The Black Tangled Heart

The Dark

"Travis?" Taylors voice was faint as she suddenly lurched forward towards him, his large arms wrapping around her as the three men gasped at her sudden movement and then took their opportunity to run

"Sit there" Travis instructed as he placed her gently down onto the concrete street and then moved as to follow the three men making their escape

"Travis!" She gasped out loudly "Don't leave me!"

Travis turned suddenly, torn between vengeance and Taylor

"It's dark" she said, her voice tiny and slurred "I don't like being alone in the dark"

Looking back to the figures disappearing into the night, Travis closed his eyes and gritted his teeth. Walking away from a confrontation was not his chosen approach to anything but looking at Taylor swaying as she sat on the cold concrete, he realised maybe the confrontation he was meant to have tonight was now and it was with her

Striding back to where she sat unsteadily, Travis hooked an arm under her legs and lifted her to his chest as though she weighed nothing.

Walking towards her car, he felt his heart rate speed up as he imagined the conversation they were to have and then realised she was so drunk that she would probably have forgotten it all by morning anyways

Placing her gently into the passenger seat of her own car, Travis slid the seat belt over her slim body and connected it before moving to the drivers side and fastening his own and then driving out into the late night traffic

"I'm sleepy" she suddenly said quietly, her words still slurred but also dripping in truth

"I'll take you home"

"To our home?" She asked, her voice panicked as though she was afraid he would take her back to her family home and whatever horrors lay within

"Yes our home" Travis confirmed as he kept his gaze on the light stream of traffic before him desperate to slide an arm over her shoulder and provide her with some comfort but well aware his words and actions had put a barrier between them he was unsure of how to break down

"I'm tired"

"Sleep. I won't let anything happen to you"

"You won't leave me to fuck another girl?"

"Not again" he promised as her eyelids dropped shut "Never again"

**********

The sound of the alarm ringing caused Taylor to jump up from the bed and reach for an imaginary assailant she assumed she was to do battle with.

Luckily the alarm was just Travis' phone so he lifted it up and turned it off, his body stretching and moving away from hers as she battled through the pain of her hangover to work out what the hell was going on

"Travis?" She asked, her voice groggy with sleep and rough from the dehydration of alcohol

"I'm here" he confirmed and then waited to hear if that was a good thing or a bad thing

"I don't remember what happened" she said as she pulled his navy blue duvet cover up to her chin, checking briefly that she wore clothes and relieved to see that she at least wore a long T-shirt of Travis' with her panties in place

"Sleep. We'll talk when you are rested"

"We didn't..."

"No" he answered resolutely "We didn't do that" he hated how relieved she looked at that information but understood it as he turned to face away from her, the distance between them mere inches but feeling like miles