Page 47 of Spar
“You’re going back?”
“Just to grab a few things. It doesn’t look like Travis is going anywhere for at least a few days. I’m going to stay here until I can bring him back.”
She excused herself with a lift of the clothes in her hand. In the confinement of the bathroom she let out a sigh and quickly changed out of the sweatpants and into jeans and a t-shirt. The thought of spending the week without him was depressing and ridiculous considering they weren’t a couple who was living together. They were friends who were staying together until her apartment was ready. She’d lost focus of that fact over the past week as they’d shared the master bedroom of his house. It was the first place since she’d left home that felt like it could be more than a temporary dwelling.
Face scrubbed clean, and emotions pushed as far down as she could manage, she sat on the bed opposite to Chris. “So, you were saying you’re leaving.”
He gazed at her intently for a moment, seemingly trying to read her. She kept her face as blank as she could manage. “Yeah. I could, uh, give you a ride back to Sweetbriar if you wanted.”
Her heart squeezed at the invitation, but she held out, hoping for more. She didn’t want a friendly ride back to Sweetbriar; she wanted him to ask her to stay with him. Let her be there for him and Travis while he recovered. She wanted in his life for real this time.
“I should ride with Claire. She’s a terrible driver, needs someone to keep her company or she drives off the road.”
God, he had to stop looking at her so carefully. Her body hummed with nervous energy, but she didn’t dare make any movements that he might interpret as signs of her ragged emotions.
Chris pulled out his keys and fiddled with one before pulling it free from the ring. “So you can get in and out of the house while I’m gone,” he said and placed the silver key in her hand.
She held in her protest, knowing it would only be met with an argument. He stood and leaned closer, moving a hand forward and then pausing. Her cheeks stung with rejection like she’d been slapped in the face. He was hesitating with her. She moved to him and hugged him awkwardly. She did her best to remain detached, but his warmth as he circled his arms around her and dipped his head down to the nook of her neck made her melt into him against her will.
His voice tickled her skin and sent shivers down her body. “I’m sorry about everything. Thank you for being here.”
Any animosity she’d been holding for him fell away. She was a jerk. She’d been moping around thinking about how awful she felt. She couldn’t imagine what he was going through right now. He pulled away while she wrestled with her anger at herself.
“I’ll call you,” he said gruffly and turned.
She watched the door open and close, creating a barrier between them.
“Thank you! Thankyou!”
Susan squeezed Tori so hard a whoosh of air escaped from her lungs.
The woman eased her grip but still held on. “Sorry, I’m just so excited!” She pulled back and held Tori by the elbows. “How did you manage this?”
“Actually, it was Elle’s idea, and the guys all agreed. We’ll charge a small fee to get in to watch the fights, and several local businesses have donated items we’ll raffle off. I can’t promise it’ll be everything you need, but it should be a start.”
“I can’t believe you went to all this trouble. You’ve done plenty already. Autumn is doing great, in large part due to you.”
“She’s a good kid. Besides, I didn’t do that much. Everyone has pitched in. You know how it is here. We Sweetbriarans stick together when the going gets tough.”
Susan laughed and led Tori to the chairs on the front porch. “Speaking of tough, Dax told me about Travis. How is Chris holding up?”
“Okay, I think. He’s been staying at the hospital, and we haven’t talked much.”
“He must have taken it pretty hard. I know how much he tries to protect everyone.”
Tori nodded. Chris was blaming himself for Travis getting jumped. He hadn’t said as much, but it was obvious in the way he was so fiercely protecting him now. She had tried to make him see reason, explaining that Danny’s men would have found Travis eventually; it was just dumb luck that they’d found him the night of the fight. But Chris wasn’t having any of that.
“And the two of you?” Susan caught Tori’s eye and smiled. “Dax said Chris has been walking around the jobsite in a much better mood lately.”
She was about to squash any idea that there was anything going on between them when her phone rang. “Sorry, it’s Jake. Let me just make sure everything is okay.”
“No worries. I need to get inside and finish laundry before Autumn gets home. Thank you so much for stopping by and for everything.”
Susan gave her hand a squeeze and disappeared into the house. The screen door slammed shut as Tori answered her phone.
“Hey, Jake.”
“I’m calling with good news!”
