Beautiful Disaster 01 (14 page)

“That’s where I’m staying,” I said, bracing for his reaction.

“You’re
staying
with
Travis
?”

“I sort of lost a bet, so I’m there for a month.”

“A
month
?”

“It’s a long story,” I shrugged sheepishly.

“But you two are just friends?”

“Yes.”

“Then I’ll take you to Travis’,” he smiled.

I trotted down the stairs to find America, and passed a sullen Travis, who seemed annoyed with the drunken girl speaking to him. He followed me into the hall as I tugged on America’s dress.

“You guys can go ahead. Parker offered me a ride home.”

“What?” America said with excitement in her eyes.

“
What
?” Travis asked, angry.

“Is there a problem?” America asked him.

He glared at America, and then pulled me around the corner, his jaw flitting under his skin. “You don’t even know the guy.”

I pulled my arm from his grip. “This is none of your business, Travis.”

“The hell if it’s not. I’m not letting you ride home with a complete stranger. What if he tries something on you?”

“
Good
! He’s cute!”

Travis’ expression contorted from surprise to anger, and I braced myself for what he might say next. “
Parker Hayes
, Pidge? Really?
Parker Hayes
,” he repeated with disdain. “What kind of name is that, anyway?”

I crossed my arms. “Stop it, Trav. You’re being a jerk.”

He leaned in, seeming flustered. “I’ll kill him if he touches you.”

“I
like
him,” I said, emphasizing every word.

He seemed stunned at my confession, and then his features turned severe. “Fine. If he ends up holding you down in the backseat of his car, don’t come crying to me.”

My mouth popped open, offended and instantly furious. “Don’t worry, I
won’t
,” I said, shouldering passed him.

Travis grabbed my arm and sighed, peering at me over his shoulder. “I didn’t mean it, Pidge. If he hurts you—if he even makes you feel uncomfortable—you let me know.”

The anger subsided, and my shoulders fell. “I know you didn’t. But you have
got
to curb this over-protective big brother-thing you’ve got going on.”

Travis laughed once. “I’m not playing the big brother, Pigeon. Not even close.”

Parker rounded the corner and pushed his hands inside his pockets, offering his elbow to me. “All set?”

Travis clenched his jaw, and I stepped to the other side of Parker to distract him from Travis’ expression. “Yeah, let’s go.” I took Parker’s arm and walked with him a few steps before turning to say goodbye to Travis, but he was glowering at the back of Parker’s head. His eyes darted to me and then his features smoothed.

“
Stop it
,” I said through my teeth, following Parker through the remnants of the crowd to his car.

“I’m the silver one.” The headlights of his car blinked twice when he hit the keyless entry.

He opened the passenger side door, and I laughed. “You drive a Porsche?”

“She’s not just a Porsche. She’s a Porsche nine-one-one GT-three. There’s a difference.”

“Let me guess, it’s the love of your life?” I said, quoting Travis’ statement about his motorcycle.

“No, it’s a car. The love of my life will be a woman with my last name.”

I allowed a small smile, trying not to be overly affected by his sentiment. He held my hand to help me into the car, and when he slid behind the wheel, he leaned his head against his seat and smiled at me.

“What are you doing tonight?”

“Tonight?” I asked.

“It’s morning. I want to ask you to dinner before someone else beats me to it.”

A grin extended across my face. “I don’t have any plans.”

“I’ll pick you up at six?”

“Okay,” I said, watching him slink his fingers between mine.

Parker took me straight to Travis’, keeping to the speed limit and my hand in his. He pulled behind the Harley, and like before, opened my door. Once we reached the landing, he leaned down to kiss my cheek.

“Get some rest. I’ll see you tonight,” he whispered in my ear.

“Bye,” I smiled, turning the knob. When I pushed, the door gave way and I surged forward.

Travis grabbed my arm before I fell. “Easy there, Grace.”

I turned to see Parker staring at us with an uncomfortable expression. He leaned over to peer into the apartment. “Any humiliated, stranded girls in there I need to give a ride?”

Travis glared at Parker. “Don’t start with me.”

Parker smiled and winked. “I’m always giving him a hard time. I don’t get to quite as often since he’s realized it’s easier if he can get them to drive their own cars.”

“I guess that does simplify things,” I said, teasing Travis.

“Not funny, Pidge.”

“
Pidge
?” Parker asked.

“It’s uh…short for Pigeon. It’s just a nickname, I don’t even know where he came up with it,” I said. It was the first time I’d felt awkward about the name Travis had bestowed on me the night we met.

“You’re going to have to fill me in when you find out. Sounds like a good story,” Parker smiled. “Night, Abby.”

“Don’t you mean good morning?” I said, watching him trot down the stairs.

“That too,” he called back with a sweet smile.

Travis slammed the door, and I had to jerk my head back before it caught me in the face. “
What
?” I snapped.

Travis shook his head, and walked to his bedroom. I followed him, and then hopped on one foot to pull off my heel. “He’s nice, Trav.”

He sighed and walked over to me. “You’re gonna hurt yourself,” he said, hooking his arm around my waist with one hand, and pulling off my heels with the other. He tossed them into the closet, and then pulled off his shirt, making his way to the bed.

I unzipped my dress and shimmied it over my hips, kicking it into the corner. I yanked a t-shirt over my head, then unsnapped my bra, pulling it through the sleeve of my shirt. When I wrapped my hair into a bun on top of my head, I noticed him staring.

“I’m sure there’s nothing I have that you haven’t seen before,” I said, rolling my eyes. I slid under the covers and settled against my pillow, curling into a ball. He unbuckled his belt and pulled his jeans down, stepping out of them.

I waited while he stood quietly for a moment. I had my back to him, so I wondered what he was doing, standing beside the bed in silence. The bed concaved when he finally crawled onto the mattress beside me, and I stiffened when his hand rested on my hip.

“I missed a fight tonight,” he said. “Adam called. I didn’t go.”

“
Why
?” I said, turning to face him.

“I wanted to make sure you got home.”

I wrinkled my nose. “You didn’t have to babysit me.”

He traced the length of my arm with his finger, sending shivers up my spine. “I know. I guess I still feel bad about the other night.”

“I told you I didn’t care.”

He sat up on his elbow, a dubious frown on his face. “Is that why you slept on the recliner? Because you didn’t care?”

“I couldn’t fall asleep after your…
friends
left.”

“You slept just fine in the recliner. Why couldn’t you sleep with me?”

“You mean next to a guy who still smelled like the pair of bar flies he had just sent home? I don’t know! How selfish of me!”

Travis winced. “I said I was sorry.”

“And I said I didn’t care. Goodnight,” I said, turning over.

Several moments of silence passed. He slid his hand across the top of my pillow, resting his hand on mine. He caressed the delicate pieces of skin between my fingers, and then he pressed his lips against my hair. “As worried as I was that you’d never speak to me again…I think it’s worse that you’re indifferent.”

My eyes closed. “What do you want from me, Travis? You don’t want me to be upset about what you did, but you want me to care. You tell America that you don’t want to date me, but you get so pissed off when I say the same thing, that you storm out and get ridiculously drunk. You don’t make any sense.”

“Is that why you said those things to America? Because I said I wouldn’t date you?”

My teeth clenched. He had just insinuated that I was playing games with him. I formed the most direct answer I could think of. “No, I meant what I said. I just didn’t mean it as an insult.”

Travis sighed. “I just said that because,” he scratched his short hair nervously, “I don’t want to ruin anything, Pigeon. I wouldn’t even know how to go about being who you deserve. I was just trying to get it worked out in my head.”

“Whatever that means. I have to get some sleep. I have a date tonight.”

“With Parker?” he asked, anger seeping through his tone.

“Yes. Can I please go to sleep?”

“Sure,” he said, shoving himself off the bed and then slamming the door behind him. The recliner squeaked under his weight and then muffled voices from the television drifted down the hall. I forced my eyes shut and tried to calm down enough to doze off, even if it was just for a few hours.

The clock read three P.M. when I peeled my eyes open. I grabbed a towel and my robe, and then trudged into the bathroom. As soon as I closed the shower curtain, the door opened and shut. I waited for someone to speak, but the only sound was the toilet lid smacking against porcelain.

“Travis?”

“Nope, it’s me,” America said.

“Do you
have
to pee in here? You have your own bathroom.”

“Shep has been in there for half an hour with the beer shits. Not going in there.”

“Nice.”

“I hear you have a date tonight. Travis is pissed!” she lilted.

“At six! He is
so
sweet, America. He’s just…” I trailed off, sighing. I was gushing, and it wasn’t like me to gush. I kept thinking about how perfect he had been since the moment we’d met. He was exactly what I needed, the polar opposite of Travis.

“Rendered you speechless?” she giggled.

I poked my head from the curtain. “I didn’t want to come home! I could have talked to him forever!”

“Sounds promising. Isn’t it kind of weird that you’re here, though?”

I ducked under the water, rinsing away the suds. “I explained it to him.”

The toilet flushed, and the faucet turned on, making the water flash cold for a moment. I cried out and the door flew open.

“Pidge?” Travis said.

America laughed. “I just flushed the toilet, Trav, calm down.”