urge to just kiss and nibble on every inch of his exposed flesh. I could feel myself getting moist just thinking about what I could do.