Right In Front Of You

Chapter 50 - I Want your Wild Side!

A couple of Days Later; Late Wednesday Afternoon;
The Legend's House;
Suzie's POV;

I loved hanging out with Gilbert; he was the type of man that knew when to leave me be and when I truly needed cheering up; much like Jeff did. And that wasn't where their similarities ended; they both had that dry sense of humour that could have the tears rolling down my face in the matter of seconds, they both were deeply devoted to their Family, they would both do whatever they could to help anyone and they both had this calming aura that just made it easy to open up to them.

Every night he'd invite me down to the basement to watch him and his friends play music and sing. And every night I'd hang out; getting lost in the Country music that they played. I loved Gilbert's voice and I'd sit on the old sofa, my eyes closed and let his voice transport me to his son who was millions of miles away earning his living.

Slowly, I was managing to put all of this stuff with Shaun behind me and for as much progress as I had made, I knew that I still had a long way to go but Gilbert had told me that I was welcome to stay for as long as I needed too.

Britt had been dropping by every day with news on how H's gym was progressing and that it should be ready to open for business in a little over five months time. I knew the worst part of building your own business was waiting for the contractors to be finished; until then you just felt like you're almost stuck in limbo. I felt bad that I wasn't there by her side helping or advising her but the thought of showing my face in town was still too nerve racking considering I was, from all accounts, still a huge story. I just had to hope that Heather and Britt could understand in some small way.

"...so how you holding up really?" Gilby asked as we sat down on the old porch swing at the front of Gilberts home.

Britt had driven to Raleigh to pick up Gilby, Julia and Slash and driven them straight over here. Slash and Julia were currently inside the house talking to my boyfriends Dad, who seemed to be in his element.

Julia was so nice that I couldn't even remember what I had been so nervous about. The minute Gilby introduced us she had pulled me in to a hug and thanked me. I had been completely unaware of what she was thanking me for, so I listened as she explained. Gilby had called her right after he had left Carolina and told her that he was sorry for everything that had happened between them and he wanted to work things out and she believed that it was because of me.

"I'm doing ok; being here has helped much more than I ever thought it would..."

"And now you can tell me the truth!" He said fixing me with a stare that made his eyes appear an even darker shade of blue.

"I don't know what you mean,"

"Bullshit! I know you kiddo and the fact that you're clicking your knuckles means that you ain't being overly honest with me and four days isn't long enough to get over something like rape," He pressed reaching for my hands to stop me from clicking the bones.

"You know you're far too..."

"I know kid!" He chuckled softly. "I heard about it through the trashy tabloids on Monday and I wanted to fly out then but my schedule just wouldn't permit it; I'm so sorry..."

"Gilby there is absolutely nothing for you to say sorry for babe, I wasn't...I haven't exactly been much company, so there was really nothing that you could have done,"

"So talk to me now!?"

"I don't really know what to say...I mean I'm fine around the men I know but the thought of leaving this property scares the shit out of me. I don't...the thought of going to the club leaves me feeling so sick that its all I can do to stop myself from retching..."