Not a Chance(106)

She blushed all over. "I've got some news for you. Can we sit?"

Travis stepped back and gestured for her to enter. When they were seated on the couch she took his hands in hers. "I know where Tonya is."

He immediately paled. "How...why...." He looked away, confused.

"I hired a detective my dad knows over in Bixy. Do you want to go say goodbye to Emily?"

He looked at her, then, as though he was seeing her for the first time. She waited and watched him, unsure whether he would be angry or relieved or happy or what. And then he grabbed her face between his hands and shoved his tongue down her throat. Arden squeaked once in surprise before losing herself in the most passionate kiss of her life. He grabbed her shoulders and held her tight. She felt hot and tingly all over and a longing spread from her center throughout her body. She wanted to feel all of his skin on all of her skin. She wanted to wrestle with him and roll around and take turns being on top and make the loving last for hours.

When Dustin came down the hall and interrupted them, Arden looked down and was surprised to find her clothes were still on.

"I'm headed to the shop," he said.

"Can you handle it yourself today?" Travis asked. He was still holding Arden by her shoulders.

Dustin grinned and shook his head. "Sure. Have fun." He grabbed his keys and left.

Travis turned back to Arden, his eyes wide. "Can we go see Emily, now?"

Arden licked her lips and contemplated asking him to give her a few minutes of his time first. He sat there all strong and vulnerable in jeans and a NASCAR t-shirt, those big shoulders, that handsome face, and the remembrance of past love-making...all combining to fill her with insatiable, mouth-watering lust.

"You okay?" he asked when she didn't immediately answer.

"Uh-huh," she squeaked, meeting his eyes.

And then the cocky half-grin appeared. She'd missed that. "You sure?"

She bit her bottom lip and nodded.

He kissed her softly on the cheek. "When we get back..." he said, lifting his eyebrows.

She smiled and nodded, excited that he wanted her. Even if it was later.

They were quiet during the half-hour drive to Garber. Arden twice told him that she hadn't verified this information with her own eyes, and that he should try to keep his hopes reined in. He assured her he would, but she could tell by the tension in his body that he was fairly wound up.

Garber was a dumpy little town. Which was saying something coming from the perspective of a Splitlog resident. The surrounding land was swampy, so there were tons of mosquitoes in the Summer. Houses were run down. Businesses barely survived. Travis took a couple of wrong turns with Arden attempting to direct him using the maps on her iPhone. Finally they found the shabby, roach-infested apartments. Tonya's was on the far end.

"You should wait here," Travis said, staring out the windshield.

"No, actually, I think you should wait here. That guy might find you threatening. Let me go in first."

"I won't be threatening. She's my ex-wife, I can see her if I want."

"See?" Arden said. "Look at you already getting territorial. Let's try to avoid a fight, shall we?" She hopped out without waiting for him to answer.

She knocked on the door and immediately felt filthy, despite that it was only her knuckles coming into contact with the decrepit surface. A few seconds later, a large man in a stained t-shirt opened the door. Arden was immediately hit with a wall of cigarette smoke. The man towered over her, strong and slovenly but with a hint of a beer gut hanging over the waistband of his sweat pants. "Yeah?" he asked rudely.

Arden lifted her chin. "I'm a friend of Tonya's. Is she home?"

Jerry Lee turned, leaving the door opened and fell back into a squeaky, lopsided recliner. "Tonya!" he yelled, his eyes already glued to the television set. "A woman here to see you!"

Arden stepped inside and heard the sound of a baby crying. Two children, a boy and a girl, were running around the kitchen screaming and playing. The sink overflowed with dirty dishes. The shag carpet was ripped in places and likely infested with vermin of all sorts. Arden looked to the direction of the baby crying. Emily was laying in what appeared to be a doggie bed, her bottle on the floor beside her. Arden restrained herself from going to pick her up.

Tonya came down the hall, then. She looked terrible. Her red hair, now dyed to an atrocious orange, hung limp around her sallow face. She wore a tank top and some faded sweat pants with holes in the knees. As soon as she saw Arden, though, her face lit up with a smile. "What are you doing here?" she asked, running up to Arden and hugging her. "What's your name again?"