Travis (41 page)

Kylie
caught sight of Zoey from the corner of her eye, waiting for her to toss more
questions. When she didn’t, she just kept talking as though it were perfectly natural
to share so many intimate details with an almost perfect stranger.

“We
didn’t have a honeymoon, nor did we announce our good news to anyone. We spent
the rest of that day in bed because he had only been able to take leave for one
day and then things went back to normal. Until three weeks into the marriage,
when Travis walked away.”

“Like
out of your life?”

“Exactly.
He told me he wanted something that I wouldn’t understand. Said he was different
and left me with my heart in my hands. Insert ten years without him and all of
a sudden Gage showed up on my doorstep. Not that I knew there was any association
between the two of them at the time.”

“Did
Gage say why he came to see you?”

“Well,
initially he said he wanted me to restore a historic house that his
grandparents had left him when they passed away. I believed it too, but it
wasn’t like I had any reason not to.”

“Did
the two of you start dating?”

Kylie
breathed in slowly. She couldn’t help wondering if there was a reason behind
the intimate line of questions that revolved around Gage. Now would’ve been the
perfect time for Kylie to ask her own questions about the relationship between
the two of them, but she bit her tongue. She wasn’t sure she wanted to know the
answers.

“We
did. Or at least I thought that’s what we were doing.”

“So
when did you find out Gage knew Travis?”

“The
day Gage brought me to your house,” she explained. That was the day her life
had flipped upside down and nothing else mattered except trying to right it
again.

Now
that she thought about it, her life wasn’t right side up again at all. It was
closer to inside out at this point, but she was finding she preferred it that
way.

“I’m
so sorry you had to go through that,” Zoey said with sadness in her tone. “I’m
not sure what got into Gage, but I’d have never guessed he’d do something like
that.”

Kylie
knew his decisions were fueled by his reaction to Travis and looking back, she
realized he was trying to hurt him. She’d been collateral damage, and although
things ended up opposite from what she would’ve anticipated, Kylie had decided
to put the incident behind her. There was no room in her heart for anything
more than the love she felt for both Travis and Gage. They’d managed to shove
out all of the pain from her past.

“So,
are things serious between the three of you?”

The
question took Kylie completely off guard. She wasn’t sure exactly what to say,
nor did she know how to lie about something like that if she wasn’t willing to offer
up the truth.

“Sorry,
didn’t mean to push too far,” Zoey said when the silence began suffocating
them. “It really isn’t any of my business.”

Kylie
realized how much she liked Zoey and being that she didn’t have many friends,
she wanted to share the details. Well, up to a point anyway.

“I
think it is. I hope it is.”

“Me
too,” Zoey whispered and shocked Kylie when she reached over and squeezed her
hand. “Me too.”

After
a few minutes of comfortable silence, Kylie decided it was her turn. “How’d you
and Kaleb meet?” Fair was fair. If Kylie was supposed to share, she figured
Zoey would do the same.

A
huge smile tipped Zoey’s lips, and she beamed as she glanced over quickly.

“We
were next door neighbors,” she said. “Growing up we were best friends, but it
wasn’t until last year that things changed.”

“Young
love then?”

“Actually,
no,” Zoey grinned. “There was a line there, and neither of us ever crossed it
for some reason. Then all of a sudden there he was, right there in front of me
and, well, the rest is history.”

Kylie
returned Zoey’s smile. It was clear the woman was in love with her man. She
glowed with love and Kylie envied her. She was sure it had been a long road to
get where she was, and Kylie was still curious about a few things.

But
she was going to hold the more difficult questions for another day.

♂♀

The
rumble of voices throughout the house combined with the beat of the sound
system blaring Fall Out Boy in the background –
Light Em Up
rattling the
windows – kept Gage focused.

For
the better part of four hours, he’d been painting until he felt as though his
arms were going to fall off. The house was full of Walker men and their
friends, including their cousin Jaxson, Sawyer’s friend CJ, as well as Beau
Bennett. There was something to be said about putting eleven grown men to work.
They weren’t finished, but at the rate they were going, Gage knew they’d probably
shock the hell out of Kylie when she finally got back.

He’d
only had to call her twice – once to confirm exactly what color paint was going
where and the other to make sure she hadn’t gone overboard because as of now,
she and Zoey still weren’t back.

“We
brought food!” Zoey’s country twang echoed through the house, and a round of male
cheers followed.

Finally.

Gage
ran the roller over the paint about to drip down from the ceiling and then gave
in. He couldn’t pretend he wasn’t beside himself now that she was home. He
looked over at Travis and noticed the man was tense, likely trying to keep from
running out of the room as well.

Caving,
Gage dropped his paint roller in the pan after he descended the ladder. That
got Travis’ attention, and they looked at one another from across the room. A
small smile tipped Travis’ lips, and Gage knew he was daring him. Like
teenagers, they were about to take off to see who could get to her first.

The
tangy smell of barbecue wafted through the house, but that wasn’t the scent
Gage was tracking. Like a hound dog sniffing a trail, he was in search of
lavender and vanilla. He heard the pounding of Travis’ boots on the floor
behind him, obviously in hot pursuit, but he wasn’t about to stop. Every man
for himself and all that.

The
second he spotted her long, wavy hair pulled away from her face, her pretty
pink lips turned up in a smile, and baby blue eyes aimed toward them, Gage had
to restrain himself from taking off at a dead run.

Hoping
that outwardly he looked like a man who had his wits about him, Gage walked
right up to Kylie, pulled her flush against his chest and pressed his lips to
hers like he’d done so many times recently. He didn’t get to linger for long
because Travis stepped up to them, cleared his throat and then grabbed Kylie in
much the same way, sending a wry grin at Gage over her head.

It
was a good thing they were in this together, Gage thought to himself. He
watched as Kylie went up on her toes and kissed Travis sweetly on the lips, a
laugh escaping as she acknowledged their possessive greeting.

All
background noise ceased, except for the banging beat of Korn’s
Coming Undone
– somewhat fitting for Gage’s mood – echoing through the house.

Hmm
.

Gage
replayed what just happened in his head.

Kylie
came home.

Gage
and Travis went on the prowl.

Gage
kissed Travis’ wife.

Travis
kissed Travis’ wife.

Yeah,
he could see how that might look a little strange to their current company.

Well,
hell.

He
took a small step back and did his best to pretend nothing happened. Much to
his surprise, Kylie looked back and forth between the two of them and smiled.
“I missed you too.” She didn’t keep her voice quiet and her words apparently
startled everyone back into action.

“You’re
a godsend, you know that?” Braydon claimed the conversation at the same time he
stole the food from Zoey’s hand. On his way to the kitchen, he called out over
his shoulder to anyone who’d listen, “Fuck around and I can’t promise there’ll
be anything left,”

That
caused a stampede as eight hungry men fell in line behind Brendon. Gage didn’t move
and neither did Travis. He wondered whether Travis was having the same problem
he was: Gage wasn’t sure he
could
move, even if he wanted to.

“You
two ok?” Kylie asked as she looked up at them.

“Never
better, actually,” Travis said first, holding Kylie tight against his body in
an act so foreign to Gage, he wondered if his mouth was hanging open. Travis
was not known for his outward show of affection.

“And
what about you?” she asked Gage directly.

“I’m
good, baby. Especially now that you’re back.”

“Ok
then,” she said. “Let’s get some food. I’m sure you’re starving.” Kylie grabbed
both of their hands, but then she stopped suddenly. “Holy cow, this looks
great.”

Her
praise made Gage forget the fact that every single one of the Walker brothers
now knew exactly what was going on between the three of them. Not that Gage particularly
cared who knew, but he wasn’t sure how Travis felt about it.

“We’re
not finished. Maybe a few more hours.”

“I
can’t believe you got this much done. It’s fantastic,” she said with
excitement.

“Did
you get what you needed to get done?” Travis asked as Kylie once again led them
toward the kitchen with the others.

As
Gage waited for her to share how her day went, he wanted to glance down at
their joined hands just to reassure himself that this was real, but he fought
the urge.

“We
did. Zoey’s a machine,” Kylie laughed. Turning to Gage, she said, “We got the
flooring selected, managed to stop by this amazing place where I got to pick
out some replacement pieces for some of the trim work, and we ended up at a
nursery. You’ll probably hate what we picked out, but your yard’s going to stop
traffic.”

Stop
traffic, huh?

Funny
how little he cared about the whole renovation gig until he saw how incredibly
happy Kylie was to do it. If it were up to him, he’d be content bringing in
someone to throw some carpet on the floor and replace the outdated appliances
in the kitchen. Other than that, he didn’t care what he was surrounded by.

But
Kylie’s enthusiasm made him want to go out and buy a dozen old houses and keep
that radiant smile on her face always.

The
three of them joined the masses in the kitchen, everyone filing around the
island where the food had been placed, filling plates and then moving to get
out of the way. Having spent a lot of time at the Walkers’ house growing up,
this scene was familiar. Everyone knew the drill.

With
the containers scraped clean and all the plates full, everyone found a wall to
lean on as they ate and talked amongst themselves. A solid ten minutes had
passed before Zoey spoke up, addressing the room as a whole.

“So,
I know most of you have met Kylie, but I think there’re a couple who haven’t,”
she said as she glanced around at the faces. “And with so many of us, I’m sure
she’ll need to be reintroduced several times.

“All
right, I’m going to start from that side of the room. That’s Chase Jameson, a
Walker cousin. He goes by CJ. That’s Beau, and of course this here is my man,
Kaleb. Over there we’ve got Sawyer, Brendon, Braydon, and Ethan. The woman
brave enough to be standing with the twins is Kylie’s sister Jessie. That
beautiful lady over there is my best friend Vanessa – we call her V. And that’s
the guy I’m sharing her with, Zane. Did I miss anyone? No? Good. Oh, and
everyone, meet Kylie.”

“Hey,
darlin’,” Braydon grinned at Kylie with a sly grin.

“Dude,
she’s so not interested,” Brendon choked out a laugh as he pulled Kylie’s sister
against his side.

“How
do you know?” Braydon asked, feigning innocence.

The
room erupted in laughter, and Sawyer clamped his hand on the back of Braydon’s
neck, forcing his head down to get his attention back on the plate he was
holding in his hand.

As
if that was going to hold his attention for long.

When
the food was gone about half an hour later, the group dispersed, and Gage left
Kylie, Jessie, Zoey and V in the kitchen. They’d refused his help to clean up
and told him to quit making excuses and get back to painting. Pretending to be
horrified by the idea, he slipped out of the room and resumed his position on
the ladder once again.

Gage
hadn’t expected everyone to get back to work, figuring the big meal would bog
them down, but the guys went right back to it. Not that he should’ve expected
less from them. The Walker brothers were a tight knit group who came together
to support one another, regardless whether those who were close to them had
been born into the family or not.

The
ruckus reignited as the music was turned up and more paint was brought in.
Another four hours sped by before things settled down. Gage hadn’t even looked
up – or down rather because he was painting the ceiling – so he didn’t even
realize the sun was beginning its slow descent.

The
women moved through the house cleaning up as the guys finished, so by the time
the rest of them were calling it quits, the house was almost back in order. The
paint cans all had lids, the rollers were missing from the handles and the
tarps protecting the floor were still perfectly in place. Ladders were
positioned in the corners rather than standing proudly in the middle of the
room.

“Who’s
up for meeting at Moonshiners?” Zane’s deep voice bellowed from the other room.
A rumble of male voices erupted, some in agreement, others making excuses why
they couldn’t.

“Y’all
good here?” Zane asked Gage and Travis when he stepped into the living room
they were both still working on. It was the only room that wasn’t currently
back in order.

“We’re
good. Go on,” Travis said as he dropped his paint roller into the tray, wiping
his hands on his now paint splattered jeans.

“You
guys want to join us?” V asked when she eased up against Zane’s side. “You can
watch me kick his ass at pool again.”

“You
better be careful, woman,” Zane grinned as he peered over at her. “I might just
show you what else a pool table is good for.”

V
chuckled at the same time she turned bright red.

“We’re
gonna finish up here tonight. But thanks for the offer,” Gage told them.

“We’ll
be back bright and early to finish up in here and start on the outside. We
might not be able to paint out there, but we can at least get it prepped.”

Travis
clapped Zane on the shoulder and turned him toward the door. “Thanks for all
your help.”

Gage
stared back at the big man, a surge of something foreign erupting in his chest.
Travis had taken everything in stride that day. He’d interacted with his
brothers and the others like he did it every day of his life. Never once was
there a grumble or a complaint.

Trying
to ignore what the strange feeling actually meant, Gage followed Travis and his
brother to the door, watching as the others were filing out. He stayed inside
when Travis followed Zane and V out onto the front porch, and that’s when
Sawyer stopped him on his way out.

“I’m
not sure what’s going on with my brother, but you and Kylie are good for him.” There
was a knowing gleam in Sawyer’s blue-gray eyes, but he wasn’t cocky about it.
With a quick clap on the shoulder, Sawyer said his good-byes and headed out
with the rest of them.

Gage
was stunned silent as he stared at Sawyer’s back.

He
expected that Travis’ brothers would’ve been the first to notice the complete
three sixty, but Gage wasn’t sure whether he should be worried or reassured by
that statement.