I sometimes lie awake at night and wonder what he’s doing. Hell, I’ve even stalked his social media for crying out loud. All I wanted was a glimpse of his face, some sign of him to keep the memory of our short time together alive.
I miss him. I miss him so much it physically hurts, and I guess trawling his Facebook is probably the opposite of what I should be doing. Moving on. Getting on with my life, not live my life stuck in the past over a man I knew all of three days.
The door to the back room swings open and Trav storms in, Mae jogging behind him to catch up.
“I’m sorry, I tried.” Mae shrugs apologetically.
“It’s okay,” I assure her with half smile. After a moment, she heads back out to the diner, leaving me one with Travis. “What are you doing, Trav? Why are you here?” I ask.
“To see my girl, of course. Babe, you’ve always been mine. You know as well as I do you’ll come back to me eventually.” He smirks. He actually smirks at me.
“After what you did? Hell would have to freeze over, but you wanna know whatwillbe coming your way? A restraining order, if you don’t leave me the fuck alone.”
“A restraining order? Really?” he scoffs.
“Yeah, really. What you’re doing is called harassment and I’ve told you time and again you’re not welcome here, now unless you want daddy dearest to find out who you really are, I suggest you leave.” Trav’s weakness has always been his father, he’s spent his whole life wanting to impress his dad and will do just about anything to avoid disappointing him.
His jaw clenches. “Is this loverboy’s idea?”
“Royce has nothing to do with this, this is between you and me.”
“Good, as long as he’s done sniffing around what’s not his.” I don’t miss the insinuation directed at me and it makes my blood boil.
“Talking about sniffing around what’s notyourseither, he warned you to stay away from me.”
“He tried, and where is he to make good on his warning? Huh? I don’t see him.”
“I’m right here.” My heart freezes as a breath hitches in my throat at the sound of that voice, that voice that’s been filling my head since the moment he left. I look up, and my eyes land on him standing just inside the doorway.
Royce.
I stand there speechless, trying to decipher whether this is real or just a dream and I soon come to the realisation that it’s really happening.
He’s here.
His eyes shoot daggers to the back of Trav’s head, but when they find me, they soften and I melt under them.
It takes my mind a second to catch up, to realise that we’re not alone.
“I’m tired of being a pushover, Trav. I want my money back, every dime, or I find a lawyer and take you to court.”
“You wouldn’t.”
“Oh, I would. So unless you want a restraining order as well as a trip to court, you leave me alone and get me my money back.”
“You should listen to Lorna, seems to me like she’s done dealing with your bullshit, as am I,” Royce says, taking a step forward. “Didn’t I warn you before about leaving her the fuck alone? Do you need a quick reminder?”
“You don’t scare me, man,” Trav smirks.
“I should,” Royce replies coolly.
“Just go, Trav,” I say.
He holds his palms up in surrender and takes a step back. “You know what, fine. Roy, you’re welcome to the bitch. More trouble than she’s worth.”
In a split second, Royce is on him. He grips Trav by the throat and pins him to the wall, the force of it enough to rattle the photo that hangs there. Trav claws at Royce’s hand but he doesn’t let up as his grip remains tight around his neck.
“You ever talk about her like that again, I’ll rip your fucking tongue out. Now you get Lorna her money,everypenny, or you and me are gonna have an even bigger problem than before and trust me, you don’t want me as an enemy. I don’t give a shit that your dad’s the Sheriff, I could bring down his whole station with one phone call. Now get out of Lorna’s diner and never come near her again. Got it?” He gives Trav’s throat a squeeze to show he’s serious and Trav nods frantically, his eyes bulging and his face glowing and unhealthy shade of red. He’s always tried to act tough and talks a big talk, but when it comes down to it, he’s just a coward.
