19. Travis

I can’t stop laughingat Blake and Logan as we walk towards Skyline. It has to be the most random conversation I think we’ve had.

“I’m going to ask Quinn, he must have a radar for this,” Logan is the first to put in that comment, but I was thinking it too.

“You might want to watch out, for all you know he watches you in the shower,” I joke with Blake, because I know he is the one who will turn around and show him his package. Never been one to not brag about something, the dickhead almost wants people to hate him.

“He can look all he wants,” Blake nods at the bouncer, Logan starts talking to the guy, and I look over at the line, and see that it’s around the corner.

Cain really has this place hooked up, the clientele is a mix of men and women, and you see women loving the floors, when I’ve been here. Meadow was telling Logan, the woman tip better than the men.

I take a few steps away from the guys, looking at the group of women, then shake my head. I’m going to go fucking crazy thinking I’m seeing them. I know it’s not true, I know my head is playing games with me.

“Travis!” Blake shouts.

“Coming!” I shout back, taking one more look over at the group before making my way to the guys.

“I thought Bea was it? Who are you looking at?” Logan looks over at the group.

“No one.” I walk through the door, before they can start asking more questions.

Fucking hell it’s busy tonight, the colors seem to change every time we come here. I tap Blake’s shoulder and nod towards the Crawford twins. We make our way over, and join them at their table. Two women are on the stripper pole, which surprises me. I thought they would be on one of the top floors, they don’t seem like guys who like vanilla stuff.

“What brings you here tonight?” Mason asks, not answering him, I ask the waitress for a drink while Logan talks to the brothers.

I look up at Cain’s office, but the lights are off. Odd, he said to be here, so where the fuck is he?

“How do you think you’ll do this season?” Miles asks.

“Not losing,” Blake laughs, and I finally turn around to join the conversation. “Heard you broke someone”s collarbone last season.” He looks over at the twins who are both laughing.

“No worse than you last season, you know that kid can’t play for a few seasons.” Mason laughs, and I look back up at the office. “You can go up.” I hear Mason behind me, and I don’t bother asking the guys to get up, because they will soon as I stand up. “Guys.” The three of us stop and turn to face them. “Remember family sticks together, no matter what.”

I have to stop myself from laughing, we still don’t even know what this crazy family does. My money is still on ties with the mafia, Blake thinks it is more cartel shit, and Logan doesn”t care.

Without knocking Logan walks into the dark office, but I know he’s here because he”s shouting. Logan turns the light on, but it’s turned off quickly.

“Leave them off!” Hayden shouts, as one of the side lights is put on.

“Cain-”

“Just give me the fucking re-fill!” Cain shouts. Now the light is on I can see him by his desk, with sunglasses on.

“Cain, if I-”

“Doc the only reason you’re standing here is because in the fucking pit you saved me from dying more times than I can fucking think. You keep pissing me off, I put you down there for a day-”

“I’m trying to save you now, if-” The Doc stops talking when Cain slams his hands hard on the table and stands up. “I will get the re-fill in an hour.”

“Go with him,” Cain waves his hand to Hayden, but he doesn’t move. “What?”

“The club, I thou-”

“I’m fucking here aren’t I? Because you fucked up, I’m here, and not where I should be. Unless you want to be there, and-”

“Fuck no.” Hayden cuts him off. Hayden looks at the three of us, before turning back to Cain. “It won’t happen again, once I get the pills, I’ll bring them over.” Hayden leaves the office, and Cain sits back down.

No one says anything yet, the three of us look between us, but my eyes are locked on Logan as he watches Cain.

“If you were planning on dying, why come back in mom’s life?” Logan asks, the fucking idiot. Did he not see the fucking anger he was throwing at the Doc and his cousin. I mean Cain won’t do anything to Logan, fuck he wouldn’t touch myself or Blake because of Aunt Lizzie, but I still don’t want to be on his fucking bad side.

Cain stares at Logan for a moment, well I think he is, the man still has his sunglasses on. None of us have ever asked about the Pit, we don’t see him unless he wants something from us, or if we want something from him. Logan goes for family dinner when Aunt Lizzie calls, but no talking happens there.

Cain shakes his head, opens his draw and throws a file on the table. “You three are fucking stupid. Only looking at what’s in front of you. You have one goal, taking your dads down, you remember what they have done to you, but you’ve forgotten everything around you.” Cain finally takes his sunglasses off and looks at me. Fuck he doesn’t look good, a cut under each eyes, which are both a red shot at the moment. “You know the girl.”

“No I don’t.” Cain chuckles to himself at my reply.

“Think back, a long time ago. Your sister was still alive, you were little, five or six. I get maybe you’d want to forget the shit they did to you, and you’ve blocked everything from your childhood. But think.” Cain pours himself a whiskey, and downs it within a second of pouring it.

I don’t know Bea, I would remember her. Five, six, I wasn’t even home much that I can remember. Every chance dad got he would send me away for one reason or the other. If I wasn’t good enough to be his punching bag, he would send me somewhere a week or more. Got a nanny to just take me away, as long as I wasn’t in front of him, he was happy.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” I tell him, then look over at Blake and Logan, maybe they might know what the hell he’s talking about. They both shake their heads, and I turn back to Cain.

“Idiots,” he whispers to himself, but we heard him. Pushing the file to the front of the desk, he puts his sunglasses back on, and leans back in his seat, putting his head on the back of the chair.

Walking over to the desk, I grab the file and walk to the side. Blake follows me over, and Logan just watches Cain, who isn’t even looking at us anymore.

Bianca Foster, formally known as Bianca Brown. That name still doesn’t sound familiar to me. Have I blocked out that much of my fucking past, I can’t remember anything outside my dad and his fucked up game with me.

I get back to the file, mother Carol Foster worked for…now I do stop reading. What the fuck? She used to work for my parents. That’s all there is, one sheet of paper, with five fucking lines. Five lines I didn’t know anything about.

Is this what Bea wanted to tell me? She looked stressed when I left her, I was worried she was telling me she’s leaving town, but why would she tell me that? Then I thought maybe she’s pregnant, I’ve not been wrapping up, so there could be a chance, and that’s what she’s scared of, but all I can think about is her words. I had to do it for my family. What did she do for her family?

“Cain-”

“Talk to your girl, I have a feeling she knows more than she’s telling you.” He cuts me off, letting me know there is nothing else he is going to tell me. Even if he knows, I’m not sure he would tell me or not anyway. He seems in a fucked up mood. Cain in a good mood tells us very little, a fucked up mood we won’t get anything.

We all turn to the door when it swings open, and Hayden walks in, and straight to the desk.

I turn to Blake who’s still looking at the five lines of words, he’s thinking about something. “You said her brother was held under water, she knows who it is-”

“Shit,” I whisper to myself, stopping Blake from finishing the sentence.

I did it for my family.She’s doing whatever it is, for her brother. Why the hell would my dad want to kill her brother?

These five lines have given me more questions than fucking answers, and Cain is right there is only one person who can give me answers. Bea.

“Do you know more?” I ask Cain, and he laughs before swallowing the pills.

“Of course I do, but I seem to be giving you everything and I’m getting nothing in return.” Cain has never asked us for anything, he wanted Logan’s dad dead, and we saidwhen the time is right. He stands up, and walks around his desk, leaning on the end of it. “I only want one thing, your dad.” He turns to Logan. “I don’t want him dead, I want him alive.”

“Deal, but when we’re ready you can have him,” Logan replies, doesn’t even think about it. If I had to do something to help Logan, I would. We all would.

Cain nods his head and turns to Hayden smiling, then down to the wood floor taking in a deep breath. “I was six years old when I first saw Tessa, and I told my mom I was going to marry her one day. Our moms, being best friends, loved the idea. At six years old, Tess smiled, the cutest little dimples, but fuck did I smile every time I saw her.” Cain stops and looks up at me, eyes dead locked. “The world had different plans. I was in the pit when I heard about your mom, but I did everything to get a phone, fuck did I do everything. I called her, and then I called her twice a day every week. She told me about Jasper, I was a little pissed off he wasn’t dead-”

“He will be-”

“No, I’m going to take care of him myself, when the time is right.” Cain takes his jacket off, walks around the desk, and places it behind the chair. “I told her, I”d be out soon, just be strong. When I’m out, everyone who hurt her, I’d kill.” He goes quiet.

I didn’t know Tessa even knew Cain, never mind had a relationship with him. I understand why she kept it hidden, dad would have killed her himself, if he knew about it.

“I got out for the night, well I didn’t get out, I had to do something to get out for a few hours. Best hours of my life. I knew I almost had the Pit in my hands, told Tessa, give me two, maybe three months-” He shakes his head, and looks out the window at the club. “But it was too late. I found out about Tessa, and….I lost the woman I love.” He turns around, his expression blank, and I can”t read the man at all. “Read the fucking letter, you would have known who Bea was from the start.” He walks back over to his desk, and sits down.

I look over at Blake and Logan, giving them a nod letting them know I will be out in a moment. “Hayden- ”” Blake nods for him to come over. “-how is the girl?”

I wait for the door to close behind me, before I say anything. “Was she happy? I spoke to her in the morning, and we had plans for the day. She was smiling, and…she looked happy.” I hate talking about Tess, I always feel I missed something.

“Open the letter, Travis-”

“Why? Do you know what’s in it?” I ask him, as if I’m missing more than I should be.

“She told me, she was going to leave you a letter about things. I don’t know what’s in it, I don’t even know if she mentions me, but I know she wanted you to have it.” He looks up at me. “I spoke to her the night before, I told her I’d have the Pit soon, she was so excited, fuck I was.” Cain stops talking, shaking his head. “You need anything else, let me know.”

I stand there for a moment, the man has bad luck. Lost his dad, lost his mom, and the woman he loved, my sister.

I leave the office, and check my phone to see if Bea is finished swimming. No, she’s still there. Blake and Logan are joking with the Crawford brothers. Not bothering going over, I wave at the guys to let them know I want to get home so I can read Tess’ letter.

“The man knows more about us than we do.” Logan is the first to talk, but I don’t say anything, because I agree with Logan.

“He’s been a fucking ghost for years. I’m scared to know the things he knows,” Blake adds which makes me laugh because there isn’t enough money in the word for me to be in Cain’s head for a day.

“And how many enemies has he made along the way? There’s a reason he’s so closed off. Lost his dad, his girl, only just got his mom back. Under the scary man, is a man who’s too scared to let anyone get close to him.” I look at them both as we all stand by the car. “None of us know where he lives, Aunt Lizzie has never been there. This place has more security than the white house, why?”

The man is a ghost, but a man I bet not many will fuck with. One thing, my sister was with him, even loved him. And knowing he made her happy is enough for me to respect him.

Travis,

So how long has it taken you to open this letter? Did you open it right away because you needed to know what I had to say, or did you wait until something has happened. I’m going to say the second one.

The reason I’m writing this letter is because I don’t know what will happen, something has been going on, and I think dad has found out about it. Trust me, when I say, what I’ve done isn’t something dad or his friends are going to like.

I always told you to watch out for dad, the man is a snake. I’ve found a few things out, and I’m writing them in this letter, because I have a feeling dad has a plan, and I don’t know what it involves.

I don’t know if I will be here tomorrow or not, because the man is a greedy bastard, and will stop anyone who will get in his way, you know that. He got rid of mom, and our grandparents, I wouldn’t put it past him to get rid of us too.

So I need you to do something for me, if for some reason I’m not here.

I want you to find someone, her name is Carol Foster, she looked after me, protected me. Dad raped her repeatedly night after night, all because she was protecting her daughter, and protecting me.

Yes, Travis, you read that right. Dad tried to rape me, and if it wasn’t for Carol he would have. Me and her daughter Bianca would be locked in the wardrobe, while we had to listen to dad raping Carol.

I don’t care what it takes, you find them, and help them with anything they need. You look after them, the way they looked after me.

Now I have to tell you about the thing I’ve done which will get me killed. I’ve fallen in love with a man dad and his friends HATE!

Cain Crawford. I hope one day you get to meet Cain, he is everything to me. He makes me smile, makes me laugh, and he will protect me until the very end. I know he will. I got to see him tonight, and it was the best night of my life, because the man I love asked me to marry him, and I screamed yes to him, Travis. Even being where he is, he’s been able to protect me, asking for favors or doing something to help me here. He will do anything for me, and I’ve told him to look out for you, too. I’ve put the ring in here, if dad finds it, he will kill me, so you look after it for me.

I know you’re asking yourself how, when everyone thinks I’m with Jasper, I’m not. That’s another one of dad’s ways to control my life. I hope I get to explain this, but if not, talk to Cain, he knows everything.

If for some reason dad has fucked up my life and I am not here, please give this back to Cain, and tell him I’m sorry I wasn’t strong enough, and I love him.

Watch your back, Travis. Don’t trust him, and always trust your gut.

I love you more than anything.

Love Tess xoxo

I’ve read this letter almost a hundred times since I got home. The guys have read it too, and we’ve been sitting in silence.

How the fuck did I miss all this? Cain’s right, the three of us are only seeing one thing. Ending our dads, and we’ve lost sight of everything else.

“Do you think your dad-”

“Don’t say it.” I cut Blake off, because it’s one of the things I’ve been thinking. Did my dad kill my sister because he found out about Cain? How fucked up are our dads? All of this fucked up shit for power and money.

“What about Bea?” Logan asks. “You think she was going to tell you?”

“She said she needed to talk, and I need to remember she was doing it for her family. I have a feeling she was going to tell me.” I look at my phone to see Bea is still there, but it’s fucking late now.

Travis - Are you still coming over?

I know she was nervous about tonight, so having second thoughts would be something she would do. She hasn’t seen my message, so I try to call her, but nothing.

There is only one person I can think of calling, Quinn. “Hey, are you two planning on swimming all night?” I ask him as soon as he says hello.

“What are you talking about?” he questions.

“Bea, still swimming?”

“She left a few hours ago-”

“What?” I power walk to the kitchen to grab my keys, and look over at Blake and Logan, walking to the door.

“Yeah, she was heading to your house. She’s not there?”

“You think I’d be calling if she was fucking here? I’m going to the campus, her car is there. I’ll call when I find her.” I end the call, because I know I’m not going to find her there, my dad’s got something to do with this.

“What’s the tracker showing?” Logan asks, as we speed down the road towards the campus, it won’t take us long to get there.

“She’s on campus.” I look at the tracker, still blinking, so he hasn’t switched it off. Fuck. “He’s pulled the tracker out of her.” I say to myself, but out loud for the guys to hear too.

“How did he know you put a tracker on her?” Blake asks.

“You can never trust women, you don’t know where they are or if they’re fucking someone behind your back,” Dad snaps at both Tess and me, all because we were talking about mom.

“Well, I’m happy if she was, you’re a fucking asshole,” I snap.

“And you think you’ll be any different? You won’t be able to keep a woman, never mind know where she is.” Dad slaps me across the face , and then slams my head on the table. One fucking day I’m going to beat the shit out of him.

“Yeah, maybe I’ll put a tracker on them, not because I don’t trust them, but because I don’t trust you,” I snap at him.

I told him what I was going to do, this was when I was stupid, and never kept things close to my chest. He knew I never trusted him, and when I got a girl it was going to be worse.

Blake stops the car next to Bea’s, her door is wide open. And the fear of my dad winning and hurting someone I love, hits me fucking hard.

Looking in the driver”s seat, I pick up an envelope,rip it open, and empty it. The tracker is covered in blood, and the USB stick fall on my hand, and a note with the words WATCH ME written on it.

“I’ll get my laptop out of the car,” I hear Blake, and I put the tracker in my pocket. Blake takes the USB from me, and puts it into the laptop.

Slamming my hands into my jeans pocket, I ball them up when I see Bea on the floor looking very beaten up. She stands, but I can’t hear what she’s saying, the asshole has muted it.

“That’s not his house,” Logan points out.

Dad slaps her face, she said something that pissed him off. My body tenses up when the sound comes back on, and I smile when Bea headbutts my dad. She will fight for as long as she can.

“Is your dad enjoying the money?” My dad taunts her.

“Don’t fucking care, hope he’s dead.” Bea snaps at him.

“I paid him a lot of money to leave.” My dad snaps at her, then laughs. “I think she needs a reminder,” he turns around, and Bea looks to the side, and my body begins to shake when I see Jasper walk into frame.

I walk away from the laptop because I’m not sure if I can watch this, without losing it, and wanting to kill my dad this very second.

“Travis, he isn’t raping her, he’s beating her as much as he can though.” I hear Logan behind me, but I don’t hear anything from the video, either they’ve turned the volume off, or my fucked up dad has. “He’s stopped.”

I walk back over to them, and Blake puts the volume back up when my dad gets in frame. “Now I think it”s time to see what’s so special about your pussy my son seems to be very hooked on it.”

I watch Bea stand up, and smile at him. “You’re a sick fucking bastard, and I will kill you.” My dad starts laughing, undoing his belt.

“Enough-” I hear Logan’s dad, which surprises us all. “-you don’t have time, he will come out looking for her soon. Let’s finish her.”

My dad takes a step closer to her, and whispers something to her, and her eyes widen.

“Drug her,” my dad shouts, and then turns to the camera, and smiles. “You can’t watch them all the time.”

The camera goes dead, and I lean on Bea’s car as I fight for air. Where does he have her?

“Breathe, man,” Logan pats my shoulder.

Our dad’s have never gone after our girls before, this is the first time. We don’t know how to play this game, we kill people, and I can do it without thinking about it. But this is something new to us.

“Shall we go talk to your dad?” Logan asks.

“Yes. And the hotel is gone tomorrow, make the fucking call.” I sit in Bea’s car and hot wire it to start. I can’t leave it here, and I still have to work out what the fuck I am going to tell Quinn.