Travis's Stand

by A. C. Bextor

  Ace comes in from the other room after paying for our first, and hopefully our only, round of tag. He slaps his hands together loudly, and then grabs Raegan around the waist. The large gaming jacket she’s wearing has to be about three sizes too big, so she nearly topples over when he forces her back against his front.

  Smiling, Ace explains where my little sister is. “Hayden’s talking shit to Lacey and Lacey’s about to start swinging. She wants to switch teams.”

  “Christ,” I hiss. “How hard is this shit to figure out?”

  Sarah, standing at my side, unknowingly ruins the day with her bullshit idea. “Girls against the guys. I like it.”

  I turn, wrap my arm around her neck, and give her a glare. I whisper in her ear so the others don’t hear me. “You know you live with me, right?”

  “Yeah, so?” she whispers back, her face close to mine.

  “When the guys win, you’re not gonna cry about it?”

  “I’ve got no reason to cry, big man. I’m going to be armed and you’re going to be running.”

  Pulling her closer, I kiss the edge of her mouth and she freezes. “You sure about that?”

  She doesn’t have a chance to answer before Ace releases Rae, walks to Sarah, and wraps his large tattooed arm around her head. “I love your idea, squirt.”

  “I’m not playing.” Lacey comes marching in with Hayden smiling at her heels, and at the same time I notice he’s checking out at my sister’s ass.

  “Why the fuck not?” Ace barks, releasing Sarah, who then runs her fingers through her hair. Her face is red from lack of air, or embarrassment, probably both.

  “He’s an idiot!” Lacey shouts, causing the other party entering the game room with us to look our way.

  “I’m not,” Hayden calmly protests.

  Lacey explains what the rest of us, still listening, don’t know. “Hayden wants to bail on the rest of you.”

  “What the fuck?” I ask, half pissed, but half relieved at the possibility of not to having to go through this shit today. I’d rather be home with Sarah.

  My sister turns in my direction and makes me immediately wish I didn’t ask. “He wants to start the game then find somewhere we can make out while you all run around scoring points and making us look good.”

  “Jesus Christ!” Ace bellows with frustration. Rae puts her hand on his chest and burrows in to his side to calm him. Thankfully, it works.

  Toby pipes up from the bench he’s now lying down on. “You know they do a report of the jackets at the end, jackass. They’ll know you bitches didn’t shoot anyone.”

  Maybe he really is tired.

  “Can we get on with this?” I ask, waiting to move. My jacket fits tightly across my chest and the lack of air is causing my annoyance level to increase.

  “Girls against guys,” Sarah adds.

  “Fine,” Lacey complies.

  The rest of the group nods and I watch as Hayden moves in to hug Lacey, but she pushes him off. She’s still pissed.

  After the attendant fixes our gear, explains the rules of the game, and sends us on our way, the girls take off in a mad dash to nowhere. This leaves only Ace, Hayden, and me standing at the front of the arena, which is housed on two large floors. There’re a lot of large blocks and places to hide, and it’s dark, so seeing anyone we know from where we’re standing isn’t likely.

  Ace starts by voicing the strategy. “I’ll take the left. Hayden, go upstairs. Trav, go right.”

  Hayden speaks up before I can ask for or confirm further details. “Lacey’s mine,” he says, raising his gun and looking even more ridiculous than Marlee did.

  “I sure as fuck don’t want her,” I tell him.

  “I mean, I’m stalking her through this for points. I need ’em.”

  “I don’t even wanna know what the fuck you need points for, do I?” Ace asks, fixing his jacket for the fourth time. He’s too big for it, and they didn’t have them in our size. Hayden’s is the tightest, which is odd considering he’s the smallest of the three of us.

  “Nope. You don’t. Favors, that’s all I’m sayin.’ The really fucking good kind.”

  “Shut the hell up!” I exclaim. “I’m going out. Let’s get this shit over with. Hayden, go find my sister, but all you do is shoot her. There are kids here, for fuck’s sake.”

  He smiles, nods, turns around, and starts off in a light jog.

  Ace and I stand next to each other watching what looks like a thousand kids running around the arena like crazy.

  “What’s up with my sister?” Ace asks.

  “She seemed okay on the drive over,” I answer nervously, fearing he’s somehow found out about what’s happening between us.

  “That’s what I mean. She’s smiling and shit. It’s suspicious.” He shakes his head as though baffled before continuing, “She’s been nice to people. That’s not odd?”

  “She’s not nice to me. She’s still Sarah,” I reply.

  “She didn’t yell at me for roughing her up a few minutes ago.”

  Mentally I exhale; physically I try to keep it casual. “She likes living with me, I think.”

  “She’s been all right there with you, though? Seriously, you can tell me if I need to take her back.”

  I could come clean and tell him about what started months ago and what my intentions are going forward, but I don’t. Not now. There will come a time, and soon, that I’ll sit him down and discuss this man to man, friend to friend.

  “Yeah, Ace. She’s fine. She’s been wearin’ my shit. I don’t love that, but that’s been the worst of it,” I lie. I love that she likes to wear my shit, even without asking.

  “She’s wearin’ your clothes?”

  “Few or more times.”

  “Let her wear them all the time. It’s good to see her this happy. I wasn’t sure . . .” he stops to think about what he’s going to say.

  I move in to help him finish. “I know. She’s getting better since Bean. She really is.”

  His face gets serious, his eyes appearing more sincere than I’ve ever seen them. “I owe you for bringing her back. I know I do.”

  “You’ll pay me back, Ace. I’ll collect the favor.”

  “I’m sure you will,” he returns with a smirk.

  He has no idea and now I’m starting to get nervous about telling him.

  “All right. Let’s do this. Rae’s been as bad as Lacey. She was talkin’ shit all day before I held her mouth shut with my hand from behind this afternoon.”

  Closing my eyes, I try to remain calm and avoid the mental snapshot I’ve just taken. “What’s so fuckin’ wrong with you people that you have to share every fuckin’ detail of your sex lives with the rest of us?”

  “Joseph took Deck to the park to play catch. We had the house to ourselves,” he continues, as if I’d asked for more detail.

  “Christ.”

  Ace laughs me off and we split up, each taking off to our designated section of the room. Keeping my head up, I train my eyes ahead and watch as Rae darts from one end of a big blockade and jumps to the next, believing she hasn’t been spotted.

  I aim, shoot, and score.

  Rae’s ridiculously oversized jacket lights up, signaling she’s out of the game for five seconds. She looks down and her frown is immediate. I feel bad and make a silent vow she’s off-limits today. I don’t mind hurting the others feelings, but Rae’s frown bothers me—gaming or not.

  “Travis!” I turn in the direction of the screeching voice. The voice sounded hurt, so I react quickly. I find Marlee standing directly in front of me with her gun in hand. Her face is marked with a sinister smile. She truly can’t pull off “badass” and I almost feel sorry for her for trying so fucking hard.

  After a millisecond of debate, she aims, shoots, and scores, then runs away.

  After moving around the room non-stop for the last twenty minutes, I’m beginning to get winded. I’ve not seen any of the others so I start to slow down. I care a lot less about the game wit
h the pain in my chest growing tighter. So much for my effort to increase my cardio routine.

  Just as I’m about to turn another corner, I catch a glimpse of Lacey, dead center in front of me, and hiding behind a large black pole. Her blonde ponytail protrudes from behind without her knowing that it’s giving her 007 pose away. Not two seconds later, Hayden spots me and moves in behind her. Putting his fingers to his lips, he signals for me to be quiet. Grabbing her around the neck, he pulls her back against him and her scream stings my eardrums. First she’s panicked, then she’s pissed. Twisting away from him, she takes shot after shot, missing him the entire time. Finally conceding, she rests her tired arms at her sides and he aims his gun at her jacket, but doesn’t shoot.

  He’s falling for that pathetic face, I know he is. Or he could be counting lost favors if he doesn’t behave.

  Right before he starts walking toward her with his guard down, she shoots him in the jacket—dead center. He smiles first, then takes off after her in a dead run. She’s faster and maneuvers her small frame through the boisterous crowd better than he does so I doubt he’s going to catch her.

  “Whatcha doin,’ Trav?” Rae stands next to me, looking over the crowd as I am.

  “Are you gonna shoot me?” I ask, knowing I’ll let her without putting up a fight.

  “Nope. You’re still my buddy. Ace gets it, though. Bastard shot me twice.” She points to the plastic circle on the front of her jacket. “When this buzzes it doesn’t feel good.”

  I turn to her and fix her collar, having no idea why they’d give her one of the biggest jackets they made. She’s a tiny woman.

  “Have you seen Sarah?” I ask, realizing she’s been missing the whole time.

  “Yeah, a few minutes ago, maybe? She was terrorizing the kids from the birthday party who came in before us.”

  “Better than terrorizing me, I guess.”

  Her eyes are bright and jovial. She laughs and adjusts the large gun in her small arms. “Love to stay and chat, but I’m off to find my man.”

  “Be careful, please,” I tell her back and hear her say something about me worrying too much.

  Walking toward the edge of the room, I take it slow and look for any of my group—girls or guys. My search comes up empty. Pulling my phone out, I look for a text from Sarah. It concerns me she’s still nowhere to be found.

  My jacket lights up and buzzes so I look up, not able to tell where the shot came from. It shuts me down for the full five seconds it’s supposed to, and the moment it reactivates it lights up again with another shot.

  What the fuck?

  Stopping the assault from behind me, I step behind the barricade and feel someone jump on my back. I wasn’t ready for the weight and lose balance, slamming the giggling person, who I now recognize as Sarah, into the wall behind us. She runs off, then jumps in front of me, aiming that fucking gun again.

  “Don’t fuckin’ do it, Sarah,” I warn, but she smirks in the face of my anger. I’m not really mad, but I don’t relish losing to her.

  “What’s the name of the game, Trav?” she smarts off proudly.

  Lowering my gun to the floor, I put my hands in front of me in position to surrender. If I get hold of her, she’s getting creatively tortured.

  “Sarah,” I warn again, but still she’s not backing down. “I’ll give you five seconds to run like hell before I come after you.”

  Her gun is still aimed at my chest as she stands about three feet in front of me. “You don’t want to mess with me.”

  “I do,” I tell her, one side of my mouth lifting in a half smile. She concentrates on my mouth so I take a step toward her while she’s distracted, but she doesn’t move. I take another and this time remind her, “Three seconds, Sarah.”

  I’m close enough now that the gun is against my chest, aimed directly at the jacket target. She could shoot me any second and I’m ready. My gun sits behind me on the floor, and a female laugh from behind us causes me to look back and watch Marlee as she grabs it from where it sits before she flies off, getting lost in the crowd of screaming kids and leaving me unarmed.

  When I turn back to look at Sarah, she’s gone but I can still see her racing through the crowd. My jog turns into a sprint as I push grown men and women and, not so proudly, little kids, out of my way to get to her. She doesn’t look back once, but speeds up so I’m assuming she senses me getting closer.

  Once I reach her, I grab her around the waist and she goes hurtling through the air. It has to be said that Sarah was once incredibly athletic. Her arms, legs, and back have a physical strength that few would realize simply by looking at her. Even after her weight loss months ago, she’s strong as fuck and uses her agility to thrash wildly in my arms.

  I have her securely pressed against me as I carry her through the crowd of rowdy kids. As soon as we’re clear, I start to put her down, and one teenage shithead, who I’m guessing can’t be older than fourteen, goes in and grabs Sarah’s feet for no reason other than to piss me off. When I yank her foot out of his grasp, her laugh continues, but I lose balance. My back leg trips over a fake rock big enough to hide a small child. I land first, my arm bracing against the fall. Sarah lands on top of me directly after.

  She’s not laughing anymore. She’s struggling.

  When I sit up and reach for her, she’s holding her hip and her face looks pained.

  “You okay?”

  She nods, but I notice the tears filling her eyes. “Let me see it.” I reach for her shirt and raise it. I find a red welt and realize she must’ve hit the rock on the way down. “You’re sure you’re okay?”

  “Fine,” she clips, and starts to stand. So stubborn.

  I pull her back down to hide her behind a black wall that shields us from everyone in the room. “You’re sure you’re all right? Just take a minute.”

  As she stands, brushing off her ass, she tells me, “I don’t need a minute, Travis. We have like five minutes left, and I’m not done with Aceface. This is our kind of family therapy and I’m not wasting a minute of it.”

  Her determination, although admirable, concerns me but I give in because it’s not worth the headache. “Go.”

  “Aren’t you coming?”

  “I’ll watch you from here.”

  Before starts to walk away, she grabs her gun, turns, and shoots me with it.

  I could let this shit go. Easily, I could let her walk away without retaliation, but not after the care and concern I just showed her. Shit’s about to get interesting.

  With my game face on, I start to stand. Her damn gun never leaves my jacket target. “You’ll lose this,” I tell her.

  “Nope.”

  But by the time I stand, the five seconds have passed. So, Sarah being Sarah, shoots again and my jacket goes off a-fucking-gain. I don’t hesitate to walk to her, grab the wrist holding her weapon, and pull her to me. Her gun drops from her arms as her body crashes into mine.

  Without blinking, I pull her back behind the black wall and maneuver my foot around her ankles to trip her. She falls on the black mat the wall stands on, and I brace us before I fall on top of her.

  Her breaths are uneven from adrenaline. Her face is flushed from running and I notice the sweat starting to form around her hairline.

  We’re face to face and I’m lost in the familiar scent of her skin mixed with her perfume.

  The entire scenario creates a whirling sensation in my body as her hands come up to frame my face and her thighs split, causing my hips to drop and fit against hers. If I moved at all, she’d feel what she’s doing to me, even in a crowded arena.

  Time passes too quickly, not giving me even a moment to think about what I’m doing—what we’re doing. It takes a fraction of a second to lean my face closer to hers. She closes the distance and I feel her breath in my mouth right before she kisses me—hard.

  In reaction, my tongue chases hers—aggressively.

  The crowd around us has fallen away. The blood rushing to my ears deafens all outs
ide distractions.

  Her hands wildly run through my hair. The kiss is slow, deep—intense. I don’t stop it and neither does she. Moving one hand from beside her face, I reach down to the hem of her jacket and shirt and lift them slightly to run my thumb against the waistband of her jeans. When I caress her skin, she sucks in a breath that I feel through our connection and it causes me to pull back.

  Looking down at her, I see her eyes bright and smiling. She’s beautiful and genuine; no matter her disposition, she’s always stayed real and true to who she is.

  “You said I’d lose this,” she mentions casually. “This isn’t losing.”

  “No, it’s not,” I reply. This is definitely not losing.

  Wrapping my arm around the back of her neck I pull her against me again and take her mouth with mine. I feel the soft, possessive moan coming from the back of my throat.

  Her response is the same. Her hands start to roam my lower back, the jacket in the way of more contact. Her legs wrap around my waist and she pulls me further in to her. Her breaths are heavy, reminding me of my weight pressed against her.

  The space we’re in is dark, but the colored strobe lights shine on her face with their ever-changing direction. She stills under me and gently removes her hands from my back, inhales, swallows hard, leaving her mouth slightly open, and searches my eyes.

  Then she smiles.

  “Uhhh, I don’t mean to interrupt you two, but the round’s closing and Ace is looking for you guys. What should I tell him?”

  I turn my face to Hayden, who’s standing against the wall, arms crossed over his chest, as if he’s been comfortable there for a while. I hear Sarah gasp beneath me and both arms fall to her sides as though the feel of me next to her was forbidden. When I aim my eyes down to her, I see hers are watering.

  Fuck that.

  I look back at Hayden; he’s now standing facing toward us but looking out over the crowd.

  “We’re goin,’” I tell him.

  “You sure? ’Cause the two of you look pretty fucking comfortable.”

  “Yes,” Sarah whispers so only I can hear.

  She starts to get up, but I leave my body weight on her. Looking into her eyes, I say to Hayden while looking at Sarah, “Walk away and we’ll talk later.”