Page 41 of Breakaway

No man had ever made her feel like this before. She felt so complete and happy.

Afterward, she rested her head on his chest and ran her fingers along his abs. As soon as she caught her breath and her heart rate had returned to normal, she laced her fingers with his.

“So are you okay with me calling you my girl?” he asked.

“I like the sound of that.”

“Awesome,” he whispered, and wrapped his arms around her in a hug.

“I really don’t want you to go,” she said, trying not to sound pathetic, but it was how she felt.

Travis kissed her forehead and stroked her hair. “Everything will work out, I promise.”

CHAPTER NINETEEN

Travis

Travis hated every second of leaving Morgan. Maybe if he would’ve showed Morris that he wasn’t such a bad guy before he got involved with Morgan, things would’ve been different. Or maybe not. Knowing Morris, probably not.

He’d never given Morris any reason to think he was good enough for Morgan, and that was his mistake.

The situation of his being sent down to Wilkes Barre was like a big flashing sign that this was a punishment. There was no other reason that he was being sent down, and Ben was still in Pittsburgh. It had to have been Morris’s retaliation. After all, Morris had the right connections. His wife was Tyler Kidd’s sister.

Maybe Travis should’ve seen this coming after the puck to the face incident. Thank God for visors, or he’d have one messed up grill right now. Sure, that could’ve just been a freak incident. He’d been in hockey long enough to know that the puck could get deflected all sorts of ways, and it was possible that it had deflected along his stick. It was just ironic that Morris had been on the other end of it.

The journey back to Wilkes Barre was only about a four-hour drive, but today it felt like forever.

It was funny how twenty-four hours ago, he was happy and had Morgan in his arms. And now they were going to be on opposite ends of the state.

He knew it had been too early to ask her to come with him, but with all she was dealing with at the Morris place, her moving with him would’ve solved so many things. She could’ve gotten out on her own, and he’d still have her in his arms every opportunity. However, it would’ve landed him even higher on Sam’s shit list.

Arriving home, he narrowly avoided being seen by a group of the guys headed to the local bar. He snuck into his apartment unnoticed. The last thing he wanted to do right now was go out partying with the guys. And being Saturday night in Wilkes Barre, that was exactly what the team was doing.

Locking himself in his apartment, he called Morgan. No answer.

She was probably sleeping. They could talk tomorrow. He sent her a simple text to let her know he had arrived safely.

TRAVIS: You’re probably asleep. I’m back home, got here safe and sound.

TRAVIS: I miss you.

TRAVIS: Talk to you tomorrow.

Looking around his quiet apartment, he was sad to be home. Never in a million years would he have thought he’d find love in Pittsburgh.

Now, home was the last place he wanted to be. He was angry at himself for not playing better, for not trying harder, for failing to be the player Pittsburgh saw potential in.

But since meeting Morgan, he now had more drive than ever to get called back up to the Renegades and to be asked to stay. He never imagined that his desire to be in the professional hockey league could’ve gotten any stronger, but it just did.

But first, there was someone else he had to touch base with. He dialed his grandmother’s number.

“Hi Grams,” he said, when she answered.

“Hello hon, is everything okay?”

She could always tell when something was wrong. “Um, sort of. I’m fine. But I wanted to tell you that I’m back home in Wilkes Barre.”

“Oh, back to the Falcons. Well, I won’t say that’s good, but at least you’re back in your own apartment.”