Nicole Edwards - Travis

Hoping that outwardly he looked like a man who had his wits about him, Gage walked right up to Kylie, pulled her flush against his chest and pressed his lips to hers like he’d done so many times recently. He didn’t get to linger for long because Travis stepped up to them, cleared his throat and then grabbed Kylie in much the same way, sending a wry grin at Gage over her head.

It was a good thing they were in this together, Gage thought to himself. He watched as Kylie went up on her toes and kissed Travis sweetly on the lips, a laugh escaping as she acknowledged their possessive greeting.

All background noise ceased, except for the banging beat of Korn’s Coming Undone – somewhat fitting for Gage’s mood – echoing through the house.

Hmm.

Gage replayed what just happened in his head.

Kylie came home.

Gage and Travis went on the prowl.

Gage kissed Travis’ wife.

Travis kissed Travis’ wife.

Yeah, he could see how that might look a little strange to their current company.

Well, hell.

He took a small step back and did his best to pretend nothing happened. Much to his surprise, Kylie looked back and forth between the two of them and smiled. “I missed you too.” She didn’t keep her voice quiet and her words apparently startled everyone back into action.

“You’re a godsend, you know that?” Braydon claimed the conversation at the same time he stole the food from Zoey’s hand. On his way to the kitchen, he called out over his shoulder to anyone who’d listen, “Fuck around and I can’t promise there’ll be anything left,”

That caused a stampede as eight hungry men fell in line behind Brendon. Gage didn’t move and neither did Travis. He wondered whether Travis was having the same problem he was: Gage wasn’t sure he could move, even if he wanted to.

“You two ok?” Kylie asked as she looked up at them.

“Never better, actually,” Travis said first, holding Kylie tight against his body in an act so foreign to Gage, he wondered if his mouth was hanging open. Travis was not known for his outward show of affection.

“And what about you?” she asked Gage directly.

“I’m good, baby. Especially now that you’re back.”

“Ok then,” she said. “Let’s get some food. I’m sure you’re starving.” Kylie grabbed both of their hands, but then she stopped suddenly. “Holy cow, this looks great.”

Her praise made Gage forget the fact that every single one of the Walker brothers now knew exactly what was going on between the three of them. Not that Gage particularly cared who knew, but he wasn’t sure how Travis felt about it.

“We’re not finished. Maybe a few more hours.”

“I can’t believe you got this much done. It’s fantastic,” she said with excitement.

“Did you get what you needed to get done?” Travis asked as Kylie once again led them toward the kitchen with the others.

As Gage waited for her to share how her day went, he wanted to glance down at their joined hands just to reassure himself that this was real, but he fought the urge.

“We did. Zoey’s a machine,” Kylie laughed. Turning to Gage, she said, “We got the flooring selected, managed to stop by this amazing place where I got to pick out some replacement pieces for some of the trim work, and we ended up at a nursery. You’ll probably hate what we picked out, but your yard’s going to stop traffic.”

Stop traffic, huh?

Funny how little he cared about the whole renovation gig until he saw how incredibly happy Kylie was to do it. If it were up to him, he’d be content bringing in someone to throw some carpet on the floor and replace the outdated appliances in the kitchen. Other than that, he didn’t care what he was surrounded by.

But Kylie’s enthusiasm made him want to go out and buy a dozen old houses and keep that radiant smile on her face always.

The three of them joined the masses in the kitchen, everyone filing around the island where the food had been placed, filling plates and then moving to get out of the way. Having spent a lot of time at the Walkers’ house growing up, this scene was familiar. Everyone knew the drill.

With the containers scraped clean and all the plates full, everyone found a wall to lean on as they ate and talked amongst themselves. A solid ten minutes had passed before Zoey spoke up, addressing the room as a whole.

“So, I know most of you have met Kylie, but I think there’re a couple who haven’t,” she said as she glanced around at the faces. “And with so many of us, I’m sure she’ll need to be reintroduced several times.

“All right, I’m going to start from that side of the room. That’s Chase Jameson, a Walker cousin. He goes by CJ. That’s Beau, and of course this here is my man, Kaleb. Over there we’ve got Sawyer, Brendon, Braydon, and Ethan. The woman brave enough to be standing with the twins is Kylie’s sister Jessie. That beautiful lady over there is my best friend Vanessa – we call her V. And that’s the guy I’m sharing her with, Zane. Did I miss anyone? No? Good. Oh, and everyone, meet Kylie.”

“Hey, darlin’,” Braydon grinned at Kylie with a sly grin.

“Dude, she’s so not interested,” Brendon choked out a laugh as he pulled Kylie’s sister against his side.

“How do you know?” Braydon asked, feigning innocence.

The room erupted in laughter, and Sawyer clamped his hand on the back of Braydon’s neck, forcing his head down to get his attention back on the plate he was holding in his hand.

As if that was going to hold his attention for long.

When the food was gone about half an hour later, the group dispersed, and Gage left Kylie, Jessie, Zoey and V in the kitchen. They’d refused his help to clean up and told him to quit making excuses and get back to painting. Pretending to be horrified by the idea, he slipped out of the room and resumed his position on the ladder once again.

Gage hadn’t expected everyone to get back to work, figuring the big meal would bog them down, but the guys went right back to it. Not that he should’ve expected less from them. The Walker brothers were a tight knit group who came together to support one another, regardless whether those who were close to them had been born into the family or not.

The ruckus reignited as the music was turned up and more paint was brought in. Another four hours sped by before things settled down. Gage hadn’t even looked up – or down rather because he was painting the ceiling – so he didn’t even realize the sun was beginning its slow descent.

The women moved through the house cleaning up as the guys finished, so by the time the rest of them were calling it quits, the house was almost back in order. The paint cans all had lids, the rollers were missing from the handles and the tarps protecting the floor were still perfectly in place. Ladders were positioned in the corners rather than standing proudly in the middle of the room.

“Who’s up for meeting at Moonshiners?” Zane’s deep voice bellowed from the other room. A rumble of male voices erupted, some in agreement, others making excuses why they couldn’t.

“Y’all good here?” Zane asked Gage and Travis when he stepped into the living room they were both still working on. It was the only room that wasn’t currently back in order.

“We’re good. Go on,” Travis said as he dropped his paint roller into the tray, wiping his hands on his now paint splattered jeans.

“You guys want to join us?” V asked when she eased up against Zane’s side. “You can watch me kick his ass at pool again.”

“You better be careful, woman,” Zane grinned as he peered over at her. “I might just show you what else a pool table is good for.”

V chuckled at the same time she turned bright red.

“We’re gonna finish up here tonight. But thanks for the offer,” Gage told them.

“We’ll be back bright and early to finish up in here and start on the outside. We might not be able to paint out there, but we can at least get it prepped.”

Travis clapped Zane on the shoulder and turned him toward the door. “Thanks for all your help.”

Gage stared back at the big man, a surge of something foreign erupting in his chest. Travis had taken everything in stride that day. He’d interacted with his brothers and the others like he did it every day of his life. Never once was there a grumble or a complaint.

Trying to ignore what the strange feeling actually meant, Gage followed Travis and his brother to the door, watching as the others were filing out. He stayed inside when Travis followed Zane and V out onto the front porch, and that’s when Sawyer stopped him on his way out.

“I’m not sure what’s going on with my brother, but you and Kylie are good for him.” There was a knowing gleam in Sawyer’s blue-gray eyes, but he wasn’t cocky about it. With a quick clap on the shoulder, Sawyer said his good-byes and headed out with the rest of them.

Gage was stunned silent as he stared at Sawyer’s back.

He expected that Travis’ brothers would’ve been the first to notice the complete three sixty, but Gage wasn’t sure whether he should be worried or reassured by that statement.

♂♀♂

Kylie listened to the familiar creaks and groans of the old house now that the rooms were empty. Aside from the intermittent whoosh of Travis’ paint roller going across the wall or the random creak of the ladder as Gage moved up or down, everything else was silent. After being thrust into the chaos for the last several hours, Kylie welcomed the quiet. Although she’d enjoyed herself immensely, it would take her some time to get used to so many people gathered together.