“I don’t know,” Travis admitted. “I . . . I just thought that I could talk to her. That I could work things out with her.”
“Work things out?” His father shook his head. “I can see that I have not been taking as active of a role in your upbringing as I should have. You appeared to be thriving, so I saw no need to intervene, but I can see now that your mother has obviously been a bad influence on you. I’ll have to have a discussion with her about that later.”
Although Travis was curious to know what exactly his father meant by intervening, he didn’t dare ask. He knew his father well enough to know that questions like that would only anger him.
“You don’t work things out with women, son. They are emotional creatures. They can’t make decisions for themselves. Whatever they might think they want is never what’s actually best for them. Fortunately, for all of their faults, they are also easily manipulated as long as you can cut through the nonsense and get straight to the heart of what they all really want.”
“And what’s that?”
“To be taken care of. Every woman wants and needs a man in her life to provide for her and to keep her from making silly decisions out of fear and lack of understanding of simple concepts. Do you know where you went wrong with Bree?”
“When I cheated on her with Melissa?”
“No. You went wrong when you made the mistake of allowing her to believe that your relationship was some kind of equal partnership rather than the obvious hierarchy that it needs to be in order to maintain any semblance of stability.”
“So what am I supposed to do now then?”
“Absolutely nothing. You have done enough already. Like I told you before, I will handle this. I will make sure that Bree realizes how meaningless her existence truly is without you to give her meaning.”
His father reached into his pocket and took out a ring of keys. Then proceeded to unlock the cell door. As soon as it was opened, Travis wasted no time stepping out. But he didn’t make it more than a foot from the cell before his father grabbed hold of his arm in a vicelike grip. He leaned in close enough for Travis to feel his breath on his face when he spoke again.
“If you ever end up in here again . . . I will not go out of my way to bail you out. Everything you do reflects on me, and I will not tolerate being viewed as a weak and inadequate father by the public. Am I making myself clear?”
“Yes, Dad. There won’t be a next time. I swear.”
“Good. Now let’s get out of this miserable place. I took the liberty of having your car towed. It’s out in the parking lot. I want you to go straight home. Do you understand?”
“Sure, but where are you going?”
“I have an appointment with some associates of mine. They’re problem solvers. The best that I’ve ever had the displeasure of working with.”
7
“ARE YOU ABSOLUTELY SURE THAT you’re alright?”
“Yes, Mom, I told you, like, twenty times already that I’m fine.” Bree rolled her eyes at her mother’s question. “He didn’t hurt me, and I don’t think he would have hurt me either.”
“I just can’t believe that Travis would behave like that.” Her mom opened a cupboard and took out three plates. “I mean, in all of the years that I’ve known him, he has never been anything other than a perfect gentleman.”
“Well, he was pretty good at pretending to be a gentleman,” Veronica muttered under her breath while leaning against the counter with her hands stuffed in the pockets of her hoodie. “But he never had me fooled.”
“Veronica.” Bree shot her friend an icy stare. “That’s enough.”
“What does she mean by that?” Bree’s mom asked as she moved to the island in the middle of the kitchen and started to open the Chinese takeout boxes one by one.
Bree was sick of Chinese food, but her mom worked a lot, and she worked some pretty erratic hours, so it was rare that she actually had time to put together a home cooked meal. Bree didn’t complain, though. She knew that she should just be grateful that there was enough money for food. That wasn’t always the case. There was a time not that long ago when going hungry for an entire day was an unfortunate reality that they were both faced with.
Things were better now.
Not perfect.
But definitely better.
“She doesn’t mean anything by it,” Bree lied to her mom—something that she didn’t like to do.
“Come on, Bree, be honest with me.”
With a sigh, Bree realized that she had been painted into a corner, and she had little choice but to tell the truth.
“Travis is a gentleman.” Bree cleared her throat and leaned forward in her chair at the dining room table. “He has never done anything to me that’s ever made me feel uncomfortable. I’ve heard plenty of stories from other girls at school about the things that their boyfriends demand of them or get angry with them about, and Travis has never been like that at all.”
“But?” Her mother could clearly see where all of the gushing was going.
“But . . . he can be immature at times.”
“What do you mean by immature?” Her mom pilled some fried rice, eggrolls, and noodles on to her plate before she started across the kitchen to the dining room.
“Just . . . immature. Like, he doesn’t always have the most age-appropriate reaction to things. He never wanted to talk about the future, or our lives possibly changing. I never thought much of it. I guess I just assumed that he was happy. But when I think about it now, it’s probably why he took it so hard when I ended things with him. I was his first girlfriend. He was devastated and probably didn’t know how to react. Change is hard for him.”
“That’s no excuse for the way that he acted.” Her mom took a seat at the table. “Immature or not, he’s old enough to know better.”
“I know that. It’s just . . . never mind.”
“What is it?”
“It’s nothing. Don’t worry about it.”
“Come on, Bree. Just tell me.”
“Fine.” Bree tucked some loose strands of hair behind her ear. “Travis never said anything about it to me, and he would always change the subject if I ever brought it up, but I could tell that he and his dad have a . . . difficult relationship.”
“Difficult how?”
“I don’t know for sure. Like I said, he wouldn’t talk to me about it. I could just tell that he was uncomfortable whenever his dad was around.”
“Well, what did you think of his dad?”
“He seemed alright I guess.” Bree shrugged. “Kind of old-fashioned and cold. He almost seemed like a robot at times. Definitely nothing like Travis. What about you? You met him too. What did you think?”
“Pretty much the same,” her mom said with her mouth full. “He seemed like a nice enough man. He’s certainly done an amazing job providing for his family, and a lot of people believe that he saved what was a dying economy in this town. Lots of small businesses were on the verge of bankruptcy until he moved here and started taking on locals as clients.”
“She’s right.” Veronica sat down at the table with a plate of her own. “My dad would have lost his hardware store if it wasn’t for Roland Emmerson. The store was on the verge of shutting down because it couldn’t compete with the big chain hardware store that opened up in the next town over. We thought that we might have to sell our house and move away, but then Roland arrived like a knight in shining armor to save the day. He didn’t even ask for that much money in return. All he seemed to want was a stake in the business, and considering the business wouldn’t have survived without him, my parents felt like that was a pretty small price to pay.”
Bree’s mom nodded. “I think just about every business owner in this town has a similar story to tell about Roland. He’s like a local hero. I guess we all have Vivian to thank for marrying him. She certainly has changed since high school.”
“Wait, you went to school with Vivian Emmerson?” Veronica asked, sitting up in her seat, clear
ly her interest had been piqued. As much as Bree loved her best friend, there was no denying that Veronica was the type of person who loved a bit of hot gossip.
“Yes, I did. Although she was Vivian Wells back then, and she came from a very poor family. My friends and I actually felt sorry for her because she had to shop for all her clothes at secondhand shops, and she didn’t have money to buy lunch most days. We tried to be friends with her, but she was a hard person to get close to. I don’t know if she was just shy or maybe embarrassed by the reality of her situation, but she just kept to herself most of the time. I’m happy things worked out for her. God knows she picked a better man to marry than I did.”
Bree was glad that the subject seemed to have veered away from Travis. She appreciated that her mom and her best friend were trying to look out of her, but she didn’t need them to worry. She was fine, and she could only hope that in time Travis would be fine too.
Getting to her feet, Bree went to the kitchen to make herself a plate. As she piled the Chinese food on her plate, she tried to keep herself from dwelling on Travis. It was for the best for them both to put the past behind them and try to look ahead to the future.
No matter how difficult that might be . . .
***
Travis was leaving the kitchen with a midnight snack. A sandwich jam-packed with every type of meat that he could find in the fridge. He was creeping down the hall, on his way to the stairs, when he noticed that the door to his father’s office was slightly ajar. He stopped in his tracks.
That was strange.
His father never left it open. No one was allowed inside unless his father invited them inside.
Moving closer to the door, Travis heard the sound of voices coming from the other side. Hushed voices. It seemed that whoever was speaking, they weren’t interested in being overheard.
Too bad for them.
Travis leaned in close to take a peek through the small opening. He could just make out his father sitting behind his desk, and there was another man standing on the other side of the desk.
He was very tall, and wasn’t dressed like one of his dad’s typical associates. He had camouflaged pants, a heavy coat, and a black beanie. His hair was long and worn in a ponytail behind his head. His face wasn’t visible since he was facing away from Travis.
But Travis could hear what they were saying.
“This is a hell of a lot more serious than the typical work that we do for you, Mr. Emmerson.”
“Are you feeling uneasy about what I’m asking you to do?” Travis’s dad leaned forward on the desk with his hands linked in front of him. “That doesn’t sound like you. Since when do you have a conscience?”
“It’s not like that. Stealing, harassment, and even kidnapping is one thing. But murder . . . that’s something else entirely.”
“Ah, I see what’s going on here.” His dad leaned back in his seat and shook his head. “You want more money.”
“I just think we deserve to be properly compensated. That’s all.”
“Do your job exactly as I instructed you to, and then we can talk about lining your pockets with a little extra cash. Until then, I suggest you focus on doing what you’ve already been generously paid to do.”
The tall stranger was silent for a handful of seconds, and Travis thought that he might decide to make a fuss, but then he merely nodded and turned away without a word. He started for the door.
Not wanting to get caught eavesdropping, Travis moved away from the door and hurried back down the hall towards the kitchen. He just managed to duck around the corner when the door to his father’s office was opened wider and the stranger stormed out.
Travis peered into the hall and watched the stranger as he walked away. He still didn’t get an opportunity to get a look at his face, though.
With a load of questions swirling around inside his brain, Travis started down the hall again. Unfortunately, he couldn’t ask his dad about anything that he just heard. To do that, he would have to admit that he was listening in on a conversation that he obviously wasn’t supposed to hear.
But as he was passing his father’s office, he suddenly heard his name being called.
“Travis, get in here.”
He stopped. A chill ran down his spine. His father’s tone made it abundantly clear that he was not in a good mood, and when he wasn’t in a good mood, that was bad news for everyone in the house.
Did his father know that he had been eavesdropping? Travis couldn’t imagine how his father could possibly know, but was still fearful that he somehow knew.
But no matter how much Travis desperately wished that he could rush upstairs and lock himself in his room, he wouldn’t dare disobey his father like that. Taking a deep breath to keep his nerves in check, he stepped foot inside the office.
“You wanted to see me, Dad?”
“The door.” His father’s eyes were glued to some paperwork in his hands. He never even looked at Travis as he spoke. “Close it.”
Travis did as he was told. Then he was left to wait anxiously for his father to finally stop studying the papers and look up at him.
“Do you know what the secret to power is?”
“I don’t know.” Travis shrugged. “Is it money?”
“No. It’s not money. It’s fear.” His dad got up out of his chair and walked around to the front of his desk. He leaned against it with his arms folded in front of him. “Fear is the greatest motivator in this world. Greater than money, and greater than love. If you know what someone fears . . . and you can hold that over them, well, you own them.”
Travis only responded with a timid nod. He had no idea why his father was telling him all of this. He just knew that it was making him very uncomfortable.
“That man that was here earlier. He is going to help us with our problem.”
“You mean with Bree?”
His father nodded. “That’s right.”
Travis’s stomach tightened. He did not forget that the man had mentioned something about murder. What did he mean by that? Was he going to hurt Bree? He wouldn’t kill her . . . would he?
“What is he going to do to help?” Travis asked.
“Don’t worry about that. I have everything under control. All that you have to do is trust me, and you will have everything that you’ve ever wanted and more soon enough.”
Travis wanted to ask more questions, but he thought better of it. He didn’t want to risk upsetting his father.
“You’re excused.” His father returned to his seat.
Travis started to leave, but a single nagging question that he felt like he had to ask stopped him before he could. He turned around. “Dad?”
“What is it?”
“That man. He’s not going to hurt Bree . . . is he?”
“All you need to know is that I have your best interests in mind. Now get some sleep. Tomorrow is going to be an important day for you.”
That wasn’t what Travis wanted to hear. It didn’t really answer his question at all. In fact, it only led to more questions that he wanted to ask, but would remain unasked. He left the office as he was told to, shut the door behind him, and then made his way to the stairs. As he was heading up to his room, he looked down at the sandwich on his plate and was unsurprised to discover that he suddenly had no appetite.
8
MELISSA COULDN’T KEEP A SMILE off her face if she tried. Ever since that party after the big game, she felt like she was walking on air. In a matter of seconds, she went from thinking that her chances of being with Travis were completely lost, to feeling like hope had been rekindled. Now that Bree was out of the picture, Melissa had a great opportunity to have Travis all to herself, and she decided to celebrate by going to a party.
Sitting on the couch in her friend Shyanne’s living room, Melissa nursed her third beer of the night while watching a trio of dumb sophomore boys play beer pong. She could tell that they were trying to impress her, and as much as she did love the attention, they were goin
g to have to be disappointed. She would soon be Travis’s girlfriend, so she wasn’t looking for any hook ups tonight.
All she wanted was to savor her victory and spend some time with her friends. She felt like she deserved that after all the months spent sneaking around with Travis, having to watch him be all lovey dovey with Bree while pretending like she was nothing but a friend to him.
She didn’t have to pretend any longer, though.
“Hey, why don’t you join them?” Shyanne asked as she suddenly sat down on the couch next to Melissa.
Melissa laughed. “No, thanks.”
“Why not? I thought you loved playing beer pong. Besides, you’re good at it. Go put those guys in their place.”
“Maybe some other time.” Melissa flashed her friend a smile before sipping her beer.
Shyanne narrowed her eyes and studied Melissa’s face for a moment before she spoke up again. “Is there something going on with you that you’re not telling me?”
“No.”
“Then why aren’t you participating? I mean, this is a party after all, but you’re acting more like a wallflower tonight. Those guys have been checking you out all night long. The Melissa that I know and love to bits wouldn’t hesitate to have some fun with them. What’s going on?”
With a sigh, Melissa set her beer aside on the coffee table and then scooted closer to Shyanne, brushing her blonde curls behind her ears before she spoke. “I’m not interested in hooking up with anybody tonight. I’ve already found the guy for me.”
“What are you talking about? Who?”
“You already know. Travis Emmerson.”
“Travis?” It was Shyanne’s turn to laugh. “Yeah, right. He’s with Bree.”
“Not anymore. They broke up officially. Didn’t you hear that?”
Shyanne shook her head.
“And now that Bree is out of the picture, I can have Travis all to myself.”
“I don’t know, Melissa. Those two have been together forever. I wouldn’t be shocked if this turned out to be nothing but a little break and they were dating again in no time.”
Hide and Seek: A Suspense Thriller Page 5