Page 52 of Hold Me Down

"If he wants it."

"If he wants it." Kalei nodded, straightening in his seat. "But from what you're telling me, and from what I've seen, I'd say your odds are pretty damn good."

Travis perked up at that. "Yeah?"

"Yeah. Now, get the hell out and go talk with Dave."

Snorting, Travis got to his feet.

"Yes, Boss. I'm on it."

He couldn't wait to get home.

CHAPTER TWENTY

Dave turned off the TV with a huff. He couldn't pay attention to anything for even a minute, his thoughts racing around Travis, and where he was, and how he felt about their fight…

As Dave rolled onto the sitting position, he stared at the front door, wishing it to open up, to reveal Travis on the other side, ready and willing to talk things out.

Ready to forgive Dave for his stupid outburst.

The door stayed closed, of course, because life didn't work that way, and the longer he sat there, staring, the worse he would feel, so he needed to get it together.

He wasn't looking forward to getting up the stairs by himself again, but he didn't have much of a choice, unless he wanted to continue wallowing on the couch and imagining Travis picking up some hot stranger at a bar for something easy and fun.

Because Dave clearly liked to torture himself.

Not anymore, though.

He grabbed his crutches from the side and was about to lift himself onto his feet, when there was a quiet noise outside and a moment later, the front door opened.

Travis was back.

Damn, maybe life did work that way, after all, when given enough time.

Dave's heartbeat sped up as they stared at each other for the longest time without uttering a word.

Don't mess this up, don't mess this up—

"I'm sorry."

They both said it at the same time, with Dave maybe half a second ahead, and then there was a beat of silence again, and the tension broke, just like that.

Dave's shoulders almost hurt when they relaxed, but he didn't care, instead offering a little smile to Travis, who nodded and smiled back.

"Okay, then." He quickly shrugged off his boots and a jacket before coming to sit on the couch next to Dave, facing him. "That was a promising start."

With a chuckle, Dave put his crutches aside again and sat back to face Travis, too.

"I'd say so, yes. But there's more where this came from, to be clear. I know I have some explaining to do."

"So do I."

"Yeah, no." Dave shook his head. "That's gracious of you, but we both know better."

"You have more explaining to do—how about that?" Travis ran a hand through his hair. "About today, at least. I have a… larger issue."

Dave's eyebrows shot up at that, but he didn't want to get derailed. Any excuse would be an easy copout, a way to put off something that really needed to be said.

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