Page 43 of Outplayed

It would get the better of me. I knew it would. I may as well open it. It would probably be more jewellery. I wasn’t sure what Travis was thinking sending me all this shit. He couldn’t buy my forgiveness. I made sure to collect all the jewellery in a pile near the front door. I was going to mail it back as soon as he stopped trying.

Would he stop?

He’d have to once he knew I wouldn’t be bought from shiny things.

I grabbed the box and pulled it towards me. Undoing the bow, I lifted the lid.

Sucking in a sharp breath, my hands shook, my eyes widening.

He’d kept it.

All this time, he’d kept it.

The box was new, but what was in it wasn’t.

I pulled out the first photo.

It was of us, on our first date back in university. My hand was over my mouth. Water slipped through my fingers because Travis had just said some corny pickup line, and I’d just taken a drink and about sprayed the whole table with it. Travis looked down at me smiling widely.

My heart skipped a beat taking in the image.

The next photo was of us at the park. We’d skipped class to relax on a rug with beer and Cheetos. We were lying back, and Travis took the photo as he leaned over to kiss my cheek.

My chest warmed.

The next photo was of me. I stood with my hands on my hips and a pissed-off look on my face. Laughing, I shook my head as tears threatened. Travis always took me at my worst, when my temper got the better of me. I’d been pissed because he got pineapple on the pizza; that was all it took to set me off. He’d told me, when he showed me the photo, he loved looking at it because no matter what mood I was in, he still wanted me.

My bottom lip trembled.

The following photo was of us that someone else had taken. I couldn’t remember who, but I remembered that night. We stood on the dance floor in some club. People around us had been dancing crazy while Travis and I just held each other, swaying to the music and gazing into each other’s eyes.

It was that night he told me he loved me.

That night we didn’t fuck. We’d gone slow and made love to one another.

It was that night I knew I never wanted to live without him.

Only a year later, our lives changed. But I knew now it was for the better we’d gone our separate ways. I wouldn’t be where I was today, and Travis wouldn’t have had Izzy.

There was another photo of us hugging at a picnic bench. One, which someone else took, of us fighting outside a stadium. He hadn’t liked it when I punched a guy for coming onto me since it was apparently his duty to take care of me. My anger hadn’t lasted long. How could it when he wanted to be the one to protect me? I wasn’t used to that from another man other than my brother.

So many photos, so many memories flashed through my mind.

We had been completely in love with each other.

It was no wonder my emotions were stronger in just a few weeks since being around him.

It was also no wonder I hurt the way I did.

Never had Travis paid another woman attention if I was around. I had to remember people changed.

She had been his employee, but I couldn’t get the way they talked, the way they looked at one another, nor the way he let her touch him in front of me out of my mind.

Sniffing, I shoved the photos away.

Damn him for this.

Damn him for making me remember what we’d had.

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