Page 63 of Come Back To Me

“It’s at mine. Has everything you’ll need in it.”

“I can’t just fucking leave, Travis. I needhim.”

“Yeah, we all do.” His phone ringing from inside his cut makes us both look to his chest.

“Who’s that?” I ask.

Travis looks at the phone. “Yep,” he says, swiping his thumb across the screen, holding his other index finger up to me. The bed bounces slightly as he stands his full weight to his feet. I hang on to every movement; from his eyes, every deep breath he takes—anything that’ll give me some sort of clue as to what’s happening.

Holding the phone away from his face, he looks at the screen then moves the phone back to his ear. “So, Monday morning? Yep. Okay.”

Something’s not right.

Travis hangs up. I watch as he sends a text to someone. Putting his phone back in his pocket, he starts walking towards the door. He pauses looking back over his shoulder. “Get dressed,” he says. His voice is devoid of emotion. Before I can get any words out, he closes the door, and I hear him go downstairs.

Reaching the bedside table, I turn the alarm clock towards me. It’s just after seven in the evening. I’ve been in bed all day.Swinging them off the side of the bed, I try to stretch my legs. They ache. From the tips of my toes all the way to my hips, they ache.

I look down at my bump before I stand. Tiny knocks can be felt against the inside, underneath where my fingers now lay. What do I do? Who knows where I’m meant to be going. I don’t want to leave. But I also don’t want to do anything that may jeopardise whatever Dean has planned.

I wish I knew what that was.

Grabbing my dressing gown from the back of the door, I walk downstairs, the bravest face I can muster pulled firmly in place.

Travis sighs so hard when he sees me. “Mads, for fuck’s sake just please, help a brother out. I have a job to do.”

“I can’t,” I say, my tone resolute but soft. “I have a job to do, too. He’ll need me, Travis. You know that.”

Travis holds my gaze.

I take the final step, moving closer to where he’s sitting on the sofa, holding his phone. “What’s happening Monday morning?” I ask, referring to the call he took.

His eyes move between mine. “It’s—”

“—I want to hear it from Mollie.”

My interjection has Travis looking like he could throw me across the room. His eyes drag in the corners, and I see his jaw tighten.

“I’ll go with you, wherever Dean said, but not untilMollietells me what’s going on.” His silence makes my stomach start to turn. I carry on, praying I’m not digging myself a grave. “I know you said not to mention her, but try to put yourself in my shoes. Please, Travis.”

He throws his phone to the table, then covering his face with both hands, he rubs his eyes. “Go back up those stairs and get fucking changed.”

“Hey, don’t talk to me like that.”

“No!” he barks. “You don’t talk tomelike that. Listen to what you’re being told to do.” His reaction to me mentioning Mollie’s name proves there’s a connection there.

I laugh. Like a deranged woman who should really read the room, I laugh. “I forget you do that.” He gives me a look that suggests I should explain myself, fast. “Just blindly follow the leader.”

The grunt as his rage is barely kept under wraps makes me shiver. “This might be a game to you, Mads, but lives could be at stake here. So go get changed, and for once in your life stop challenging every decision we fucking make.”

Lives could be at stake here.“I know it’s not a game, Travis. It’s my fucking life too.” He lets out a sigh. “I still need to hear it from her.”

“Why’s that so important to you?”

“Because she won’t lie to me! She won’t try to hide the truth because she doesn’t know me.”

“And I’ll do everything in my power to keep it that way!”

When he shouts, I jump back, and I see him regret it.

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