CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

Chris grimaced as he swallowed the last sip of his cold coffee. The bad hospital java was rivaling the bad hospital breakfast he’d eaten an hour earlier.

“Thanks for coming. Quite a mess Travis has gotten himself into.”

Charlie’s voice was tired and groggy. Neither of them had even bothered to try and sleep last night. “Do you think it’s over? Do you think Danny will leave him alone now?”

Chris nodded. “It’s over.”

“You sound so sure. What if he decides in a week or a year to come back and fuck with Travis again? You may not be there next time.”

“He won’t be back.”

Charlie stared at him, eyes narrowed. “Oh, my God. You paid him off.”

It wasn’t a question, and Chris didn’t bother answering.

Charlie let out a low chuckle and shook his head. “Travis is gonna be pissed.”

“No. He. Isn’t,” Chris said through gritted teeth. “He’s never going to know.” He pushed himself up from the plastic chair and threw his cup in the trash. “Tell Travis I’ll be back in a few hours. I need to take care of something.”

“You know you don’t always have to be the one to take care of things. You could have called and told me about Travis before you took care of everything. You do this shit all the time.”

Chris looked at Charlie with a surprised look — eyebrows lifted and chin tilted down.

Charlie put up a hand to stop Chris from commenting. “Before you get all high and mighty on me, I know I wasn’t the best big brother to you when Mom and Dad died. I dealt with it by running away. Travis too, but not you. You stayed and handled everything. It was you who took care of selling the estate, dealing with lawyers, and God knows what else.” Charlie ran both hands over his face. “I’m sorry that landed on you. I came back to Sweetbriar because I want to be a part of your life. Good and bad. We’re family. Blood. I’m not running away again.”

Chris nodded, unsure of what to say. He believed Charlie was back, and he was damn glad to have him in his life again, but this thing with Travis wasn’t Charlie’s fault. It wasn’t on Charlie to fix this. It was all on him. If he hadn’t been so focused on his own shit, he would have realized what Travis’ uneasiness on the trip to Carroll had been about. Instead, he’d acted like an idiot and assumed it was all about him. No more. He was done being blind to Travis’ troubles. He’d do whatever it took to see him settled and back on his feet, even if it meant giving up the one thing he wanted the most. This was bigger than he and Tori. He needed to be there for Travis one-hundred percent.

Tori woke to the smell of coffee and the faint sound of The Golden Girls. She opened one eye to find Claire sitting, legs crossed, on the opposite bed with a picnic of food and coffee laid out beside her. She was happily humming along to the theme song.

Tori hardly recognized her own gruff voice as she opened her mouth to point out Claire’s annoying morning peppiness. “You really are the worst in the mornings. No one should be this chipper this early.”

Claire stopped mid-chew, and a large smile spread across her face. “Good morning to you, too.”

“Did you order everything on the menu?” Tori asked, eyeballing the variety of foods and deciding if it was worth getting up.

“Chris sent it. Come share before I eat myself stupid.” Claire patted the bed.

“Any more coffee?”

Claire waved the thermos in the air.

She made herself comfortable next to Claire and shoved half a cinnamon roll into her mouth as she poured herself a cup of coffee.

“What?” she mumbled with her mouth full as she caught Claire shooting her a questioning look.

Claire looked back at the TV and turned it down with a remote in hand. “Wanna talk about it?”

“When do I ever want to talk about it?”

“What happened? I feel like in the span of twelve hours, you guys went from the most annoyingly happy couple I know to the two saddest people I know.”

“The most annoyingly happy couple?” Tori asked over her coffee cup.

Claire rolled her eyes and threw a bagel at her. “Okay, fine. Elle and Ryan are the most annoyingly happy couple I know, but you guys were happy. A Tori-and-Chris kind of happy. You’re more subdued.” She winked as she lay back against the headboard.

Tori finished off the pastry and thought about confiding every fear and emotion rumbling inside her. No, she wasn’t ready. Especially before finishing a cup of coffee. “I don’t want to talk about me. Let’s talk about you. Tell me what really happened with Jake.”

Claire’s chipper demeanor dispelled visibly. “I think maybe we waited too long. We built it up so high that when we finally went for it, it felt awkward and forced. I expected fireworks and lightning bolts. I mean, this is Jake we’re talking about.”

Tori smiled and slumped next to her friend, resting her head on Claire’s shoulder. “Think you’ll try again?”

She felt Claire shake her head. “No. I couldn’t bear it if it was terrible a second time. With any luck we can put this behind us and be friends again.”

Claire sounded resolute, but Tori didn’t buy it.

“Besides, I think I might go back to nursing school,” she admitted softly.

Tori sat up and looked at Claire’s shy smile. “You’re serious?”

“Last night reminded me how much I love it. The adrenaline, the excitement, helping people. The blog is great, but I’m ready to go back. It’s been long enough.”

Tori squeezed Claire’s hand, hoping she really was ready. Claire didn’t often speak of family, but Tori knew it had been Claire’s parents’ death at an early age that had pushed her on the road to a career in medicine, and the death of her grandmother when she was in nursing school that had caused her to second guess that decision.

“I think that’s amazing. You’re amazing, but—”

“But?”

“It’s just — make sure you’re not using nursing school as an excuse to push Jake away. Give him a little credit. He has his own life, job, friends. All I’m saying is you can have both if you want it.”

A knock on the door had Claire seizing the opportunity to escape the hot seat.

“And you say I’m the one who avoids these types of conversations,” Tori said and smiled as Claire flung open the door.

The energy in the room changed immediately as the three of them exchanged a look. Claire silently opened the door wide to allow Chris to enter.

“I’m gonna head over to the hospital,” Claire said, grabbing her keys and giving Tori a pointed look. “Call if you need anything.”

When the door shut behind Claire, Tori got up from the bed and rifled through her overnight bag for a change of clothes. Chris had a look on his face that hinted at a serious conversation. She’d be damned if she was going to take part in any such conversation in baggy sweatpants with makeup smudged under her eyes. This man had destroyed her once. She wasn’t going to let him see her break again. No — scratch that — she wasn’t going to break. Period. She had a perfectly good life with her job, family, friends. She could live without Chris. She was almost certain.

“Sorry to barge in so early. I need to talk to you before I head back to Sweetbriar.”

“You’re going back?”

“Just to grab a few things. It doesn’t look like Travis is going anywhere for at least a few days. I’m going to stay here until I can bring him back.”

She excused herself with a lift of the clothes in her hand. In the confinement of the bathroom she let out a sigh and quickly changed out of the sweatpants and into jeans and a t-shirt. The thought of spending the week without him was depressing and ridiculous considering they weren’t a couple who was living together. They were friends who were staying together until her apartment was ready. She’d lost focus of that fact over the past week as they’d shared the master bedroom of his house. It was the first place since she’d left home that felt like it could be more than a temporary dwelling.

Face scrubbed clean, and emotions pushed as far down as she could manage, she sat on the bed opposite to Chris. “So, you were saying you’re leaving.”

He gazed at her intently for a moment, seemingly trying to read her. She kept her face as blank as she could manage. “Yeah. I could, uh, give you a ride back to Sweetbriar if you wanted.”

Her heart squeezed at the invitation, but she held out, hoping for more. She didn’t want a friendly ride back to Sweetbriar; she wanted him to ask her to stay with him. Let her be there for him and Travis while he recovered. She wanted in his life for real this time.

“I should ride with Claire. She’s a terrible driver, needs someone to keep her company or she drives off the road.”

God, he had to stop looking at her so carefully. Her body hummed with nervous energy, but she didn’t dare make any movements that he might interpret as signs of her ragged emotions.

Chris pulled out his keys and fiddled with one before pulling it free from the ring. “So you can get in and out of the house while I’m gone,” he said and placed the silver key in her hand.

She held in her protest, knowing it would only be met with an argument. He stood and leaned closer, moving a hand forward and then pausing. Her cheeks stung with rejection like she’d been slapped in the face. He was hesitating with her. She moved to him and hugged him awkwardly. She did her best to remain detached, but his warmth as he circled his arms around her and dipped his head down to the nook of her neck made her melt into him against her will.

His voice tickled her skin and sent shivers down her body. “I’m sorry about everything. Thank you for being here.”

Any animosity she’d been holding for him fell away. She was a jerk. She’d been moping around thinking about how awful she felt. She couldn’t imagine what he was going through right now. He pulled away while she wrestled with her anger at herself.

“I’ll call you,” he said gruffly and turned.

She watched the door open and close, creating a barrier between them.

“Thank you! Thank you!”

Susan squeezed Tori so hard a whoosh of air escaped from her lungs.

The woman eased her grip but still held on. “Sorry, I’m just so excited!” She pulled back and held Tori by the elbows. “How did you manage this?”

“Actually, it was Elle’s idea, and the guys all agreed. We’ll charge a small fee to get in to watch the fights, and several local businesses have donated items we’ll raffle off. I can’t promise it’ll be everything you need, but it should be a start.”

“I can’t believe you went to all this trouble. You’ve done plenty already. Autumn is doing great, in large part due to you.”

“She’s a good kid. Besides, I didn’t do that much. Everyone has pitched in. You know how it is here. We Sweetbriarans stick together when the going gets tough.”

Susan laughed and led Tori to the chairs on the front porch. “Speaking of tough, Dax told me about Travis. How is Chris holding up?”

“Okay, I think. He’s been staying at the hospital, and we haven’t talked much.”

“He must have taken it pretty hard. I know how much he tries to protect everyone.”

Tori nodded. Chris was blaming himself for Travis getting jumped. He hadn’t said as much, but it was obvious in the way he was so fiercely protecting him now. She had tried to make him see reason, explaining that Danny’s men would have found Travis eventually; it was just dumb luck that they’d found him the night of the fight. But Chris wasn’t having any of that.

“And the two of you?” Susan caught Tori’s eye and smiled. “Dax said Chris has been walking around the jobsite in a much better mood lately.”

She was about to squash any idea that there was anything going on between them when her phone rang. “Sorry, it’s Jake. Let me just make sure everything is okay.”

“No worries. I need to get inside and finish laundry before Autumn gets home. Thank you so much for stopping by and for everything.”

Susan gave her hand a squeeze and disappeared into the house. The screen door slammed shut as Tori answered her phone.

“Hey, Jake.”

“I’m calling with good news!”

“Good. I could use all the good news I can get today.”

“Your apartment is ready! A few final touches today, but you should be able to move in as early as tonight.”

A pit formed in her stomach at the thought of moving out of Chris’ house. She had known this day would come, but instead of being relieved or excited to move, it felt like the final blow to a bad week. “Wow. That’s great.”

Jake hesitated before responding. “You okay? You sound a little funny.”

She laughed awkwardly into the phone. “Yes, sorry. It’s been a strange week. Thanks for letting me know.”

“Chin up, buttercup. Everything is gonna be alright.”

Tori got in her car and drove in the direction of her apartment to see for herself. She had driven by the building every day for work, but hadn’t paid much attention to the progress being made. That probably should have been a sign that she was becoming too comfortable in her new accommodations, but it hadn’t fazed her until now.

The work trailer was still parked in the lot, along with several construction trucks, but the heavy machinery was gone. She spotted Jake as she walked up to their building.

“I can’t believe they’re almost done.”

“Yeah. Chris’ guys are good. Come take a look.”

Tori followed Jake inside where one man was painting the walls and another was hanging a brand-new door on the hinges.

“A door you can’t kick through.”

Jake laughed and led her up the stairs to her apartment.

“What’s all this?” Tori pointed to two men standing just inside her apartment.

“Security system.”

Tori stepped into her apartment and inspected the small white control panel on the wall. “What? We each have our own security system now?”

Jake didn’t say anything, but the look on his face told her everything.

She pinched the bridge of her nose. “Tell me I’m not the only one with my own security system.”

His lips curved into a tight-lipped grin.

“You live ten feet away — I already have a security system,” Tori fumed.

Jake moved in front of her and pushed a few buttons on the control panel. “Not for long,” he said cheerily. “I’m breaking ground on my house next month. Enter a four-digit code. It’s what you’ll use to shut off the alarm.”

“He couldn’t have just sent flowers. Oh no, the man has to buy an entire alarm system.”

Jake chuckled and moved out of her way while she entered her code. “Is that it?”

“Yeah, pretty much. The guys can give you all the particulars. I gotta head in for my shift.”

“Alright. Thanks.”

He turned to leave, and she felt a pang of sadness that he was moving on. She worried once he moved out for good, she’d never see him. If the rift between him and Claire didn’t resolve itself, it was more than likely he’d eventually stop coming around their group when she was with them.

“Jake?”

He stopped and swiveled his head to meet her gaze.

“It won’t be the same around here without you.”