Travis gripped the steering wheel as he turned left, taking us closer to where I didn’t want to be. “What didn’t she do?”
“She didn’t tell me about my real dad. She didn’t put my hair in piggytails with pretty ribbon for school like all the other girls had. She didn’t read me bedtime stories like I wanted her to. She didn’t take me to the park or the beach or shopping.” My breath started coming a little faster, and I paused to swallow the hurt. “She didn’t scare away the monsters in the dark. She…she didn’t do anything when David got angry and hit me. When I got home at two in the morning from a party, she didn’t even know I’d been gone.” Travis met my eyes and I whispered, “She didn’t love me and when you’re shown every day you’re not worth being loved, you tend to believe it.”
My eyes followed Travis as he got out of the car. The passenger door was yanked open and then I was in his arms. “Stop believing it, sweetheart.” He pulled back, his green eyes bright and unwavering on mine.
“How?”
The corners of his lips tipped up a little in a rueful smile. “Okay, so maybe I don’t have all the answers, but I know how to start.”
“Yeah?”
He stepped back and to the side, revealing the house in front of me and it felt like a punch to the gut. “Stop running.”
I glanced sideways at him. Maybe I would have, but it wasn’t just about me anymore.
“Wait here,” I ordered, straightening my shoulders.
I strode briskly towards the front door, jerking backwards when my arm was gripped. I spun around and smacked into a hard chest. “Travis!”
“I don’t think so.”
My hands came up and pushed at his chest. “I’m perfectly safe in there.”
“How about I come in with you, make sure it’s safe, then I wait out front?”
As I was already being muscled towards the front door, I figured his words were more a statement than a question. He rapped hard on the door and as if Beth had been waiting, it opened immediately.
I cleared my throat, meeting tired eyes the same brown as mine. “Beth.” Her eyes shifted nervously to Travis. “This is Travis.”
Travis gave a slight nod, and my mind imagined how it would look to someone meeting him for the first time. His blond hair was tied back, arms were folded with biceps bulging, green eyes were hard, and his stance was busy telling the world, and Beth, that he had no patience for bullshit.
Beth took a slight step back, obviously believing everything he was telling her.
I stood a little straighter, taking care to look her in the eye. “You wanted to talk?”
She swung the door wide and indicated with a nod to come in. Travis stepped in front of me, walking in first, eyeing every part of the interior. Despite the place not being clean, it wasn’t shabby. The living room and kitchen had undergone drastic renovations and nothing was familiar. My breathing came a little easier at not being slammed in the face with painful memories.
Beth grabbed a glass and started pouring a vodka without apology. “Drink?”
“No thanks,” Travis answered and then leaned in close to my ear, so that his lips brushed the skin softly, and whispered, “I’ll be right outside the front door. Yell if you need me, okay?”
I nodded.
With that acknowledgement, he tipped his chin at Beth without another word and closed the front door quietly behind him.
“I can’t stay long,” I prompted her when she shuffled over with her drink.
“Always thought you were too good for us, didn’t you?”
I folded my arms, glaring as she sat her glass down on the table and faced me. “You worked hard at making sure I never felt that way, so let’s cut through the niceties, shall we?”
“Alright. I know I’ve never been a great mother…” I rolled my eyes “…but there are people after David. I know he told them about you because they paid me a visit this morning. I wanted to give you some advice.”
For the first time in my life, Beth was attempting to impart some sort of motherly wisdom? I snorted.
She ignored me and said, “Pay them the money. I don’t have it. I see you are in a situation where maybe you could get it. These people won’t hesitate to hurt you. They won’t hesitate to hurt everyone you know.”
“What the f**k do you care about me being hurt?” I hissed angrily. “All of a sudden you decide it’s not okay to sit back and watch me get pounded on? Fuck you.”
Her hand reached out swiftly and slapped me hard. My neck snapped and I cried out. “I’m still your mother. Don’t you talk to me like that.”
My eyes narrowed. “Fuck. You,” I ground out.
Her hand came up again and I grabbed it, my fingers digging tight into her wrist. A hard wall was suddenly pressed against my back, and Beth’s eyes rose up behind my shoulder.
“Touch her again and I’ll make your life a living hell.” The words were like a whiplash, and I had absolutely no doubt Travis meant every word. Beth obviously didn’t either because she tugged her arm away and took a step back.
“Let’s go, sweetheart.”
He took my hand and I followed him to the door.
“Quinn?” Her voice was pitched high and cracked on my name. I let go of Travis and walked towards her.
She leaned in and spoke so softly I had to strain my ears. “These people will do more than just hurt you. They won’t hesitate in making sure you never see daylight again.”
I didn’t remember what we talked about on the drive home. All I remember was listening to Travis and the way he laughed and teased me, distracting me from what had just gone down. I reflected back on how it felt riding with him on the motorcycle; spluttering through the waves at the beach while he laughed at me; the warmth of his hand holding mine; his eyes heated as he moved inside of me, and my heart hurt.
***
Chapter Sixteen
The next week passed by like a ticking time bomb. I was vaguely aware of going about my day. People talked to me, but it was like existing underwater. I baked biscuits to occupy my mind, entire battalions of them—enough that I was sure no one would eat another for as long as they lived, yet they kept disappearing. Jared and Evie moved back into the house at Bondi, yet somehow a container found its way to their house because Evie rang with a shaky voice to say she caught Jared eating one. Travis stopped by on and off during the week to check on me, so another container found its way to the Jamieson and Valentine Consulting office because Tim rang, his voice muffled as he yelled at me down the phone around a mouthful about taking me shopping again. Then it sounded like he called me the badass biscuit bitch, but I couldn’t be sure. Then Evie had rung back, sounding pissed about something to do with being in the badass club, saying she had to get shot at and almost die and she still hadn’t qualified, yet I could do it with some flour and an egg. Then she asked for the recipe and hung up.
Standing in the kitchen scrubbing baking trays, my phone rang. I wiped my hands on the hand towel next to me and picked it up.
“Hey, sweetheart,” Travis said when I answered.
I fought against the flush of pleasure. “Travis,” I murmured. “I uh…”
“How’s your day been?”
“Well, it’s Monday, so my day off.”
“And you baked again?”
I tucked the phone into my shoulder as I poured myself a glass of tap water. “Yes, but I think I’m over it.” I turned around and leaned against the kitchen bench as I took a sip. “I think if I bake another biscuit, I’ll turn into one.”
Henry, Mac, and Cooper turned from various seated positions in the living room to gift me with matching looks of horror. I frowned and waved a hand at them to turn back around.
Mac smirked. “Is that Travis?”
“Yes,” I mouthed at her.
“Is he coming over tonight to talk security with you?” Cooper asked with an exaggerated wink.
I rolled my eyes at them, noting that little gem had obviously done the rounds. The three of them laughed before turning their attention back to the movie playing out on the screen.
“Anyway, umm how was work?” I asked.
Mac tittered in the background at my attempt to make conversation.
“It was okay,” he muttered as I made my way upstairs to my bedroom for some privacy. “Leaving soon. Thought I’d stop over and see you.”
“You are?” I scratched at the back of my head, clearing my throat as I sank down to a huddle on the edge of my bed. “Travis, I’m not sure—”
“Thought I could get a start on teaching you those self-defence moves.”
“Oh.” I paused. “Okay. Thank you. That would be…great.”
After promising to see me soon, he hung up.
I wasn’t sure how long I sat there banging the phone against my head.
Leaving, Quinn. You’re supposed to be leaving. Not getting giddy over Travis coming to see you.
“Quinn!” Henry yelled up the stairs. “Dinner!”
I sighed and tossed my phone across the bed. Henry’s turn cooking usually meant frozen pizza.
Half an hour later, nominated by Mac as tonight’s “dish bitch,” I was rinsing plates in the sink. My mind was wandering when a soft kiss pressed against my neck, and I shrieked with alarm. The plate I was holding fell into the sink with a loud clatter. The scent of Travis surrounded me, and I breathed deeply.
“It’s just me,” he said in my ear.
Spinning around, I had a second to hear his breath catch before his lips were on mine. I wrapped my sudsy arms around his neck, stretching upwards on my toes. He picked me up, my feet leaving the floor to wrap around his hips. Travis murmured something as his hands gripped my thighs. He turned and pressed my back into the fridge.
I vaguely heard Mac say snidely to Jake, “Get your feet off the coffee table,” but Travis held my attention as his tongue rubbed against mine and his fingers dug into my legs.
“Pause the movie, I need the loo,” I heard her say again.
“You’ve seen this movie,” came Henry’s voice.
“What’s your point?”
Travis groaned as I bit down on his bottom lip. The sound was loud as the silence registered.
Cooper’s voice from the living room cut through it swiftly. “Apparently that’s how you teach self-defence these days. Think I’m gonna quit Jamieson and start working for those guys.”
“Huh,” said Henry.
The talk faded as I was carried outside, and that only registered because I felt Rufus press his wet nose against my thigh.
Travis smiled. “Hey.”
“Hi.” I breathed, reeling from the intensity of the kiss.
“Trust your gut, sweetheart.”
“Sorry?”
He set me down, his expression hardening into one of authority. “Self-defence, Quinn.” He frowned and I felt like the naughty kid up the back of class, caught for not paying attention. “First rule of thumb. If something doesn’t feel right, it’s usually not.”