Dax (The Theriot Family 4)

“I know what he was thinking a week ago, and that was that he wanted me to stop bothering him, even when I was scared Guidry was coming for me. He doesn’t want me in his life.”

“Then why did you come to rescue him last night?”

“Because I don’t want him to die. I still love him.”

“Travis, I do know some of what happened when you were with Rob.”

A look of horror came over his face. “No.” He shook his head frantically. “No, you can’t. How would you?”

“Come sit with me, and I’ll explain.”

When he looked at me again, his eyes were damp with unshed tears. “I didn’t want anyone to know. I don’t want to talk about it.”

“Travis, please.”

His eyes widened, and a single tear rolled down his cheek. It was clear he knew I didn’t use that word often.

“Come on.” I wrapped an arm around his shoulders, and he let me lead him to the sofa.

4

Travis

It had taken me a long time to admit to myself how badly Rob had treated me, and I’d never talked to anyone else about it. I was ashamed to have been so stupid, and I wasn’t sure anyone would actually care. I didn’t want to tell Dax now. I didn’t want him to think less of me than he already did.

“Travis, look at me.”

I took a shaky breath and did as he said. I might not like how pushy he was, but I couldn’t resist the command in his voice. It was nothing like the way Rob would talk to me. Rob ordered me around, but he always twisted his commands, making them seem like reasonable requests. He even used a soft, sickening voice. Rob didn’t take charge like Dax. Rob had made me believe I was a brat or an ungrateful bitch for not wanting to do what he asked. He tried to remind me of everything he’d done for me, but all Rob had done was take me away from Beau and make me his servant.

Dax took my hands in his much larger ones. He enveloped my hands completely, warming them instantly. I wanted to lean into him. I wanted a lot of things I couldn’t have.

“Travis, if Rob wasn’t dead, I’d be out hunting him down right now. I would use every one of the skills I’ve honed to make him suffer. This isn’t your fault. He hurt you. He manipulated you.”

“How do you know that? How do you know anything about it?”

Dax took a big breath. I knew he didn’t want to tell me, but I had a right to know, and the idea that others might know all about the humiliation of my past was freaking me out.

“Remington had our favorite hacker do some investigating.”

“Fuck. What did you think I was going to do? And how did you find all that out so fast?”

“He started gathering information weeks ago.”

“When Beau tracked me down?”

“When Beau found Rob’s body in the trunk of that car at the shop.”

I shuddered. I was so glad there was proof the man was dead, but thinking of him still gave me chills. At least he wasn’t ever going to come back into my life.

“What did your hacker find out?”

“That Rob was even more of an asshole than we’d realized. That he hurt you. I don’t know many details, but I know you didn’t stay with him by choice.”

I shook my head. “It’s complicated.”

“No, it’s not. Rob was a fucking bastard who hurt you. You really didn’t have a choice about setting Beau up, did you?”

“That’s not really true. I could have…”

Dax laid a hand on my shoulder. “Travis, be honest with yourself. You deserve that.”

“No, I don’t.”

“I’ll listen to anything you want to tell me, but I won’t listen to you put yourself down.”

“I fucked up. I’m not innocent.”

“Maybe you’ve made some bad choices in your life, but Rob lured you in and used you. He is responsible for that. How old were you when he first started making his interest known?”

Travis looked down at his lap. “Seventeen.”

“Much too young to defend yourself against his vileness. What did Beau say about that?”

“Beau didn’t know about it at first.”

“Why didn’t you tell him?” Beau and Travis had been close until Travis had moved in with Rob.

“Rob said not to. He said Beau wouldn’t want anyone dating me, that he wouldn’t understand, and it would ruin their friendship.”

“Fucking bastard.”

“I wanted Rob to myself, so I went along with him.”

“You were a kid, Travis. How old was Rob then?”

“Twenty-six, but I wasn’t like most seventeen-year-olds. I didn’t exactly have a normal childhood.”

“No, you didn’t. You went through a lot of shit. Beau and your grandmother made sure you were cared for. They also sheltered you.”

“No, that’s not…” I didn’t want to believe that. I’d thought I was so grown-up, so ready to have a man like Rob, a man who made plans for himself, who wanted to be rich and was ready to go after whatever he wanted.