3. Travis

“Mom left you…”

“She left you, too.” Dad punches me in the stomach.

Every time he hears Mom’s name, he loses it. Hates pictures of her, hates us asking about her, hates me because I look like her.

“Because of you.” I push him away. He has taken my mom away from me, and he wants to blame me. He grabs my collar and slams me against the wall hard enough for it to hurt me as my head hits the wall. “You’re a little boy?—”

“Today, I’m little. Tomorrow, I’ll be bigger and stronger.” I try to fight out of his grip, and he starts laughing, bringing his arm back, then punches me hard, cutting my lip. He goes to do it again but stops.

“Leave him alone!” My sister shouts and grabs his arm to stop him from punching me again.

I’m sure if it wasn’t for my sister, I’d either be dead or in the hospital fighting for my life, with the amount of times he’s beaten the shit out of me over the years.

“You think you’ll always be here to protect him?” Dad throws me to the floor.

“Yes.” She pushes him away and runs over to me.

Three days. It’s been three days since I’ve seen PR. She can try to hide. What’s funny is she thinks it’s pissing me off, but it’s not. It’s making the hunter in me hungrier for his prey. Once I catch her, she’s going to know running away isn’t a game I play.

Every time I see her, she disappears so fast. She’s so tiny and moves through crowds like a bolt of lightning. If she wants to play this game with me, I’m happy to partake because I never lose, and I plan on having her to myself again. No one is getting in my way.

So, she can run, but I’ll catch her, and I won’t be letting her go either.

“Are you watching the swim tryouts?” Blake says as we make our way to the cars.

We watch the swim tryouts every year together, but in high school it was because we got to see the girls in swimsuits. As we got older, we watch it because it’s interesting to see how they swim so fast in the water. I can swim, but the way real swimmers move, it’s wild.

“Not sure I can deal with Britney today.” They both start laughing at me and I ignore them. They haven’t quit messing around with me about her. “Are you going?”

“Yeah, going to drop my books off then make my way over. Come on, we’ve done this for years, plus we get to see the new students.” Blake opens the trunk to his car and throws his books in. I walk over to my black BMW and throw my books in too.

“Last year was trash,” August adds to the conversation. “As crazy as she is, Britney was the best on the team.” It was her first year coming with us to watch the swimmers, and it has been the only sport where she wasn’t reading her book while there.

“Logan, you going?” I ask.

I’d rather spend my time practicing on the rink, I enjoy it more than anything else. I’m planning on breaking my record from last year, it’s hard to be the top scorer with Blake on the team, but I still plan on breaking my own record.

“Yeah. Before I meet you at the bar, I have to go home. Mom wants to talk.”

“I have to go talk to dad about the fundraiser,” I tell Blake and Logan.

Both shake their heads. It’s the yearly fundraiser our dads always get together to do something big to raise money for the town. This year, even though Blake’s dad isn’t the Dean, the money is going to the college. Anything to keep their name in the good books of the town. Last year it was casino night, so it should be fun to see what they come up with this year.

I think my grandad once did a Magic Mike style night, and from what my dad’s told me it brought the most money in since they started the fundraiser.

“Let us know what they have planned, we have to go either way.” Blake begins walking over to the swimming pool, so it looks like I’m about to watch the tryouts.

Before I start to follow Blake, I look around to see if PR is anywhere nearby. I don’t even know what car she drives, and it’s hard to find anything on someone when you don’t know their name. I asked around, but it seems like she’s not telling anyone.

“As long as we don’t have to do anything. Remember a few years back they made us wash cars? The line was insane.” Yes, I’m complaining. I know it’s a family tradition, but it doesn’t mean I have to like it.

Plus, if I don’t have to be around my dad for too long, I’m happy. I hate the man, I have no respect for him, not after what happened, and how he handled it all. He could have done more, he could have protected her better. I wish I was older at the time, because there is no way I would have done what he did. And yet, I know he’s lying about other things too. I know he’s lying about mom, but every time I spoke about her, I was rewarded with a physical beating. One year, if it wasn’t for my sister, I don’t think he would have quit until I was dead.

When you grow up getting beaten every day, you learn to keep your mouth shut. Well at least until you’re bigger than him, and I am now, which means I will find out the truth. I will get justice for my sister.

“I have a feeling we will be involved, what’s the worst they can make us do?” Blake asks.

“Seriously?” Logan asks the same question I was going to ask him.

“They would sell us for a night because they know every girl on campus and woman in town would pay for a night with us. If they can break the record of how much money they make, they would fucking sell us,” Logan says, making us both laugh and agree with him.

“Seriously, they would bid on you?” Meadow jokes.

“Are you willing to let someone have me for the night?” Logan asks Meadow, she shrugs her shoulders, and walks closer to August.

Our fathers would do that without even asking us, so if that’s the plan, then there isn’t much we can do about it. I just have to hope someone hot and sexy bids on me, might as well get some fun from it.

The smell of chlorine hits me the moment Blake opens the door. You never get used to it if you ask me. We only come to tryouts and maybe a meet or two. Other than that, we don’t come in here. So, there is no reason for us to get used to it.

Some of the football players are sitting in the bleachers, here to support their girlfriends. There is a baseball player too, and that’s who we decide to sit by.

“Have they started?” Logan asks Grant.

“The guys have just finished.” He looks over at the girls who start coming out, and I look down at my phone when it beeps.

Britney - Aww, thanks, babe, you came to watch me.

Ignoring the message, I look through my phone to see the hockey games on. I tilt my head a little looking over at Blake who is tapping my leg.

“What?” I snap at him as he hits me harder with each tap.

“You might want to watch.” He nods toward the swimming pool. I look over at all the girls and smile when I see the one girl I’ve been trying to talk to for three fucking days is there.

Quinn whispers something into her ear, and when she looks up at me, I know exactly what he says: I’m here.

She slowly unzips her tracksuit top, watching me the whole time. The moment it’s open the whole way, for a split second, I check out her body and realize how much I want to see her naked. Looking back up at her, she smiles and shakes her head at me, then turns around to put her stuff in the box behind her.

She continues talking to Quinn and removes her joggers. God, she has a fucking sexy ass. For someone so tiny, her body is curved in all the right places, places I want to be touching.

I watch Quinn talk to PR, and he’s giving her a pep talk. It’s crazy, but I am jealous of him. I don’t even know the girl yet, and I hate Quinn being able to touch her, talk to her, give her a pep talk. I want to be that person, I want to be the person who tells her she can do this.

Fucking hell, what has the girl done to me with one kiss, and a fucking quickie in the bathroom?

Logan fell for Meadow with one look, and I thought he was fucking crazy. Blake took longer, but I see it now. When there is someone you know you have to work to get, it makes you crave it more.

Britney walks over to PR, I see her lips moving and without hearing a word, I know it’s nothing good. PR gives her a smile, and Quinn walks away as PR walks over to her block and gets ready for her swim.

“Well at least you know where to come if she runs,” Logan jokes.

The two of them have been enjoying my pain, and the jokes have been endless. Even they think it’s crazy how hard I’ve been working to see her again. This time last year, I had fucked all the cheerleaders, and a few other girls on campus. And this year, I’ve only been with one.

PR gets ready to swim, I watch her take in a few deep breaths. The sound of the whistle goes, and she dives into the water. She’s underwater for a while, being the last one to come up, taking some air, she puts her head back down. She’s fast, and I honestly didn’t think there was anyone faster than Britney on the team, but even she is half a body length behind PR.

PR turns at the end and is under for a while before her head pops out of the water. I stand up to see when she touches the wall. The second she touches the wall PR takes off her goggles and looks up at the time, my head turns too.

“Is that right?” Logan asks, because I can’t stop smiling. She just broke Britney’s record, a record which no one has ever come close to. “That can’t be right?” Logan says again.

“From the look on Britney’s face, I’d say it’s right,” Blake says, both Logan and I look over to see Britney arguing with the coach.

I glance over at PR who is still looking at the time and shakes her head. What the hell is she shaking her head for, she rocketed through the water.

“She doesn’t look happy.” Logan walks past me to the bottom of the bleachers to talk to some of the guys we have become friends with over last year. Even though they are from our high school, we never really spoke to them before.

I walk over to Quinn and notice he is getting his stuff together. “Hey, is she okay?” I ask, turning to PR who throws her cap on the floor, but picks it up before walking into the changing room.

“Yeah, she’ll be fine.” Quinn turns to face me, but I can tell he isn’t going to tell me even if there was something wrong. “Your girlfriend is here,” Quinn says then pats my arm and walks away, and I turn to see Britney behind me.

“Ex-girlfriend,” I say loud enough for Quinn to hear me. “Good swim, Britney,” I tell her, walking over to the guys.

“She jumped before the whistle. Did you see it?” she says while following behind me, and I smile.

She always finds a reason for not doing the best she can, and today, it’s blaming PR.

“I was on my phone at the time,” I answer, not looking at her and focusing on what the guys are discussing.

I look down to see Britney taking my hand in hers, and I turn to face her as I take my hand from her grip.

“Are you going to the bar tonight?” she says, twirling some of her hair with her finger, she smiles at me.

“I am.” She’s not getting the message, so I walk to the other side of the group, and join in on the conversation with the guys, who are also talking about the bar tonight.

“Travis is driving, I plan on having some fun tonight. Where he?—”

“Where I’m not having fun?” I ask Blake, raising my brow at him. “Because I will be.”

“Yeah, in the restroom.” Logan laughs, and I push him a little, because he isn’t wrong. If I get a chance to have PR in the fucking restroom again, I’m taking it. But I’m hoping to take her back to the house tonight.

“You know it’s a dress up night at the bar? Come as a pop star,” Blake reminds me.

I thought it was stupid when he told me the other day, and I think it’s stupid now too. Why the hell does anyone want to dress up? I’m sure there is a pop star who dresses in jeans and a white T-shirt, because that’s what I’m going to be wearing.

“Logan, you want me to drop you off at home, or is Blake taking you?” I ask him.

“I’ll drop him off, dad sent a message wanting to talk,” Blake replies, and I give them both a nod and tell them I’ll meet them outside the bar.

It’s never a good thing when the dads want to talk. They are always up to something, but for a change, we have had the upper hand on them. We have two down, one left to go. Mine will end up in the ground, and I can’t wait to put him there.

I walk out of the swimming pool area and look over at the changing rooms to see if PR is coming out, but there’s no sign of her. The coach will probably want to talk to them about what swim meet they will be doing or some shit like that.

Tonight, I think I’ll be refreshing her memory of who I am. The whole ‘Trevor’ name made me laugh. I like that she’s a little fighter. PR can fight me all she wants, because I know she’ll beg me to take her by the end of the night.

“And who have you come dressed as?” Britney wraps her arms around me from behind. I down the rest of my beer because I need a few drinks in me before I can face her.

Blake smiles, and I tell him to fuck off, then turn to face her dressed in Britney Spears’ high school outfit. Her arms still around me, I smile down at her then remove one of her arms.

“I’m dressed as me,” I tell her, then turn back to the guys.

“She’s still there.” Logan looks over my shoulder, and I ignore him.

It’s going to be a fun year, staying out of Britney’s way. But I have only one girl in my sights, and she’s not here yet. I’m not a bar guy, I’d rather have a party at the house, then be here.

I already know we would throw a better party than this bar has going on right now. Our drinks would be better too. I look around to see how many students are here, then turn to Blake and Logan.

“It’s a bit late notice.” Blake already knows what I’m about to say without even saying a word.

“I’m up for it.” Logan walks over to the DJ, and I smile as Blake continues to stare at me.

“What makes you think she will fuck you again? I mean she’s been ignoring you for the last few days,” Blake asks, and before I can say anything to him I hear Logan’s voice.

“If you want to party, we’re moving this to our house. DJ is coming too, spread the word.” I turn to see Logan telling the DJ to pack his stuff, then turn back to Blake, who is still staring at me.

“She can’t hide forever.” I smile and walk away from him to get to the house before everyone gets there.

PR thinks she can keep running from me, but she needs to know that I won’t stop until I get what I want. and my hand is itching to be around her neck.

The house is full of people. There are people out in the yard. Some are in the kitchen drinking to the point that I don’t think they will make it home. I keep looking over at the door, because it’s an hour into the party and PR still isn’t here.

Digging my phone out of my pocket, I cancel the call when I see it’s my dad calling me. Not in the mood for him tonight, or any night, but I also know him well enough to know he will be over in the morning to talk about whatever it is he wants to talk about.

And I’m sure it’s shit I don’t care about.

I see Britney walking over to me, and I quickly move through the students over to Blake who is chatting with August.

“You might want to look over at the door, don’t think you’ll be happy.” Blake looks over my shoulder, and if it’s Britney, I don’t care.

I turn around, every muscle in my body tenses up, seeing the man I’ve been avoiding talking to the girl I don’t want anywhere near him. Especially dressed in the outfit she’s fucking wearing tonight.

Fucking hell, I don’t want anyone seeing her dressed in that. She’s come to the party dressed in Christina Aguilera’s Dirrty outfit.

“You look pissed off, but you also look like you want to slam her against the wall?—”

“Shut up.” I cut Blake off because the prick is right.

I want to throw her over my shoulder and lock her in my room so no one sees her and fuck her until she can’t walk far enough to leave my room.

My hands ball up into fists when I see my dad’s hand move to her bare back. His fucking hand is touching her skin.

Power-walking over to them both, she is laughing at something he says. Quinn moves a few steps to the side when he sees me coming. I lock eyes with my dad, and I wish I hid how pissed off I am better because now he knows how to get under my skin.

“You want to take your hands off my girlfriend?” I snap at him, regretting the words as soon as they leave my mouth. Because of the way PR has been with me, who knows if she will play along with me for a moment.

“Girlfriend?” My dad questions. I look down at her and see she’s staring up at me. I have no idea what she sees on my face right now, but she smiles.

“Babe, you should have told me your dad was coming.” She walks over to me angling her body toward mine. I wrap my arm around her as she gets up on her tiptoes, and I lean down to give her a kiss. As I go to pull away, she grabs the back of my neck and kisses me even harder. This woman knows how to get a man excited just from her touch. She’s playing along with being my girlfriend, and happy about it too.

I look back up at my dad who still hasn’t taken his hand off PR.

“I didn’t know he was coming,” I say, making him finally look at me.

“Maybe you should answer your phone?—”

“Maybe I have nothing to say to you.” I cut him off, and PR stands in front of me again, making me look down at her.

“Babe, I really need a drink. I’m just going?—”

“I’ll come with you. This conversation is finished. I’ll see you next weekend,” I tell my dad and walk away with my arm over PR’s shoulder.

I can’t believe he just stood there, watching, while she kissed me. I know my dad was never faithful to my mother, the whole fucking town knew it, but I’ve never known him to go for anyone this much younger than him. I’ll be telling him to stay away from PR too.

“He’s gone,” Blake says, and in a split second PR goes to walk away from me, but I grab her arm to stop her.

“Where are you going?” I ask, pulling her against my body, feeling her perfect breasts against my chest.

“I played your game for your dad, my job is done.” She looks over at Quinn handing her a bottle of water, which is one thing I’ve picked up on, she doesn’t drink. “If that was Blake or Logan’s dad, I would have kissed them?—”

“No, you wouldn’t,” I say. There is no way I’d let her kiss anyone, never mind my friends.

She smiles, shifting all her weight to her left leg, staring at me. I know she’s stubborn and will make me work hard to get her into bed again or even on a fucking date with me. But there is no way she would kiss either of my friends while I’m standing here, would she? Not with their girlfriends standing right there.

I look over at Blake and Logan, both laughing. Blake wouldn’t kiss her, that man wouldn’t do anything to hurt August. Neither would Logan, so I’m not sure why she thinks she can.

They’ve been telling me all week I need to walk away from her, because she wants nothing to do with me, but they also know it’s never stopped me before.

She walks over to Blake and Logan. “PR, I wouldn’t?—”

“Or?” she says, not in a threatening way, more of a teasing way, “what will you do to me?”

“You don’t want to know.” She wants to play this game, I’m going to play it with her.

She stands next to Logan, who is a lot taller than her, and places her hand on his chest. My body tenses up, but I keep my focus on her and what she’s doing with Logan. PR wants to see my reaction, she wants all the power in this game, but I have to gain some control back.

She licks her lips and looks over her shoulder at me with a smile so sexy I want to bite her lip. PR looks over at Meadow and smirks, it’s as if they’ve spoken to each other about what’s about to happen. She looks up at Logan and moves to her tiptoes, then kisses him. Fire builds in my stomach reaching my eyes, Blake notices and steps in front of me when I begin to move forward.

“She’s playing games with you,” he whispers into my ear. I know she is, but it’s still pissing me off.

She finally pulls away from him, walks over to me, and blows a kiss my way.

“You’re lucky you’re a better kisser than him. Maybe one day, I’ll find out what else your tongue can do,” PR says to me and before I can reply to her comment, which still has me in shock, she walks away from me.

I watch her laugh with Quinn, and I turn around to look at Logan, waiting for him to explain why they fuck he didn’t push her away, and wondering why Meadow thinks this is so funny.

“Now she can kiss—” he turns around to Meadow. “Your lips are so much better, and I’ll let you work them around my dick later tonight.” Logan slides his finger over his bottom lip, I know the asshole is trying to rile me up. I take a step closer to him, but Blake stops me again.

“She kissed him, not the other way around.” Blake stands in front of me.

“He could have pushed her away!” I snap at him. He could have done a few things, and kissing her back wasn’t one of them.

“Why? She wants to get under your skin, and I’m enjoying the show.” Logan smirks at me, and drinks his beer, while he pulls Meadow closer to him. “She kissed me, I didn’t kiss her.”

“I know I should be pissed off, and yet, I find it fun when someone is making one of you three suffer.” Meadow looks at me, and I turn to see August laughing.

“She’s not wrong, it is funny how fast she’s gotten into your head.” Blake pats my back, as I turn back around to search for PR.

PR is dancing with Quinn in the middle of the living room. I mean, she could have worn a top rather than just a fucking bra.

Britney walks over to her, with the way PR is, I know she can look after herself. The only thing Britney is going to do is bitch about the time PR finished the race in.

I grab a beer from the counter, then look back over at Britney walking away not looking too happy. Turning my attention back to PR, I see her laughing with Quinn.

I need to work on a different plan when it comes to her, my normal plan for getting women isn’t working, which is new for me. It’s never let me down before, but she isn’t like the other girls in this town, she’s an enigma. I want to discover all the things she’s trying to hide.

Her whole body tenses up when she looks down at her phone. PR shakes her head as she puts the phone back into her pocket, and continues to dance with Quinn, then stops again to take her phone back out. She walks out of the house. Not able to stop myself, I follow her out.

She walks as far as she can get from the house, I stop and lean on the tree out of view, but still close enough to catch her once she’s done with her call.

“I’m not sure why you keep calling me...and I’ve told you every day for the last six weeks, let him die.” She goes quiet shaking her head. “And I don’t care, I want nothing to do with him. You tell him if I have to get lawyers involved for him to fuck off, I will.” PR ends the call and tilts her head up to look at the night sky for a moment. After taking a deep breath, she then sits on the grass while looking out at the lake running along the side of the house.

I watch her for another minute, just sitting there lost in her own thoughts, and I take that moment to move closer to her.

“It’s rude listening to someone else’s private calls,” she tells me while still looking out at the lake.

“Seems the only way I get to talk to you is by catching you off guard.” I could ask her if everything is okay, but I have a feeling she doesn’t want to talk about her phone call, and it’s really none of my business.

PR turns her face up toward me, with a cute smile.

“And what would you like to talk about?” she asks, staring straight into my eyes. She’s beautiful, everything about her is what I’ve always wanted in a woman. Feeling drawn to her, I find myself curling over to take a seat next to her.

“Okay, maybe not so much talking, unless your moaning my name over and over again is talking.” I stop when she bursts out laughing, leaning her head on my shoulder. “I’m serious.”

“I know you are, and what makes you think you can make me moan your name?” She wraps her arms around herself, rubbing her arms. I take my hockey hoodie off, and tell her to put it on. “Is this your way of showing the college I’m yours? If I walk back in the house with your hockey hoodie, no one will come close to me. Is that what you are hoping for?” I smile, because she’s half right. She’s cold and I have a hoodie that can keep her warm, and it just so happens to have my name on the back of it.

She looks back over at the lake, it’s so peaceful out here and we’re far enough away from the house to not really hear the music. She turns back to face me, and my glance goes straight to her lips. I want those lips on mine. I want to have her wrap those lips around my dick, which is hard just from being around her.

She leans in closer, the tip of her nose touching mine. “My vibrators can make me moan over and over again. You, I don’t have much hope for.” She stands up to walk away, but I pull her back down, making her fall on top of me. PR has her legs on either side of mine, her breasts pressed against my chest, and her lips so close to mine I can feel the heat from them. I have one hand on her waist and my other hand moves up to her neck. Fuck, she smells so good. My hand wraps around her neck, making my dick twitch in my pants because this feels so good.

“One question, PR, vibrators? That means you have more than one.”

I feel her hand move through my hair softly, eyes searching for something in mine, her lips curl up into a smile the instant my hand slides around to the skin on her back. PR’s hand moves to the side of my face, skimming along my jaw, she shifts her position making sure she rubs herself against my friend growing in my pants.

Her lips brush against mine, I know she’s teasing, so I’m holding myself back from kissing her.

“I love sex, I like my toys, and I like to feel every pulse of pleasure running through my body—” She stops when I feel the tip of her tongue brush on my lower lip. “I like when my man can make me scream while we use toys, but I haven’t been so lucky to find a man who isn’t afraid of what I like. ” She leans in and kisses me, not hard like she did in front of my dad, but slow, soft, full of sexual tension. My hand tightens around PR’s neck, as I pull her closer to me.

Quickly she pulls away, and stands up looking down at me with a sparkle in her eyes, a devilish smile appears on her lips and a dimple appears on her cheek.

As she walks away, I admire her ass for a moment.

“PR—” She slowly turns to face me. “I don’t think toys are my competition, they’re my fucking friends, because you’ll be screaming my name.”

“And next time you choke me, do it harder and tighter, and make it painful.” She smiles nodding her head slightly a few times then walks away. And I just sit here, watching her perfect ass walk back to the house.

Yes, she’s going to be fucking insane in bed. I’m going to choke her while I fuck her mouth.

She wants toys in the bedroom, I’ll give her toys. She loves sex, I love sex. Together, we’re never going to be leaving the bedroom. Once I can finally get her in it.