Give Me Strength (28 page)

My face flamed as Travis grabbed hold of my hand
and tugged me into his bedroom, slamming the door shut behind him.
He advanced slowly, and shrieking with laughter I jumped on the
bed. My hand swiped a pillow and held it in a threatening stance as
I bounced from one foot to the other, waiting to see which way I
needed to run.

Travis paused, tilting his head at me as though
changing tactics. Lowering his lids, he moved his hands to the
button on his jeans. He undid one slowly, then another, and I froze
when I realised he wasn’t wearing anything underneath.

My mouth went dry as his fingers slowly worked
their way down until each one was undone and his jeans were tugged
off. Heat slammed into me as my eyes ran over his chest, lean hips,
long muscled legs, and everything in between.

“Like what you see?” he asked huskily.

“M-maybe,” I stammered.

With laughter in his eyes, Travis leaped easily
onto the bed. All I could manage was to hold the pillow aloft in
defence.

Travis wrenched it easily from my hands. With a
toss he threw it across the room. My hand flew to my mouth,
covering the shout of laughter when it hit the lamp, sending it
crashing to the floor.

Ignoring it, he advanced another step towards
me, his eyes falling to my mouth when I bit my lip in
anticipation.

In an effort to throw him off, I came at him and
we went down in a tangle of naked limbs and laughter. It soon dried
up when Travis slid his mouth along my skin, his tongue tracing
lazy circles along my collarbone. Within moments, my own jeans were
tugged off and his hand was tracing those same lazy, maddening
circles up the bare skin of my thigh. I parted my lips when his
tongue demanded entrance to my mouth while his fingers grazed my
panties, teasing the edges of the lace material.

I moaned into his mouth, my body throbbing when
they eventually slipped underneath the lace, teasing me playfully
where I ached for him.

When those fingers inched inside of me, he
groaned into my neck, letting out a shuddering breath as I moaned
his name.

A loud rap at the door registered through the
fog, and Travis cursed loudly.

“Umm, sorry, guys,” Casey called through the
door, “but Travis, it’s the phone, mate. It’s one of your work
assignments.”

Travis leaned his forehead against mine, his
hands retreating reluctantly. “Quinn,” he breathed against my lips.
“Dammit. I can never get enough of you.”

I watched my fingers trail down the side of his
face while he watched me.

I love you.

Travis couldn’t drag his eyes from mine. Could
he see the love there?

I closed them. “Hurry back.”

“Don’t leave.”

I opened them. “I won’t leave.”

He nodded once, relief softening his features
and relaxing his shoulders. David had been released three days ago,
but while Travis was worried about my safety, I was worried about
his.

“Good. I don’t want you going anywhere at all
without me or Casey. No one else, okay?”

“Travis. I can’t do that forever.”

I had a job, bills to pay, a dog to walk. I
couldn’t have a permanent bodyguard.

“It’s just for now. Trust me. He’s caught up in
the kind of shit that will see him going back in for a very long
time.”

“What shit?”

He pushed up off me but not before I caught the
pained expression on his face. “We’ll talk about it tomorrow,
okay?” He picked up his jeans off the floor and pulled them on. A
dark grey henley was dragged over his head, and he yanked it down,
tucking his wallet and phone into the back pocket of his jeans. He
paused. “Okay?”

I frowned and sat up. “Okay.”

Travis leaned in and kissed me. “I want you
naked so that when I get back so I can slide into bed and into
you.”

“Travis!” I called out when he reached the door
and opened it. He looked over his shoulder. “Be safe.”

He nodded and left.

With Casey promising not to bite, I slid on a
pair of sleep shorts and joined him on the couch with a wine to
watch the rest of the movie.

My head was tilted back, my eyes half closed
when the credits started to roll. Casey turned a sleepy head
towards me. “You ‘kay?”

“Mmm,” I mumbled. “That movie was shit.”

A smile spread slowly across his face and he
chuckled softly. “Wanna watch another one?”

Casey looked tired but reluctant to go to bed.
Missing Travis, I felt that way myself, so I agreed. Stumbling
towards the kitchen, I opened the fridge, feeling generous in
letting him choose the next movie.

“Tea, coffee, beer?” I called out. With no
answer I spun around and found him returning from his room in just
a pair of sweatpants and nothing else. I averted my eyes back to
the fridge.

“Beer me, Quinn.” The words were close enough to
my ear that I shrieked a little and jerked back. My elbow struck
his bare chest and I leaped forward.

“Oh God, sorry.”

Casey didn’t even budge. “My fault.”

He took a step back, and I rummaged in the shelf
and grabbed a Corona.

“Here,” I mumbled, holding it out behind me. He
took it from my grasp and I grabbed the wine bottle.

He sat his beer on the kitchen bench and took
the bottle from my hands too. “Let me pour it for you.”

I yawned sleepily, scratching at my head as
Casey poured me a glass and slipped the bottle back in the
fridge.

We both wandered back to the couch and sagged
into the soft leather. My mind on Travis, I glanced at Casey, his
beer in one hand, remote in the other. “This job Travis got called
out to. He’s not in any danger, is he?”

Casey took a pull of his beer and exhaled
loudly. “Nah. Just another sorry custody dispute. We get called in
when it gets out of hand. You know you’d think it’s good—both
parents loving the kid so much they can’t agree who gets to spend
more time with them—but that’s hardly ever what it’s about.”

“What is it about?” I asked softly.

“Winning. But for there to be a winner, there’s
got to be a loser, right? And we all know who that turns out to
be.” He pressed play on the movie as if to finish the
conversation.

“Is that what happened with you? Travis says he
does what he does because of you.”

Casey chuckled but it wasn’t a happy sound.
“Travis and I have been friends since we started uni, so I know how
you feel around the Valentines, Quinn. They’ll all be quick to tell
you they’re not the perfect family, and they aren’t. But they’re
not perfect in the way that it counts.”

“What way is that?”

“Love of course.” He shook his head. “They grew
up with it. People like you and me, Quinn, we grew up with fear.
Learning to love is work for us because we don’t understand or
trust it. We don’t accept it so easily.” He paused. “I’m sorry I
wasn’t there for you in Melbourne.”

“Casey—”

“But if there’s a next time, you get straight on
your phone and ring Travis. If you can’t get Travis, you ring me.
You can’t get me, you ring Jared, you can’t get—”

“Casey.” I held up a hand. “I’ve had this chat
with Travis already. And Mitch. And Jared,” I added. And even
Evie’s brother, Coby, who I didn’t know all that well, not that he
seemed bothered by that from the way he weighed in with his own
chat.

“I know, but now it’s my turn and this won’t
take long.”

I nodded and my stomach flipped over when his
blue eyes got a little fierce. I gulped down the last of my wine
and set the empty glass on the coffee table.

“I know what Travis was like before you, and I
know what he’s like since you, and I like the latter.” Casey’s
voice was firm as his eyes held mine. “He smiles like he means it,
even after a long shitty day like he’s dealing with today.” Casey
tapped a finger to his temple. “Up here, there’s you at the back of
all that, making his day not so shit because at the end of it, he
gets you. You leave, he loses that and we lose him, and I don’t
like that. I already feel guilty enough getting him involved in
what he does, but it doesn’t come as easy for him to deal with
because he hasn’t lived it. So you understand me when I say don’t
ever think about leaving again.”

I felt the wind go out of me, like his words
were a verbal punch to the gut. The very idea it was me who had the
ability to cancel out a shitty day for Travis made the argument for
trying that much more compelling.

I nodded towards the television. “We’re missing
the movie.”

His lips curled upwards and he saluted me with
his beer.

We both turned towards the television and
watched
The Fast and the Furious
play out on the screen.

“Paul Walker’s hot,” I blurted out. “He reminds
me of Henry.”

“So you think Henry’s hot?”

“Well I’m not blind,” I mumbled under my
breath.

Casey smirked, his eyes telling me he heard my
words.

“Oh shush,” I muttered and slapped his
shoulder.

His eyes sobered. “I like having you here,
Quinn.”

“You do?”

“Yeah.” He cleared his throat. “I had a brother
but I never had a sister.”

Warmth flooded through me because when I was
young, I would lay in my bed at night and pray to God to send me a
brother—a big one, with lots of muscle that would strike fear in my
stepfather’s eyes just by looking at him. The older I got, the more
I began to realise that prayers weren’t going to get me anywhere.
Drifting back to the present, my mind wrapped itself around Casey’s
words and my heart stuttered. “Wait. You
had
a brother?”

He nodded towards the television. “We’re missing
the movie.”

Screw the movie and talk to me
, I wanted
to say, but sharing was never easy and Casey looked tired. Instead,
I reached out and took his hand in mine. He glanced over at me and
gave it a squeeze. I wasn’t reassured because at the end of a
shitty day, who did Casey have?

***

Sufficiently pruned
from a long glorious shower, I hopped out with a blissful sigh and
towelled myself off. The luxury of bathroom hogging didn’t exist at
the duplex, and after living on my own for so long, it had been a
shocking adjustment. Henry lived in the shower. He was a
no-holds-barred-I-don’t-care-if-you’re-a-girl-I’m-gonna-knock-you-down-to-get-to-the-shower-first.
Mac spent hours taking long, hot baths to relieve the daily stress
that was her life. Here at the loft the bathroom was my oyster, and
I took full advantage.

I slipped on a robe and trailed steam on my
exit. Casey was on the computer in the study nook by the dining
table, and Travis was out dealing with the job that took his
attention last night. He’d slipped in during the night, his weight
depressing the bed and his warm hands sliding up my bare legs. When
his mouth found its way between my thighs I woke slowly drowning in
pleasure. His touch had been different to his usual relentless
intensity. It had been slow and loving, and he held me close after,
my face pressed against his neck until I fell asleep.

“I won’t be long,” I yelled at Casey in my rush
back to the bedroom.

“Take your time,” he called back.

That was good because I needed to get ready for
Evie’s birthday party, and when I said I wouldn’t be long, I lied.
In my defence I didn’t really know any woman who said they would
only be a minute and actually followed through.

An hour later I finally emerged from the bedroom
in a long, backless dress in deep rose. My hair was pinned at the
nape of my neck and glittery chandelier earrings adorned my
ears.

When Casey emerged after showering and ready to
walk out the door in five simple minutes
and
looking like a
GQ model, I thought it was a little unfair.

“Don’t blame me,” Casey said, tucking in his
wallet and picking up keys when I complained. “You women are the
ones who insist on…” He turned around and trailed off.

“Insist on what?” I asked, picking up my clutch,
colour-coded folder, iPad, and bag of last minute party
supplies.

“Well I was gonna say insist on torturing
yourselves with all those hair devices and whatever, but maybe it’s
more a case of torturing us.”

His eyes trailed down the excessive amount of
skin on display where the back of my dress cut low. I was nervous
about how daring it was, but I knew Travis would like it.

My phone rang so I put down my folder, iPad, and
bag and rummaged through my clutch for the phone. Clutches were
really devil bags in disguise. Everything was so jam-packed inside
it I couldn’t get to my phone.

By the time I yanked it out, it stopped ringing.
A second later, Casey’s phone rang. He handed it to me wordlessly.
I looked at him and then at the phone.

“You better answer it,” he warned.

I grabbed it from his outstretched hand.