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“So we’re free?” Travis asked.
“We’re free. You did it.”
Travis jumped up and fist pumped, but his head slammed into the top of the bunk bed above us. He hissed, clutching the top of his head and dropping the phone.
“Thanks, Adrian,” I said.
“You’re there together?” he asked.
“Of course we are,” Travis said, still rubbing his head and wincing. “We just professed our undying love for each other, too. It was super romantic. You should’ve been there.”
“No, he shouldn’t have,” I said. I could just imagine Adrian Terranova glowering in the corner of the room, making my skin crawl.
“Yeah, well,” Adrian said. “Good job, Travis. I didn’t want to tell you this, but I was confident you’d figure out a way to solve our problem. We all were.”
Travis faked wiping a tear from his eye. “You really mean it?”
“Gotta go,” Adrian said quickly and the line went quiet.
Travis wiggled his eyebrows at me. “See? I told you I’m the real boss of the group. You heard him admit it, didn’t you?”
“Yeah,” I said, testing my acting skills to the limit. “I definitely heard it.
He pushed me back down to the bed and leaned over me, hair dangling over his long lashes as he looked down at me. “I guess this means I can’t play up my dangerous mystique as a wanted criminal anymore.”
“That never really worked for you in the first place,” I said.
“Careful,” he warned, squinting his eyes. “You’re talking to a formerly wanted criminal.”
“Sometimes I like you better when you’re not talking.”
He put a tempting hand on my thigh, running it up my leg until my entire body felt like it was on fire and ready for more. “Would it ruin the moment if I made a pun about how I’m going to enjoy the ride during our ride?” Travis asked.
I glared. “Yes. It would.”
“Glad I asked, then. I won’t mention it.”
“Shut up and kiss me again.” I tugged him by the shirt down, finding his lips again.
All mine. Travis was all mine. I’d been ready to throw everything away for a chance to keep him, and now it looked like I wouldn’t have to. It was like he’d told me in those early days when we first met: I could have both. I could be happy and have a career.
I guess that was the real lesson Travis had shown me. It was okay to be happy. No. That wasn’t quite right. If Travis was teaching the lesson, then it would be that he was going to bend the universe to his will if he had to, because nothing mattered more to him than keeping me happy. I wasn’t sure I deserved him, but it was a testament to how he made me feel that I was willing to accept him, whether I deserved it or not.
I knew one thing. Whether or not I deserved him, I was going to do everything I could to make him as happy as I knew he’d make me. That’s what felt so right about us. We were greater than the sum of our parts.
“You’re sure you don’t want to hear one more train joke?” Travis asked between kisses.
“Honestly? Right now, I just want to get laid.”
He hesitated.
“What?” I asked, sensing something I said had tempted him too much.
His lips twitched into the hint of a smile. “It’s just that you have that in common with train tracks.”
I sighed, yanking him closer and kissing him so he would keep his perfect lips shut, at least for now.
38
EPILOGUE - TRAVIS
One Month Later
“Your name isn’t Barry?” Mrs. Glass asked.
I winced. “Sorry,” I said. I’d just finished explaining the full truth to Mrs. Glass, including the part where I admitted to playing a part in the downfall of her husband. Elizabeth convinced me it was the right thing to do, and I definitely hadn’t run the plan by Adrian, Noah, or Jordan. There was the slightest risk that she’d be enraged to see my face and somehow try to go back on the legal offensive.
She sat behind her desk, fingers templed as she studied me, then she shifted her eyes to Elizabeth. “And you knew all of this the whole time?”
“I did, sorry.”
She tapped her fingers, then pursed her lips. “And you two are the reason Enzo was at my party? And the reason he believed I’d been blabbing about my feelings for him around the office?”
“Technically, you kind of did talk about that with Elizabeth,” I noted.
“I want to be pissed at the both of you, but I can’t argue with the outcome. Can I? Even if you were only doing this to save your own skin, Travis,” she said, trying my real name out.
“Actually.” I held up a finger. “It would’ve been a lot easier to save my own skin by blackmailing you or something devious. I liked you, so I decided it had to be something clean that was in your best interests. And once Elizabeth told me about some of your conversations, I was convinced you deserved better than Brandon. We spent quite a bit of time researching that asshole before we took him down. You’re nothing like him.”
