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“Where Sawyer’s concerned, everyone needs backup.” Travis threw his cigarette down and stepped on it, then pushed it off the porch and into the mulch below.
“As long as he’s drunk, I’ll be fine,” I said. “I thought you weren’t welcome around here anymore?”
“I’m not, but if you go in that house, I’m going, too. I’m not going to let Sawyer use you, Ash,” Travis spoke, turning to face me. When he breathed, I could still smell smoke. I should’ve stepped away from him, but I didn’t. I remained motionless as he took a step toward me, saying softly, “He was my friend, but you are so much more than that.”
My eyes fell to Travis’s lips for only a few moments before I returned to stare at his blue, sapphire eyes. “I’m sure you’ll be friends again soon. He’ll get over it.”
“Maybe,” Travis relented, shrugging. “Or maybe not. Sawyer has pushed everyone away since Sabrina died. And besides—are friends nice to have? Sure, but do you need them to survive?” He paused, letting me draw my own conclusions before saying simply, “No.”
With the serious way he spoke, it was almost like he’d been through this before. “It sounds like you’re talking from experience.”
He let out a short sigh, setting both hands on the railing before him. We stood less than a foot apart, and I hated that I wanted to close the distance even more. “Growing up with my family, you learn who you can count on, what to expect from others.”
I didn’t know much about Travis’s family, but suddenly I was so very curious. And with the party still going, it wasn’t like I could march into the house and do what I had to do just yet. “Your family sounds a little weird, Travis. Are they as crazy as you?”
Just when I wondered whether I should’ve insulted him like that, he let out a laugh. “Believe it or not, I’m quite sane when it comes to my family. You should meet my brothers—they’re vicious.” His blue eyes turned to me, and he whispered, “They’d eat you up alive and spit out your bones.”
Okay, that was a little weird.
Still, I couldn’t stop myself from asking, “How many brothers do you have?”
“Lots” was his answer. Then, “Our father was a busy man. Some of them are half-brothers, some of them were…adopted into the family.” No straight answer, though it sounded like he wasn’t going to give one. “With what we do, numbers are necessary.”
“No sisters?”
He smiled, and his smile made my stomach do a somersault or two. “Women don’t do very well in our line of business, usually. I have brothers, less sisters.”
That came off as a little sexist, so I had to ask, “What is it your family does that women aren’t allowed to partake?”
It was a while before Travis said, “If I told you that, the family would have my head.”
I wanted to laugh, I did, but I couldn’t, because deep down a part of me wondered if he was serious. Danger radiated off Travis like water in Niagara Falls. I knew better than to take anything he said with a grain of salt.
“Although, honestly?” Travis turned, leaning his elbows on the railing, studying me. “You might fit in just fine with my family.”
At this point, I wasn’t sure if that was a compliment or not.
For a while, Travis and I talked. I asked more about his family, and he dodged the questions like an expert, as if he’d been doing it his entire life—which, I supposed, he had. The more we spoke, the more I wondered just where Travis came from. What twisted family could’ve sent him out into the world in good faith.
“So after Hillcrest, what are you going to do?” I asked. We sat on a bench near one of the windows now, our thighs touching. It took everything in me to not lean towards him and breathe him in, to stay where I was, one hand on my lap and the other on my backpack, which took up the space on my other side.
“After Hillcrest, I’ll have to join the family business,” Travis said, lighting up another cigarette. The end took a few moments to catch, and when it did, he inhaled deeply, filling his lungs with the stuff.
I stared at him. “You don’t get a choice?” Not having a choice in what he did sounded pretty barbaric, especially since I was ninety percent sure his family business involved illegal things.
“No, but that’s alright. I’m already pretty proficient in the things my family does. They start teaching when you’re young to see if you have the mind for it. In the field, in the office, there’s a job for everyone. It took a lot to convince my father to let me come here for college.”
“You don’t need a degree to do what your family does,” I said, watching him nod.
“Nope.”
His family sounded awful. I’d take my mom and our tiny rental apartment any day over a family that had wealth but dealt in illegal things. A business no woman could join, apparently. This was the twenty-first century; what an archaic way of thinking.
As the time wore on, a few people stumbled out of the house. Some of them got in cars, which made me cringe. Couldn’t call the cops though, otherwise they’d probably shut this whole thing down. That, or Sawyer—even while drunk—would just use his money to get out of it. Money could solve every problem in the world…except me.
Travis checked his phone, holding his cigarette in the corner of his mouth as he said, “It’s probably time.”
I got up, but as Travis tried to get up with me, I stopped him by setting a hand on his chest, pushing him back down to the bench. His chest was hard under my palm, and I knew I should’ve tore my hand off him immediately, but I didn’t. I did glance at my thumb though, remembering what he did to me.
