Rocky Mountain Freedom (31 page)

He nodded then pulled her around to settle into his lap. “I’m sorry I chased you off earlier. I like it when you curl up against me. Feels as if you can’t get enough of me, and you’re soaking me in through your skin.”

She smiled and snuggled in tighter. “Works for me.”

They sat and watched Travis as the flames licked around the kindling and slowly took hold. He twisted to face them, pulling a chair over so he could be close. He nodded in approval at Ashley, then took both her and Cassidy’s hands into his. “I don’t care how long it takes,” he said. “Tell us. We want to know.”

Cassidy shivered, and she squeezed his hand encouragingly. “Whatever you want to tell us.”

“It’s pretty basic. He caught me looking at porn. Which usually would have been acceptable, since it was a manly thing to do, but this time the magazine was guys.”

“Shit.” Travis shook his head. “Yeah, that would be pretty cut and dried.”

“You were curious?”

Cassidy nodded as he stroked her cheek. “I love women, with your soft curves and all, but guys were attractive too. I wasn’t sure why and thought I’d look.”

He met Travis’s gaze. Travis frowned. “Wait. That’s it? He caught you with a magazine, and for that he kicked you out?”

Sitting so close Ashley felt every change in Cassidy’s body, and this time as he tensed, she slipped a hand around his back to embrace him tighter. To give him support as he stared at the roof and spilled the rest of it, words whispering out as if they were being pulled from deep inside. Painful to deliver.

Painful to hear.

“He ripped the magazine from my hands then proceeded to give me a thrashing, starting with his fists before moving on to his belt. He said he would ‘beat that queer crap right out of me’, and in a way, it worked. I didn’t look at another guy for years. Every time I was tempted, I felt the pain from that night and I’d be sick.”

The bitterness in Cassidy’s voice closed Ashley’s throat. There was a band of pain tightening around her heart, and hopelessness threatened.

“How old were you?” Travis asked, gentle as if to stop from spooking Cassidy.

“Sixteen.” He shrugged. “I know what he did was wrong, but to a kid who’d spent his entire life trying to gain his dad’s approval, it cut hard.”

“Did he ever apologize?” Ashley asked.

Cassidy grunted, more in pain than amusement. “Ashley, you don’t get it. He
never
thought he did anything to apologize for. Not that night or before. I didn’t have a father who gave two shits about me for anything other than getting the chores done—and I got beat at times for screwing up those. That night was the breaking point for us both. He didn’t believe I could be interested in both girls and guys because that’s how I was born—it had to be some sickness in my brain and something to be feared. He left me on the barn floor, and I figured things could only get worse. That night I snuck out of the house with a few things. Hitched a ride out of town, and never went back.”

Ashley fought her anger. Swearing at a man who wasn’t there had no logic, but it was what she wanted to do—Travis as well if his expression was an indication.

“No wonder he wasn’t happy to see me on his porch last summer,” Travis drawled. “If I’d have known, I would have had more on my agenda than a few questions.”

“Giving him a beating ten years after the fact isn’t a solution, T.” Cassidy shook his head. “I’m glad I can tell you, but it doesn’t change anything. Not really. I’ve got hang-ups because of what happened, but I’ve slowly been dealing with them. Thanks a lot to you two.”

He dropped a kiss on her temple and squeezed Travis’s hand.

“Oh, Cassidy, it changes things. Changes them a lot.” So much more made sense now. Ashley leaned in close, staring into his green eyes in the hopes that he would understand. “You’ve been without a family for so long. No more. You’ve got me and my family—I tell you, my mom would be over the moon to welcome you in.”

He pulled her in for a hug, and she tried to pass over what she felt in her touch. All of it seemed so inadequate, though. So limited, words and actions.

Ashley leaned away and cupped his face. “I told you before I was putting up an ownership flag on you. I meant it then, and I mean it more now. I want to be in your life, Cassidy Jones. Not only for this summer, but into the future. I’m looking to put down roots for the first time in my life. If you need a place to do the same, I want you with me.”

Cassidy kissed her gently. “You’ve got a loving heart, woman. Thank you.”

They turned without speaking to face Travis. Ashley had gotten it—Cassidy’s fear that Travis would suffer the same fate. That he’d be ripped apart from his family over the issue and end up alone, maybe hating Cassidy and Ashley for what he’d lost. That possibility wasn’t something Ashley could answer for Travis. She couldn’t be the one to decide if he was willing to take the risk.

But she bet he was.

“First, I want to apologize for making you use a belt on me that first time.” Travis shook his head. “You should have said something.”

Cassidy snorted bitterly. “You weren’t in a position to listen, and I dealt with it.”

“You shouldn’t have had to. There’s a ton of shit you shouldn’t have had to deal with.” Travis’s sorrow was clear in the tone of his voice, the position of his body. “I already told you it wasn’t my attraction to guys I was keeping secret from my family, but here’s me going out on a limb. If my dad ever heard what happened to you? He’d be the one headed up to Drayton Valley to beat some sense into your old man, even ten years after the fact.”

“I like Mike,” Cassidy confessed. “He’s always seemed fair. I don’t know what your brothers will think, though.”

Travis paused, then shrugged. “I can make guesses, but bottom line is we won’t know until we face them.” He rose from the chair and leaned in, capturing Cassidy and Ashley in his strong arms. “If they turn out to be assholes, then they weren’t my family in the first place. I’m with Ashley on this one, Cass. Let’s build you a home. A real home, with people who care about you unconditionally.”

“No matter that it could mean you lose yours?” Cassidy asked again.

Travis swore, pacing away and shoving a log into the stove as if looking for some time before having to answer. Ashley slipped out of Cassidy’s lap and stood at his side, their fingers linked as they waited.

It was only a moment later when Travis faced them, the sharp line of his jaw set, the spark of amusement that always seemed to hover in his eyes completely gone. None of the anger of a few moments before, just sheer determination, and her anticipation rose.

This was the man she’d come back to Rocky for.
This
was the man she’d been slowly and steadily falling in love with.

She couldn’t wait for Cassidy to realize exactly how much his world was about to change.

Looking across the room at Ashley and Cassidy only solidified Travis’s resolve. The two of them were so different, and yet so much alike. Maybe in ways they didn’t even know.

Cassidy stood nearly a foot taller than Ashley, his strong build contrasting with her softness. But his eyes were the ones filled with fear while she looked far more determined, chin lifted high as if daring Travis on.

Yet neither of them had experienced family and a solid home like Travis had. Time spent—well, some of it fighting, but most of it learning exactly what
real
family meant.

After all the years where he’d gone wrong, and all the times he’d disappointed them in the small things, never once had his family turned their back. There were issues and misunderstandings, and not everything was rosy and perfect, but it was real and full of heart. He saw that clearer now than ever before, and it made his time of holding back and hiding his needs seem childish. Foolish.

He’d grown up and found the truth, and it was time to make Cassidy understand.

“Family is about more than sharing a bloodline.” Travis didn’t speak loudly. Didn’t have to with the quiet crackle of the fire the only sound in the room. Heck, Cassidy didn’t seem to be breathing. “It’s about choices and caring, and the two of you have made it clear you care about me a hell of a lot. I’d be a stupid-ass fool to not see it. I’d be even stupider to not want to give that caring back to you.”

A slow smile bloomed over Ashley’s face.

Cassidy—he was still a bundle of tension and fear, so Travis stepped forward and cupped his hand around the back of Cassidy’s neck, leaning in until their foreheads connected and the entire length of their bodies pressed together. “My family will understand, but if it comes down to a decision—if they aren’t the people I think they are—then I won’t have lost a thing. I choose you.”

His friend didn’t answer, not in words, but the tension poured off him and his green eyes lit with hope.

Fingers snuck around his back as Ashley wormed her way under his arm, and Travis welcomed her into the embrace. “And you,” he scolded. “I hope you got that sacrificial shit out of your system. I’m not letting either of you go, you got that?”

Ashley blinked hard, her eyes moist as she beamed at him. “Selfish bastard, ain’t cha?”

“You know it. High maintenance, you called me that once.”

This time Cassidy laughed before sagging. “God, that took a lot out of me.”

Travis could think of ways to energize his friend. Only first… “You haven’t said it straight out, so I want to hear it. We’re all headed back to Rocky, and you two are moving in with me.”

“Still think it’s going to be a rough ride,” Cassidy warned. “But yes, I’ll move in with you. Find somewhere to work. Give it a try.”

Travis wanted to make him change that final statement, but they’d already moved forward a long way. So he turned to the final part of the equation. “Ashley?”

“Gee, move in with two strapping men who worship the ground I walk on?” She poked Cassidy lightly in the side. “You do worship the ground I walk on, right? I already know I have Travis wrapped around my little finger, so…
Ohhh
…”

Cassidy had her in midair and tossed toward the bed before Travis could do it.

“Nicely done,” Travis commented.

Cassidy grinned. “Thanks. You want to help me do some worshipping?”

Travis had ideas all of his own how tonight was going down, but allowing Cassidy to think he was in control wouldn’t hurt anything. He stripped off his shirt and tossed it aside. “Of course.”

Ashley wiggled back on the bed, her toes bare as she curled up and wrapped her arms around her knees. “You two first. I like seeing you get naked.”

Before Travis could respond, Cassidy knelt on the bed and crowded toward her. “I thought Travis told you not to expect to call the shots for a long while. You get to be in charge, oh, I’d say sometime in December. Take off your clothes,” he commanded.

She shivered, her expression bright with pleasure. Travis nodded in approval. Such a strong, powerful woman, and yet she had accepted that she got off sexually on being ordered around.

He’d learned a lot from her—more than he’d realized as he strode to the other side of the bed and watched her slip off her top. She skimmed her pants over her hips and took the elastic from her hair.

Long blonde strands fell over her shoulders, swinging loose over the pale pink fabric of her bra.

“What the hell is that made out of?” Travis dragged a finger along the elastic shoulder strap all the way to the swell of her breasts in the barely there material. “I can see your nipples right through the damn thing.”

“Look,” Cassidy said. “Here as well.”

He’d stroked a hand up her thigh to trace the edge of her panties, the curls on her mound displayed against the front as he pressed his fingertips over them.

“Silk. Expensive silk, so don’t get any ideas of ripping them off me,” Ashley warned.

Travis hummed in approval. “They’re very nice. Cassidy, take off your clothes while Ashley finishes what she started.”

Cassidy jolted upright. “What—?”

“Strip.” Travis folded his arms in front of him. “I can’t fuck you with your clothes on.”

A whimper of sheer pleasure escaped Ashley. “Can I help?” she whispered.

A response from Cassidy was slower in coming, as if he’d had to change mental gears. “You’re going to fuck
me
?”

Travis didn’t answer. Instead he moved to the side and grabbed a condom and lube. Removed the rest of his clothes. Taking that moment to separate the rising lust and the fiery anger still rocking his soul. The hurts of the past that had been shared were too raw and vivid, but he’d be damned if he let this evening finish with anything other than an attempt to wipe some of them clear. To erase part of the shadow from Cassidy’s eyes.

He turned back to find Cassidy had stripped and settled next to Ashley, the two of them tangled together with arms and legs and mouths. Travis watched contentedly, wrapping his hand around his cock and pulling lazily as he admired the view. His body heated in response to Cassidy cupping Ashley’s breasts, rolling the tightened tips between his fingers.

Ashley arched into his touch, dragging her fingers down his back, faint red trails remaining where her nails had dug into his flesh. She lifted a leg and rubbed her foot over Cassidy’s calf. Cassidy slid down her body to suck a nipple into his mouth, and she squirmed happily.