Travis's Stand

by A. C. Bextor

  Hayden doesn’t move so I turn my face in his direction again and find him staring at Sarah with a wondering expression. “Sarah, wipe your eyes and don’t give anything away. Ace can’t deal with this here.”

  Sarah nods and I give her room to sit up. By the time I have her standing beside me, she looks okay, but nervous.

  “Well, fuck,” she says first. “Lacey knows. Rae probably knows. Hayden definitely knows.”

  “Yep.”

  “No one seems surprised,” she adds.

  “Nope.”

  She moves to stand in front of me, faking confidence, and pushes her hair out of her face. “How do I look?”

  “You look like Sarah,” I answer casually, trying not to worry her.

  “Good,” she answers as she turns around and heads into the other room.

  Fifteen minutes later, we’re standing up front and removing all the guns and jackets. Sarah tries to ignore both Hayden and me. He’s been bouncing back and forth on his feet, waiting to see the scores pop up on the large black and white screen above the counter.

  In no way does my best friend act anywhere close to his age—no way. By all observations, my sister already has two kids. She’s got her boy and girl, so if you ask her older brother, there’s no reason to keep breeding.

  Sarah’s ignoring me as she stands next to the girls, a few steps off to the side. She’s not said a word to anyone and has kept her attention on the screen as well, for entirely different reasons.

  “I bet I won,” Hayden tells the group, giving his much-too-small jacket over to the attendant. “I had to have.”

  “Shut up. You didn’t. You don’t win unless you’re cheating,” Lacey snaps.

  “Bullshit, Lace. Favors, remember that. I’ll be collecting a few tonight, by the way.”

  “Whatever,” she mumbles, tightening her ponytail.

  Raegan, happy to get the oversized jacket removed, stretches her small body and Ace moves in and rubs her shoulders to help ease her obvious ache.

  Marlee and Toby are sitting on the bench against the wall as we all wait patiently for the scores. The birthday party we played with is settling down and they’ve separated themselves, boys on one side and girls on the other. Their hands are full of pop and candy, and the belches coming from the ten-year-old boys coupled with Sarah having to avoid me in front of the others, is wearing on my last nerve.

  I look back at Sarah, who has her arms crossed over her middle. Her face is still red from exertion, but she’s not sweating anymore. Her body is rigid and she looks scared. I shouldn’t have risked being caught. This is on me.

  “No fuckin’ way!” Ace yells. “How’d you cheat?”

  All eyes hit the screen briefly then fall to Hayden smirking as he looks to his side to find his wife fuming. My sister, on a good day, is fair and honest. On a bad day, she’s quick witted and mouthy. We’re about to witness what she’s like on a really bad day.

  Her blonde ponytail flies through the air before her voice rises loud enough to create an audience of onlookers who are left gawking at our scene.

  “Fuck that!” she yells, pointing to the score. She doesn’t hear the gasps from the parents circled around us, staring at her in shock.

  “Damn,” Rae interjects defeated. “I suck. I got my ass kicked.”

  Ace bends down to kiss the crown of her head. “I should’ve put favors on the line like Hayden,” he tells her, smiling over her head. The rest of us see him grin, she doesn’t.

  Turning around, she gives him as hard a look as Raegan can give and corrects him. “You have a lot of sex, Ace. A lot. If you start complaining I’ll buy you some special soap for the shower to make it easier for you to finish without me.”

  “Oh my,” Lacey utters.

  “I’m nice that way.” Rae finishes with a shrug.

  I look at Sarah as she tries to hide her smile.

  “Soap you’ll use on me, maybe,” Ace flips back at Rae.

  “I win!” Hayden’s arms rise above his head and his palms close in triumph as he makes his final claim to fame.

  Marlee and Toby stand without commenting and walk to the counter to get the printout. Someone should frame this for Hayden. He couldn’t have cheated so this appears, on the surface, to be legit.

  We all start walking away from the counter to let the next group get their scores.

  “You kinda sucked today, Trav.” Rae comes to my side to make fun of me.

  Sarah joins in and confirms, “He did.”

  “I was busy,” I reply quickly, then hit Sarah with a “don’t fucking go there” look.

  Rae’s eyebrows rise. “Busy?”

  “I had my hands full.”

  Sarah looks like she’s choking on the words she was about to say. She chooses to remain quiet.

  “Stop!” Marlee yells for us before we make our way out. “Hayden Merit Flynn, stop right there!”

  Middle name, Hayden. Not good.

  When I look at Hayden, his eyes are dancing with humor and his grin is so wide it’s telling on him before the truth comes out.

  “Busted,” he whispers.

  Lacey lets go of his hand and turns to him. “What did you do?”

  “I won. That’s what I did.”

  “No, you didn’t.” Marlee hits him in the chest. “You cheated.”

  “What the fuck?” Ace asks, but he’s not angry—or surprised.

  “How’d he cheat?” Lacey asks as Toby stands quietly by her side.

  Sarah’s eyes roll as she waits to hear what he’s done. “Oh God.”

  “Whose jacket did you wear today, Hayden?”

  He doesn’t answer.

  Marlee points to Raegan. “You took Rae’s jacket. That’s why yours was so small and hers was huge!”

  “Too far, Hayden. Too far.” Raegan shakes her head, glaring at Hayden standing across from her beside Lacey. “You took my jacket? Why would you do that?”

  “I’d like to know how you did it,” I say, wrapping my arm around Rae’s shoulders. She winces from the soreness she feels, so I let her go but remain close to her side.

  “Why?” Rae asks again.

  Hayden’s hands come up in front of his face; a plea for the rest us to back up. “I need favors,” he tells us his reasoning without any shame. “We’ve been busy and I’m not getting the rightful attention I deserve.”

  “Oh, you’re gonna get that attention. You’ve got night shift with Olivia for the next week for this shit.”

  Confirmed. Lacey has two kids and in a sense she just grounded her oldest.

  “Why Rae’s jacket?” I ask, ignoring the laughing eyes of Sarah that I know I have trained on me.

  “I may be a cheater, but I’m a smart one,” he says while grinning and pulling Lacey in to his side where she reluctantly settles herself. “I knew Travis wouldn’t shoot her. He can’t stand a sad Rae. I knew Ace wouldn’t, well, ’cause if he pissed her off . . . soap and all.” Looking over at Raegan, he finishes with an apology. “I didn’t think the jacket was going to be so heavy. Even your little one weighed a fuck of a lot. I’m sorry, Rae.”

  “You’re making this shit up to me, Hayden.”

  Hayden’s smile falls instantly. Rae’s version of a proper apology from Hayden is to publicly humiliate him in the form of one of her “classic” favorite groups’ songs. I’m sensing Hayden’s in line for Neil Diamond or Elton John.

  “Fuck,” he hisses, pulling Lacey with him out the door.

  Now it’s her smile that’s reaching her eyes.

  * * *

  Sarah doesn’t say anything as we head farther into the parking lot. It’s starting to get dark and the kids are outside running around, enjoying the unusually warm winter day.

  On the way to the Jeep, Sarah stops me in the parking lot with the sound of her small whimper. When I turn around to see, she’s lagged quite a ways behind me. I realize she’s holding her hamstring and, of course, she’s cursing.

  “Damn it, I think I pulled som
ething,” she tells me the obvious as I make my way back to her.

  Happy to have the focus off what happened inside, I explain, “You attacked little kids in there, Sarah. This is karma’s way of getting even.”

  “I didn’t attack jack shit. They came at me.”

  “They came at you because they weren’t on your team. What’s the name of the game?” I mock her words from earlier.

  She continues to hold her leg and takes deep breaths in attempt to steady herself. “Travis, this is bad. It’s knotting.”

  Now I’m less worried about the tension from the evening and more focused on her pain. “Did you drink any water today?”

  Her nose scrunches, giving me the answer before I hear her words. “I had the water that was in my coffee this morning. You saw me drink the damn thing.”

  “Fuck.”

  “And my Diet Coke at lunch before we got here.”

  “Jesus.”

  “And—”

  I’ve heard enough. I cut her off by leaning in to grab her small body. I lift her up, cradling her to my chest, and carry her the rest of the way to the Jeep.

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  Travis

  I’M LOOKING DOWN and messing with my keys as I start to open the door to the apartment. I’m startled when I nearly run into Hayden standing on the other side of it.

  “Whoa.” Hayden surprises me, smiling with his sunglasses still on. “Where are you rushing off to?”

  He’s wearing his black suit, which he must have worn to the Ward today. I check the time; it’s almost noon. I’m on lunch and need to get back. I’m guessing he must be on break, as well.

  “What the fuck are you doing here in the middle of the day?”

  “I came to see you.”

  My eyes narrow, Hayden looks suspicious. “Don’t you have waitresses to hit on or my sister to grope or harass?”

  I haven’t seen or heard from Hayden since yesterday’s laser tag incident. As far as I know he hasn’t said anything to anyone about what he saw. Last night Sarah tried to get me to call him, but I said no and explained that she and I were spending time together without outside influences.

  She thinks I’m hardheaded. I don’t care if she does.

  “I’d rather grope or hit on you.” Lifting his sunglasses from his eyes to rest them on top of his head, he calls me a smartass as he passes by and walks into the apartment uninvited. “So I thought I’d stop over and see if you’re busy.”

  “Why?” I can imagine why, but I’d like to hear it from him before volunteering any form of confirmation.

  He smirks. “’Cause I’m a friend like that.”

  Liar.

  Hayden glances around the living room, then his eyes scan toward the kitchen. “Sarah cleaned this place, didn’t she?”

  “Well, yeah. You didn’t think I did, did you?” Slamming the door behind him, I add, “Come on in, Hayden.”

  “Are you in a hurry?” he asks, loosening his tie. I know he hates those suits, but he wears them well. They fit the person he’s meant to be.

  “I am. What do you need?”

  “Can we sit?”

  “Why not?” I ask, knowing I have a million things I need to be doing and he’s got something on his mind that I don’t have time to deal with.

  Hayden pulls out a chair at the table, sits, and starts to make himself comfortable. “Offer your best buddy a beer?”

  “Best buddy?” I ask, eyebrows rising once again in suspicion. “It’s noon. It’s a little early for a drink, don’t you think?”

  “Lacey took the rest of my shift today. I’m off work and Raegan has Liv ’til five. I’m good for a beer.”

  Getting up from the chair I just took a seat in, I walk to the kitchen and pull out a bottle. I don’t bother opening it before handing it to him.

  “Thanks,” he replies, taking it from my outstretched hand.

  He opens it without saying anything, while I wait.

  “Well?”

  “Sarah,” he states and I realize this conversation is going to be one-way. He’s getting my attention.

  “What about her?”

  “What’s going on with you two? And don’t say nothing; we’ve been through that bullshit before.”

  Sarah and I haven’t been together but two Goddamn minutes and I’m about to get the third God damn degree from a former player turned husband and father.

  I stall. “What do you mean?”

  Throwing the cap on the table and watching it bounce, he says, “Trav, don’t bullshit me. I’ve known you most of your life, so I know when you’re lying.”

  “Shit,” I utter and he smiles. “You just sounded like Bean.”

  “Thank you.” He smiles.

  “It wasn’t a compliment.”

  “When anyone compares me to Bean in any way, it’s a compliment.” He smirks again, twists the bottle in his fingers, and doesn’t respond to my remark before speaking his piece. “You love her.”

  Bypassing as much of this back and forth as I can, I ask, “What are you doing here?”

  His face falls before he tells me, “I have concerns.”

  “Regarding?”

  “Ace.” The one-word response causes my gut to clench.

  Sarah and I have our own concerns about Ace. We’re not blind to the fact that telling him will suck. We’re just getting to know each other in a very different way. Once Ace knows everything, he’s liable to scare Sarah into ending this.

  “I don’t know fully what’s going on between us,” I half lie. His eyes narrow but he says nothing, so I continue. “Hayden, I’m not sure of anything.”

  “You’re sure you’re happy,” he states, as if he knew I was before he knocked.

  “It’s a new happiness, Hayden.”

  “Take it, Travis,” he says with certainty. “You fucking take it and go with it. I found that same happiness too, and it didn’t come so easily if you remember.”

  I remember. I remember the mess that Lacey created in Hayden’s heart. She changed him in a way that no one ever thought possible. Hayden was a lover to all women, for as long as I had known him, but now his love is saved for only two: his wife and daughter.

  I’m not like Hayden, though. I never was. The longest relationship I’ve ever been in was with Kate and that lasted only until Sarah’s need for my attention tore it apart. Kate wasn’t meant for me, anyway. I didn’t know that then, but I do now.

  Sighing, Hayden leans back further in his chair. “Game night. When Sarah showed up with Devon,” he states plainly.

  “Yes, I remember,” I tell him. I also remember trying to forget Ellie was in the room as I watched my friends welcome her and Devon without a second thought. They didn’t realize the depth of my feelings for Sarah.

  “Lacey told me what she walked in on between you two that night, before you snapped at Ellie and left.”

  He’s right about what happened. After I talked to Sarah, I went to Ellie and told her we were leaving. I couldn’t stomach looking at Devon the rest of the night after having my hands on Sarah. I would’ve killed him.

  “Was Lacey upset?”

  “Only because you both were hurting,” he states, then continues, “I saw your face when you saw those birth control pills Liv pulled from Sarah’s purse.” I sit quietly, remembering how I felt when he and everyone else saw those fucking pills. “You weren’t upset she was on them. You were upset for the reasons she was on them.”

  “Sarah’s been on those for years. Bean told us she had those cramps or whatever the fuck they are.”

  “But that’s not why you were angry. You were pissed because of Devon. Believe this or not, Trav, I know how being exposed feels. I also know what it feels like to know you want something so much and be just as unsure of it.”

  “Right.”

  He sits in silence, briefly, before continuing to plead his case, “You got your ass beat trying to defend Sarah from Devon.”

  “I’d have done that for any one of us, Hay
den.”

  “You didn’t wait for any one of us to be there, namely Ace.”

  “Ace would’ve killed Devon for putting his hands on her for any reason.”

  “And that would’ve hurt Sarah,” he returns quickly, making a valid argument. Ace would’ve ended up in prison and we both know it.

  “You have a real point you’re about to make?”

  “Yes.”

  “Make it.”

  “Do you love her?” he asks quietly.

  “You know I do.”

  “No, not like that.” His head shakes with his return. “Do you love her, as in do you love her for the woman she is not in the sense of the child she used to be?”

  “Yes,” I admit out loud for the first time to anyone, including Sarah.

  He laughs and I smile for the first time since he started this. “You’re happy, friend.”

  “I’m always happy, Flynn.”

  He stops the bottle midair and cocks his eyebrow to mock me. “Seriously?”

  “Yes.”

  I’m full of shit.

  “You’re a shitty liar.”

  “Fuck you.” My words come out with a harsher tone than I intended them to.

  “Exactly.” And my reaction proved his point.

  Fuck.

  “Do you have more to say? I need to go.”

  “I do.”

  “Go on,” I prod, my knee bouncing under the table.

  “You’re going to tell Ace, right?”

  “Soon,” I confirm.

  “His reaction won’t hold a candle to the way you handled me and Lacey. He’s going to go fucking ballistic. Sarah’s his sister and we’ve all known her forever.”

  “And?”

  “And I think you need to be ready.”

  “He can’t kick my ass,” I remind him, although I shouldn’t have to.

  “No,” he laughs. “Probably not. But it’ll get ugly.”

  “Sarah and I are new. We’re still finding out what being together like this means.”

  “Have you told her about your mom and the things you think you’ve remembered?”

  I swallow hard, and take a pull from my drink. “The nightmares are back.”

  “Figured they would be,” he says coolly, as if explaining the weather. “You should tell her about why you think you have them.”