11. Travis

AT DINNER

Sitting at the booth waiting for our food to be brought over, I watch Bea talking to Quinn, but I can’t hear a word of what they are saying, for two reasons. It’s loud in here, it seems like the whole town has come out today, and two, they aren’t making it a secret they want a private conversation, the way they are whispering to each other.

Should it piss me off? No, but I have too many things on my mind to make a big deal over it. With my dad I don’t think I can trust anything anymore, and there is only one person he will try to come for, to get to me. Bea.

So how do I keep her safe?

I look outside when I hear a car race off, still listening to the guys talking about the practice game coach has planned for us. He wants to make sure the team is fresh and ready for the season.

What? I sit up, getting closer to the window, when the engine of the car revvs as it goes past.

“Travis!” Logan punches my arm hard, and I look over at him, then back outside, but she’s gone.

“Who do you see?” Logan asks, but I look around again to make sure I was just seeing things. It happens sometimes, I always think I see my mom walking the street, or in a coffee shop.

“No one,” I reply, still looking out at the parking lot. Seems to be happening a lot lately, and I don’t understand why.

“Travis, you okay?” Logan speaks again, and I finally turn to face everyone.

“Yeah, what were you saying?” I ask, not sure what the last thing I heard was. I look outside again, just to make sure I was just imagining it.

“The game, next weekend? Should be an easy win.” I turn to Blake smiling, the man hasn’t had a fight in a few days now, and you can see him itching to hurt someone, so a game would be good for him.

“Haven’t you three won every year since high school?”

I turn to Bea, with a small chuckle. “Been looking into me? All you had to do is ask, and I’ll tell you?—”

“Like you did with Jasper.” Oh she’s still in a fucked up mood. I was hoping I was going to fuck her tonight, but I don’t see that happening anymore.

Maybe I should have told her about Jasper, she would have been more prepared for him. But there was something stopping me, and even now I don’t know why.

“I should have told you, but if you have a question ask it?—”

“And you’ll answer?” We both turn to August laughing. “What’s so funny?”

“The boys don’t answer questions, it’s more, you can ask, answering is another thing.” August turns to Blake, making Logan and me laugh as he shakes his head. “It would be nice to get an answer without you being a jerk sometimes.”

“Oh, but you love this jerk.” He kisses the side of her neck, then grabs the tray off the waiter, and we all start eating, yet I feel Bea’s eyes on me, so I turn to face her.

“So I can ask, and it depends whether you choose to answer or not, I don’t like that. You answer it, and then I’ll answer your questions, if you have them.” She turns to Quinn who whispers something to her, then turns back to me. “So what will it be?”

“What do you want to know?” I ask, then turn to the guys and laugh. “The sex has to be fucking amazing, if you’re willing to have these types of conversation all the time. Not even ten minutes and my head is hurting, and I’m not even going to be fucking her tonight.” I turn back to Bea, the corner of my lip curls. “Or will I?” I ask, and she starts laughing.

“Depends on if you answer my question?”

“And what is that?” I ask, then take a bite of my burger. I already know what the question will be, because it’s what she’s pissed off about, and with food in my mouth I have a small moment to think about my answer.

“Why didn’t you tell me about Jasper?”

I knew it. So what do I tell her? I lean back in the booth, while Blake and Logan both stare at me.

“Because the less I talk about him, the better. When I can kill him, I will feel a lot better. He shouldn’t be allowed on the streets, and one day I’m going to make sure he’s not.” I can feel my body tense up, just talking about him has my blood boiling. I continue to eat my burger, before she can ask the question.

“That—” she stops when I turn to face her.

“It’s this fucking simple. I don’t talk about him, I will never fucking talk about him. So if you want to know more about him, then go fucking ask him.” I grab my burger and continue to eat.

No one woman is worth all this fucking trouble, why can’t she see this is a subject I don’t want to talk about; him and what he took from me.

I hear Logan’s phone ringing, which pulls me out of my thoughts. “We will be there.” I glance over at Logan ending the call. “Cain is back in town, he’s in the office.”

I give him a nod. Bea seems to want to hide things from me, so I’m hoping Cain will be able to find something about her. For some fucked up reason I don’t think she will tell me anything, even if I asked her.

I’m not telling her anything, but she isn’t telling me either.

“We can leave now.”

“I’m still eating.” Blake snaps, and I turn to face him.

“Put it in a fucking take out box—” I turn to Bea who is looking at me as I get out of the booth, and I go to say something, but stop when she stands up.

“See you tomorrow.”

“See you tomorrow.” I lean in and give her a quick kiss, then leave and wait by the car for the guys.

I couldn’t stay there any longer, Bea was asking questions I didn’t want to answer, she needs to know Jasper is not someone I want to talk about. Even though she knows what he did to my sister, she’s still asking.

Is all this headache worth having amazing sex for? I’m starting to rethink it. It’s a shame because fuck was I going to have some fun with her, I even got her a fun new gift we could play with.

“We had time to finish the food.” Blake’s the first one outside, moaning about having to eat it out of a box, ignoring him I get in the car. One of the girls will take Logan’s car back. Logan follows, and I glance over to see Bea and Quinn leaving too. She really isn’t open to getting to know Meadow and August, looks like it’s just sex for the both of us then.

“You could have made this so easy, and picked a girl who wasn’t a strong, crazy one.” Logan slams the door shut as Blake drives off, and I tell Logan to fuck off.

I don’t think I’ve ever fucked a non crazy woman, I mean where is the fun in that? It’s not like I’m going to marry them, I might as well have fun with the crazy ones while I can.

The club is busy as always. Cain has a strong business which, I am sure, a lot of men wish they had started. I stop by one of the stripper poles, the red lights flashing around it, as the blonde with a sexy fucking ass spins around. I tilt my head to the left as she swings around again. I wonder if Bea would do this for me, I mean I wouldn’t mind seeing her naked all the time.

I can’t even get the stubborn woman in my own fucking bed, never mind doing a strip show for me.

“Come on.” Logan pats my back, and I walk up the stairs after him. Logan walks in without knocking, and we walk in on Cain shouting.

“I’m not here for two fucking days, and you can’t even look after the place.” The woman goes to say something, but stops when Cain puts his hand up. “You wanted a chance, and you fucked it up, Get out of my fucking office.”

Without another word she rushes out, and Cain throws his jacket on his chair, turns on the CCTV footage, then faces us. “So how can I help you?” He looks at Logan, and they both stare at each other. “Mom called me over for dinner?—”

“Travis, wants to ask you something.” Logan cuts him off. Last year we found out that Cain is his half-brother, and even now Logan still hates it. He puts on a good face for his mom, but with Cain, he couldn’t care less. We keep telling him to give the man a chance, it’s not his fault what happened, and it sounds like he had a worse upbringing than us. If anyone is going to understand Logan, it’s Cain.

Cain looks over at me, and nods his head. “What’s wrong?”

“I have a girl that I can’t find any information on. Though you might, in some messed up way, be able to find something.” I walk closer to the table. Blake and Logan are looking out the internal window which is looking over the bar. “Her name is Bea Foster.” Cain writes the name down, then pulls his chair out, to sit down.

“I’ll have a look into her, see what I can find.” He leans back in his chair, rubbing his eyes with his right thumb and forefinger. “Is there anything else?” He opens his eyes, blinking a few times.

“No.” With that he turns around and looks at the screens, grabbing his phone.

Letting Blake and Logan know we can leave, I take another look at Cain. I tell the guys I’ll be down after them in a second.

“Hey, you okay?” I look at Cain sitting at the desk, but he has his eyes closed for a moment. Cain has always been a closed book to us, but something isn’t right with him.

Cain swings his chair side to side, and replies without looking at me. “Yeah, just have a lot going on. Why don’t you ask me what you really want to ask? You have questions about her. I was little, but I can tell you this, you look so much like her.” He turns around, now wearing sunglasses. Is the light hurting his eyes? “If you want to know if what your dad is telling you is the truth, I don’t know the answer to that. My dad was killed. I got to have fun in hell, so I wasn’t around either. You might want to talk to mom, and if you want to talk after, my door is always open.”

“How did you know I was thinking about my mom?”

“I was you. When you grow up in the place I did, you have to learn to read people in order to survive. I’m good at what I do.” He swings his chair back around, and I leave the office wondering what Logan’s mom is hiding.

If Logan knew something, he would have told me. Wouldn’t he?

“What did he say?” Logan asks as I reach the bottom of the stairs.

“He’ll call if he finds anything on her.”

I could go see Bea, the night is young, yet I don’t think I’m in any mood to talk, and I only have one question right now.

What really happened to my mom?

Getting out of the car, I see Bea sitting with Quinn and Laura. I hope she’s in a better mood than yesterday and drops the subject about Jasper.

“How is my Firecracker this morning?” I sit next to her, and grip her neck softly, pulling her in for a kiss. I do fucking enjoy my hand around her small neck.

Quinn starts laughing, I glance over at him. “Perfect name for you, you are explosive when you want to be, never know when you will go off.”

“Shut up.” Bea snaps at him, but all I can do is laugh. Bea snaps her head toward me, and I lean in closer to her ear and whisper.

“How about you show me how explosive you are in my bedroom?” I have no idea why she is hell bent on not coming over, but I’m going to get her there before the weekend.

“You got class?” she says, getting off the bench, I follow her taking her books, and she tries to take them back, but I pull her to the side, and wrap my arm over her shoulder.

“Not until the afternoon.” We walk toward the building, with the guys in front of us.

“So why are you here?” she asks, handing Quinn her phone, then takes my coffee off me and takes a sip. “God, what is this?” She hands it back to me, her face wrinkles in disgust, which makes me laugh a little to myself.

“Black coffee, three sugars. The reason I’m here is because I couldn’t let my girl walk to class alone now, could I?” I can’t tell her I’m here because I don’t trust my dad, and have no idea what game he is playing with us. So, I’m going to be with her as much as I can, whether she likes it or not.

“First of all, there is too much sugar in that coffee, and secondly, I’m a big girl, I can walk to class by myself.” I stop and turn to face her, smiling at her, I place my hand under her jaw, my thumb teasing her bottom lip.

“If you kiss me more, I’m sure I wouldn’t need this sugar in here. Whether you like it or not, you’re my girl. Get used to it.” I lean in kissing her soft sexy lips, letting her kiss me back. “See little firecracker, you want me, too.”

“I have a feeling you like your sugar, and I never said I was your girl?—”

“Didn’t give you the choice, firecracker. So how about you come over tonight, and I can show you how much you are my girl?” My hand moves softly to her neck, feeling her pulse tapping against my finger, a feeling I crave.

Not feeling a pulse, means I lose again, and I won’t lose, I can’t.

I close my eyes feeling the tiny pulse hit my thumb, making my own heart race, if only I could have felt it when I need too. Opening my eyes, I look down at Bea staring at me, as she licks her lips.

“Are you going to choke me?” I burst out laughing at her question.

“Oh, you have no idea what I have planned for you, I even got you a gift.” We start walking again. Once we reach the building we all stop.

“I have a few things to take care of, then I’ll be over. Let’s see how long you can go for?” Before I can say anything else to her, she takes her books and walks off to Quinn. I shake my head, but don’t say anything, I finally get her for the night, maybe even longer if I have my way.

“Travis.” I turn to Logan and Blake, who is nodding his head behind me.

Turning around I lock eyes with my dad, so the mind games begin. How long has he been waiting for me to find a girl, just so he can play a game with me? Blake and Logan stand on either side of me, and I smile at my dad, letting him know he won’t win this time.

“Are you watching her?” I ask them, not taking my eyes off my dad, while he’s talking on the phone.

“Yeah, we have it. But you’re going to have to think of something else, because she doesn’t look like the girl who wants us around all the time,” Logan tells me, which now means I have to think of something else on top of everything else going on.

“I will. Just watch her, I’ll be back by lunch.” I walk away from them both, to go spend the morning with Logan’s mom, maybe she will tell me something about mine, then I need to think about how I’m going to watch Bea every day, without her knowing about it.

I walk into Four of Hearts Bakery, which is getting busier each day. “She in the back?” I ask the girl behind the counter, and she gives me a nod. “Are there any brownies in here?” I ask Aunt Liz.

“Travis.” she stops the mixer, and walks over to me, giving me a hug. “Why are you not in class?” Her tone makes me laugh, she’s the closest thing I have to a mom, and she makes sure I know it, too.

“I have class this afternoon, but I wanted to talk to you about something.” I walk with her, back to the counter where she continues mixing. “Thought I’d grab a few brownies, too.”

“I’m going to have to start making you a batch every week.” She looks at the staff helping her, and asks them to leave. “I thought one day you would come and talk to me about your mom—” She doesn’t look up at me as she starts working on her batter. “You waited until I wasn’t with him anymore.” I see her smile to herself knowing she is free now.

“Was she happy?” I was little, the things I do remember is that she was happy, but I know all moms lie for their kids. Blake”s did and so did Aunt Liz.

“Married to those three, what is happiness? She loved her kids. She always said you were going to be more trouble than she could imagine—” Aunt Liz stops, laughing to herself. “If only she knew how much trouble the three of you are.” Finally, she look up at me, and I smile at her.

“And you love us.” Aunt Lizzie has been our mom since we lost our own, she’s got three sons now, and no matter what she will always be with us.

“I do.” She stops mixing and leans on the counter facing me. “Travis, I don’t know what you want me to say to you. Your mom feared your dad. Once she knew the real reason he wanted to marry her, she tried to get out but couldn’t. Us moms will do anything to protect our babies.”

Aunt Liz walks over to the table, and I quickly pull out the chair for her. I turn my chair around and sit next to her.

“He became controlling, needed to know her every move, every phone call.

When she came out with me, he needed to know the whole conversation. He had someone follow her everywhere, and she was scared of him. Your mom wanted to leave. She had gotten some money together, found somewhere to live, and then?—”

I move the chair closer to her, taking her hand in mine, letting her know that no one will get close to her again…not with Cain or us.

“Your dad booked a weekend trip for them, and she didn’t want to go…well, they went, he came back alive, she didn’t.” She wipes the tears away from her cheek. “He killed her, I’m sure of it. He didn’t let anyone see her body. It was a closed casket. Both Olivia and I knew something happened, but what? We never found out, and your dad made sure everything about her death was locked and thrown in the ocean.”

He killed my mom, so why keep us after…other than for his personal punching bag? But now the question is, what really has happened to Mom?

“Travis, the three of them are evil men, and you’ve hurt two of them. Don’t underestimate what they will do to regain everything you’ve taken from them.”

She cups my face, and her eyes only hold fear in them, but she knows they won’t touch her, not now that the Crawford’s know who she is. The Crawford’s will protect her, no matter what.

“I’ve been telling Logan they will come for you, and you’ll be the target, and you won’t know until it’s too late.” Quickly, she wipes the tears away as someone walks through the door.

“Sorry, I need to get some cookies.” I hear behind me but keep my eyes on Aunt Liz.Logan has told me about her worries and fears for us, and he has told her—about a dozen times—that everything will be fine. But she will worry until it’s over.

“You don’t have to worry about us, Aunt Liz, we won’t lose.” I lean down and give her a kiss, and she hugs me.

“Just remember they are always watching.” She rubs my back a few times before pulling away.

“How many brownies would you like?” I smile, tilting my head to the side. “A box, then?”

She laughs, shaking her head. “It’s a good thing you play hockey. Otherwise, you’d be fat with the amount of sugar you eat.”

Putting my arm over her shoulder, I kiss her cheek. “Oh, Aunt Liz, so many ways to burn?—”

“Travis, I don’t want to know about your sex life.” I laugh as I add a few more brownies to the box.

“I wasn’t even thinking about sex, and I was going to say something else.” I take the box from her.

“No, you weren’t, get to class. Don’t want any of you to fail now, do I?” Aunt Liz gets back to her mixing, and I leave the bakery with a few things to think about now.

What really has happened to my mom?

How far will my dad go?

How can I protect Bea when I can’t be with her all the time?

I look down at my bracelet from my sister, looking at the engraving.

You are never alone.

I need to be able to track where she’s going. Now, she won’t take any gifts from me, not yet anyway, so I need to think of a different way.