As Travis walked in the door to Walker Demo, he heard Sawyer’s voice as he spoke to someone on the phone.

“Yeah. Perfect. Yes, we’ll be here. Thanks.” The phone landed in the cradle as Travis was pouring coffee into a Styrofoam cup.

Walking over to his desk, he prepared himself to have to talk to Sawyer, but the man didn’t say a word. Travis forced himself to look over at him, thinking he might still be on the phone. Nope, he’d been right, Sawyer had hung up and was currently typing on his computer, paying not a lick of attention to Travis.

Thank Christ.

He sat down at his desk and opened his email on his computer. There were a handful of things he needed to take care of, but nothing pressing. If he knew his brothers, Sawyer and Kaleb took care of everything while he was gone. They always did, it was one of the reasons they all worked so well together.

They had each other’s back.

An email caught Travis’ attention, and he clicked to open it. It was from Luke McCoy, dated two days ago.

Travis,

Haven’t heard from you but wanted to let you know that we’re heading down to Austin. Sierra’s got a little time to meet with you so we’ll be stopping by. See you on Thursday.

Luke McCoy

Shit. That was today.

He knew there wasn’t time to call the guy and tell him not to come. It wouldn’t be professional either, and Travis might not be a lot of things, but he did pride himself on his work ethic. He’d spent the last few days wallowing in his own pain in order to spare those he cared about, but now it was time to get back to it. Life would go on.

It always did.

Travis’ phone vibrated on his hip, and he flipped it off the holster and glanced down at the screen.

“Just saw your email. Where’re you at?” he said by way of greeting.

“Just hit Main Street. Want to meet somewhere for coffee?”

Travis wasn’t up for social interaction, but he wasn’t fond of sitting in the office watching Sawyer dissect his every word either. “Yeah. The diner in town work for you?”

“Yep. See you in a few.”

With that the line disconnected and Travis stood from his chair, clamping his cell phone back in place. He didn’t say a word as he passed Sawyer on the way out. No reason to initiate conversation. He had no intention of talking to anyone anyway.

“Hey, where’re you headed?” Braydon asked when Travis passed him on his way out the door.

“Meeting with McCoy.” With his head down, he kept going, but Braydon reached out and touched his arm. Travis stopped, resisting the urge to pull away from his brother.

“You all right?”

No. He’d never be all right again. “Fine. Why? What’s up?” If he pretended he was all business, he hoped Braydon would move on.

“She’s not doing well,” Braydon said, his voice low. “I’ve talked to Jessie a couple of times. Kylie’s taking this hard.”

Well, she should. She went and made a fucking decision for whatever reason and just like he’d expected, the happily ever after wasn’t within his reach. No sense in going back to try and grab it now.

“Sorry to hear that.”

“You should talk to her,” Braydon told him, pulling his hand away.

“And you should mind your own fucking business,” Travis barked and walked away.

“Do you do this to yourself on purpose?” Braydon’s voice rang out, stopping Travis dead in his tracks. He turned to glare at his brother, fists clenched at his sides. He was already itching for a fight, and he hadn’t wanted to do this, but it was clear Braydon was going to push the issue for whatever reason.

Taking slow, measured steps back toward him, Travis stopped just inches from his face. “Do I do what on purpose?”

“Fuck everything up?”

Travis felt as though he’d been slapped across the face, causing him to stumble back a step or two.

“You don’t know what the hell you’re talking about.”

“No? You let her walk out on you like that and you hole up in your house sulking over it.”

“Fuck you, Braydon.”

“No, fuck you, Travis. I’m so fucking tired of sitting back and watching you waste away.”

“Me? Who the fuck are you to judge me? I’m not the one fucking my twin’s girl. If you’re so fucking concerned about me, you might want to take some time to look in the mirror.”

Braydon didn’t even flinch, although Travis knew for damn sure the statement had hit home. In a big way.

With his voice low and eerily calm, Braydon said, “I’ve never, ever seen you happy before. Not until this woman walked back into your life. There was a smile on your face for days. And now you’re going to turn your back on her.”

“Turn my back? She fucking walked away from me,” Travis growled, letting the urge to rush his brother and take him to the ground pound in his veins.

“This time,” he said softly. “From the way I see it, you got a little taste of your own medicine.”

Travis felt as though he’d been sucker punched. The image of Kylie’s face from ten years ago flashed before his eyes. The pain and confusion, the tears streaming down.

Fuck.

Without arguing further, Travis turned on his heel and stormed to his truck. He let his tires spin on the gravel as he floored it down the driveway on his way to town.

He needed to meet with McCoy, but then he had a couple of things to take care of.

♂

Gage was on his third cup of coffee as he sat at his kitchen table with his laptop open. He’d spent the better part of the last few days talking to Cole Ackerley and Luke McCoy about a potential job opportunity. Still on administrative leave, he was starting to go batshit crazy which meant he needed to get back to work.

And with Kylie gone, he had no reason to stick around the house all day.

He reread the email he had pulled up as he sipped his coffee.

Gage,

I’ve got some business to take care of in Austin on Thursday so if you’re serious about the job opportunity, I’d like to meet with you while I’m down there. Let me know.

Cole Ackerley

Gage had sent the email back the same day, letting Cole know he was interested. After spending the night with Travis the same as he had for the last several nights, Gage came home early, taking a shower and was now waiting for the call.

Seemed all he’d been doing lately was waiting. Waiting for Travis to come around, waiting for Kylie to call, and waiting for his heart to heal. The more time he spent staring at his phone, willing it to ring, praying for a call from Kylie, the more he knew it wasn’t going to come.

He’d fought the urge to call her, although his fingers were itching to push the buttons just so he could hear her voice. He still couldn’t believe she’d just walked out, never even giving him a chance to talk to her, to explain anything.

The day after she left, Gage had gone to Kaleb’s and Zoey’s, and they hashed through the details once again. Kylie hadn’t given Zoey any specifics about how she was feeling, but her reaction had been palpable. As they made assumptions about how she felt when Zoey told her, they’d decided Kylie didn’t like the idea of Gage having been in a relationship like that before.

“Think about it, Gage, this is new to her. She wants her happily ever after just like the two of you do, but she thought this was specific to her. That the stars aligned and everything came together like it should. It’s how girls think,” Zoey had told him.

Yeah, well, he didn’t like the way Kylie was thinking. He wanted her to believe this could work, and, although Gage had been in other situations similar, never were they like what he had found with Kylie and Travis. He loved them both. He’d never loved anyone like this before, never suffered a pain so extensive that his chest physically ached.

Gage glanced down, realizing he was rubbing the consistent pain that had taken up residence. Didn’t matter how hard he pressed, it never eased though.

His phone vibrated, distracting him from his thoughts, but it wasn’t an incoming call. Gage hit the little envelope icon and pulled up his texts. One incoming from Cole:

Stopping at diner in 10. Meet there.

Gage dumped his coffee in the sink and grabbed his keys. Time to figure out what he was going to do with the rest of his life because he damn sure wasn’t going to sit around waiting anymore.

♀

Kylie was furious that she had to drive to Coyote Ridge. When her sister called to tell her she wanted to come home, but she didn’t have a ride, she’d been pissed. After giving Jessie hell about hooking up with guys who weren’t interested in seeing to her well-being, Kylie had caved. She hated how she was purposely trying to hurt Jessie. No matter what happened over the last few days, Jessie didn’t deserve it.

With the long, boring highway now behind her, Kylie was heading down the rural road that would get her to town. Based on the text she’d received a few minutes ago, Jessie would be at the diner waiting for her.

Of course she would. She’d probably just had breakfast with Brendon, and they were sitting around chatting while they waited for Jessie’s chauffer to arrive.

Kylie should’ve been mad at her sister. And somewhere deep down, maybe she still was, but there was an overwhelming ache in her chest that continued to push the anger to the side.

When her father came to visit, Kylie had fallen apart. The conversation hadn’t gone like she expected, but it hadn’t been necessarily positive either. And surprisingly, Joe had been angrier for her not telling him the truth than for her getting married when she was just nineteen years old.