"But at the rate you’re going,” Grant continued, his tone serious. “I may be forced to call Cameron son."
He was still riding the heady surge of euphoria when he glanced back at his father, a renewed determination igniting within him. “Call him whatever you want. He won’t be around long enough to answer to it.”
Chapter twenty-four
The helicopter's blades cut through the sky, setting a quiet rhythm in the cabin as Gavin watched the yacht get closer and closer.
"Remember, don't kill him," Luis reminded him.
Ethan, who was sitting on the bench seat opposite him, nodded as he held up his phone for a selfie. "Yeah, no fighting. I'm here to relax, not referee."
Gavin said nothing; he continued to survey the deck of the approaching ship. It was early, they had been traveling all night. The sun was just coming up above the mountains in the distance, spreading its new light over the sea and the yacht, making them shine. As the helicopter landed, Gavin watched as his father stepped out past the sliding glass doors onto the deck.
As the pilot spoke into the radio presumably to the ship's captain, flipping switches and pressing buttons to shut down the chopper, Gavin could see two familiar men join his father on the ship's deck. But he could hardly allow himself to feel anything at their presence, not until he saw her. She was his only focus.
Finally, the blades stopped spinning and the pilot gave them the go ahead. Ethan was the first to exit, jumping out with a flourish, his arms outstretched and a grin on his face. As Ethan went to greet his father and uncles, Gavin stepped out. His shoes hit the deck with a thud that felt heavier with every second his eyes scanned the unmoving glass doors beyondhis father. The salt air caught his hair and tossed it about, but he didn’t fix it. Let it. He didn’t care about that, he only cared about-
Her.
Finally, he saw her. The doors parted, first his mother stepping out looking like the goddess she was in a gold one-piece swimsuit and matching white and gold shimmering coverup. Somewhere in the back of his mind he noted with a smirk that it didn’t matter how early it was, his mother was never caught off guard. But it was Ebony that held his attention.
Everything else disappeared the moment she stepped through the glass doors, her face soft with sleep, brows drawn in faint confusion as she followed their mother outside, clearly just woken up.
Gavin waited for a beat as she blinked, looking at Ethan's and Luis's smiling faces and then finally her eyes found his. For a moment, everything else went silent. Everyone else disappeared as they stared at one another. Her lips parted, but nothing came out. He didn’t say anything. Not yet. His heart had stilled in his chest waiting. Hoping. Fuck, praying. Would she still hold that same look she had given him before she left? That look of burning fury and disgust? No, he couldn't move, not until she came to him. If she even would come to him.
Just as the doubt crept in. Ebony moved.
Everyone had moved out of her way as she darted past them and ran straight into his open arms.
Gavin exhaled as he caught her, turning them both with her momentum until his back faced the small crowd and her back faced the sea. He shielded her from view from the others, just for a moment taking her all for himself. They stood like that locked around each other as the cool salty wind whipped around them.
Heheld her as if a part of him was afraid she would vanish. Possessive and full-palmed. Her hair whipped around them and he inhaled deeper; it smelled like something citrusy and sweet. He leaned down, his lips brushing her ear.
“You stole a piece of me when you left,” he confessed.
He felt a small shudder run through her and pulled back just enough to see her wiping her eyes. Her face was a color palette of emotions—happiness, surprise, and a tinge of anger as she scowled up at him.
"You didn’t tell me you were coming. You didn’t even answer my text last night."
Her happy birthday text. He had stared at it for what felt like hours all throughout the night as Ethan and Luis had slept on the plane.
"Happy Birthday. I will always love you no matter how angry you make me."
Gavin reached out to capture a wild strand of her hair. "I wanted to see you in person when I told you how much I love you, too."
Ebony's eyes glistened as she fought back more tears.
Sensing the conversation from the group dying down and their moment of privacy coming to an end, Gavin stepped back, his hands still latched around her waist, reluctant to let go. "We need to talk. Let me come to your room tonight."
Ebony looked at him, trying to read his expression before nodding.
With that he forced himself to let go of her and turned to face the others with a smile. Gavin smiled at his mother and went to hug her. He saw him. Standing in the back talking to Luis as Ethan yammered excitedly with Elias and Leon about getting the call to join the trip. Cameron watched him with a wary expression and Gavin took a moment as he kissed his mother's cheek and answered her questions about the trip to wonder what was going through his mind. Was he thinking about their last encounter? Was he remembering the pain from his fists? Gavin hoped he was, even as he turned a friendly smile toward him.
His visible stutter and following apprehension were like nectar to a starving man but Gavin kept his expression in line and turned to his pseudo uncles. Uncles who resembled Ebony in so many ways, especially the cool dark eyes of one uncle in particular. Elias’s sharp eyes cut right through Gavin's façade reading him clearly and the man smiled, a rare occurrence for him unlike his twin who always displayed a ready smile.
Stepping up to the man, Gavin grasped his hand, feeling the strength in his grip as the man pulled him into a hug. "About time you showed up," Elias mumbled.
Gavin grinned at him. "Just a minor setback," assured him, knowing that Elias most likely knew the entire situation from his father. "I'm course correcting now."
