Finding Safety

Bad Habits

Ch 7

Travis pov

It takes us a while to get home and when we arrive I see Carter and Danny at the house waiting for us. When we pull up and park they both jump up to see if we need help. I slowly get her down and carry her inside up to her room. I set her on the edge of the king size bed and look for some clothes for her to relax in. It's roughly around three in the afternoon, and I just want her to rest. I will figure out dinner later for us to eat. I grab some leggings and a hoodie and help her slowly change out of the jeans and boots.

I watch her snuggle under the blankets and lean over kissing her head softly. I look into her eyes and before I can stop myself I lightly kiss her lips. When I lean back I see tears falling down her face. I smile at her and turn to leave.

"I will be back in a couple hours to make us dinner. I have to finish the fence since we have more cattle coming soon and I need to get them fixed."

I watch her nod and soon I'm running down the stairs and out the door telling the guys what needs to be fixed in the field. I start going through the chores I gave her and can see she got to the chickens and got some of the animals fed. When I entered the barn I saw she was cleaning the stalls and loading the hay when she was attacked. I just look down at the spot where we found her and can still see her blood splattered everywhere.

I fought back tears because she didn't deserve any of this. Rhonda knew that I've never been interested in her. I had made that abundantly clear. Yet she still felt like she had first rights to me. Why would I want to be with someone who seems genuine but is so vicious at the same time. I start to clean up the barn and get the hay drug out to be taken to the animals over in the stalls. Then I wrap everything up feeding the horses and cleaning the rest of the stalls.

When I exit the barn I see the lights in my kitchen are on in the house and I know who is in there. She is supposed to be resting and taking it easy. I just stare when Danny and Carter come up to stand next to me.

"Damn boss she gets the shit beat out of her, and still gets up to cook you food?"

They walk off towards their apartments when I head back towards the house. I walk in through the door to the kitchen and don't see anyone. So I walk up the stairs quickly showering, throwing on some sweatpants when I head over to her room. I put my ear to her door and don't hear anything coming from inside. I crack open the door and see her sleeping so I decide to just let her sleep. I quietly shut the door and walked back downstairs into the kitchen. When I enter It's quiet, and a plate of food is on the counter with a beer. Why didn't she wait for me? The kitchen is completely spotless. Although it does look nice it's almost weird.

I sit and start eating when I hear the ding from the washer and dryer both go off. I continue to eat when I instantly hear feet hitting the floor scurrying down the stairs to the laundry room. I can hear her mumbling to herself while she is changing clothes. She takes a few minutes then scurries back up the stairs. I must have been eating slowly because when I finish and start to clean my dishes I get shoved to the side. She takes over mumbling to herself cleaning my dishes for me. I watch her while she dries them and puts away when the laundry dings again. She squeaks and runs to get the next load going.

I tail after her while she mumbles to herself and wonders what she is mumbling about. I stand in the doorway watching her while she switches the loads and starts folding my clothes quickly. When she is done she loads it in the bin turning and stops in her tracks when she notices me in the doorway. I see her start to tremble holding the laundry basket closely so I move to the side out of her way. She slowly walks by closing her eyes and the moment she gets past me scurries away up the stairs.