Nicole Edwards - Travis

Remembering that her boots were downstairs by the front door where she had dropped them when they came in, Kylie hurried down the stairs to the sound of male voices along with the squeak of footsteps across the linoleum floor. She only made it one step into the kitchen before Gage was grabbing her hand and hauling her toward the front door with Travis not far behind.

“Wait! My boots,” she called as Gage pulled her right out the front door.

“I got ‘em,” Travis said as he pulled the door shut behind him.

“What’s wrong? Where are we going?” If she didn’t know better, Kylie would think that Gage was running away from something.

“My house,” he informed her, never slowing.

Once again the rain pelted them from all angles as soon as they stepped off of the porch. She shrieked when Gage let go of her hand and Travis came up behind her, lifting her in his arms, carrying her to the rear passenger door of the truck. The roar of the wind made it impossible to hear, so she refrained from asking more questions.

Travis helped her in and even waited for her to get situated, although it prolonged his time in the rain. Once she was inside, she pulled on her seatbelt and sat patiently as Travis and Gage climbed in the front.

Without preamble, Gage started the truck and backed out of the driveway, barely glancing left or right to see if there was any traffic coming. There were so many questions running through her head, but Kylie was scared to ask them because she didn’t know what was wrong with Gage. On top of that, Travis wasn’t speaking either which… well, that didn’t seem unusual for him. Since Gage wasn’t talking and was probably lost in thought, Kylie feared that whatever the problem was didn’t fare well for him.

After what felt like an hour drive, – the silence making it seem unbearably long – but was actually only ten minutes, they slowed as they turned onto a residential street and that’s when Kylie noticed all of the commotion.

Two fire trucks, an ambulance, several standard pickup trucks with flashing lights in their windows were lined down both sides of the street blocking anyone from trying to get close to…

Fire.

“Oh. God.” Her words were but a whisper, but realization finally dawned on her. Gage’s house. Oh God. Gage’s house was on fire.

“Stay here,” Gage barked the words as he scrambled to get out of the truck.

“You can’t go –” She was quickly cut off as Travis turned to face her from the seat in front of her.

“Stay here, Kylie. Don’t move. We’ll be back in a minute.” Although he wasn’t making a request, Travis was unusually polite with his order.

Kylie clamped her mouth shut and nodded as she watched Travis exit the vehicle, returning her attention to the flames that were leaping above the tree tops. The downpour didn’t seem to be helping, but she couldn’t see much from where Gage had parked the truck.

Glancing around, she tried to see if anyone else was around, but there weren’t any other civilians hanging out in the rain. Why would they be? It was pouring, and the lightning storm hadn’t let up either. She sat as still as possible, trying to catch a glimpse of what was going on, biting her lip as she did.

Travis.

Gage.

Fire.

Her heart began pounding like a bass drum right in the center of her chest, and for a minute, she worried that she wasn’t going to be able to breathe. Did it burn to the ground? Did anyone get hurt? Did he have any pets? The questions began running together, and Kylie realized she had tears forming in her eyes.

He could lose everything. Probably had already from the looks of it.

And yet, she could do nothing but sit there in the damn truck like an obedient little girl because they told her to. But what else was she going to do? It wasn’t like she knew how to put out a fire and the last thing she would want to do would be to get in the way.

Leaning her head back against the headrest, she took a deep breath, held it, let it out. After repeating that process several times, she began to feel better. Given the circumstances anyway.

Now if she could only figure out how she might be able to help Gage, she might just be in business.

♂♀

Gage stood on the curb and stared at the flames as they engulfed his house and everything in it. Not that he had much, and he’d never been more thankful that he didn’t have any pets because there wasn’t going to be anything left when the fire department was through flooding his house with water. Not even the rain was helping to slow down the roaring flames. No, Gage’s only hope was that the fire would eventually burn itself out.

Damn, this sucked.

He wasn’t a materialistic man, but there were a few things inside that he would’ve liked to salvage if at all possible. Like, oh, say, his stuff. Thankfully, he’d thought ahead, and most of his valuables – which weren’t much, and consisted of a few pieces of jewelry he’d inherited from his grandmother, some random paperwork, pictures – were in a safe deposit box. He was grateful that last year he’d had the foresight to put the most sentimental of items that he had from his parents there as well. Since he was rarely home, Gage figured that would be the safest place in the event some jackass decided to be stupid and break in while he was out of town. Which was more often than not these days.

Gage glanced over to see Travis talking to Chase Jameson – better known as CJ. Gage knew CJ well because he was a cousin to Kaleb and close to their age. They’d grown up together, but since they graduated high school, they hadn’t talked much. At least not until tonight when CJ had been nominated as the lucky bastard who had to give him the grim news. They couldn’t salvage anything. The fire was out of control when they got there. He’d gone on to say other things, but Gage had tuned him out at that point. He didn’t need a play by play, he could pretty well see for himself.

According to two of his neighbors, lightning had struck the house, and the next thing they knew, it was consumed by flames. By the time the fire department arrived, it was pretty much a goner they’d said. At the moment, Gage was too numb to care. Even the repeated “I’m sorry, man” that he got from random people, he could only stare as his entire world burned down in front of him.

They’d understand if he wasn’t much for talking. Trying to accept what he was seeing without feeling as though it were happening to someone else required all of the energy he had left.

“No, man. He’s got a place to stay, but thanks.” Gage didn’t turn his head when he heard Travis waving someone else off. There’d been numerous offers, which wasn’t surprising in the small town. Even Charles and Myrna Talbott – his landlords – had offered him a room at their house for the night. He’d politely declined.

He had a place to go, that wasn’t the problem. And even if he didn’t have the farmhouse, he knew Kaleb would offer up his couch.

The only saving grace was the fact that he wasn’t alone. Surprisingly, Travis wasn’t putting too much distance between them. And of course, Kylie was in the truck. Until Gage felt it was safe enough for her to be closer to the scene, he was hoping she’d stay there too.

A strong hand came down on his shoulder and Gage turned his head slightly to see who it was.

“You doing all right? Considering?” Curtis Walker’s deep, gruff voice had him turning away from the fire.

“I’m in one piece. That’s all that matters,” he replied.

“You’re right on that one, son.” Curtis stepped around to face him. “I’m not going to stand here and coddle you because I know all too well how space is all you’re looking for right now, but if you need anything, I expect you to come to me or Lorrie. Understand?”

Gage had always been close to Kaleb’s parents, having grown up around them. After losing his own parents, they’d welcomed him into their home and treated him just like one of their sons whenever he was there. Staring at one of the most influential men from his childhood, he simply nodded. Not that he would ask for anything from them, but Gage knew better than to argue with Curtis.

Curtis squeezed his shoulder. “If you don’t want to come to us, just let Kaleb or Travis know what you need, and I’ll ensure you get it.”

Gage hid his surprise. Kaleb he understood, but why would Curtis assume Gage would go to Travis for anything?

“Hey,” Travis interrupted as he stepped closer and Gage looked over to see CJ walking away.

Ok, maybe this was just a little awkward.

“Boy,” Curtis greeted. “You take care of him. Let me know if he needs anything at all.” With that, Curtis walked off as though he hadn’t just given the most profound order of his entire life.

As Travis stood before him, the connection Gage had felt between them earlier in the evening came back full throttle. To this point, Travis hadn’t shut himself down emotionally the way Gage would’ve expected. Travis had perfected the art of pushing people away, but tonight he wasn’t. At least not yet anyway.

For the last couple of months, Gage had thought of little else besides Kylie and Travis and the miserable life he was living, wishing like hell he had a chance with one of them. Thinking he stood a chance with both was just plain absurd, but that didn’t stop him from thinking it might just be possible. He wanted them both, thought about them both. For different reasons and some of the same. And tonight, he was more than grateful to have them. Gage was used to being alone, but tonight, he wasn’t sure he would have been able to handle it.