Page 4 of Keeping Secrets

Or maybe it was just because she was there. Maybe he hadn’t wanted to come to her house at all.

So why had he?

Travis was a painfully beautiful man, with soft brown curls and thick black lashes framing his hazel eyes. When he was young, he had been downright pretty. Now, a strong jaw with a few days’ worth of stubble contrasted with his softer features. His nose was long and straight, and his smile was dazzling.

Usually.

Keely hadn’t seen him smile since she’d moved to town. Not really. Not like he used to.

There was something else going on, something deeper than giving her the brush-off.

And she wanted to know what it was.

CHAPTER 2

Travis is crouched deep in the undergrowth, his blood boiling as he listens to Adam talk about a human being as if she were a dog that he was selling.

I’ll get the recording like Nick wanted, and the cops will take care of this piece of human trash.

The other men disappear, but Travis stays frozen in place. He wants to leave, but he can’t.

It goes against his every instinct to leave that half-conscious woman alone with Adam.

When Adam lands a kick to her stomach with a sickening thud, Travis loses control.

Without thinking, he springs up out of the bushes and lunges for Adam. His legs are a tightly coiled spring let loose, his arms acting on pure instinct as he tackles Adam to the ground.

“Run!” he shouts at the woman.

The rest is a blur.

A knee to his stomach, driving the air from his lungs.

A sharp knife. Warm blood, mostly Adam’s.

Adam’s frenzied scream as he lunges forward, head lowered.

And the look of pure terror on his face as he teeters at the edge of the cliff for an eternity of a split second, then falls.

Travis woke up in a cold sweat.

Nightmares had plagued him ever since that night. And they were getting worse instead of better.

He got out of bed and took a shower, trying to wash away the last of his dreams. Instead, memories of that night came in flashes. Worry gnawed like a rat at his guts, and nothing that he did seemed to make it any better.

He still didn’t know what had happened to the woman.

He’d sprinted to the edge of the cliff and watched helplessly as Adam fell down and down. He’d seen him land far below – too far to see the gore that must have accompanied his landing.

And by the time he came to his senses, the woman was long gone.

He had tried to find her, searching through the dark woods in vain. When he felt reasonably certain that it was safe, he had called out. Telling her that it was safe, offering her a ride into town, to wherever she needed to go.

But nothing.

Eventually, he’d realized that his shirt was soaked in blood that wasn’t his own.

And a new fear had taken hold.

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