Page 142 of Kaden & Keegan
Who woulda thought?
*
Travis had considered sleeping at the resort again tonight. No doubt about it, not going home was easier. He wouldn’t risk dealing with Kylie or Gage, getting into an argument, upsetting the kids. In a nutshell, they were better off if he stayed here.
Only Travis didn’t want to stay here. He wanted to go home.
No, heneededto go home.
He needed the comfort he could find with his husband and wife, the love he got from his children. He wasn’t this man, the one who stayed away from them because he was out of control.
With those good intentions, Travis dragged his tired ass home. Granted, it was going on two in the morning, so technically he had spent most of the night there, and he was sure Gage and Kylie would see it that way, too. But if he was lucky, they were asleep, and he wouldn’t have to deal with it until morning. And if not…
If only he could bring himself to care.
He hated that feeling. Hated it so fucking much.
Having spent the better part of the day waiting for a confirmation that they had in fact found Juliet Prince, Travis felt every single one of his forty-two years. Plus a couple of decades to boot.
He was tired. So fucking tired. Mentally, physically, emotionally. This constant state of chaos wasn’t something he was familiar with. Travis knew how to remain level when things went haywire, but these past couple of months had taken their toll on him. And he had only one person to blame.
Himself.
When he pulled into his driveway, he shut off the truck and sat there for a few minutes staring up at the big house. It had been Gage’s house at one time, brought back to its former glory by his wife’s perfectly manicured hand. This house had actually been what brought them all together. Gage had found out that Travis had been married—and never divorced—to Kylie, and in an act of revenge, Gage had lured Kylie here by using the house as the carrot.
It had worked.
Over the years, they’d managed to fill that house with life and love…
Travis’s chest tightened.
The house was dark, all the lights off except for the one on the porch. There were security lights around the house that would come on if someone or something got close enough, but there was nothing out there now.
As he stared, he felt that familiar storm brewing, the emotional turmoil twisting him up on the inside. Those people inside the walls of that dark house were his to protect, his to love, and he’d failed them. And in his attempt to make it right, he was failing them again.
The constriction on his heart grew more intense until a sob tore out of him, tears following not long after.
He was fucking it all up. He knew he was, but he didn’t know how to stop the spiral, how to pull himself back from the ledge. He’d depended on Gage to do that for so long, and in his quest to protect his family, Travis had hurt the man he loved.
He gripped the steering wheel with both hands and let the tears fall because there was nothing he could do to keep them at bay. He didn’t even attempt to stop them when the front door opened and Gage appeared as though summoned, as though the man could feel Travis’s pain.
Travis swallowed although his throat was tight, watched as Gage strolled down the steps, heading toward Travis’s truck. He wasn’t sure what he expected, but it wasn’t for Gage to walk around to the driver’s door, to open it.
“Come on,” Gage said softly. “Let’s go inside.”
Travis stared over at him, not bothering to hide his tears. Kylie and Gage were the two people in his life he’d never had to hide from, so it was natural. As was the pained look on Gage’s face at seeing those tears.
Gage’s long, strong fingers curled around Travis’s wrist. “Come on, Trav.”
He let his husband lead him into the house, although he barely remembered the walk.
Another sob tore at his chest, nearly taking him to his knees, but Gage was there.
Gage wasalwaysthere.
“I’m sorry,” Travis whispered, staring into those brown eyes that had taunted him all those years ago. “So fuckin’ sorry.”
Gage pulled him close, palmed the back of his head, and held him. He was warm and smelled so good, so familiar.
