Page 20 of Theirs to Love

Travis shot Regan a “What the hell” look and followed Em out to find her sitting in the passenger seat of his truck. He opened her door when he realized she was crying and pulled her into his arms. “Oh Em, don’t cry baby,” he soothed, rubbing hisbig hands up and down her back. “It kills me when you cry.” Emily sobbed onto his T-shirt and the sound just about gutted him.

“I’m sorry Travis,” she said. “I just miss him so terribly. I feel like I’m cheating you out of your happiness by holding onto you. It’s like I’m stuck and can’t find my way forward. No matter how badly I want a future with you it will always feel like a piece of us is missing.” Travis nodded and leaned down to kiss her forehead.

“I know baby, I feel the same way. I’ve been so afraid that you will want more than I can give you and leave me, just the way Jack did,” he whispered. Saying those words out loud to Emily scared the shit out of him. It was almost as if giving a voice to his worries would make them come true.

“Oh Travis, no!” Emily wrapped her arms tighter around his neck. “I would never do that to you. I couldn’t—you’re my whole world now. I don’t know what I would do without you; it would kill me to lose you too. In the beginning, I wasn’t sure if I would want to have a relationship with just one of you. That choice was taken away from us when Jack decided to walk away. I’m so in love with you, Travis, but I still love Jack. I don’t know how to separate my feelings for the two of you. Don’t get me wrong, I’m mad as hell at him but I still want him.”

He sat Emily back into her seat and buckled her in, “I know baby, me too. I love you both and not having Jack here is tearing me apart. We just have to find a way to be happy and hope that someday, he finds his way back to us.” Travis wasn’t sure if he believed his own words. The chances of Jack just strolling back into their lives seemed like a long shot, but he wasn’t ready to give up on that dream yet. And from the tears that were still streaming down Em’s face, neither was she.

Jackson

Jackson sat on the bed in his hotel room and reread the text from his Captain. He took a leave of absence and walked away from everything and everyone to keep Travis and Emily safe. His Captain agreed that it was a good idea to get out of town for a bit. His boss was worried that some of the guys in his new department were loyal to Logan Cross. Without knowing who to trust, he realized that he was a liability to not only everyone in his precinct but also to the two people that he had fallen in love with.

When he left Em and Travis that last morning that they spent together, he didn’t plan on leaving town and disappearing without a word. Jackson got into work and found that his boss was worried about not being able to protect everyone, including Jack’s new partner. Everyone that was around him had a target on their back and he was the one that put it there. He had received another death threat; this time it was phoned into the captain’s office, and he decided to put Jack on leave until the whole mess could be cleaned up. Jackson chose to leave town and walk away from Travis and Emily. It gutted him knowingthat he might never see either of them again, but he knew that they had each other.

He had moved around following leads that might help them find where Cross was hiding. He had been to fourteen states and even spent a few days in Mexico, and he was beginning to feel like he was being led on a wild goose chase.

Cross had sent him threatening messages almost daily, telling him that if he stepped foot back in town, he’d kill Emily and Travis. But today’s message nearly sent him over the edge. When he opened the picture that accompanied the nasty text message he saw Travis holding Emily, standing next to his pickup truck. He could tell that Em had been crying and from the looks of it, Travis was trying to calm her. It made him sick to his stomach that someone could get close enough to either of them to take the picture that was now on his phone. But seeing the two of them did crazy things to his heart.

He worked daily to try to put them both out of his mind and concentrate on finding Cross. He knew that they might not welcome him home with open arms. Jack was hoping that someday he’d be able to at least see them again to tell them how sorry he was. It killed him that he had to leave them and a part of him secretly hoped that they would find some way to forgive him.

Jackson clicked on the picture, expanding it to get a closer look and maybe find some clue to tell him where it had been taken. There was no guarantee that Cross was the one to take the picture. It could have been one of his lackeys from town. He didn’t find any clues to tell him where Travis and Em were in the picture. Still, he forwarded the latest message to his boss keeping him in the loop.

His phone rang just after he sent the message and he answered to his Captain’s growl, “Fuck, Saint. They are still stalking your friends.” Jackson sighed, hating the way his bossreferred to Travis and Em as his friends. They were both so much more. Well, at least he hoped that they were still more to him.

“Hey, boss, good to hear from you too.” Jackson knew that he sounded like a smartass, but he was tired and alone and ready to be able to go home.

“Listen, Saint, we have an idea that Cross was working for someone else besides his cop friends. This is bigger than just you and we’re afraid that your girl might be involved.” That was the first time his Captain had referred to Emily as his girl and his heart did a little flip-flop. “What do you know about her father?” Jack felt like laughing but he thought better of it.

“Well, I know that he fucking hates Travis and me for being with his daughter. The few days that we stayed at her parent’s house, he called her every day and all but ordered her to send us packing.” Jack remembered the way that Emily would get so angry with her father, even stomping her adorable little foot. The memory made him smile.

“How about before Sharp’s place was vandalized, did you know her father then?” Jackson was trying to figure out where his boss was going with these questions. He couldn’t think that Em’s dad was the one that tore Travis’s apartment apart, he wasn’t even in town, and he’d certainly never get his own hands dirty.

“I don’t think I’m following, Captain. Why do you want to know about Emily’s father?” His boss heaved out a sigh and Jack almost regretted asking the question.

“We pulled in one of Cross’ buddies for questioning yesterday and he slipped up and mentioned the fact that Cross was working for someone else, someone powerful. He wasn’t sure who and maybe he wouldn’t say if he did know but he said that the guy who contacted Cross had a grudge against not just you but also Sharp.”

“Fuck,” Jackson barked. He was starting to put the puzzle together and he didn’t like the picture he was seeing. “You think Em’s dad hired Cross to come after Travis and me to keep us away from his daughter?”

“I hate to say it Saint but yeah. I’ve done some digging and this guy has resources and reach. He would probably do a background check on his little girl’s new love interests. Sharp is clean but he’d easily find the paperwork that you filed against Cross. Mr. Jude is a shrewd businessman. He’d see the opportunity to pin all the ugly accusations on Cross and get the job done, separating you from his little girl. Hell, if my hunch is correct he’s already done a damn good job of it.” Jackson cursed under his breath again.

His Captain was right if Em’s dad wanted to get Travis and him out of the picture, he was already halfway there. That meant that he’d be going after Travis and that thought stopped Jack cold. He just spent the longest two months of his life separated from the two people that he wanted to be with most. Now, all his lonely nights would be for nothing because if they got to Travis he’d lose everything. From the picture that he was sent someone already had eyes on Travis and Emily and would be able to easily take them both down.

“I’m coming back. I’m about a day’s drive away, I’ll drive all night and be there by morning.” Jack didn’t give his Captain time to argue, he ended the call and packed his meager belongings into his duffle bag. He was going home, and he’d do whatever it took to keep Emily and Travis safe and get them both back, even if that meant groveling. He was ready to take back what was his and this time he wouldn’t let anyone stand in his way.

Travis

Travis turned into his shop and for the second time that day, he had a strange feeling that someone was following them. “Emily, I need you to trust me and stay in the truck.” He could see the fear in Em’s eyes as she searched in the same direction that he had been looking. “I think that we are being followed. There is a white truck that I’ve seen twice now since we left the farm.” Emily turned in her seat to get a better look and Travis worried that she was going to give away their element of surprise. He undid her seatbelt and pulled her in for a kiss giving the impression to anyone watching that they were just two lovers stealing a minute together.

“Wow, having a stalker makes you frisky,” Em laughed, breathless from the kiss. “Is the truck still there?” Travis tilted his head and peeked out the back window to find that the white truck was still sitting in the abandoned lot across the road from his shop.

“Yep, I’m going to call this into Jack’s Captain.” Travis pulled out his cell and dialed the number that Jack had programmed into his phone days before he left.

“Yeah,” Jackson’s boss growled into the phone.

“This is Travis Sharp, and I think that Emily Jude and I are in danger.” Travis glanced out of his rearview mirror to see that the truck was still sitting across the street, but the driver had disappeared. “Fuck, he’s gone,” Travis barked. Emily gasped and turned in her seat. There was no way that he was going to sit there and give whoever was watching them a shot at getting to Emily. He needed to get her out of there and find a safe place to hold up until he could figure out their next move. He was sure that if the person had been following them for a while they would also know where Em and he lived as well as where she worked.

“Sharp, you still there?” The voice on the other end of the line sounded panicking and Travis worried that it was with good cause.

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