Dax (The Theriot Family 4)

“Beau’s not going to like it.”

“Beau abandoned him, so—”

“That’s my fiancé you’re talking about. Maybe you should think before you say anything else.”

“Fuck, Corbin. Travis was a kid. He was seventeen when Rob started fucking him, and Rob was twenty-six. No matter what hell Travis had been through, he was also sheltered. He grew up seeing few others, and everyone in the racing crew tried to protect him.”

“Beau sacrificed a hell of a lot for Travis.”

I let out a long breath. Corbin was right. “There are things you and Beau aren’t aware of. I want to share them, but it’s Travis’s story, and he doesn’t want to tell it. I think Beau suspects some things. Maybe he should ask his brother about what really happened with Rob?”

Corbin’s eyes widened. “Dax, you can’t say that and leave me hanging.”

“Yes, I can. I’ve already said”—and done—“too much.”

“Go on,” Corbin said. “I’ll finish here, and I’ll talk to Beau, okay?”

“Just keep Travis safe. He thinks he can handle this, but he shouldn’t be trying to fight this on his own.”

“I know. Beau and I will protect him.”

13

Travis

As soon as I closed and locked the apartment door, Beau grabbed us each a bottle of water. When he held mine out to me, I drained half of it in one go. I hadn’t realized how thirsty I was.

We sat on the couch, and he turned to face me. “I want to know exactly what happened tonight.”

“Lance didn’t tell you?”

“I want to hear it from you.”

“Are you going to trust what I say, or will you need Dax’s verification?”

Beau glared at me. “Tell me what happened and why. There’s background you know that we don’t.”

“You trust the Theriots completely? All of them?”

“To have our backs on this? Absolutely.”

“On other things?”

“I’d be very careful what I promised them.”

I thought about the way I’d promised Dax anything he wanted. Would he really take me up on that, or had he just been crazed from seeing me in danger? Did I want his feelings for me to be real?

It only took me a second to be certain. I wanted—needed—the feelings between me and Dax to be real, but if they were, I was going to have to open up to Beau about what had really happened five years ago. If I was going to have a new start, I needed everything out in the open—or at least the parts of it that affected Beau.

“Rob was working for LePlatt.”

“And the asshole who came after you works for LePlatt too?”

“Right. Rob couldn’t meet the sales quota LePlatt expected. He was struggling to move the product. From what I’ve heard it was because Rob had gotten a reputation for selling doctored shit. Rob stole some cash to make up the difference in what he owed, but that wasn’t good enough for LePlatt. He seemed to think it fucked with his reputation if he couldn’t corner the market.”

Beau snorted. “Fucking son of a bitch. He wanted Rob to push it on kids, didn’t he?”

“Yeah, and Rob tried, but he couldn’t gain their trust.”

“Were you selling this shit too?”

I shook my head. “There’s a lot about the situation with Rob that I’ve never told you. Rob didn’t like to let me out in public unless I was the entertainment. He thought I was too stupid to be a salesman, and he didn’t want to risk me finding someone else to be my sugar daddy.”

Beau’s expression grew murderous. “What do you mean he didn’t let you out?”

“It was part of the agreement when I moved in with him. I did what he said, and he provided for me, except… He never made good on most of his promises.”

“Travis, why didn’t you—”

“Don’t ask me why I didn’t leave. Surely you can understand that.”

Beau nodded. “I won’t ask more now, but we’re going to talk about this later. Right now, I want you to finish telling me about tonight. What happened here, and how are you mixed up in it?”

I’m only mixed up in it because I was Rob’s plaything, and LePlatt thinks Rob passed information to me. He thinks I was in deeper than I ever was. Rob didn’t tell me shit, and even if he had, I’m not interested in telling anybody else. I just want to pretend I never knew these people.”

“If Rob fucked this up so badly, how did he manage to stay alive?”

“Apparently, he had some information on LePlatt, something the asshole didn’t want getting around. Rob threatened him, then walked away. The bastard thought he was so smart. He thought that would be the end of it.”

“But Guidry killed him, not LePlatt.”

“Right. Rob went into hiding, headed somewhere out west. I still don’t know what brought him back here.”

“He didn’t take you with him?”

“No, he told me he didn’t ever want to see me again after I… after you… He was done with me. He took me out into the middle of the bayou. I thought he was going to kill me.” I’d begged and pleaded with him on the drive. I’d reminded him I’d done what he asked. It made my stomach churn to think of it now. My chest constricted, and suddenly I couldn’t breathe.