Stacked Up: Worth the Fight Series (13 page)

“Yeah, but why were you doing those things? Was it to have a nice car? To buy drugs for yourself?”

“Mostly for food, to help pay rent.”

“For you and your sister, right?”

“Yeah, but—”

She cupped his face. “I’m not judging you. I don’t care about any of that. You’re a good man. I knew that before you told me this, and now that I know, you’ve confirmed it. You are good, Travis. You were a kid doing the best you could in a bad situation.”

He let out a deep breath. “I’m so ashamed of all the shit I did and how it’s now being brought up as a way to make you look bad. And to be honest, Penny, they’re right. I’m no good for you. I’ve tried to be better. I moved to Florida and got out of that gang over ten years ago. I would never steal again, but it’s still haunting me, and now you. You should be with some straitlaced accountant or something. Not someone like me.” He looked down. “My job is to fight. Beat people up. I didn’t go to college. Damn, I didn’t even graduate from high school—I got a GED instead. Lived in the gym for almost a year. You grew up with pearl necklaces and a ranch and horses. What could I possibly give you?”

Penny let go of him and didn’t say anything as he turned away. He’d never felt so ashamed of his past. It was probably because most of his life he’d been around people with similar upbringings and it had never mattered, but now…now it mattered. A lot.

When he turned back around and saw her tears, he sighed. “Exactly. I’m a piece of shit, and you’ll be portrayed in the media as the woman dating a criminal. I can’t let that—”

“No, you are not a piece of shit!” she interrupted, in a tone he’d never heard before. “Those are your mother’s words. You are not a piece of shit, Travis. Your mother was a piece of shit.” He flinched at her words. “She led you to a life where you had to do whatever it took to make ends meet. You were a kid—you shouldn’t have been put in a position where you had to take care of yourself and your sister. I’m honored to have you in my life, not embarrassed.”

“I wasn’t a kid, though. I was seventeen, eighteen.”

“Like I said, a kid. Your parents are supposed to protect you. You were not responsible for what happened. I don’t care what anyone else thinks of you, except that I never want to hear you say those words about yourself again. They hurt my soul to hear you say those things. I do not judge you. God would not judge you.”

“God?” he huffed. “Where was God when my mother was drinking and snorting shit in front of us when we were kids? When my mother was verbally abusive to JL? When kids teased us for having worn-out shoes? There was no God back then. There was no God when Lawrence was using you.”

“God was there. God gave me Sarabelle. God was there when you persevered through all the obstacles. And when I came to Tarpon Springs all those months ago, when I stepped into the Pier, scared to death—to death!—and I dropped those shot glasses and that cowboy with those blue eyes and that dimple came to help me, God was definitely there that day.” He ran his hands through his hair, making it stick up all over the place. “Come here, Travis.”

“Please don’t tell me you’re going to pray for me or something.”

“You could use a prayer right now,” she laughed. “But that wasn’t what I was going to do.”

He took a step toward her, and she opened her arms. He looked at her in confusion for a moment until she closed the distance and wrapped her arms around him.

“You are the most lovable person I know. Let me be your friend. You don’t have to give us more than that. There are no strings in this relationship. No commitment. Just friendship. Let me do that for you.”

He relaxed a little in her arms and took a deep breath. He suddenly noticed that his eyes were a little wet and that he felt as though a weight he’d been holding on his shoulders for so long had been suddenly lifted. She ran her fingers through his hair, not in a sexual way, but in a tender way that made his heart thud against his chest. “To the world you’re the life of the party. You’re all smiles. Most don’t see beyond your appearance, but it’s not their fault. You keep everything else locked away so that we all see this picture of carefree happiness.”

“There’s nothing wrong with being happy.”

She looked up at him. “No, there’s nothing wrong with being happy, Travis. But you’re not happy. You’re tormented inside. Once in a while I get a glimpse of it. You refuse to let yourself be happy because you don’t think you’re worthy of it.”

“People wouldn’t like me if they saw that,” he admitted.

“Yes, they would. They’d like you better, or at least they’d like
you,
Travis Calhoun, not this fake person you want them to think is Travis. The real Travis is the best man I’ve ever met.”

“Penny…”

“It’s true. You took me and Belle in. Men don’t do that. Single men just looking to have fun, they don’t do that. You can get uncomplicated fun in any corner, Travis. You want more than that.”

“And what do you want from me, Penny?”

“Nothing. I just want you to be my friend.”

“I have lots of friends.”

“That may be, but
I
don’t. I didn’t say I wanted to be your friend. I just asked you to be mine.”

God, he wanted this woman in so many ways and being just her friend wasn’t one of them. “My mother…” He swallowed and pulled her closer. He needed her warmth, and besides, he couldn’t have this conversation face-to-face. It was too hard. “My mother always called me a loser. She said I’d never leave the trailer park. Never amount to anything. Never be anyone. She said she couldn’t count on me and neither could anyone else.”

“That’s why you work so hard.”

“I’m going to make it big, Penny.”

“You already have, Travis.”

“I’m going to fuck up, Penny. Probably a lot. I don’t want to hurt you or Belle.” With his eyes closed he continued, “I can be intense and consuming. I’ll want all of you. I’d want to see you all the time. And I suck at slow. I’d want you in my bed every single night. I wouldn’t be okay with Belle just having a shitty bear because all I had was a shitty bear. I’d probably buy her everything because I didn’t have anything. I’d probably buy you everything too, but just because seeing you smile makes everything seem right with the world. I wouldn’t be okay with you taking a bus. I would take Belle to the park every day. And as soon as she learned how to walk, I’d probably put her in boxing classes and keep all the boys away. I would probably drive you both crazy.”

“So you want to try?” she said with a chuckle.

“I more than want to try. I’m not really a try kind of guy,” he admitted as he kissed her lips and wiped her stray tears. “I’m more of a go-all-in kind of guy.”

“I’m sorry I’m such a blubbering mess.”

“You’re a chick. Goes with your DNA,” he quipped with a wink. He kissed the top of her head sweetly, and then pulled her up to her feet. He wiped her tears with his thumbs, his hands cupping her face. “You okay?”

“Not really, but I will be,” she said.

He took her hand and led her back to the truck. They drove to JL’s house and visited with the twins for a little while before buckling Belle into her car seat and heading back toward Travis’s house.

“And one last thing, Travis,” Penny said as they drove.

“What’s that?”

“You know how you said you weren’t cut out for the domesticated thing?”

“Yeah.”

“You do realize you’ve been doing that domesticated thing with us already, don’t you?”

He closed his eyes and sighed. “Yeah, I know.”

She snorted. “Has it been that bad?”

“It’s been weirdly relaxing, awesome, and terrifying all at once. Wait. Hold on.” He did an abrupt U-turn.

“Where are you going?”

“I’ve been meaning to get a few things for a few days but hadn’t had a chance. This is as good a time as any.”

A minute later he parked in front of a huge toy store.

“Travis? What are you up to?”

“I know you’re going to complain, so all I’m going to say is that it doesn’t concern you. It’s between me and Belle.” He unbuckled Belle and lifted her out of the car seat. “Isn’t that right, baby girl?”

“Twavis,” she repeated with a giggle. Penny followed behind, practically jogging to catch up.

“Did you know she doesn’t say ‘Mom’ yet? She repeats practically everything but won’t say ‘Mom.’ Now she says ‘Travis’ every time she sees you.”

“Green ain’t a good color on you, momma.” Travis pulled out a cart and sat Belle in it.

Two hours, half a month’s rent, and a lot of protesting on Penny’s part later, they walked out of the toy store.

“This is insane. Where am I going to fit all of this when I go back home?”

“Leave it at my place,” he said. “My girlfriend’s daughter can have space to keep her toys.”

“Girlfriend? Wow. I like the sound of that.”

“Me too, darlin’. Me too.” He winked.

“Shit,” Travis said as he opened the front door of his house. “I forgot they’re filming today. I left in the middle of the shoot.”

“Go. We’ll be fine.”

“Are you sure? After everything that’s happened today, I really just want to stay here with you guys.” He set down the bags of toys.

“I promise to only let her open one toy. You can give her the rest of them yourself when you get back.”

He smiled and kissed Penny, then waved to Belle. “See you later, Belle.”

“Twavis,” she cooed, and he laughed.

“See you later, darlin’. Don’t open the door to anyone, and make sure you keep the gate closed, okay?”

“ ’Kay,” she agreed.

He cupped her face and kissed her before he left.

Penny was in the kitchen with the iPad Travis had loaned her running the accounting software she used for the Pier’s books when the doorbell rang. She looked into the camera and saw the well-known logo of a furniture store on a big truck. She clicked the intercom. “Hello?”

“Delivery for Ms. Richards.”

“One second.”

She pulled out her phone and dialed Travis. “Are you expecting a delivery?”

“Yes. Let them in. On my nightstand I have some cash. Give them a tip.”

“Okay,” she said before hanging up and pressing the button that opened the gate.

The truck backed into the driveway, and two men emerged. As one opened the back, the other came to the door to get a signature. As soon as she signed and he had started back to the truck, her phone rang again.

“Hello?”

“Hey, darlin’. You like it?”

“Like what?”

“They haven’t brought it in yet?”

“We just talked like two minutes ago, impatient man.”

Then she looked up to see the two men walking in with a beautiful wooden sleigh-style crib.

“Travis!”

“And when she gets too big for it, it turns into a little girl’s bed. Violet picked it out.”

“Travis! Oh my God, what are you…are you crazy?”

“Did you just say the Lord’s name in vain?” he said, a smile in his voice. Then in the background she heard some men talking, though she couldn’t make out the words. “Gotta go, darlin’. See you later.” And he hung up.

Travis ran his hand through his hair as he hung up the phone, his eyes trying to avoid the big glass window at the front of the Academy. Since word had gotten out that he was living with Penelope Richards, the stepdaughter of the famous preacher Kip Owens, the paparazzi were everywhere. Many of them wanted to know where she’d been for the last year and why she had left. Plus, Travis had his own share of paparazzi and followers. So there were a lot of cameras outside the Academy.

“What the hell is going on out there?” Travis asked Slade. “It can’t possibly all be because of me and Penny.”

“Think again,” Slade replied.

“Really?” He glanced over his shoulder. “That’s overkill, don’t you think? There must be fifteen reporters out there.”

“The studio says the show’s doing great and you’re killing it. The news about Penny made last night’s show a bigger hit than usual. They were hoping it would all come out on camera.”

“The episode that was on last night was shot weeks in advance—don’t they know that? Plus, I wouldn’t let them put that shit in the show.”

“People don’t know that. They want to know how long you’ve been dating her and if you’re the reason she ran away from home.”

“Why do people care? I don’t get it.”

“Apparently her father’s big shit somewhere,” Slade said, unlocking the cage. “All I care about is that you get that belt next month, so you better get your head back in the game.”

“It never left.”

Slade threw a punch, and Travis deflected. “Good. Glad to hear it. Now keep those arms up!” he yelled.

The producer of
Fight Night
stood quietly in the background, as she normally did, while the crew filmed. In the boxing ring Cain and Tony were training, and a few others were over with the weights. The camera crew didn’t bother Travis at all anymore, but the reporters outside were a thorn in his side, and he had to actively focus on what he was doing so that he wouldn’t get injured, something that had been second nature until recently.

“Travis!” Slade shouted at him.

“What?” he said breathlessly.

“Swear to God, I will break the goddamn contract with HBO and put blinds on the windows. Get your head out of your ass!”

“I’m focused.”

“You are not!” Slade threw a surprise punch, and it hit Travis on the eye.

“Motherfucker!” Travis spat out his mouth guard and brought his gloved hand to his eye. “You fuckin’ hit me!”

“We’re fighting, not dancing! What the hell do you think Lemmon’s going to do?” Slade threw a kick that landed square on his thigh.

“Fucker!” Travis growled.

“Gonna keep hitting you, damn it. Focus.”

Travis jumped up and down, loosening up his muscles, moving right and then left in an effort to avoid Slade’s continuous assaults.

“You going to let Lemmon keep that belt, Texas?”

“Fuck no!”

“Grab your mouth guard and let’s get real!” Slade barked. Travis quickly took the guard from the floor, keeping one eye on Slade, popped it back in, and went back to fighting stance. He looked around briefly to see the rest of the guys all watching him.

By the time he walked out of the gym, he had a black eye and a huge bruise on his thigh, and there was not a single muscle in his body that didn’t ache. He was even too tired to fend off all the reporters loitering around his truck throwing out question after question.

When he parked in front of his house, he quickly closed the gate, making sure all the reporters stayed outside, and limped in. The house smelled delicious.

“Hi, cowb—” Penny began. “Oh my! Travis, what happened?”

“Nothing. Just training.”

“Let me get you some ice. You want some food or something?”

“Nah,” he said, kissing her forehead. “Going to take a bath.”

He walked painfully into his room, stripped off his clothes, threw them all on the floor, and turned the bath as hot as it went, sitting on the edge until it filled. Carefully he got in and closed his eyes.

“Travis? Can I come in?”

He grunted a yes. It hurt to talk. Opening one eye, he saw her shyly walk inside, averting her gaze.

“There ain’t nothing you haven’t already seen, momma.” He tried to smile but could only produce a grimace. “Belle asleep?”

She kneeled by the tub. “Yes.” She handed him some pills. “Here’s some Advil.” He didn’t even reach for the pills, just opened his mouth. She put them in and then held a glass of water to his lips. She had a small ice pack that had Disney princesses on it, and she held it to his eye. At his skeptical expression, she explained, “It’s a boo-boo pack that I keep around for Belle. She cooperates more when princesses are involved.” He wanted to laugh, but his face hurt.

“What can I do, Travis? You look like you’re in so much pain. I think you should be in cold water, not hot. Maybe I should call Chrissy.”

“Part of the training. No worries.” It was nice of her to worry, and yeah, he was in pain, but it wasn’t something unfamiliar to him. “You sleepin’ in my bed tonight?”

“Uh…yes,” she said, but didn’t seem certain.

“Good. That’ll make me feel better.” His eyes closed again.

“You want me to fix you a plate?”

He shook his head.

“Does it hurt to open your mouth? Your jaw looks swollen.”

He nodded in response.

She just sat quietly next to him on the tub, holding the ice pack on his eye until the ice had melted away. Then she left him so he could finish bathing.

He had just gotten into bed and was drifting off to sleep, wondering where Penny had run off to, when she came in. “I think I got the measurements correct. I’ve seen you make them a few times.” She held out a straw to his mouth with his protein shake.

His heart warmed. No one had ever taken care of him before. He’d always been alone, and frankly, he hadn’t known up until now how much it sucked to be alone. “Thank you for taking care of me, momma.”

“Thank you for taking care of us, Travis,” she said as she carefully got into bed next to him and laid her head on his chest. And that was how they slept all night. Despite his bruised face and body, it was the best night’s sleep of his entire life.

The next day he was determined to kick Slade’s ass, even though his body ached. He woke up early, left Penny a note, and was at the Academy by six. Today he would not take one hit. He walked into the Academy with a determination and purpose he’d been missing for the past few days. He ignored the few reporters and the crew from
Fight Night
and repurposed all his energy into avoiding a fist to the face. The guys mocked his black eye, but all the laughs stopped a few minutes into training when first Slade and then Tony quickly got winded trying to keep up with Travis. He was back. His lightning-fast reflexes were his secret weapon, and he was determined to be ready for Vegas.

Sleeping with Penny last night had been great, even though he’d been in pain. So he was excited by the thought of going home to Penny uninjured tonight and showing her exactly what he’d had in mind when he invited her to sleep in his bed.

Travis was not accustomed to keeping his phone on him when he was at the gym. Everyone who knew him could reach him at WtF if they needed him, and those who didn’t know that about him could wait until he was good and ready to answer the phone. But these days he felt as if he needed to have it around just in case. Penny had never called him; it had always been Travis who called her. So when his phone vibrated and he saw it was her calling, he knew instinctively it was not going to be good news.

“Travis,” she said, sounding breathless.

“What’s going on?” He already had his keys in his hand and was heading toward his truck.

“Hurry. Please.”

“What’s going on?”

“They’re here. Kip’s here with his lawyers and…” Her voice cracked. “Lawrence. He brought Lawrence.”

“Stay put. Be there in five minutes.”

By the time Travis pulled in, there was a swarm of cars outside his house. Add to that those that had followed him from the Academy, and it was a circus.

Travis parked his truck and hopped out. “What are y’all doin’ at my house?” he yelled at the men clustered at the front of the house. “I ain’t buying whatever y’all are selling. So get the hell off my property or I’ll call the cops.” He took long strides toward a man who was standing by his front door wearing dark glasses, a light blue polo shirt, and khaki pants.

“You must be Travis Calhoun,” the man said as he took off his glasses. Immediately Travis recognized him. In person, the older man had presence.

Travis crossed his arms over his chest, refusing to answer.

“I’m Kip Owens.” He extended his hand to Travis, but Travis kept his arms crossed.

“Know who you are,” Travis said curtly, then looked around. “Y’all need to get the hell off my property.”

“I’m looking for my daughter.”

“Don’t know what you’re talking about.”

Kip took a piece of paper out of his pocket, unfolded it, and handed it to Travis. It was the infamous picture of the two kissing. “Where is my daughter?”

“As far as I’m concerned, I don’t gotta answer shit.” He pointed toward the street. “Get out before I call the cops.”

“Do you have children, Mr. Calhoun?” Travis didn’t answer so the man continued. “You raise them the best you can. Then they grow up, get knocked up, and run away from home, and the next thing you know, they’re shacked up with a cage fighter, dressing like a whore in public, stripping for a living, and doing obscene things such as this.” He shook the paper, and his voice began to rise. “As you can imagine, I am very upset by this turn of events.”

“Get. The. Fuck. Out.”

“Did Xavier give you the check?”

“I don’t need your money.”

“Everyone can use money. Let me take my daughter and granddaughter home and let us leave you alone.”

“I will tell you one more time: get the fuck out.”

“She’s my daughter. You can’t keep her away from me.”

“She’s not a minor anymore. She’s an adult, and you can’t make her do anything she doesn’t want to do.” He glared at Lawrence. “And neither of you have given a shit about them for over a year. You got no claim on them.”

Kip looked around. To anyone else he might have looked the picture of a concerned father, but Travis saw the mask slip for just a second.

“That’s not true. I’ve been searching for Penny everywhere,” he said, more to the cameras than to Travis.

“Kip has been beside himself,” Lawrence loudly chimed in.

Kip turned and whispered something to one of his security men, and the man began to herd all the reporters away. In a blink of an eye the area was miraculously cleared, and only Kip, Lawrence, and Travis remained.

“Oh, so you’re afraid they’ll hear something you don’t like?” Travis spat out, feeling victorious.

“You are not making true statements, Mr. Calhoun. I am just trying to make sure that my daughter’s name doesn’t get further dragged through the mud by your foul language,” Kip said. Travis rolled his eyes.

“I’ve tried to do this the nice way, Mr. Calhoun. My television ratings have skyrocketed, but I am not in this for television ratings. I need my congregation to have faith in me, to believe in the message I am preaching. I cannot do that when my daughter is in every newspaper doing things like this.” He shook the paper again. “I need my daughter back. My sweet little Penny, whom everyone loved and looked up to.” He took a step closer to Travis and said in a lower voice, “I don’t want to do this, but I will use your record against her. Do you understand? What kind of mother allows her young child around a criminal? I will have her found unfit to be a mother. She’s disappeared for the last year and has been doing God knows what. As far as I’m concerned, she’s been doing drugs just like you and your mother did, and for all I know you’ve both been doing it in front of her daughter. She’s a stripper with minimal income. I have all the resources necessary to make this painful. And if she does happen to be dumb enough to take me on, I’ll make sure the studio sues her for breaching the morality clause on the contract she signed allowing us to be filmed for the show. She will never see her daughter again. Isn’t that right, Lawrence?” Kip addressed Lawrence, who had been standing back, saying nothing but looking nervous.

“Yes. I want my daughter back,” Lawrence replied, as if on cue.

“Do you understand, Mr. Calhoun? Do you really want to stick around and be dragged through the mud? She is not worth that kind of trouble.”

Travis had never wanted to hit anyone as much he wanted to hit Kip. The only thing that stopped him was the cameras, which he figured were still taping from the other side of the gate.

Travis took a step forward, so that he was practically nose to nose with Kip. “That’s absolutely wrong. She is worth it. If you weren’t a pretentious, hypocritical asshole, you’d know that I’m lucky to have them around. Now I’ll say this one last time: get the fuck off my property.”

“Don’t be stupid. Take the money and leave her alone. The paparazzi are sniffing around—”

“And you don’t want them knowing the truth.”

“What truth, Mr. Calhoun? As far as I know, my daughter got knocked up and ran away from home to be with you—or a slew of men.”

Travis saw red. “Fuck off.”

“Nice,” Kip hissed, and rolled his eyes. “What kind of people is Penny interacting with?”

“The kind of people who don’t take kindly to threats.”

Travis took a step forward, forcing the two men to move out of his way. He unlocked the door, careful not to open it too much just in case Penny and Belle were inside. “Get the fuck off my property,” he repeated before slamming it closed in their faces.

“You have a week, Calhoun!” Kip yelled into the door.

Travis pressed his back against the door and took a deep breath before taking two long strides to Penny’s room. It was empty. “Penny?” he hollered. “Penelope? Belle?”

He went into his room and heard Belle giggle from the other side of the bed. He looked over and saw Penny on the floor with Belle, trying to keep her quiet.

She looked up at Travis. “Are they here? Did you let them inside? I heard what they said,” she whispered.