Quick Moves
Wrenly
Most evenings went the same. We worked at the shop, he went to see Addie, then went to the command center to check in before he went home. On some nights he had late meetings, and we didn’t get home until nearly midnight.
It was Friday, and Jennings took us to the K-9 training center. He wanted to show us what kind of work they were doing with their K-9 operatives, but it was an extra special treat because Addie was there for hers and Niko’s training.
I was absolutely amazed. Addie stood next to Niko and one of the trainers walked up to Addie and shook her hand. All Niko did was sit up straight and watch closely. Then the trainer made a quick move toward Addie and Niko jumped into action so fast I almost missed it. She had that trainer down on the ground in a second.
Then we watched as Addie gave commands in sign language. That little girl was amazing and very dedicated to Niko, and vice versa. Then I was surprised to learn that Addie was helping train the other dogs. She was only seven years old, and I was shocked she had the discipline to learn and then help train.
When Addie left, the trainer explained they hoped more operatives would welcome the dogs to their homes and foster them until they are placed with the proper people. I saw more than one breed of dog, some looked like they could have been shelter dogs of mixed breeds. I raised my hand and asked about those dogs in particular and was impressed with the answer.
“Many of these dogs were obtained through a prison training program. They received their general manners training through them and were ready for our K-9 program. Right now, we have two that are trained to help with people who are blind. We hope to obtain more, because we learned many of the children in the DV program have disabilities. They need dogs that can also provide protection for them once they leave Creed’s Lake.”
He went on to explain that many veterans suffer from severe post-traumatic stress disorder, and they worked with the state prisons to provide emotional support dogs for those in need. It was a project Creed was asked to participate in by the Director of Veterans Affairs when he was visiting the Pentagon right before his last mission. It sounded like the military and government still wanted a piece of Creed.
That was the last part of our day, and we were released from training for the weekend. Travis had two teams going out on a mission in the morning, so I had to meet him at the command center to finalize the mission plans with all the Originals. Since it was a big mission, Felicity and Steph were preparing for their send-off party in the early evening. I learned they only did the send offs when it was a risky mission, and they did it early so the operatives were home in time to rest. There would be another one upon their return that would be a little more like a party than the sendoff.
I got to sit through the pre-mission briefing, which was interesting. I got to see Travis doing what he was meant to do, not just making business calls at the bike shop.
Watching Travis stand up and point at a map as he explained the mission plan, did something to me. Well, watching Travis do anything did something to me, but I got to see that part of him, and he was brilliant. As he spoke, I’d think I’d see a flaw in the plan, but he was five steps ahead of me and had the right plan and my judgement was premature. Not one person, other than Travis, spoke with any concerns. That was when I learned that Magnus was going on the mission. He volunteered because he hadn’t been on one in a long time, and that did not sit well with the operatives.
Eventually, it was like nobody else existed as I watched Travis speaking and got lost in him. I loved his hair and wanted so badly to run my fingers through it. I liked how it was longer and a little messy on the top, but cut close on the sides. When we were kids he had sandy hair that was more blond than brown, but now it’s a very light brown with some natural blond highlights. He looked like he always had a five o’clock shadow, but he obviously groomed it that way. It was a sexy look that didn’t take away from his clear and beautiful complexion. His eyes were always a very pretty shade of blue, and his nose didn’t look like it belonged to an operative. He must not have had many broken noses because he had a straight bridge and didn’t really have any deviations or curves. His lips were slightly full, with a subtle cupids bow. I imagined how firm they would feel to kiss and had to shift in my seat because my core was pulsating with desire.
I watched his body as he paced one moment, then pointed at the map in another moment. I could see his muscled arms somewhat flex, but they weren’t the arms of a body builder. Travis was slim, muscular, but not over muscular. Jesus, that ass when he turned around almost had me drooling on myself.
Suddenly, I thought of how adorable he was with Addie, which took my mind to another place. To a daydream of a miniature Travis, a little boy who was his son and shared his daddy’s gorgeous features. Those daydreams broke my heart and were the reason I tried so damn hard to avoid my attraction to him all week. I still hadn’t shared anything about my greatest trauma. Seeing Morgan enjoy her pregnancy was hard, especially since she was further along with her twins than I ever made it with my son.
I wished I could be the woman Travis needed. The one that could give him a world that included a loving partner in life and to carry his gorgeous children. I wished for that since I was a child, and it hit the hardest now because of the unbearable attraction between us. It was getting out of hand, becoming harder and harder to fight.
We weren’t on dates, he was my trainer. But that didn’t mean it wasn’t hard to distinguish between a date and the time we spent together. Most of the workday was done and I only saw him in the evenings. We had dinner together, laughed and enjoyed each other’s company, and he was the last person I saw before bed every night. We shared hugs, sweet little glances, and I couldn’t count how many times he kissed my cheek, my temple, or the top of my head when we hugged.
Usually by the third date people had sex, and my God I desired that so bad that I was wearing out my vibrator at night. His presence was so heavily around me it was like he was the air I breathed all the time. His scent would linger on my clothes, and I couldn’t make it through one day of training without daydreaming of him.
“That’s exactly the exit I would have chosen.” Creed said, which stirred me back to reality.
“Does anyone else have any questions or concerns?” Travis asked.
“I think you have it pretty well covered.” Axton said.
Everyone agreed.
“Alright, let’s go up and have some dinner with our operatives.” Creed stacked his papers. “Morgan is pissed because we ordered some desserts from the bakery in Clarity. Just don’t enjoy them too much in front of her. If you do she will go straight home and start baking for the return party.” He warned us.
Later, we were having dinner when Morgan asked me the one question that could lead to more questions I didn’t want to answer.
“Was being a Marine always your dream?”
I glanced at Travis, and he was putting salad dressing on his salad, but stopped to listen to my answer.
I cleared my throat. “No, actually I always wanted to be a veterinarian, but after listening to stories my grandmother told about being a nurse in Vietnam, I was interested in the military. A few other things also intrigued me, but I was accepted into a Veterinary Science program at the University of Oklahoma. I had an apartment with my fiancé at the time and still wasn’t sure that’s what I wanted. Months prior to that, I even talked to a recruiter, but other things that happened made college the best choice for me at the time.”
“Really? What happened?”
I took a sip of my beer then set it back down. “My fiancé had a promising football career, and a military life obviously made that dream impossible for him. There were other circumstances at play which made the military impossible anyway. When those circumstances no longer existed, I broke up with him and went into the Marines.”
“What happened to the fiancé?” Morgan asked. “Was it the right decision?”
I glanced at Travis then looked down at my plate. “He is married with a son and now plays for the Kansas City Chiefs.”
I heard a few gasps and glanced to Travis again. He was looking down at his salad and not saying a word.
“Who?” Axton and the guys were curious.
“Matt Trenton.”
More gasps. “You were engaged to the fucking quarterback of the Chiefs? Holy fucking shit!” Drakos looked like his eyes were going to pop out of his head.
“Yes.” I quickly took another drink of my beer. Maybe it was more like a gulp.
“How the hell did you meet him?” Magnus asked.
I looked at Travis and let him answer. I wanted the attention off me.
Travis cleared his throat. “He was an old buddy, we all went to school together, then some prick stood Wrenly up on the night of her first high school dance. Matt stepped in to take her last minute.”
“You were her best friend, why didn’t you take her?” Steph asked and Granger shook his head as to say he knew that prick was Travis and wanted to bail Travis out of the conversation. Travis really must have told his team all about us.
Travis reached for his beer. “Because I was that prick.” He picked it up and took a huge gulp of his beer. All the women at the table gave out a tiny gasp and looked at me, but I took it in another direction.
“Anyway, it was the right decision. He is happily married, and I chased my own dreams. I don’t regret leaving, mostly because I was chasing his dreams and not my own if I would have stayed. If I wouldn’t have broken up with him he would have followed me and not became the man he is today. We weren’t right for each other, and it was a good decision for both of us.”
“Wow.” Morgan said. “That means you were together for at least four years?”
I shrugged. “We didn’t start dating until our sophomore year. He was a good friend to me when I needed one, but we probably should never have dated. It was great, I don’t want to minimalize what we had that much, but it just didn’t feel right in the end.”
Morgan smiled. “I know what you mean. I only had two boyfriends before Creed and neither felt right, then I met Creed and I know it wasn’t just me, they really weren’t right. Nothing felt right about my life before Creed. Not even my career, but now it’s like I’m on the right track and nothing feels wrong at all.” She leaned over and kissed Creed on the cheek.
“That’s true, nothing felt right about my life until Morgan.” He kissed her cheek and looked at all of us. “You’ll know when you’ve found the right person. Seriously, I wasn’t even looking then one day I saw this girl and knew I was done. I thought I was crazy at first, but that magnetic pull is just too much to fight.”
Morgan looked at me. “That’s still a long relationship for someone so young. It couldn’t have been easy to leave. Do you still see this man back home? Travis told us it was a smaller town, almost like Clarity.”
I glanced at Travis and his jaw was flexing, then I looked at Morgan. “I try to avoid it, but yeah, I just saw him twice before I came here. You’re right, it’s not easy and there are some seriously hurt feelings, along with other factors. I was the asshole in the end, I hurt him and that’s what I regret most, but he’s happily married and I’m happy to be at Creed’s Lake.”
“You’d be a tough girl to get over.” Drakos winked at me, and I think everyone at the table rolled their eyes.
“Enough about me. What are everyone’s plans this weekend?” I changed the subject.
As they talked, I glanced at Travis, and he was still looking down at his salad. Then he looked at me. “Excuse me, I’ll be right back.” He stood and walked toward the bathrooms.
Magnus looked at me and mouthed, “What’s wrong with him?”
I shook my head, not really knowing why that upset Travis. He gave me his blessing to date Matt the night of the dance, and also presumed we had a relationship.
When Travis came back, we were finished with dinner and needed to get home. He quickly ate his meal, then offered to walk me out to my side by side. It was going to be an early morning, and after the operatives shipped out, we would spend some time in the command center. After that, we were due back in the command center at 1700 hours to prepare for the mission.
“I’m sorry if that upset you earlier. I thought you already knew I had a relationship with Matt.” We were standing beside my side by side. He had his hands in his jean pockets, looking down at the asphalt of the parking lot.
He shook his head. “No, no....I mean it was…I presumed. I um…” He pulled his hand from his pocket and rubbed the back of his neck. “I don’t know. Can we talk about this some other time? I just…well I have questions, and I don’t think you’re ready to talk about certain things. Like umm…the other thing in your life that made you feel like you had to follow that path with him. You said things about hurt feelings.” He shook his head before he looked at me again. “What would have happened if I wouldn’t have stood you up for that dance? What were we…I mean what…would we have been more if I wasn’t so screwed up?” He was so nervous and that in itself broke my heart.
“Are you asking if it were up to me when we were kids?” I asked.
“Yeah, like if I weren’t so screwed up?”
I looked down at my feet then shook my head before I looked up and our eyes met. “Despite how screwed up you thought you were, I didn’t see you that way. I mean, I didn’t see you as screwed up. I saw you as the best thing that ever happened to me. The person that was there when I needed you, and I thought you just needed to realize that I could give you what your parents didn’t give you. That you would be okay of you would have just accepted my love as all you needed. So yes, if you would have let me in, we would have been more.” I was a little nervous too.
He looked down and rolled a pebble under his boot. “I was screwed up, Wrenly. So screwed up that I put walls up to protect myself. I pushed away anyone that loved me because I knew I wasn’t good for anyone. If I could go back and talk to that screwed up kid, I would tell him he already had everything he needed. That everything was going to be okay, but I think there were things that needed to happen. I know it sounds crazy, but that detention center saved me. I learned that I really didn’t have it as bad as a lot of kids. I had to learn to fight for the things I needed. I also needed time to learn more about myself. I was smarter than I thought, and doing that time helped me focus on learning. My parents kept me out of school too much. While in there I got to go to class every day and focus on my education. I got to play on a basketball team, and played on a real team in public school my senior year while I was in that group home. I wish I could have been different for you, but…” He trailed off like he was afraid to say it.
“You don’t think you could have succeeded while still in your parents’ custody?”
He nodded. “Yep, and all I would have had going for me was you. I still would have been pulled away from my education to travel with my parents. They weren’t the people I needed. Maybe you wouldn’t have followed me down that road I was on, but you still would have gotten hurt by me. But, I regret that dance. I always will.”
I leaned against the side by side and crossed my arms. “Maybe you’re right.”
He walked over and leaned against it with me, and also crossed his arms. “I know something happened to you. You’ve given me reason to believe that to be true. Can I ask you one thing?”
I reluctantly gave him a nod.
“Was whatever it was my fault? Is it something that wouldn’t have happened if I would have returned home?”
He was looking at me and I didn’t know how to answer at first, but then looked over at him. “Nothing that happened in my life was your fault.” I looked back up at the building as people walked out then looked back at him. “I will tell you eventually. It’s not that I’m scared to open up, it’s just something that’s not easy to talk about, especially tonight. Not here around all these people.”
He scooted over and put his arm around me from the side, then kissed my temple. He whispered as he spoke. “You wore a red dress with red shoes. Your hair was braided and fell to one side. I swear to God, when you walked into that gym my heart stopped. I have always regretted that night. The thought that I ever hurt you, still to this day, makes my chest ache. I dream about that night and that dress. I was the kid dancing with you, not him. I don’t regret leaving, I only regret standing you up and not coming home to visit.” He kissed my temple again. “We better go, morning is going to come early.”