“What happened?” Ally could see Travis’s tortured expression now that he’d turned on the lamp, and it tugged at her heart.
“Asha took a fall down the stairs at their house earlier today. Kade said they checked her over and she and the baby are both okay. But they’re keeping her overnight for observation.” His voice was ragged and broken. “I’m going to be there in case he needs anything.”
“I’m going with you.” Ally jumped out of the bed, her concern for Travis, Kade, and Asha setting a fire under her ass.
“No. Don’t.” Travis’s expression was implacable. “She’s okay. I just need to be there for Kade.”
“How did you know?” Ally asked curiously. Travis wanted to be there for Kade, but Ally wanted to be there for Travis. He looked devastated.
“I wish I would have known in time,” Travis growled. “It started with my parents…” His voice dropped off, and he hesitated.
Ally came up beside him and put a comforting hand on his arm. “What about your parents?”
Travis eyes grew dark and cold as he said in an icy tone, “I killed them.” He shrugged her hand off his arm, picked up his suit jacket and left the bedroom without another word.
Ally stood there for a moment, her entire body trembling. She heard the door downstairs slam as Travis left, and she stood there for a moment in shock as she heard his Ferrari fire up.
Running out of the bedroom and down the stairs, she reached the door and flung it open just in time to see his taillights drive away from her house.
She closed the door and locked it, moving mechanically back up the stairs and crawling between the sheets that still smelled like sex…and Travis.
Her mind whirled over what had just happened, and the pain she’d seen on Travis’s face. As pieces of the puzzle fell into place, she buried her face in Travis’s pillow and wept.
Ally didn’t get much sleep that night, wanting desperately to go to Travis, but knowing he needed time and that the hospital wasn’t the place for a confrontation. When she finally got word of Asha the next day, it was from Asha herself. She called Ally, complaining about Kade’s behavior, and about the fact that he wanted to move their bedroom downstairs so she didn’t have to climb the stairs again. Every time she walked up or down the stairs, Kade was right behind her or in front of her, ready to stop her from falling.
Ally smiled as Asha went on and on, obviously disgruntled. Other than a few body aches, Asha was fine. But Kade was on her ass every minute of the day.
“Kade loves you, and I think you scared him pretty badly. You’re pregnant, Asha. Give him time,” she told Asha patiently.
“I know.” Asha sighed over the phone line. “He’ll lighten up eventually when he sees me go up and down the stairs safely enough times.”
Ally laughed, knowing Asha adored Kade, and her complaining was more out of concern for Kade than her own inconvenience.
After she hung up with Asha, Ally finished reading one of her books on adult children of alcoholics, incredulous about how she had every one of the negative behaviors that seemed to develop in children growing up with alcoholic parents. She’d been reading everything she could to try to learn more about her behavior and how to break free from her negative self-image.
“And then I went out and picked the worst man I could possibly have chosen for a partner,” she mumbled to herself unhappily.
Strangely, she felt like she’d already started breaking some of her bad habits, refusing to believe the negative voices in her head as truth, and she’d work on the rest. Or maybe it wasn’t so odd, since she realized that Travis had started the process, had helped her to start deviating from her normal negative thoughts about herself.
Ally wished Travis had called himself, but maybe he was home getting some much-needed sleep, although she doubted it. Most likely he was hiding, running away. It was her last day of vacation. She’d see him at work tomorrow.
With that satisfying thought, she went to her computer to write.
Travis had obviously arrived on the upper floor, the usual quiet falling over the employees as he made his way to his office.
Ally did her usual countdown:
“Five…
“Four…
“Three…
“Two…
“One…”
Travis strode through the doors exactly on time, but he didn’t say a word. He shot a sideways glance at her, scowled and proceeded into his office without saying one damn thing to her.
Somehow, Ally had already expected that reaction. She got to her feet, smoothing down her cream-colored cashmere sweater dress, loving the feel of the material under her fingers. It was perfectly professional, with a decorative belt that clipped at the waist and hung comfortably at her hips. But it was a little bit shorter than her normal style, the hem hitting above the knees, and the material clung to every curve. The matching stilettos were plain but elegant, and she loved the whole outfit. She just tried not to cringe when she imagined what the ensemble had probably cost.