Chapter 21
Chapter Twenty-One
I think I know what’s going on. When I left the hotel earlier today, I must have slipped and hit my head on the icy sidewalk. Yeah, that must be it. Because there’s no way my boss just told me to move in with him.
But two seconds of silence pass, then five and ten, and it hits me that this isn’t the product of a head injury. This is my life right now. My real life.
I open my mouth and close it again, unsure of what to even say. That I can’t accept? That he’s lost his ever-loving mind? That I’ll find a place soon?
We both know that won’t happen. These past few days, I’ve asked around town in case anyone knew of any rentals, but I haven’t had any luck. Overall, it’s not looking promising.
“Travis—”
“You don’t have to accept if you don’t feel comfortable,” he rushes out, and suddenly I understand why he looked so nervous. I would think it’s adorable if I wasn’t on the verge of a mental breakdown myself. “I live alone in a farmhouse just ten minutes away. Three bedrooms, two bathrooms. I don’t use nearly half of the space, and we both know you can’t stay in that shithole any longer. The hotel isn’t a long-term option either.”
I work a swallow and beg my poor heart to calm down. “I don’t want to intrude in your personal life or be a bother.”
“I wouldn’t have offered if I wasn’t sure, Allie.” It makes sense, but it also doesn’t. My head is starting to pound. “You’ll have your own bedroom and bathroom. We’ll share the living room and kitchen, but I’m barely at the house.”
A sudden urge to ask him where he goes and who he spends his free time with assaults me before I remind myself that I have no right to ask.
“Travis…” I shake my head and let out a deep breath that doesn’t calm my nerves at all. “I appreciate how thoughtful you are, but I can’t say yes. It’s too much. I would be in your space all day, then at work too…”
His sigh, unlike mine, sounds more frustrated than nervous or tired. “How many times do I have to tell you? You’re not a bother. I don’t mind being around you, and I sure as fuck would rather have you protected under my roof than living at some goddamn apartment that almost got broken into.”
I focus on that protected under my roof as if my life depended on it.
“It’s only temporary,” he adds, “until you find a proper place to live.”
He has a point. He has many points, in fact, but I still can’t say yes. I can’t move in with Travis.
If the ground opened under my feet and swallowed me now, I wouldn’t complain.
“What about rent?” I ask for some dumb reason. I don’t want him to think I’m considering it because I’m not.
Travis crosses his arms over his chest and pins me down with one of his no-bullshit stares. “What about it?”
If this big, dumb idiot tells me I won’t have to pay rent…
“How much would I owe you? Because I am paying rent in the very hypothetical case that I agree to move in with you temporarily. It’s nonnegotiable.”
He must recognize the determination in my voice because he says, “We’ll agree on something.”
“How much?” I press.
He rattles off an amount that is totally below the average rent price for this area, especially for a farmhouse, but I also recognize this is a battle I won’t win. If I’m stubborn, he’s stubborn times ten.
“What about bills?” I ask next, as if living with Travis didn’t have the potential to become a terrible idea.
“The amount I just told you covers everything.” My ass it covers everything—it’s too low, and he knows it. “Consider it. You don’t have to give me an answer now.”
I shake my head, still unable to believe this is happening.
“I can’t accept, Travis. I’m sorry. I’ll just stay at the hotel until I find an apartment. I really appreciate what you’re trying to do, but?—”
“Allie,” he says in a way he never has before. He sounds tired, defeated, and it makes me stop and watch him more closely. Those eyes matching the green beads around his wrist seem to turn a shade softer when he looks at me. “You can’t live in a hotel forever. You know this.”
There’s no heat in his voice, no other emotion but exhaustion. And just like that, I know what the problem is.
“You don’t have to stay next door anymore,” I tell him, releasing him from his shackles. The smile I give him is meant to make my words sound more convincing. “I’m feeling much better now. You don’t have to keep playing babysitter.”
“You think I’m playing babysitter?”
Long gone is that soft Travis from a second ago, now replaced by his usual gruff self.
I have no clue what his endgame is. This hermit-man who doesn’t even befriend his staff suddenly wants me to move in with him? I don’t get it. And I’m tired of wondering.
“Why?” I ask him, ignoring his question. “Why are you doing this for me? Why are you going out of your way so drastically?”
He lets out a deep sigh, that huge hand moving to the back of his head before his eyes pin me down again.
“Because I want you to be safe at all times, goddammit. If anything happened to you…”
I hold my breath.
Travis shakes his head and drops his gaze. “I understand if you don’t want to stay with me or think it’s weird, but I’m not gonna let you deal with this alone. If you wanna stay at the hotel, let me pay for it.”
At this point, the one butterfly I allowed in my stomach has multiplied so dramatically, there’s no point in trying to count them anymore or tell them to go away—not when Travis opens his mouth and says things like that.
For my own sake, what I should do is thank him again and insist that he doesn’t have to offer me a room at his place or pay for my hotel room. In a perfect world, I would be too scared to get closer to Travis and risk him noticing my feelings for him or asking more questions about my past.
But then I remember something else, something that weighs more than all those worries combined.
The night he spent at my apartment, awake just in case something happened, was the safest I’ve felt since I left California. And even in my parents’ house, I would still be on edge after what happened with Claudia. They’d gotten arrested, but what if someone else came to finish the job? With how many pictures of the outside of our house my parents posted online, finding our address was child’s play.
Maybe it’s his size, his intimidating presence, or his military past—or all of it—but if I had to trust someone, just one person in the entire world to keep me safe, it would be him. Without a doubt, it would be Travis.
So would it really be that bad to stay at his farmhouse for a few days or weeks, until I can find my own place?
“Are you a hundred percent sure about me moving in?” I ask him carefully.
“Yes.”
“A thousand percent?”
“Yes.”
“A million percent?”
I finally get that grunt. “Allie.”
“Promise me you won’t kill me or sell my organs?”
If I had the slightest, tiniest doubt that Travis would hurt me, I would’ve kicked him out the second he knocked at my door the other day. Heck, I wouldn’t be working here in the first place. He must know I’m only joking.
I’m not disappointed by his answer. “Your organs are safe with me. You promise your stubbornness won’t kill me?”
“I don’t think I can. My stubbornness is pretty deadly.”
The fake-tired sigh he lets out next makes me smile. “You can move out of my place whenever you want to,” he adds.
I appreciate his reassurance more than he’d ever know. “I’d like to see your house first, if that’s okay.”
“Of course. Does tomorrow morning work for you?”
“Tomorrow? As in, Christmas morning?”
“My uncle has plans with his friends, and mine won’t be angry if I miss lunch. We can be done before then anyway.”
Right. It makes sense. “Okay.”
I stare at the small key between my hands, the key to my freaking boss’s house. When I woke up this morning, this was pretty much the last thing I expected to happen today, but I can’t find it in me to complain.
“Keep it,” that gravelly voice says as he gestures to the key with his chin. “If you like the house, I’ll help you move all your stuff.”
I’m not stupid enough to turn down his help, even if I don’t have many belongings anyway. But I’m stupid enough to have his words echo inside my head for the rest of the night.
Because I want you to be safe at all times, goddammit. If anything happened to you…
I might not survive moving in with Travis Ward after all.