15. Bea

I wasn’tready to open up to Travis, but I had to share something with him for telling me about his sister. One thing I’ve learned is, he hates his dad as much as I do, so why can’t I just tell him the truth? Why can’t I tell him about what his dad did?

Travis told me about his sister, and I felt sick, the thought of the pain she was in at the time, kills me.

What is the difference between Travis and I? We both lost the person we love in the most horrible way anyone could think of. One thing I keep thinking about is, why didn’t Travis’ dad help Tessa? Why would he not want to protect his daughter? Or put away the people who took something from her.

“Do you think his dad was a part of the plan?” Quinn asks me as we leave swim practice and make our way over to hockey practice.

Travis says he wanted to leave for this fight club as soon as practice was finished, and because I want to know what this place is, I didn’t argue with him.

“In killing his own daughter? Even he can’t be that fucked up. I mean Jasper’s family must have given the selfish bastard something big, to the point he would kill her.” I turn to Quinn, and he raises his left brow at me, which makes me stop in my tracks. “The man is power hungry. they must have—” I stop talking and think for a moment.

“They must have, what?” Quinn waves his hand in front of me to get my attention, but I still think about what my mom had told me, the many times I laid in her hospital bed with her. She would tell me things that happened in the house, everything that happened with us, and other things too.

“You think they helped with Travis’ mom, and he did—” I stop talking when I see some of the swim team walk past us. “This isn’t a conversation to have here,” I tell him, continuing my way to the rink.

“Where will you be for breakfast, the dorm or in the playboys’ bed?” Quinn laughs, as we walk into the rink, and I hear the coach shouting.

Watching the guy’s skate around, I turn to August who calls me over to sit with them. God, they always want me over to go sit with them, I try to go the other way, but Quinn grabs my hand and pulls me toward where they are sitting.

“What are you doing?” I snap.

“You might as well get used to them and I bet they can be fun if you give them a chance,” Quinn is quick to snap back at me.

I jump when two players slam into the protective glass and turn to see Travis smiling at me.

“Don’t we look all sexy—” He skates along the side with me. “Shame about the clothes being on.” Shaking my head, I can’t help but laugh at his comment, stopping I turn to face him.

“Your mouth does a lot of talking when it could be doing something else.” I lick my lips and smile when the coach shouts his name. “You better go, you don’t want to run out of energy.”

“Oh, I’ve always got energy for you and my mouth will be very busy tonight. Don’t worry.” He skates off and I burst out laughing and make my way to Quinn who’s sitting two rows behind August and Meadow.

Saying hello to them both, August turns around. “Are you coming to the club?”

“I am, do you know who’s fighting?” Travis hasn’t told me much about it, all he’s told me is we’re going. I’ve never even been there, and I am looking forward to it. I’m interested to see how it is.

“No one is, they own it, so they go to check if it’s all good. Blake’s the main one who runs the club—” August stops talking when some guy bangs on the protective shield.

“August, you look good today you want—” Before the idiot can finish what he was saying Travis slams into him, making him smack against the screen and I can’t help but laugh out loud.

“What were you saying?” Travis asks him as he gets up. “Next time it will be worse.” Travis skates off to Logan and Blake both smiling.

“One day Blake’s going to kill someone. They always come for you,” Meadow jokes making them both laugh.

“Because they know it pisses him off, but the only thing it does is make the three of them want to hurt them more. Don’t see the point.” They both continue to talk between themselves about something which happened this morning.

Leaning back in my seat, turning to Quinn. “Are you coming with us?” I ask.

“No, I’ve got a hot date. Plus, you might find the club hot and sexy. You might get lucky.” Quinn and I both start laughing.

Never had sex in a fight club before. So, who knows?

“What do you make of Travis?” I ask in a whisper.

I’m trying to work out how much I should tell him about what I know. But then I worry he will use it on his dad before I can.

“I think he’s good for you. He’s obsessed. But I also think you use what you know before you tell him—” Quinn pats my hand to get my attention. “He took them all from you.”

“Yeah, and he took them both from him—” leaning my head on Quinn’s shoulder. “Doesn’t he have some right to make him suffer too?” I whisper while wiping the tear away, which escapes as I think about my mom and what he had done.

“You’re a lot stronger than me, Bea,” my mom tells me through some coughs.

“Because of your strength. I’m safe. You will always be my hero—” I kiss her cheek. “I will make him pay. I promise.” I wipe the tears away from mine and my mom’s cheek.

She knows she doesn’t have long left. No treatment is working and I’m in so much debt trying to find someone to help her.

“Bea, you have to leave?—”

“No.” I cut her off.

I’m not leaving this alone. I’m not having the same fight with her again. I’m not spending the little time I have with my mother arguing over the same thing.

“Mom, tell me the story about me taking swimming lessons.” I love listening to her tell me old stories, it’s the only time I hear some joy in her voice.

“Bea—” I look at Quinn. “Wipe the tears away. Travis hasn’t taken his eyes off you.”

I sit up quickly wiping the tears ,not realizing they were there. Turning to Travis watching me, I smile, but he doesn’t return it.

Quinn moves a little closer. “I’m sure you’ll think of something, so he doesn’t ask too many questions.” I burst out laughing, which is something I needed, and it makes August and Meadow look at us, pushing Quinn away from me telling him to stop thinking about sex all the time.

“Time,” Coach shouts and all the players leave the ice except for the three of them, as they start passing the puck back and forth between each other.

I hear them talking but can’t make out what they’re saying. I hear some words. phone, who, Cain. I have no idea who Cain is, but I’ve heard his name a few times now.

Travis looks over at me while talking to them both, then they all look toward me or all of us. I don’t know why, but I want to know what the conversation is about.

“You think he will get it pierced?” Quinn asks as I lean forward to get my phone out of my pocket as it rings but I cancel the call straight away. I’m not in the mood to hear about dear old dad’s pity story.

“He better, I’m looking forward to it,” I joke, which isn’t a lie. I’ll wait for him to get it pierced. If he can do all this now, imagine what he can do when it’s pierced? I follow Quinn down the steps as the guys leave the ice.

He wraps his arm over my shoulder pulling me closer as we head toward the parking lot. “If it’s good, I might need to find a guy with one.”

“Yeah, and that will be the best sex you’ve had.” We stop by Quinn’s car.

After breakfast I went back to the dorm to get all my stuff for class and got Quinn to pick me up as I knew I’d be going with Travis after practice. So, there was no point in bringing my own car.

August and Meadow stand by Logan’s car talking, I’ve never been one for girlfriends. If someone was going to stab me in the back, odds are it would be a girl. I’ve always stayed away; Travis wants me to have a relationship with them but I’m still on the fence about it.

“They seem nice.” Quinn nods his head toward them, but I choose not to reply.

“I’m hungry, I’m thinking of pizza.” I rub my eyes as they begin to hurt. I’m tired being up so fucking early, leaning my head on Quinn’s shoulder, what is taking the three of them so long?

“Miss swimming in the morning—” Before I can tell him to fuck off, he stops me. “You’ll get in too deep, and I’m scared you won’t… just skip one morning, please.”

I think this is the first time I’ve heard him so worried about what I do in the water, he has always been there when I’ve needed him to be.

“You do love me.” I joke with Quinn.

“Someone has to.” He kisses the top of my forehead.

“Shall we get food?” I look over my shoulder at the three of them walking out, and Travis throws his hockey stick in the back of his car. “I’ll meet you there.” I hear him tell the others as he walks over to us,

“You sure you don’t want to come?” I ask Quinn again, and he shakes his head. “Meet up before class?”

“Same place.” Quinn gives me a kiss on the cheek, then I walk over to Travis.

“Pizza?” I ask him as Logan’s car pulls up next to us, and the window goes down.

“Going for pizza,” Travis tells them.

“Heads up, the Crawford’s will be there tonight, one of them is fighting.” Travis gives them a nod, then pulls me closer to him.

“A little mean making me wait for a kiss?—”

“No one is stopping you from kissing me, you’re the one who’s waiting.” Travis slams his lips into mine, his hand softly around my neck to pull me closer to him, and I moan against his lips.

“You’ll be moaning like this all night,” he says, kissing me once more before we walk over to his car.

“The last promise you made me, you haven’t fulfilled, not sure I should believe you.” I stop by the open car door, raising my brows at him.

“Got a game coming up, after that. You know I’m going to have to miss games for that fucker to heal.” He shakes his head, pissed off about it.

“Yeah, but I’m wet just thinking about it in my mouth, that’s got to be worth it.” Tiptoeing, I give him a kiss.

“It will be fucking buried in you every day, just get ready for it.”

I sit in the car, smiling, because he has no idea how ready I am for it. The man is the best sex I’ve had, and now I don’t think anyone is going to come close to him. I’m going to enjoy every second he is fucking me.

The whole time at dinner they were talking about the Crawford brothers, and the fight. Is this place really as crazy as it sounds? They talk like it’s a taste of hell or something.

“Stay close, we might own this place, but it also means any asshole will touch you to get to us.” Travis closes the car door behind me, then wraps his arm over my shoulder and pulls me closer to him.

“Really?” I ask.

If he thinks I can’t fight for myself he’s the crazy one, but his tone tells me, people here will do anything to get the upper hand.

“Yes.” I look over at August and Meadow laughing with each other. “You know you can talk to them, they won’t bite.” Travis stops us from walking and turns to me. “You think this is fun, and maybe it is, but right now I don’t have plans to let you walk away, so you might as well get used to them being around.” Travis gives me a kiss, and I roll my eyes at him, which makes him laugh.

“Don’t worry about me,” I reassure him, and I hear him say he will, but more to himself than to me. Will Travis worry about me, or is it all a show for me?

Walking through the door, I stop and look around. Wow, this is crazy. The place is packed, I hear shouting coming from the middle, and I lean closer to Travis to get a better look at what’s happening. There’s a fight, but then I see there are three different areas where they can fight.

“Do you want anything to drink?” Travis asks, as he pushes me toward the bar, so I keep walking, even though I can watch this all day. Who knew I’d enjoy fighting this much.

“When are you fighting?” I ask him, now I’d love to see him fight, something tells me he would be hardcore in there.

“I don’t have anything planned yet, Blake fights once a week, Logan not so much, and I come down here when I need to let out some steam.” Travis shouts our order to the guy behind the bar and looks back around when I hear Logan and Blake talking about the Crawford’s.

“They’re coming over.” I hear August, as she moves closer to Blake, and I look around to see who is walking over to us.

It’s hard to see who they are, since everyone was watching Travis, Logan and Blake when we walked in. Then I see them, and yeah you can’t miss them.

I stare at the five guys standing in front of me, Travis and the others have a vibe about them, but these five, they have a darkness around them that almost feels like death. I look at each of them, the twins are staring at Blake, and I press my lips together to stop myself smiling. A shiver rushes through me when I look at the one staring at Logan. Fuck he has a serious darkness around him, it makes me take a step closer to Travis who drapes his arm over my shoulder.

“You know one day I’m going to fucking rip your eyes out, can you not find a girl?” Blake asks one of the twins who starts to laugh.

“Hayden has a girl, and I don’t want the headache he has,” one of them replies, and the other looks at me, and takes a step closer.

“Really?” Travis asks, slamming his hand into his chest. “Now we know you’re fucked up in the head and don’t want to start anything, but you’re making it very hard.”

It’s so annoying they are having this conversation, and I don’t even know who’s who. You would think they would use fucking names.

“Leave them.” The man with the darkness around him snaps at them. “Get ready for your fight,” he tells them, nodding his head, and both twins walk away, but the other guy stays where he is “Hello—” the darker vibe guy walks away as he talks on the phone.

“He only wants a chance with you.” Hayden locks eyes with Logan.

“I had dinner?—”

“No, you come, eat and leave. All he wants is a chance, give it to him.” He stops talking when the darkness guy comes back, and whispers something to him to the other guy. “When are you back?”

“Don’t know.” He looks at Logan, “Can I have a word?”

“No,” Logan snaps, and walks away with Meadow.

The guy continues to watch Logan walk away, then the other one with the girlfriend turns to him.

“You go, I’ll pop into the club.” They all walk away from us, but I continue to watch the two talking.

If you want someone fucked up in your life, they seem to be the ones to have around you, they seem like men who get what they want, even if it’s not easy.

“What was that about?” I ask. Now I’ve seen the Crawford’s, I want to know more about them, they seem deadly, but I bet they’re fun to be around.

“You have the four of them, and the guy talking to Logan is their cousin, and Logan’s half-brother?—”

“What?” That was not brotherly vibes there, it was cold, and a one-way relationship.

“We only found out last year, and Logan still isn’t on the same page as Cain.” Travis turns to Blake, and they whisper something to each other.

I look back over at the Crawford brothers. So that’s Cain, now I understand why they talk about him the way they do.

I look back around and don’t see him anywhere, how the hell did he disappear so quickly, he was there a second ago, yet the Crawford brothers are all laughing between themselves.

“Travis—” I pull his arm to look over to where I’m looking. “Your dad is here.” Now I get his attention, when I point to him talking to the Crawford’s.

Travis and Blake whisper to each other, while watching his dad, and I haven’t been able to take my eyes off him.

I can’t wait to end his life, make him suffer, because I will. His death will be slow, and he will feel what my brother felt.

One of the Crawford’s stands toe to toe with Travis’s dad, which makes him laugh. Without saying anything to them, he walks over to us.

“Son.” He smiles at him, then turns to me. “Don’t we look beautiful?” He tries to touch me, but I slap his hand away from me.

“Go die,” I snap, and look at Blake’s dad who’s joined us.

“How can we help you?” Travis asks, looking over at the door when it bursts open. Shit. “How do you keep getting in here, and I see you’ve brought your little dog with you.” Travis looks over at Jasper who’s making his way over to us.

The things I’m thinking about Travis’ dad and Jasper’s family are starting to fit, why are they always around each other? Are they each other’s pocket

“Told you I had a fight for you?—”

“And I told you I’m not interested.” Travis looks over at Jasper, I’m sure if Jasper was the one to fight, he would jump for the chance to kick his ass. “Unless it’s this prick.”

I have to say Travis is very calm having Jasper standing so close, but one thing I’ve learned about the three of them, they each have a very good poker face. They won’t show if they are pissed off, happy, or want to kill someone.

“Not me, but my friend would like a fight.” He nods to the huge guy next to him. There is no way Travis is fighting him, he’s double the size of Travis.

Blake leans closer to Travis, and whispers something which makes Travis laugh.

“I don’t mind hurting him, it will prepare me to kick your ass.” My grip on Travis tightens, he must be joking, there is no way he can fight him. Now I haven’t seen Travis fight, so maybe I’m wrong, but this must be a joke.

“Five minutes,” Blake tells them, and then turns to the barman, and tells him something while I stare at Travis.

What the fuck is he doing?

Travis’s dad smiles, then tries to lean in closer to me, but Travis pushes him away, and he starts laughing.

“Told you, pussy gets in the way.” Before I can tell him to fuck off, he walks away, and I turn to Travis.

“Are you fucking crazy?” I shout at him, and he laughs while staring at me.

“Worried?” he says as I look over at the monster of a man, then back to Travis. “Honestly there is no need to worry, I’m giving it ten minutes before I’m done.” He leans in closer and gives me a kiss, he softly places his hand around my neck. “Then we can have some fun.”

“He’s double the size of you.” I tell him, but he doesn’t reply as Logan slaps his back.

“Go for the leg—” He looks over at Jasper. “Then the eye.”

“You watch Bea?” Travis asks, but I look over at his dad, I want to push his buttons. He needs to know I know a lot more than he thinks. I hear Logan tell Travis he won’t leave my side.

Travis takes his T-shirt off, and I stare at his back, I still need to ask about the scars. I place my hand on his back, and my hand tenses up feeling the bumps of the scars, they look and feel painful.

“Enjoy the show, Firecracker.” Travis leans in closer and gives me a kiss.

I watch Travis walking to the ring area, and I walk closer as the rest of them do too. Glancing over at Travis’ dad watching me, and I smile.

He thinks he has the upper hand, but he doesn’t. He thinks I don’t know anything, but I’m about to give him the biggest slap in the face, and I’m going to smile the whole fucking time too.

Travis walks around the monster of a man, why the fuck would he say yes to fighting him, I don’t get it.

Logan stands next to me, as I glance over at Travis’ dad smirking like a fucking asshole. How can a dad be so fucked up, are all dads deadbeats? This is the reason I don’t want kids, their dad might just turn out to be like mine, or Travis’ or Blake’s. I’m not putting them through what I went through. No way.

The guy goes to punch Travis in the face, but he moves out the way. Travis can move fast, and I smile realizing he has said yes, knowing he will move faster than the big animal, get him tired, then he will get weak.

“I was hoping to have a word with my son’s girlfriend.” I look over at Mr. Parker, he has got to be joking, right?

Blake and Logan both start laughing, not even turning to face him.

“Scared I’ll make her fall in love with me, and my son will lose his fight?” He taunts them more, and this time I turn around and face him, folding my arms over my chest.

“Do you really think you’re going to win this game of yours?” I ask as I take a step closer to him, and at the same time Logan takes one with me. But he still hasn’t turned around to face him.

“Oh, my game? I always win.” He leans in closer to me, and whispers in my ear. “I won with your family, didn’t I?” Mr. Parker stands up straight again, with the same fucked up stupid smile.

Before taking a step closer to him, I tell Logan I’ll be fine, and I’m right here. Logan turns his head slightly to face me, and I give him a nod letting him know I’ll be okay.

Two steps forward and Logan doesn’t follow, and I smile at Mr. Parker knowing the guys won’t be hearing what I’m about to say to him.

“I think Travis needs to know the truth about his mom, and why you helped Jasper walk free after what he did to your daughter. Don’t you think so?” The color drains from his face, which only makes me smile, because I’ve hit a nerve. “Did you hurt your daughter Mr. Parker? I know the answer to the question, I wonder if Travis needs to know.”

“You bitch,” he snaps and takes a step closer to me, and I laugh when Logan pushes him away. He tries to go for me again but isn’t lucky.

“Mr. Parker, there will only be one winner in this game, and it won’t be you.” I don’t even bother waiting for him to reply as I turn around to watch Travis fighting.

He knows my cards now, I’ve dealt them. Is it too early? Too late now, Mr. Parker will make his move, I just have to wait and be ready for it.

Travis kicks the guy in the back of the leg hard enough to make him stubble. Travis kicks it again, followed by a punch to the face, grabbing the back of his head he brings his knee up as he brings the guy face down smashing his nose into his knee.

I lick my lips watching Travis go crazy on this guy, who knew I’d get turned on watching him fighting and bloody. But here I am thinking about where in this place he could take control of me.

Travis punches the guy a few more times in the face, his whole hand covered in blood. I mean the guy got in a few good hits too, because Travis has a cut just under his eye, and lip.

I could watch Travis fight every week if he wanted to. This is so hot, and it’s sexy to watch a man take control of a whole room the way he is right now.

I’m ready for this world of his, and I’m ready to fight for him too. Nothing is going to bring us down.