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Her. The ex.
He still has feelings for her.
I let the tears come because I can’t find a way to stop them and eventually, I just curl up, tucking the throw cushion under my head and squeezing my eyes shut.
It isn’t a good idea. Memories come at me. Dark, unpleasant, and for once nothing to do with the house, with finding Maya. I try to push them away, but they won’t go and loneliness and fear from years ago come crushing down. It hasn’t happened in a while but tonight, oh boy, does it.
The memories have mostly stayed hidden when I came to live here but now? It’s cold and I am lonely and I’d run off like a child instead of talking it out with Travis. Maybe I should go home, or just try and get some sleep.
I start to get up off the couch but something makes me freeze. A sound from the quiet, wintry night outside. A creak. Like a foot on the wooden porch. And another. Closer, followed by a soft scrape that comes from the door.
My heart beats so hard, making my blood pound in my ears. Is that a shadow that passed the window? Low?
I don’t know, but I am not about to sit here if there’s something or someone out there. I am not the only one who needs protecting. There’s my baby.
Getting to my feet, I make my way as silent as possible across the living room and to the darkened kitchen. On the counter is an old knife block and I pull out a knife, gripping it tight, my palm starting to sweat as I turn and wait in the shadows of the room.
The sound stops and all I can hear is the thump-thump of my heart, the throb of blood in my ears, the bite of the handle in my hand.
Yep. I’m living in a horror movie.
No one appears.
I hear nothing at all except for a car passing on the road outside. And I am listening so hard I feel it down in my socked feet.
And then something thumps on the porch. Definite footsteps. Heavy. Purposeful. A small scream gets caught in my throat and I end up choking on it silently.
“Brandi?” Travis calls out from the other side, his voice low as he knocks.
My bones turn to water and I drop the knife, listening to it clatter loudly when it hits the floor.
Through it all, I’m still choking on air and trying not to cry.
The door bursts open and he’s there, looking about, eyes a little wild, his hair damp.
He catches hold of me where I stand with his gaze as he moves into the little hall and crosses to the kitchen, looking at the knife at my feet and then me. “Baby?”
“You…” I finally catch my breath. “I heard a sound and I got scared.”
“I’m sorry,” he says, pulling me into his arms, and he’s strong and broad and warm. I lay my head against his chest and my breath hitches in my throat.
“Me too.”
“I just thought you’d stomped off to the baby’s room or something. I went and took a shower to calm down and you were gone when I got out. I’m sorry. I’m an ass.”
I wrap my arms around his narrow waist and squeeze tight. When he’s here, touching me like this, everything else melts away and all the crazy goes up in smoke.
This. This is what I need.
He leads me to the couch and takes me down with him, pulling the blanket around us both as he rubs my back with one hand. I’m half on his lap and it’s a little uncomfortable but I don’t care. I like being so close, like the heat of him. I sigh and close my eyes again, my heart matching the steadythump-thumpof his.
“You were definitely an ass,” I tell him after a few minutes.
“Yeah.” Travis sighs heavily. “I just ended up having a shit end to my shift. There was an accident. Not huge, no one hurt, but it was long and exhausting and you know how these things can be sometimes. I was out alone and when Logan came and everyone else I was wrapped up in the details and then all the paperwork and all I wanted was to get home to you.”
“And I was angry.”
He lifts his hand to smooth over my hair. “No, baby, don’t blame yourself. We’re working this thing out, you know? Relationships are hard. Maybe not always, but they have their moments. Add in the baby, too? Your hormones are out of control, and I should have taken a minute to think about you. I wish you’d waited and not taken off. The roads are wet and starting to ice from the temperature and the rain earlier. I don’t want you getting in an accident.”
