An Old Friend?

‘Well?’ Austyn raised his voice. ‘What do you have to say for yourself?’ Kira licked her dry lips. ‘I, ah, the, um… It’s not what it looks like.’ ‘Then what is it?’ ‘After you left me in the lounge, I sat down in a massage chair. It was so comfortable that I fell asleep. I don’t know when or how Gideon got there. He kissed me.’ Kira actually heard Austyn grinding his teeth. The sound made her shudder. She hurriedly added, ‘But I pushed him away as soon as I woke up. You can see in the photo that I was sleeping. I wasn’t responding to him at all!’ She tried stroking his arm like she was placating an angry cat. ‘I didn’t kiss him back, honest to God!’ ‘And?’ ‘And what?’ ‘You said you’d tell me everything between you two.’ Kira nodded. ‘Okay, um, here goes. My dad adopted Gideon when he was fourteen. We thought he was a teenage runaway. He stayed with us for four years, then one day, he just upped and left without saying goodbye. I never heard from him again, that is, until now.’ ‘Who was