“Don’t!” I shouted. The urge to fall apart whenever Travis gave me that look was enough. I didn’t need Casey doing it too.
“Don’t what?”
“Nothing.” My lips pressed together. “Shit. I can’t do this anymore. I can’t.”
“You can.” He took hold of my shoulders. “You can. One day at a time.”
I shook my head at Casey.
“Breathe, Quinn.”
I sucked in a deep lungful of air.
Shouting could be heard outside the door, and then it was slamming open as Travis yelled at Mitch. “…completely f**ked up. Two months Mitch, and you can’t do shit.”
Mitch threw his hands up in frustration, storming off as Travis stood in the doorway wearing his leather and dark jeans, customary sunglasses hanging in the neckline of his shirt. His chest was heaving, anger making his eyes wild.
He held out his hand, palm up and commanded, “Quinn. Come with me.”
My hand was in his before I could think. When his fingers closed around mine and held tight, I was pulled from Casey’s hold and led up the stairs and into my bedroom. The door slammed shut behind us, and letting go of my hand, he turned to face me.
“I don’t want to talk about David anymore today, Travis.”
He searched my pale, drawn face. “What do you want?”
You. Because you’re the one that eases the ache in my chest. It’s you that takes my mind off everything that hurts. You that makes me lose all sense just from wanting you. And if I can’t have you, I want to be like Rufus and Peter and lie out in the sun as though I didn’t have a care in the world.
“I want a day where David doesn’t exist.”
He nodded, his mind ticking over. “Okay. You told me you liked the beach, so pack your shit.”
“My shit?”
“All that crap you girls pack in those giant bags and cart to the beach with you.”
“You’re taking me to the beach?”
His eyes skimmed me over in a way that left me tingling. “Don’t forget your bikini.”
“My bikini?”
Travis started walking towards the door. “And pack snacks with your shit. I’m hungry.” He opened the door. “Don’t be long,” he said over his shoulder with a wink.
I blinked.
I was going to the beach. With Travis.
How did that just happen?
I opened the bedroom door and yelled for Mac.
She breezed in a minute later in a pair of navy Lorna Jayne sweats and a white tank top. “You called?”
“I was thinking about going to the beach today.”
“Congratulations,” she replied. “Isn’t it a bit cool now? Winter’s coming.”
“I’m going with Travis.”
“Oh my God.” She hurled herself on the bed and a pillow flew off the other side and landed on the floor. “This is just like old times! What are you wearing?”
I picked up the pillow and tossed it back on the bed. “Old times?”
“Yeah, when Evie and Jared got together.” She grabbed the pillow and stuck it under her head, wriggling her shoulders to form a groove. When she was comfortable, she sighed deeply. “That took some serious f**king work.”
“Well this isn’t like that. Travis and I are…”
Mac arched her brow. “Are what?”
My cheeks puffed out as I tried to think while I opened the wardrobe door. My eyes ran over the contents, forgetting what I was supposed to be looking for.
“I have no idea,” I said eventually.
“Well I’m sure Travis has enough ideas for the both of you. Now show me what bikinis you’ve got.”
At the reminder, I rummaged through the shelving of clothes inside the wardrobe. “I’ve only got one,” I said absentmindedly.
“What?”
“I’ve only got one bikini,” I repeated.
“What?”
“Mac!”
She laughed. “Okay, okay, but seriously though. That’s f**ked up. We need to fix that.”
“I don’t even know where it is,” I told Mac when I walked from the wardrobe empty handed. It was probably a good thing. The suit was faded and tired looking. Lucy may well have thrown it out like she’d threatened to do last time we went to the beach.
“Quinn!” Travis called out from downstairs. “Let’s go.”
“I’ll be right down!” I called back.
“Mac is that the phone ringing?” Henry asked, wandering into my room, head down as his fingers flew across the keypad of his phone.
“Rubbish. My phone is right here, so that only means your shitty guitar playing skills have sent you deaf. Now get out. Quinn’s getting dressed.”
Henry hit a button and jumped on the bed. “Awesome.” He snatched the pillow from underneath Mac, and her head snapped back. With a growl, she wrenched it from his arms. “I haven’t missed anything yet, have I?”
The pillow smacked Henry in the face. “We’re picking out a bikini. Quinn’s going to the beach.”
“We’re not picking one out. I only have one,” I reminded her. “And I can’t find it.”
“Cool.” Henry’s phone buzzed a reply, and he propped himself up on an elbow to read it. “Can I come?”
“She’s going with Travis.”
He sighed dramatically. “The plot thickens.”
Opening a drawer from my dresser, I snorted and yanked out a pair of denim shorts. “There is no plot. Besides…” I waved my shorts around “...at this rate I’ll be swimming at the beach in my underwear.”
Mac scooted to the edge of the bed and sat upright. “Alright, Quinn. Show me your boobs.”
“Um, what?”
“You heard me.”
“Yeah, you heard her,” Henry repeated. He tossed his phone into the middle of the bed and widened his eyes at me in expectation.
Mac reached over and punched him in the arm. “Out, Henry. I need to see what I have that will fit Quinn.”
“Ouch, Mactard. You really need to get laid.” He crawled off the bed, rubbing his arm, and as he reached the door, called out, “Hmm, so does Jake for that matter.”
His phone was hurled at him and with an outstretched arm, he caught it effortlessly in his left hand, laughter following him out the door.
“Mac!” Travis shouted up the stairs. “Leave Quinn alone.”
Mac grinned.
“What?”
She shrugged and said airily, “Travis just seems impatient to get his hands on you.”
Ten minutes later—dressed in a pale blue floral bikini with a centre tie courtesy of Mac, my shorts, and a rose coloured tank top—my bag of “shit” was stowed in the black Subaru, and I was sliding into the passenger seat.
Travis, wearing nothing but a pair of long boardshorts, gunned the engine. The throaty growl of it vibrated through my body as I buckled myself in, careful to keep my eyes averted from all that nak*d skin. Instead, I fixed them on the clean windows and upholstery, marvelling that his car bore no ill will from Rufus.
“All good?”
I gave him a nod. “All good.”
Arriving at the beach, Travis grabbed my bag and started for the sand.
“You’re not actually serious about swimming, are you?” I asked, my toes digging into the soft sand as I trudged after him. A cool breeze was gusting in off the ocean, and the horizon revealed a set of monster waves making their way towards the shore.
He looked at me sideways as I caught up to him. “Sure.”
I looked around. The beach wasn’t overly crowded except for the relative few I could see bobbing about in the waves. Death by chilly monster waves obviously wasn’t on most people’s list of things to get done today.
Travis tossed his towel haphazardly in the sand and looked out towards the waves. Trying to stave off my impending doom, I pulled my neatly folded towel from the bag Travis dropped in the sand and proceeded to lay it out carefully, ensuring the edges were neat and sand free.
Removing a book and a bottle of water, I went to sit down.
Travis shook his head. “Uh uh.”
“Are you serious?” I pressed my lips together.
“As a heart attack,” he said solemnly.
Peeled down to my bikini, I hugged my body, rubbing my arms to keep warm, I muttered, “Well come on then. Let’s get this over with.”
Reaching the water’s edge, icy water rushed and bubbled over my toes and my lungs closed up. I stepped back and turned around, but before managing my escape, Travis took hold of my bicep and grinned at me.
“Leaving so soon?”
“Hell yes,” I replied emphatically.
“You’ll get used to it in a moment,” the big bully told me, dragging me forward until alarmingly cold water splashed around my knees.
“Why are we doing this again?”
“Because it’s fun.”
I arched a brow of disbelief at him, but a wave rocked me, and my efforts were turned to bracing against the onslaught. “Ice torture is your definition of fun?”
Those monster waves were starting to roll in, and as water swirled around my waist, he said, “Nothing makes you feel more alive than swimming in a cold ocean.”
I beg to differ, I thought wistfully, watching as he let go of my arm and dived into the waves. Nothing makes me feel more alive than when you touch me, Travis.
Eventually he surfaced a few metres ahead, turning to check on me as he pushed hair from his face. Seeing my chance, I hollered to him that I was hopping out.
“You haven’t even got your hair wet, Quinn.”
“I’m cold.”
His eyes lowered to my chest and running a tongue along his bottom lip, they returned to mine with a cheeky glint. “I can tell.”
I laughed. “Would you stop?”
Travis grinned and started for me. I began backing away, poking out my tongue as he effortlessly jumped in the face of a big wave. It crashed into me and I was pitched beneath the surface with embarrassing fanfare.
He was laughing when I sputtered to the surface, wrestling wet hair out of my face as my teeth chattered. “This is crazy. We’re officially crazy people.” My eyes fell on a wave of tsunami like proportions rolling in behind him.
Seeing my panic, Travis glanced behind him. Turning back, he held out his arms. “Come here.”
I didn’t hesitate. I climbed the length of him and wrapped myself around his front like a barnacle. I burrowed my head in his neck, Travis clutching me tight to him as he turned his back to the wave. As it crashed wildly around us, the sweet bloom of something beautiful began unfurling in my chest and rocked me hard. My throat worked at swallowing it down, but right then I wanted nothing more than to claw my way inside his skin and never leave.
“Oh God,” I muttered.
He pressed a soft kiss against my ear as the water rushed around us and the sweet warmth of his breath made me burrow in a little tighter. “You okay?”
Not trusting my voice, I nodded into his neck as he waded through to the shallows and set me on my feet. The sun was high in the sky when we reached our towels. I spread out on my carefully placed towel while Travis picked his up, flicking it around carelessly in the breeze.