“Was it the same with me?” India glanced at him from beneath lowered lashes. She pulled the corner of her lip between her teeth. “Was I the unattainable daughter of your mentor who hit on you one day?”
The uncertainty in her voice scared him. He took her hand in his and squeezed her hand. “What happened with you was even more unexpected. We were friends. You were the person in the family I could chill and be myself with.”
Her shoulders straightened. She tried to pull away. “You didn’t see me as a potential lover?”
He didn’t let go of her hand. He had to make her understand what he felt for her was different. “I noticed you, but you are the baby girl. That night when we almost had sex, I was just as caught off guard by how quickly what was supposed to be a simple kiss turned into something a lot more. Feelings I never faced before were suddenly slapping me in the face. I panicked and sent you away because I didn’t know what else to do.”
It would be more accurate to say he’d felt as if his life had been thrown into a dryer and sent him tumbling in circles. India had always been cool. She was just the friend he was trying to keep from going out and getting drunk with a bunch of assholes. That night, his urge to protect her and be the one she celebrated her birthday with suddenly flipped into a toss-up of desire and caring he’d never experienced in his young life.
“But you didn’t tell me anything. You kissed me that night and promised me you weren’t playing games and then you proposed to my sister.” The hurt in her voice was like a razor blade to his heart. “You could have told me. I may not have liked it, but I would have understood. Why didn’t you tell me?”
A ball of guilt weighed heavily in his midsection. “Grant insisted we keep the pregnancy quiet. When he asked if I really cared about Elaina or if I was going to keep treating her like a piece of ass, I couldn’t bring myself to say I didn’t want to marry her. Not when she was carrying my child. Nor could I bring myself to tell him how I felt about you, when I still hadn’t processed what had happened between us that night. He said if I didn’t do right by Elaina, then all of his plans to help pay for law school and continue to mentor me would go away. I promised him I’d do right by her. When he asked if that meant I planned to marry her, I said yes. I was just a scared young man and I wanted to do right by our baby.”
Travis remembered the sense of loss that had nearly choked him. As soon as the words had come out, he’d known he would always be under Grant’s thumb. “I don’t think he believed me. Then he said he’d hate for the police to reopen the case of the break-ins around town that had happened a few years before. Break-ins your dad knew I was a part of because he’d covered for me.”
He met India’s wide angry eyes. “I asked Elaina to marry me the same day. She said no. Then two weeks later, she came back and agreed. To this day, I don’t know why she changed her mind, and I haven’t asked.”
Elaina hadn’t wanted to marry him any more than he’d wanted to marry her. She hadn’t slept with that other guy, but Travis believed she’d cared deeply for him. Deeply enough to fight the idea of marrying someone she didn’t love. For her to say yes meant Grant had found one of her hidden weaknesses and forced her to agree.
India eased her hand from his. He didn’t hold on. She opened the picnic basket they’d brought and pulled out a bottle of wine. She poured more wine into the red plastic cup she’d used earlier and took a long swallow. “Someone should have told me.”
“Pretending that night never happened and that I didn’t have feelings for you seemed easier than telling you that night was a mistake. By the time I thought I should say something, things had gone too far. The engagement was announced. People were congratulating us and throwing parties. Reviving what we’d uncovered that night felt messy and disrespectful.”
She stared into the cup. “What’s different about this time? Why isn’t now messy and disrespectful?”
“I can’t guarantee others won’t see it that way, but what I do know is I’ve spent the years since that night thinking about you. Wondering what would have happened if I hadn’t been afraid to go against your father. If I had done what my instincts told me to do.” He placed a finger under her chin and lifted her face until her eyes met his. There was sadness in them and his chest tightened as if a giant squeezed his heart. He never wanted to hurt her. Would never walk away from her again.
“India, being with you doesn’t feel messy or disrespectful, it feels right. It feels as if I’ve been on vacation all my life and I’m finally coming home. I’m finally with the woman I’m supposed to be with.”
“Elaina won’t see it like that. My dad won’t see it that way. They’re going to hate us.”
“Then let them. Why do you think I left Robidoux Tobacco? I needed the split. I needed to create my own life outside of the shadow of your father. He has no say in this. Unless you’ve changed your mind.”
He held his breath, knowing he never wanted to let her go, but accepting that he couldn’t force her into anything she didn’t want.
“No.” She brushed her fingertips across his lips to stop him from interrupting. “But I don’t think we should say anything just yet. There’s Byron’s campaign, and this would cause a scandal.”
“I don’t care about scandal.” They’d waited long enough already.
“I wouldn’t either, but Byron does care about his campaign. He’s gone so far as to agree to marry someone he doesn’t love,” she said bitterly. “I won’t cost him any votes with this.”
“I don’t want to sneak around and hide for the next few months.” November was too long to even think about keeping this secret.
She took his face in her hands. “At least through the primaries. It’ll give us time to gauge how everyone will accept things. We can break it to the family after Byron gets through that and then go from there. Please.”
The arguments against her decision burned his throat. He was tired of lies. He wanted to be selfish. To say to hell with her family and stop hiding their feelings. But loyalty to Byron and the thought of dumping this on Elaina all of a sudden kept him silent. They would need the right time to talk to Elaina that was less likely to result in a multiple homicide. They’d wait and control the fallout. Afterward, they could come up with a way to tell everyone.
He nodded and kissed India. “Fine, but only until the primaries. I’ll talk to Byron first, then we’ll talk to the family.”
CHAPTER NINETEEN
BYRON CALLED RIGHT after Travis got home on Sunday.
“Are you back? I need to talk to you.” Byron sounded nervous and stressed.
Travis immediately went on guard. He hadn’t hidden his trip to Asheville. He also hadn’t asked India whom she’d told where she was going, but he doubted she would have kept her whereabouts from her family. Had Byron put two and two together and come up with questions about him and India?
“What’s up?”
“I just need to run something by you. It shouldn’t take long. I’ll be there in a few minutes.”
Travis agreed and hung up. He paced his living room as he waited for Byron to show up. He didn’t like the idea of keeping his relationship with India a secret. The only way to move forward was to be honest with everyone involved. Revealing their involvement would make tsunami-size waves with her family, but that didn’t mean they’d drown in the aftermath.
His doorbell rang thirty minutes after Byron’s call. Travis let out a heavy breath and prepared to pretend he hadn’t spent the weekend in bed with his best friend’s younger sister. The idea made his neck stiff. Byron was his boy; he shouldn’t have to lie about this.
He opened the door. Byron looked just as tense as he’d sounded on the phone. Lines bracketed his mouth and creased his forehead from the tight scowl on his face. The top button of his shirt was unbuttoned, his tie loose and slightly askew.
“What do you have to drink?” Byron said, co
ming in and walking straight toward the back of the house.
“Damn, Byron, that bad?” Travis followed his friend.
Byron went into Travis’s living area and zeroed in on the bar in the corner. He pulled down a bottle of Crown Royal and twisted off the top. Travis raised a brow. Byron hated Crown Royal. He preferred a more expensive whiskey. He filled one of the shot glasses Travis kept on a small shelf next to the bar and downed the drink.
“The campaign,” Byron said in an exhausted voice.
Relief eased the tension in Travis’s neck and shoulders. He followed Byron to the bar. “What happened?”
“We’re good in the polls. Things were going great. Then we get word the other side has some dirt on me.”
Travis frowned and leaned against the bar. Dirt? On Byron? Couldn’t be that bad. Byron loved the ladies, but his bachelor lifestyle was tame compared to most men considered playboys.
“What kind of dirt?”
Byron ran a hand over his razor sharp fade. “That’s the thing. I don’t know.”
“Okay, then why are you worrying? I mean, you shouldn’t be this upset about possible dirt unless there is something really bad out there.” He raised a brow and his tone so that the sentence came out more question than statement. He knew almost everything about Byron, but everyone had secrets.
Byron poured another drink and avoided eye contact.
Travis straightened and watched his friend closely. “Is there something really bad out there?”
“What?” Byron looked up from the dark liquid in his shot glass. He shook his head. “No. Nothing bad. Yeah, there are some things I wish I hadn’t done.”
“We’ve all done stupid stuff when we were younger. Unless you’ve got a murder to hide or you’re some kind of psycho, then you shouldn’t have to worry.”
Byron scowled. “God no! Nothing like that.” He sipped the shot. “It’s just... I tried to protect someone. To do so I had to lie.”
Travis didn’t know this story. “What are you talking about? You never told me anything like this.”
Byron ran his hand over his head again, then pinched the bridge of his nose. When he dropped his hand, frustration filled his face. “It wasn’t my secret to tell. It still isn’t, and I’d rather keep it that way. But if the other side knows—”
“Byron, what did you do?”
Byron shook his head. He capped the bottle of Crown Royal and shrugged. “You know what, I’m probably overreacting. There are always rumors of something starting. I’m not even going to stress.”
“Obviously you are stressing. Look, if there’s something going on, you can tell me. We’ll think this through and figure out what to do.”
“Nah, it’s nothing. I’m just jittery with everything. The wedding on top of a campaign. I’m jumping at shadows.”
He gave Travis the perfect candidate smile that typically won people over. Except the smile didn’t reach his eyes. Travis didn’t buy his jumping-at-shadows excuse at all.
“Why don’t you tell me who you’re protecting?”
“Telling you or anyone means there’s a chance it can get out. Then I’ve betrayed the trust of someone who doesn’t deserve that. I agreed to keep this secret, so that’s what I’m doing.”
“Do you really think you can run a campaign for Senate and not have this situation with whomever you’re protecting come up?”
“There’s no way it’ll come up. Four people know, and that’s four too many. Three of us will never tell. The fourth isn’t in a position for anyone to listen.”
Byron’s voice was sure, overly confident. He sounded like Grant, which made Travis nervous. “You come over here obviously upset and instead of talking to me you’re just going to pretend as if nothing is wrong? You aren’t going to trust me?”
“I trust you, Travis. I trust you more than anyone else, but not with this. I shouldn’t have even said anything. I’m just overthinking. Today it hit me that I’m really getting married.” He tugged on his already loose tie. “Brought up all types of old regrets and shit.”
Looking down the road to years, decades in a loveless marriage would do that to a person. “You don’t have to marry her.”
For a second, he thought Byron would agree. Then Byron’s shoulders straightened, and he looked at Travis with grim determination. “Yes, I do. I want to win. I’m doing everything I need to do so that I can win. I can’t let down the people relying on me because I’ve got jitters. I’ll do whatever it takes to show people I’m ready for this job.”
“But showing the voters and being happy don’t have to contradict each other.”
“It’s too late. The engagement is announced. The date is set. We’ve got an interview on Good Morning America in two weeks.” He counted off all the reasons on his hands. “I can’t call off the wedding now even if by some crazy reason I wanted to.”
“It sounds like you’re thinking of a lot of crazy reasons.”
Byron waved away Travis’s reply. “I’m thinking of fairy tales. You remember Zoe Hammond?”
Travis was thrown by the change in conversation. “Yeah, she was a friend of yours in college. You liked her, right?”
“I was crazy about her. She wouldn’t give me a chance. She was in love with that asshole who used to...” Byron clenched his jaw. His hand tightened on the shot glass in his hand.
The memory came back. “He used to hit her sometimes.” Anger crept into Travis’s voice. He’d never met Zoe. Byron only talked about his homegirl whenever he came home from college. He’d been so furious that she went back to her boyfriend. Travis shared Byron’s fury. There was never an excuse to beat a woman.
“Yeah. I poured my heart out to her one night. Told her I loved her. I’d do anything to keep her safe. I would have, too. I would have given up everything to show her what she was worth.” He let out a low, bitter laugh. “She turned me down. Broke my heart. Right then and there, I knew I couldn’t do that shit again.”
The lingering pain in Byron’s voice was unmistakable. Travis had felt pain when Grant told him he wasn’t good enough for India. He’d felt pain and loss when he’d realized marrying Elaina meant the end of what had barely started between him and India. He’d cared about India, but everything had been so new he hadn’t realized his feelings for her were a precursor to love. He’d at least been spared having the woman he loved toss his emotions back in his face.
He understood his friend’s hurt, but that didn’t mean he had to punish himself. Marriage without the hope of love was punishment.
“Byron, that was years ago. She was young and didn’t know any better. You can’t let what happened with Zoe push you into marrying someone you don’t care about.”
Byron tapped the counter, his eyes bright with purpose. “But that’s the thing. I do care about Yolanda. Do I love her like I loved Zoe? No. That doesn’t mean I don’t love her enough to want to build something with her. I know you all think I’m being ruthless in my decision, but I’m being smart. I want a woman who wants me and supports me. We may not have the romantic love people cry about in movies, but we’ve got something. You have to understand that. You can’t tell me you would turn away if you found a woman who was really there for you.”
He couldn’t, but that didn’t mean he believed Byron’s choice was the right one. Caring about his fiancée wasn’t the same as being in love with someone. Travis didn’t know much about love. He hadn’t loved Elaina when he’d asked her to marry him. He’d tried to love her, and after what they’d gone through in their short marriage, he did still care. He wouldn’t have hidden his dating life for so long after their divorce if he didn’t care.
But what he felt for India was unlike anything he’d felt before. His feelings for her had grown over the years until he’d felt like he’d witnessed heaven this past weekend in her arms. That had to be love, or what would be love once t
hey were finally able to be together.
The urge to tell Byron about his own revelations was strong. He and Byron had no secrets between them. Or at least, he’d thought that. But they both had secrets. He’d never told Byron about the pressure Grant had put on him and Elaina to get married. Byron was protecting someone Travis knew nothing about.
India was right. They didn’t need to let anyone know just yet. Byron had enough on his plate today. They’d wait a few weeks.
He reached over and gripped Byron’s shoulder. “If you don’t want to share your secret right now, fine. But know that I’m your boy and I’ve got your back.”
This time Byron’s smile met his eyes. “I appreciate that, man.”
“And, if you’re sure about this engagement to Yolanda, then I’ll support you.”
Byron’s shoulders relaxed under Travis’s hand. “Will you be my best man?” He held out a hand for Travis to shake.
Byron had to make his own mistakes. He’d be there for his friend if he needed him, but he sure as hell hoped everything worked out. He shook his best friend’s hand. “I’d be honored.”
CHAPTER TWENTY
THE FRONT DOOR slammed so hard the house vibrated. The hard knock of heels in the marble entryway followed immediately after. India stopped her descent from the family room. Elaina flew by the bottom of the stairs toward the back of the house in a whirl of colors. A string of murmured angry words India couldn’t make out trailed in her wake.
“What the hell is that about?” India mumbled.
She hurried down the stairs and followed Elaina’s determined strides to the kitchen. Her sister was already at the wine fridge. She jerked open the door and pulled out a cold bottle. “I’m going to kill him!”
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