Nicole Edwards - Travis

It didn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out why Cole and Luke were there. They were the only people Travis knew personally who were in the same sort of relationship that he had been. Then again, that was where they differed. Travis was no longer in that sort of relationship, so their advice wasn’t going to help them much.

“Dear Abbey I’m not,” Luke said as he poured coffee for himself and then Cole before passing the carafe to the other side of the table. Gage didn’t say a word, but his body language said he didn’t appreciate the way these two men were inserting themselves in their lives when they knew nothing about what was going on.

“That’s for damn sure,” Cole joked, resting his forearms on the table and looking far more laid back than Travis had ever seen him.

“Shut it,” Luke told Cole, but the smile on his face belied his caustic remark.

“I think it all comes down to one thing,” Luke said as he leaned back in his chair, his hands wrapped around the coffee cup steaming on the table in front of him.

“What’s that?” Travis asked.

“You two love her?”

You could’ve heard a pin drop as the table fell silent. Travis didn’t say a word and neither did Gage. Luke didn’t look at all intimidated by their nonresponses either.

“How ‘bout each other?”

Nothing again.

“That’s what I figured.”

Travis bit his tongue to keep from making a snide remark. Although he didn’t appreciate Luke’s interference, especially right now, he still had to work with the guy in the future, and he knew that blowing up at him wasn’t in his best interest.

“Ok, so I’ll give you an easier one,” Luke grinned and the smirk pissed Travis off more.

“Why haven’t you told each other yet?”

“Man, you’re seriously starting to piss me off,” Travis said, his voice barely heard above the clang of silverware against plates that echoed throughout.

“Good. It means you’re alive,” he retorted.

What the fuck was wrong with all these people today? Sawyer hadn’t said a single word to him which was worse than if he had. Then Braydon confronted him, offering up his unsolicited opinions. And now, Luke and Cole were sitting him down like he was a child and needed a lesson in how to make a relationship work.

Travis was just about to give them both a piece of his mind when something caught his eyes. Or rather someone.

Kylie.

Oh, God. She looked so beautiful, and she was coming toward them. Sierra was walking along beside her, her face expressionless. That’s when Travis noticed that Kylie had been – no, she was – crying. He pushed to his feet, sending his chair over backward and without thinking he walked right up to her and pulled her into his arms.

“Oh, God, Travis. I’m so sorry,” Kylie sobbed against his chest.

Travis pressed his lips against the top of her head as Gage walked around to his side. Without hesitating, Gage put his arms around her too. Kylie released one arm from around Travis and wrapped it around Gage, her face still buried in Travis’ shirt. She trembled as she cried, and Travis’ heart broke again.

He met Sierra’s eyes over the top of Kylie’s head, and she gave him a small smile. This was the reason they were there. Luke, Cole, and Sierra had come down to help Kylie. Luke and Cole had been a distraction. The real conversation had been between the two women.

When Kylie pulled back a couple of minutes later, wiping her eyes with the heels of her hands, she turned to face Sierra.

“If you ever want to talk, call me. And I’m serious, you guys should come visit the new club. Anytime you want,” Sierra said as she hugged Kylie as though they were long lost friends.

“Or better yet, hang out at the resort if it ever opens,” Luke joked.

Travis mouthed a “Fuck you” to Luke and got a one finger salute in return.

“Look, we do need to get back to Dallas,” Luke said as he pulled Sierra up against him.

“Oh, and Gage, if you’re interested in a job, I know this resort who needs a security team. I heard that the owner was actually thinking about hiring an out of work cop to manage things for him.”

Gage flipped his gaze to Travis’, his eyebrow going up in question.

Hmmm. Did he fail to mention that to Gage?

Travis and Luke had talked about Gage managing the resort shortly after they found out he was undercover. Since he was a friend of the family, Travis had wanted to bring him on if he was interested. He just never got around to discussing it yet.

“Thanks, I’ll have to talk to the guy,” Gage told Cole as they shook hands.

Luke slapped Travis on the back and leaned down close to his ear, “Whatever you do, don’t fuck this up.”

Travis laughed. “Pot. Kettle, right?”

“Damn straight.”

♂♂♀

After Luke, Cole and Sierra made their exit, the three of them stuck around long enough for Travis to drop cash on the table to cover the coffee and that was it.

Now, as Gage stood on his front porch, he watched Kylie’s truck pull down the driveway with Travis at the wheel. Because they had all arrived at the diner in separate vehicles, and neither of them wanted Kylie to drive when she was so upset, Travis decided to leave his, and he called Kaleb and asked him to get it when he could.

Gage felt a wave of déjà vu. Kylie was suddenly back in their lives after what felt like forever and a day, but had only been less than a week. The only difference now was Kylie was coming to see them on her own. For once, neither Travis nor Gage had interfered. And now Gage was ready to have that conversation they should’ve had before this all happened. The one that might’ve prevented any of the suffering that they’d had to go through to get here.

Gage walked out to the truck and opened Kylie’s door for her, taking her hand in his as they headed into the air conditioned house. June was in full swing, and now that the storms weren’t blowing in cooler air, it was downright uncomfortable to be outside for more than a few minutes.

Once inside, Gage led her to the living room and let her crawl up onto the couch. He watched as she kept her eyes down and curled her feet up beneath her. She looked so broken, and he had to fight the urge to want to pull her into her arms and tell her everything would be ok.

As much as he wanted that to be the case, they still had to talk.

“Need anything?” Travis asked Kylie, and when she shook her head, he sat on the couch beside her, but not too close.

Gage sat down beside Travis. For some reason, he felt as though he needed to keep some distance between him and Kylie. She’d hurt him and the throbbing ache was still alive in his chest, even if seeing her was the closest he’d come to any sort of relief in several days.

“For the record, we had no idea they were going to do that,” Travis told Kylie as he crossed one leg over the opposite knee and reclined back into the couch.

“I know.”

“Do you?” he asked, his temper rearing its ugly head.

Kylie met his gaze head on. “I do. I talked to Sierra, and I think they did it because Zoey asked them to.” At the mention of Zoey’s name, Kylie looked at Gage, but he didn’t say anything.

What could he say? It wasn’t like he could change the past, no matter what Kylie wanted.

“I owe you an apology,” she told Gage. “I was so shocked to find out that you had been with her…” Her words died off.

“We know this is new to you, Kylie,” Gage began, unsure where he was even going with this. “And maybe we should’ve told you that we had a history with this sort of thing. For me, because nothing I’ve ever experienced came even close to this,” he said as he waved his hand to encompass the three of them, “I didn’t even consider the subject relevant.”