Go Hard: A Bad Boy Sports Romance(65)

“Roger that.” The two guys stepped off the porch. I went inside, grabbed the car keys from Hartley, and then tossed them out to Gage. The two guys got into their cars and headed out.

That was done with. Now that I had backup, I was beginning to feel more confident. I went back inside. Hartley’s mom was sitting at the table, staring off into the distance.

“She’s not taking this well,” Hartley said softly to me.

“We can’t wait around,” I said. “When are your brothers coming back?”

“Any minute now.”

I walked past Hartley and stood in front of her mother. “Listen, Mrs. Baker.”

“Lucy. You might as well call me Lucy, after this.”

“Lucy. Can you go upstairs? You don’t need to sit down in this.”

She stood up and nodded. “Okay. I can do that.”

“Wait for your family to get back. Do not come downstairs for anything. Do you understand me?”

“Wait, Travis. We’re not leaving her,” Hartley said.

“I’m sorry, Lucy. We have to leave. We need to finish this, and we can’t waste a single second.”

“I understand,” she said, and looked at Hartley. “Go with him.”

“Mom—”

“Go with him,” she said again. “I don’t know what’s going on, but you’ve come this far. We’ll clean this mess up.”

“Mom,” Hartley said softly.

“This isn’t the first bit of death I’ve seen,” Lucy said. “I’ve been a farm girl my whole life. I’ve seen it all. You two go, do what needs doing.”

I was surprised by that little speech. I figured she was too shocked to say anything, but suddenly I saw where Hartley got her strength.

Hartley hugged her mom again before Lucy walked upstairs. I watched her go and then looked back at Hartley. “Come on.”

I walked out the front door and Hartley followed me. We walked down the drive and cut across the field. We walked in silence, though what had happened was hanging heavy between us.

I had never wanted her to see me do something like that. Death was my job, but Hartley didn’t need to see it. She knew enough on her own terms and didn’t need to see me pull the trigger and end a man’s life.

That hadn’t been my choice, though. Culver could have walked away, maybe forced us to act faster or something. Instead, he got greedy. Probably thought I was all talk.

But as he quickly learned, I was far from all talk.

As we climbed up onto the truck, I paused and looked out across the fields at Hartley’s farm.

It was a damn shame I had to meet her mother like this, and a damn shame this was how I was first seeing her farm.

Because the place was beautiful. Real fucking beautiful. I could see myself living on a farm like this one day.

I got into the driver’s seat, shut the door, and woke the big rig up.





23





Hartley





I knew what Travis could do. He showed me that first day we met. I knew he was deadly and had some skills.

But seeing it up close like that was something else. He moved so damn fast and seemed to just know what everyone else was about to do. He didn’t hesitate to kill those men, and he didn’t seem to mind letting that sick fuck Guff take a bunch of bullets for him.

I wasn’t going to mourn those deaths, but I was shocked by how Travis had handled it all. The man was a professional killer, and I shouldn’t forget it.

We drove in the big rig truck for a bit. I couldn’t say anything. I felt so damn stupid, so very stupid. I had put us all at risk, nearly gotten my mom killed. Her kitchen was full of blood and dead bodies now, all because I brought Culver down on them.

“It’s okay,” he finally said, breaking the long silence.

“It’s not okay,” I said. “I’m sorry, Travis. I should never have done that.”

“Yeah. You’re right,” he said, grinning at me. “But it’s still okay. We’re still going to win this.”

“How? They’re going to notice Culver is missing.”

“Eventually, but we’ll hit them before they realize it.”

“You should just leave me behind. Do this without me.”

He sighed. “Listen to me, Hartley. I get why you did what you did. It was stupid, but it was brave.”

“Doesn’t feel brave.”

He shook his head. “It was. You knew you were running off into danger. You did it because you feared for your parents.”

“My parents were fine, though. Culver just scared me.”

“Yeah, he did, which was what he was trying to do from the start. He shouldn’t have been surprised when you actually believed him and ran off.”

“But he was.”

“Yeah, he was. That was his fault. You’re not used to men like this threatening your family.”

“And you are?”

“More than you, sure. My job is to try to kill men before they kill me. When you do that enough, you start to be able to read people.”

“What’s your read on me?”

He paused for a second as we slowly maneuvered onto the highway. From there, it was more or less a straight shot back to Knoxville, but we had a few hours to go.

“You really want to know?” he asked finally.

“Yeah, I do.”

“Okay then. You’re brave, but you grew up in a very small world. You’re smart and strong, but you’re afraid you’re not smart or strong enough.” He glanced at me. “You’re funny, and fucking sexy. I’ve never quite met anyone like you.”

I bit my lip and looked at him. All of those feelings I’d been repressing for him came flooding back, feelings I couldn’t quite name. His body was strong and hard, and I wanted to run my tongue down his abs. I wanted to feel his lips against my ear again as he whispered dirty things.

But I didn’t deserve any of that. I had fucked up big time, and now Travis was cleaning up after me. Actually, this whole thing was Travis cleaning up after me.

“You don’t have to say that,” I said finally.

“I fucking mean it, girl. Just listen to me for once in your life.”

“Okay,” I said, surprised.

“Damn right. You’re doing great, Hartley. You’re fucking holding on. That’s more than most people could say in your position, so own it.”

“Thanks, Travis. For everything.”

I surprised myself by reaching across the seats and putting my hand over the top of his. He surprised me more by taking my hand and squeezing it, and not letting go as he drove.

I still didn’t feel like I deserved the simple comfort of him holding my hand, but I needed it anyway. I was beginning to feel out of control, like I was spiraling and wouldn’t find the ground anytime soon. Touching him made me feel centered again, or at least less like I was stuck in a tornado.

He had that ability. He centered me, calmed me, made me better. He elevated me when I needed to be elevated, and he made me see that I had it in myself to become better than I was.

He brought out the best self in me, even in spite of my mistakes.

I needed that in this moment. After feeling like I had destroyed everything, I needed him to tell me that it was going to be okay. I needed him to take control, to fix things. I was way in over my head, and I knew that only Travis could do this.

And I was going to do it with him. I was going to get myself together and make it happen.

He squeezed my hand and grinned at me. I felt that thrill run through my body, the same one I always felt when he looked at me.



The ride back to Knoxville melted by. We drove straight through, and I must have fallen asleep, because at one point I closed my eyes and when I opened them we were home. Travis parked the big rig in an empty parking lot a few blocks away from the dry cleaners, and then we walked back together.

As we got closer, I noticed two men standing outside the apartment door. They were both tall and broad like Travis, both with dangerous looks in their eyes. One had dark short hair and bright green eyes, and he was grinning at me. The other had close-cropped brown hair and gray eyes, and he looked more serious.

Instantly I tensed up. It surprised me that the sight of strange men would do that, but it made sense after what I had seen. Travis put a comforting hand on my arm.

“It’s okay,” he said. “Hartley, these are my friends. This is Flynn and this is Gage.”

The man with the green eyes named Flynn smiled. “Good to meet you, Hartley.”

Gage nodded. “Hartley.”

“Hi, guys,” I said.

“They’re here to help us,” Travis added. “They have a pretty important role at the end of this.”

“Anything I do is pretty important,” Flynn said.

“Now I know that isn’t true,” Gage said. “Flynn here has a very high opinion of himself, though I have no clue why.”

“It’s because I’m incredibly handsome and smart,” Flynn said.

“Enough from you two,” Travis said, cutting them off. He opened the apartment door. “Let’s get inside.”

The two men grinned at me as we walked inside. Travis took the lead and the other two fell in behind me. I realized just from watching them move that they were both SEALs just like Travis. He must have called them in for backup.

Now I had three Navy SEALs involved in this, trying to save my life. I couldn’t decide if I felt horrible or grateful. Probably a mix of both.