I froze, jolted back to reality as I realized what, or rather who, I was in the middle of doing. My hands dropped to Travis' chest and fisted his shirt while I glared in his direction.
"Are you fucking kidding me?! I thought you'd fixed my electricity! What is the matter with you?"
Travis made no response. I squinted, trying to discern any little detail, but I couldn't even see his outline. I stilled, my beating heart loud in the silence. Finally, I felt his panting breath, little puffs of hot air hitting my face.
"Travis!"
"Give ... give me a second."
"I will not give you a second. What did you do to my house?"
He groaned, then dragged air into his lungs as if it pained him to breathe. "Just let me think a minute."
"A minute? What the hell do you need that for?"
Travis chuckled weakly, his fingers reflexively tightening around me. "Lena, seriously? Is the electricity really what you want to talk about right now?"
With horror, I realized that we were still smashed against each other, my legs straddling him tightly. I had been practically two seconds away from licking this man's entire body, and now I was yelling at him.
Shakily, I removed my legs from his waist. Travis placed his hands back on the counter and I hopped off. Big mistake. He hadn't moved away from the island and I slid, inch by inch, down his entire body. Travis groaned and swayed toward me. I felt him hard against my stomach and I actually bit my tongue to keep from moaning again.
"Lena, we need to—"
"Nope, no we don't. Don't finish that sentence. I don't want to know what it is." I ducked under one of his arms, blindly reaching out to move away from him and flinching when my hand slid across his hard stomach. I nearly tripped over my own damn feet in my haste to get away from him. My hands slid down the island, mindlessly searching for my phone. Relief coursed through me with every inch I put between us.
Finally, after what felt like five lifetimes, my fingers touched my phone and I jabbed at the screen, opening my flashlight app. A tiny beacon of light shot into the room. I swung it around to discover Travis was still hunched over the island, his hands clenching and unclenching the edge of the counter.
When my light landed on him, his face snapped up to stare at me. Travis' eyes positively glittered. His hair had become wild from my fingers; my eyes jerked away before I attacked him again.
I shifted on my feet, opening my mouth to demand he return my house to its fully functioning state, but the door to my backyard slammed open and Jared burst through, startling both of us.
"Hey, Lena, baby, your lights aren't work—whoa, it's even darker in here. I can't see a damn thing. Wait, what the fuck? The fuck is he doing in here? Do you need me to get this asshole out your house?" Jared grabbed my arm, pulling me to his side as if he'd protect me from Travis. I jerked my arm away, repulsed by the stench of his beer breath. My eyes flew across the room to Travis, barely visible from the edges of my makeshift flashlight, and two things became instantly clear to me.
Jared was really drunk, and Travis was not pleased with this interruption. In two seconds he had crossed the kitchen, glaring down at Jared with one of the most furious expressions I'd ever seen on a person. My phone, now hanging at my side in surprise, cast its light upward, creating a rather ghoulish image of Travis' face, similar to when I'd held a flashlight under my face as a kid in an effort to scare my friends. I cringed, mentally preparing for a repeat of yesterday's fight.
But then Travis opened his mouth and shocked me. "If you don't release her this instant, I'm going to beat the fucking shit out of you. Can't you see you're making her uncomfortable?"
"Whoa, man—"
"Let go of her."
Jared released me, and before I could blink, Travis had put himself between me and Jared. My light shone on Travis' back, but his shoulders were so wide and he was so tall that I couldn't even see Jared.
"There's a good man. Very sensible of you. Now, why don't you go back out to your little party and let me do the problem-solving around here. We both know your drunk ass isn't good for anything."
"Hey, fuck you! What you are going to do, anyway?"
"Jared. Do you not remember that I work in construction? Who the fuck else would be better to fix it than me? Get out of here, you drunken ass." Jared shrank away from the barely leashed restraint in Travis' words.
"Oh. Yeah. I guess that's true. Fine, whatever. But just so you know, you're a real asshole."
"Right back at you, dickhead."
Jared tottered out of the kitchen. I just had time to hear him yell "someone's fixing the lights!" before the kitchen door swung shut, and it was just the two of us again.
All of the air had been sucked out of the room. Travis whirled around, looking me over as if he expected me to faint or something. He reached out and held the place where Jared had grabbed me, his touch so incredibly gentle.
"Are you okay? Did he hurt you?" His thumb swept over my arm softly, as if he needed to touch me to convince himself that I was okay.
I said nothing, just stared at the part where we connected. Over the last three years, I'd had to get myself out of some real dicey situations. I was no longer surprised by how scuzzy guys could be at a party where everyone was trying to elevate their own fame. No man had ever come to my defense so swiftly. Or at all, now that I thought about it, which was rather depressing.
"Lena, are you okay?" Travis said, his voice increasing in concern since I hadn't answered him.
"I'm okay," I said. My voice felt like it was speaking from very far away. "It wasn't that bad. He didn't hurt me; I was just startled."
"Not that bad? He practically assaulted you!"
I frowned at him, snapping out of my stupor. Jared had just grabbed me a little too hard in his drunkenness. He had been trying to "save" me, after all, even if he'd been a little overzealous. "I'm fine. Really. You can calm down now. But, thank you. You never know when it can escalate."
Travis stared at me for another moment, then released me and turned away, twisting his hands in his hair as he paced back and forth. He muttered something to himself, too low for me to hear. Finally, he swung back to me, once more the calm man I recognized.
"I'm sorry I startled you. I just couldn't stand the thought that he'd hurt you."
I sighed, too exhausted for this conversation, or how this man made me feel. "Travis, I need my electricity," I said quietly.
He stared at me another moment, as if waiting for me to add something else, then nodded and said, "Of course. Give me another minute."
I followed Travis mutely, at first confused when he entered the garage, but then I finally got it. How had I not looked at the electric box first? I had forgotten its existence after I'd moved in, but still, this should have been obvious.
Travis handed back my phone, which I had given to him so that he could lead us without stumbling around in the dark. He gestured to shine it over the box, which I did, glancing curiously inside when he opened it.
A mix of wires and switches greeted me. I stared at them, wincing. I hadn't a clue what any of it meant. Suddenly, I was glad I hadn't thought to mess with this box. If I had, I surely would have made the situation much worse than whatever it was I suspected Travis had done.
Without a word, Travis reached inside and pulled out a smaller box, which he had clearly stashed behind the other wires so I wouldn't see it—had I thought to look. I scowled, irritated that he had so effortlessly ruined my electricity with such a tiny box. Travis calmly removed the box from the other wires, taking care to unhook them while maintaining their original configuration.
The lights returned the instant he pulled the little box entirely away. A cheer went up from outside, and the music returned full blast. I stared at him in anger, blinking against the sudden brightness in the garage. How had something so small completely messed with my life? Travis had the decency to look a little guilty about it as he slipped the device into his pocket, the hard planes of his face reddening under my blistering glare.
But his eyes never strayed from my face.
"What is that?"
"A time switch," he said after a moment.
"How does it work?"
"You attach it to the electric lines, and then, long story short, you can program the lines to turn on and off on a schedule."
"So, what, you programmed my electricity to go off at a certain time?"
"From ten to six."
"That's evil!"
"Hey, I didn't touch your electricity on the second floor. You didn't even notice the problem lingered because of it."
That was true, but I wasn't going to tell him that. "I can't believe you did that. What made you think that was okay?"
"Look, I'll admit it was stupid. But I was so sleep-deprived, I couldn't think straight!"
"That doesn't give you the right to mess with someone's property! How did you even get in here?"
Now his face was definitely red. "I, uh, dropped out of my window into your yard and then came in here through the kitchen. By the way, you really need to lock your doors. I literally walked right in."
"I cannot believe you! How stupid are you to admit that? You dropped out of your window? You're lucky you didn't fall and break your neck. And who are you to tell me to lock my doors—you're the criminal here! I should have you arrested!"
"I know. Again, I apologize. But you have to understand how exhausted I was. Those guys never shut the fuck up. It had been a month since I'd gotten a good night's rest. Do you know what that does to a person? How dangerous it is?"
Had it really been that long? I mentally went back over the last few weeks and realized with more than a little shame that it really had been about a month since Jared had started coming over here so frequently. I wasn't entirely blameless in this situation, although that didn't give him a valid reason to break into my fucking house.
"Okay, look. I agree that I should have been more considerate of your sleep. I've already tried to make some changes around here. Let's hope that works. But—"
"What do you mean, hope it works? Just tell him to fuck off."
I shifted on my feet in silence. I'd die before revealing that I was practically one step removed from whoring myself out to live here.
"Just drop it. That doesn't excuse the fact that you broke into my house. You're lucky I'm not calling the cops yet again. And frankly, it's more than a little creepy."
Travis' mouth flattened, but he didn't contradict me. He'd probably never been called creepy in his entire life.
"You're right. It was creepy, and I shouldn't have done it. I assure you, it's not going to happen again. And furthermore, if anything else happens to your house, I'd be happy to take a look at it. But, Lena," he said, stepping closer to me, staring deep into my eyes until I felt like I couldn't escape, "we need to talk about what happened in your kitchen."
I shook my head. As far as I was concerned, that memory, while delectably hot, had already been relegated to the deep recesses of my mind. Perhaps one day far, far into the future, I would take it out again to reminisce, but for now, I was going to pretend it had never happened. I just couldn't get involved with someone if I wanted to escape my currently insipid life. And besides, this guy had just admitted he'd waltzed into my house. I should avoid him.
"Look, Travis. There's nothing to talk about. It's over. In the past, where it should be. Don't feel like you have to explain yourself; we just got carried away. Let's never speak of it again." I made to return back to the kitchen. When I realized he wasn't following me, I turned around.
Travis was still standing stock-still by the electric box. He stared at the ground, hands on his hips. For a moment, I almost thought he wasn't going to leave it, but then he shook his head and turned for the exit, heading out the back door without even looking at me.
"Yeah, sure. We'll let it go. Have a good evening."
I froze, jolted back to reality as I realized what, or rather who, I was in the middle of doing. My hands dropped to Travis' chest and fisted his shirt while I glared in his direction.
"Are you fucking kidding me?! I thought you'd fixed my electricity! What is the matter with you?"
Travis made no response. I squinted, trying to discern any little detail, but I couldn't even see his outline. I stilled, my beating heart loud in the silence. Finally, I felt his panting breath, little puffs of hot air hitting my face.
"Travis!"
"Give ... give me a second."
"I will not give you a second. What did you do to my house?"
He groaned, then dragged air into his lungs as if it pained him to breathe. "Just let me think a minute."
"A minute? What the hell do you need that for?"
Travis chuckled weakly, his fingers reflexively tightening around me. "Lena, seriously? Is the electricity really what you want to talk about right now?"
With horror, I realized that we were still smashed against each other, my legs straddling him tightly. I had been practically two seconds away from licking this man's entire body, and now I was yelling at him.
Shakily, I removed my legs from his waist. Travis placed his hands back on the counter and I hopped off. Big mistake. He hadn't moved away from the island and I slid, inch by inch, down his entire body. Travis groaned and swayed toward me. I felt him hard against my stomach and I actually bit my tongue to keep from moaning again.
"Lena, we need to—"
"Nope, no we don't. Don't finish that sentence. I don't want to know what it is." I ducked under one of his arms, blindly reaching out to move away from him and flinching when my hand slid across his hard stomach. I nearly tripped over my own damn feet in my haste to get away from him. My hands slid down the island, mindlessly searching for my phone. Relief coursed through me with every inch I put between us.
Finally, after what felt like five lifetimes, my fingers touched my phone and I jabbed at the screen, opening my flashlight app. A tiny beacon of light shot into the room. I swung it around to discover Travis was still hunched over the island, his hands clenching and unclenching the edge of the counter.
When my light landed on him, his face snapped up to stare at me. Travis' eyes positively glittered. His hair had become wild from my fingers; my eyes jerked away before I attacked him again.
I shifted on my feet, opening my mouth to demand he return my house to its fully functioning state, but the door to my backyard slammed open and Jared burst through, startling both of us.
"Hey, Lena, baby, your lights aren't work—whoa, it's even darker in here. I can't see a damn thing. Wait, what the fuck? The fuck is he doing in here? Do you need me to get this asshole out your house?" Jared grabbed my arm, pulling me to his side as if he'd protect me from Travis. I jerked my arm away, repulsed by the stench of his beer breath. My eyes flew across the room to Travis, barely visible from the edges of my makeshift flashlight, and two things became instantly clear to me.
Jared was really drunk, and Travis was not pleased with this interruption. In two seconds he had crossed the kitchen, glaring down at Jared with one of the most furious expressions I'd ever seen on a person. My phone, now hanging at my side in surprise, cast its light upward, creating a rather ghoulish image of Travis' face, similar to when I'd held a flashlight under my face as a kid in an effort to scare my friends. I cringed, mentally preparing for a repeat of yesterday's fight.
But then Travis opened his mouth and shocked me. "If you don't release her this instant, I'm going to beat the fucking shit out of you. Can't you see you're making her uncomfortable?"
"Whoa, man—"
"Let go of her."
Jared released me, and before I could blink, Travis had put himself between me and Jared. My light shone on Travis' back, but his shoulders were so wide and he was so tall that I couldn't even see Jared.
"There's a good man. Very sensible of you. Now, why don't you go back out to your little party and let me do the problem-solving around here. We both know your drunk ass isn't good for anything."
"Hey, fuck you! What you are going to do, anyway?"
"Jared. Do you not remember that I work in construction? Who the fuck else would be better to fix it than me? Get out of here, you drunken ass." Jared shrank away from the barely leashed restraint in Travis' words.
"Oh. Yeah. I guess that's true. Fine, whatever. But just so you know, you're a real asshole."
"Right back at you, dickhead."
Jared tottered out of the kitchen. I just had time to hear him yell "someone's fixing the lights!" before the kitchen door swung shut, and it was just the two of us again.
All of the air had been sucked out of the room. Travis whirled around, looking me over as if he expected me to faint or something. He reached out and held the place where Jared had grabbed me, his touch so incredibly gentle.
"Are you okay? Did he hurt you?" His thumb swept over my arm softly, as if he needed to touch me to convince himself that I was okay.
I said nothing, just stared at the part where we connected. Over the last three years, I'd had to get myself out of some real dicey situations. I was no longer surprised by how scuzzy guys could be at a party where everyone was trying to elevate their own fame. No man had ever come to my defense so swiftly. Or at all, now that I thought about it, which was rather depressing.
"Lena, are you okay?" Travis said, his voice increasing in concern since I hadn't answered him.
"I'm okay," I said. My voice felt like it was speaking from very far away. "It wasn't that bad. He didn't hurt me; I was just startled."
"Not that bad? He practically assaulted you!"
I frowned at him, snapping out of my stupor. Jared had just grabbed me a little too hard in his drunkenness. He had been trying to "save" me, after all, even if he'd been a little overzealous. "I'm fine. Really. You can calm down now. But, thank you. You never know when it can escalate."
Travis stared at me for another moment, then released me and turned away, twisting his hands in his hair as he paced back and forth. He muttered something to himself, too low for me to hear. Finally, he swung back to me, once more the calm man I recognized.
"I'm sorry I startled you. I just couldn't stand the thought that he'd hurt you."
I sighed, too exhausted for this conversation, or how this man made me feel. "Travis, I need my electricity," I said quietly.
He stared at me another moment, as if waiting for me to add something else, then nodded and said, "Of course. Give me another minute."
I followed Travis mutely, at first confused when he entered the garage, but then I finally got it. How had I not looked at the electric box first? I had forgotten its existence after I'd moved in, but still, this should have been obvious.
Travis handed back my phone, which I had given to him so that he could lead us without stumbling around in the dark. He gestured to shine it over the box, which I did, glancing curiously inside when he opened it.
A mix of wires and switches greeted me. I stared at them, wincing. I hadn't a clue what any of it meant. Suddenly, I was glad I hadn't thought to mess with this box. If I had, I surely would have made the situation much worse than whatever it was I suspected Travis had done.
Without a word, Travis reached inside and pulled out a smaller box, which he had clearly stashed behind the other wires so I wouldn't see it—had I thought to look. I scowled, irritated that he had so effortlessly ruined my electricity with such a tiny box. Travis calmly removed the box from the other wires, taking care to unhook them while maintaining their original configuration.
The lights returned the instant he pulled the little box entirely away. A cheer went up from outside, and the music returned full blast. I stared at him in anger, blinking against the sudden brightness in the garage. How had something so small completely messed with my life? Travis had the decency to look a little guilty about it as he slipped the device into his pocket, the hard planes of his face reddening under my blistering glare.
But his eyes never strayed from my face.
"What is that?"
"A time switch," he said after a moment.
"How does it work?"
"You attach it to the electric lines, and then, long story short, you can program the lines to turn on and off on a schedule."
"So, what, you programmed my electricity to go off at a certain time?"
"From ten to six."
"That's evil!"
"Hey, I didn't touch your electricity on the second floor. You didn't even notice the problem lingered because of it."
That was true, but I wasn't going to tell him that. "I can't believe you did that. What made you think that was okay?"
"Look, I'll admit it was stupid. But I was so sleep-deprived, I couldn't think straight!"
"That doesn't give you the right to mess with someone's property! How did you even get in here?"
Now his face was definitely red. "I, uh, dropped out of my window into your yard and then came in here through the kitchen. By the way, you really need to lock your doors. I literally walked right in."
"I cannot believe you! How stupid are you to admit that? You dropped out of your window? You're lucky you didn't fall and break your neck. And who are you to tell me to lock my doors—you're the criminal here! I should have you arrested!"
"I know. Again, I apologize. But you have to understand how exhausted I was. Those guys never shut the fuck up. It had been a month since I'd gotten a good night's rest. Do you know what that does to a person? How dangerous it is?"
Had it really been that long? I mentally went back over the last few weeks and realized with more than a little shame that it really had been about a month since Jared had started coming over here so frequently. I wasn't entirely blameless in this situation, although that didn't give him a valid reason to break into my fucking house.
"Okay, look. I agree that I should have been more considerate of your sleep. I've already tried to make some changes around here. Let's hope that works. But—"
"What do you mean, hope it works? Just tell him to fuck off."
I shifted on my feet in silence. I'd die before revealing that I was practically one step removed from whoring myself out to live here.
"Just drop it. That doesn't excuse the fact that you broke into my house. You're lucky I'm not calling the cops yet again. And frankly, it's more than a little creepy."
Travis' mouth flattened, but he didn't contradict me. He'd probably never been called creepy in his entire life.
"You're right. It was creepy, and I shouldn't have done it. I assure you, it's not going to happen again. And furthermore, if anything else happens to your house, I'd be happy to take a look at it. But, Lena," he said, stepping closer to me, staring deep into my eyes until I felt like I couldn't escape, "we need to talk about what happened in your kitchen."
I shook my head. As far as I was concerned, that memory, while delectably hot, had already been relegated to the deep recesses of my mind. Perhaps one day far, far into the future, I would take it out again to reminisce, but for now, I was going to pretend it had never happened. I just couldn't get involved with someone if I wanted to escape my currently insipid life. And besides, this guy had just admitted he'd waltzed into my house. I should avoid him.
"Look, Travis. There's nothing to talk about. It's over. In the past, where it should be. Don't feel like you have to explain yourself; we just got carried away. Let's never speak of it again." I made to return back to the kitchen. When I realized he wasn't following me, I turned around.
Travis was still standing stock-still by the electric box. He stared at the ground, hands on his hips. For a moment, I almost thought he wasn't going to leave it, but then he shook his head and turned for the exit, heading out the back door without even looking at me.
"Yeah, sure. We'll let it go. Have a good evening."
