Trained One ✓

Chapter 09

It was a sort of déjà vu when I woke up a few hours later. Much like the night before, Travis sprung awake. His whole body jerked as he sat up and it was the initial movement that caused me to jump.

His chest was heaving, like he was wrestling with someone for each breath he was trying to pull into his lungs. I gently touched his shoulder to try to calm him down and he was drenched in cold sweat.

"Travis?"

The jagged breathing stopped and he looked at me for a second. He leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees and his hands on his head as he took in slow, deep breaths.

I felt where he was previously lying with my hand only to feel the sheets were wet with sweat. I kept my other hand on his shoulder until he started to get his breathing under control a bit more.

He didn't say anything, but just fell back onto the bed so he was lying down again, taking me with him.

"Travis?" I prodded.

"I don't want to talk about it right now," he said, trailing his hand up my bare spine. Most of my clothes were on the floor. When he said he could think of other positions we could be in earlier, he wasn't kidding. I put my underwear back on afterwards, not wanting to be completely naked  because the whole thing was still fairly new to me and just in case someone walked in.

Travis said no one would come in but still. I had to practically fight him to get him to put his boxers on. I don't think he understood that if he didn't have boxers on, there was no way I was getting to sleep the rest of the night. Eventually, he gave in and we fell asleep together.

His hand was calloused against my back but I didn't care. It felt right. I relaxed into it.

"I have your phone, by the way," he said, his voice thick with sleep.

I didn't know if he was talking about my current one or the one from years ago that I'd accidentally found earlier. "Oh?"

"Yeah, I got it from Jay earlier."

So it was the current one. "He shouldn't have taken it."

Travis' fingers trailed along my skin and I felt a blush creep up to my cheeks as my mind strayed to what we were up to a few hours ago, his hand distracting me. "You shouldn't have been trying to find the house."

I groaned, not saying anything.

"Your little sidekick was trying to find you. He could've followed you. And your phone can be tracked."

"I highly doubt they were trying to track me," I said, thinking of how angry Dylan was when I left.

"I wouldn't put it past them if they think a Casey member might scoop you up."

I scrunched up my face. "What?"

I felt him shrug against my body and my cheeks got hot. "The Caseys kidnapped you before. You were already attacked once and threatened at the hospital. Who's to say someone won't come and get you and lead them right to the Casey house?"

"You did exactly that though," I said, motioning with one of my hands to the room we were currently in.

Travis laughed. "How dare I bring you in from the rain," he paused. "But you didn't have your phone on you."

"If that's how my team's thinking, there's nothing to stop them from assuming that a Casey member isn't going to find me on the street and kill me where I'm walking, either."

Travis nodded his head slowly, "We are a ruthless bunch."

I rolled my eyes.

"I'm serious," Travis said, which got my attention because it was a rare occasion that he ever was. "You said earlier you felt like a pawn. Listen to your gut."