MINE!

Never Let It Be His

'Close you eyes, no peeking'

'Traaaaaaav' the girl complained, her 18 year old boyfriend knew she hated not knowing what was going on but this was a surprise of epic proportions so he wasn't about to let her impatience spoil it

'We're almost there. Keep your eyes closed'

'If I fall because I can't see...'

'You won't fall, unless it's falling in love with me' he said chuckling loudly and then placing a kiss on the back of her ear

'You're so cheesy' she said with a happy smile on her lips

'Okay, we're here'

'Let me see, let me see!'

'Patience Taylor, please, I have something to say first' he tightened his hands over her eyes, desperate that she not see anything at all until he had said what he had to say 'I know you have been really sad since your dad kicked you out and I know staying at mine isn't ideal but I want you to know I love you and I was serious when I said I wanted to take care of you so...'

With that he removed his hands from her eyes 'Ta da'

The girl blinked a few times, expecting to see something obvious but instead seeing nothing but a tall, grey apartment block

'I don't see it' She complained, turning to Travis and gasping when she saw the silver keys he was dangling in front of her eyes

'Welcome home baby'

She wrapped her thin fingers around the cool metal and looked up into her boyfriends beaming face, he looked so proud, so anxious and she couldn't say anything. She had just taken the key in her hand and turned back to the apartment block as Travis' arm slid around her shoulders

'You got us an apartment?' Her voice was a stunned whisper

'I got us a home, our very first home together'

Still she just stared at the building in awe

'But how? You're 18 years old, in high school, how could you possibly afford this?!'

'I've been working with my dad' Taylor missed the sudden show of shame that passed over her boyfriends face as she remained with her back to him 'I'm going to work weekends and evenings to pay for it, I promise I'm going to make this work'

Suddenly Taylor turned under his arm and threw her arms around his neck 'Oh my God I love you so much' she said against his chest 'I'm going to get a job too, In a diner or a store, anything'

'No, no, no, you're gonna focus on school and get into that college you want'

'And you are too, we're going to do it all together' She turned back to the building as Travis' arms slid around her waist and he kissed the shell of her ear

'It doesn't matter if I don't go to college, I know what I want to do'

'Yeah? And what's that?' She asked from beneath a smirk, already sure of where this conversation was going

'You' He growled whilst scooping her up bridal style and running towards the entrance to the apartment block 'Let's go christen our home baby' he laughed whilst managing to kiss her whilst carrying her without dropping her and she wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him back feeling so happy and so loved and so full of excitement for their future together

*****************

The hammering on my front door brings me crashing back to the here and now with a heart stopping jolt

I jump to my feet and run to the front door peering through the peep hole and feeling my heart begin to race unnaturally fast at the face that is stood outside my door

"Let me in Taylor I know you're in there" I know if I don't open the door he will stand there making a scene until everyone in the apartment block knows what's going on, so with shaky fingers I unlock the white front door and let it fall open

"Is he moving in here?" Travis storms past me into the narrow hallway, his scent wrapping its self around me as he moves past

Shutting the door, I sigh and wonder when these confrontations with Travis will ever end, not sure how much more of this soul destroying emotional turmoil I can take

"Well?" He turns to face me, his black T-shirt pulling tight over his muscular shoulders and chest and doing all kinds of wrong things to my body and mind

"What are you talking about?" I ask as I move into the lounge room, looking to put as much distance between Travis  and I as possible, the weight of his return forcing my head and my heart to feel heavy inside of me

"Cez told me that loser is talking like he's moving in here, to my fuckin house Taylor, the house I worked my ass off to get and to keep" his hands are on his narrow hips as he stares daggers at me, he's as furious as I have ever seen him, the thought of me and another man living in his home seemingly driving him almost to the edge of his senses

"This is my home Travis, your money was dirty and I paid you it all back"

"I don't want it back, I want you back and my house and my life" He walks to the cream leather sofa and sits down heavily with his head in his hands "It wasn't supposed to be like this"

"Travis, I know it's hard"

"Do you?" His head snaps up quick as a whip "Do you have any idea what it's like carrying the weight of what I did and what I lost?"

I can't help you with that" I tell him as I sit on the matching cream leather arm chair and gaze at the man I had once loved with every fibre of my being. That chocolate coloured hair, the way his cheeks always flush pink... when I first met him he had endured so much and was at the mercy of everyone else's opinion of him but I saw through that, saw the man he could be but the pull of his past was seemingly stronger than his love for me and that's where we now find ourselves, destroyed by the past but too tied to it to move to the future

"You can't let him move in here Tay, this place is ours, the memories here are ours. That bathroom is the place we found out you were pregnant, the bedroom is where I made you pregnant" he lifts his head as our gazes meet and I'm not surprised when he winks at that statement and watches my cheeks burn. "This room, right over there" he pointed to the large white framed window, that's where we were stood when we found out we had both been accepted to college"

"And that front door is where the police entered and took you and any chance of any future we had" we both break our gaze, returning our eyes to our knees

"I didn't mean to get it so wrong, but I was an 18 year old kid, desperate for your dad to like me, desperate for him to see how I could look after you"

"You didn't have to look after me Trav, we were supposed to be looking after each other, not lying to each other!"

"Taylor, I was 18 years old and a high school senior paying hundreds of dollars a month in rent and utilities, where did you think I was getting the money?"

The question hangs between us for a long moment as I pull at a frayed thread on the torn knee of my jeans

"You said you were working for your dad" I admit quietly and knowing I should have asked him more questions but so happy with our situation I just believed every word he said

"Yeah and I was but what the fuck did you think my dad did?! Have you seen the size of our house? The cars he owns? And have you ever seen him going to work? 9-5 like your dad did or any other father did for that matter?!"

"No, he was always home"

"I worked for my dad Taylor, I trusted my dad, I went to jail for my fuckin dad!" He is on his feet and in front of the me and I know shame is radiating from my face, dropping to his knees he lifts my head with one finger below my chin "I would do it all again for those times we had together in this apartment. Please, I'm begging you, please do not let another man take my place here. If it's too late for me to have this.." he says placing a hand over my heart "Please let me keep the memories of here, our home, our home, not his. Never let it be his"