“Promise?” he asked, smiling.
His phone buzzed on the night table and he smiled, holding it to his ear. “Yeah? … Oh, hell no, I got Pidge here with me. We’re just getting’ ready to go to bed … Shut the fuck up, Trent, that’s not funny … Seriously? What’s he doin’ in town?” He looked at me and sighed. “All right. We’ll be there in half an hour. … You heard me, douchebag. Because I don’t go anywhere without her, that’s why. Do you want me to pound your face when I get there?” Travis hung up and shook his head.
I raised an eyebrow. “That is the weirdest conversation I’ve ever heard.”
“That was Trent. Thomas is in town and it’s poker night at my dad’s.”
“Poker night?” I swallowed.
“Yeah, they usually take all of my money. Cheatin’ bastards.”
“I’m going to meet your family in thirty minutes?”
He looked at his watch. “Twenty-seven minutes to be exact.”
“Oh my God, Travis!” I wailed, jumping out of bed.
“What are you doing?” he sighed.
I rummaged through the closet and yanked on a pair of jeans, hopping up and down to pull them up, and then pulled the nightgown over my head, throwing it into Travis’s face. “I can’t believe you gave me twenty minutes’ notice to meet your family! I could kill you right now!”
He pulled my nightgown from his eyes and laughed at my desperate attempt to look presentable. I grabbed a black v-neck shirt and tugged it to its proper position, and then ran to the bathroom, brushing my teeth and ripping a brush through my hair. Travis walked up behind me, fully dressed and ready, and wrapped his arms around my waist.
“I’m a mess!” I said, frowning in the mirror.
“Do you even realize how beautiful you are?” he asked, kissing my neck.
I huffed, scampering into his room to slip on a pair of heels, and then took Travis’s hand as he lead me to the door. I stopped, zipping up my black leather jacket and pulling my hair up into a tight bun in preparation for the blustery ride to his father’s house.
“Calm down, Pigeon. It’s just a bunch of guys sitting around a table.”
“This is the first time I’m meeting your dad and your brothers … all at the same time … and you want me to calm down?” I said, climbing onto his bike behind him.
He angled his neck, touching my cheek as he kissed me. “They’re going to love you, just like I do.”
When we arrived, I let my hair fall down my back and ran my fingers through it a few times before Travis led me through the door.
“Holy Christ! It’s the asshat!” one of the boys called.
Travis nodded once. He tried to look annoyed, but I could see that he was excited to see his brothers. The house was dated, with yellow and brown faded wallpaper and shag carpet in different shades of brown. We walked down a hall to a room straight ahead with the door wide open. Smoke wafted into the hallway, and his brothers and father were seated at a round wooden table with mismatched chairs.
“Hey, hey … watch the language around the young lady,” his dad said, the cigar in his mouth bobbing while he talked.
“Pidge, this is my dad, Jim Maddox. Dad, this is Pigeon.”
“Pigeon?” Jim asked, an amused expression on his face.
“Abby,” I said, shaking his hand.
Travis pointed to his brothers. “Trenton, Taylor, Tyler, and Thomas.”
They all nodded, and all but Thomas looked like older versions of Travis: buzz cuts, brown eyes, their T-shirts stretched over their bulging muscles, and covered in tattoos. Thomas wore a dress shirt and loosened tie, his eyes were hazel green, and his dark blonde hair was longer by about an inch.
“Does Abby have a last name?” Jim asked.
“Abernathy,” I nodded.
“It’s nice to meet you, Abby,” Thomas said, smiling.