Travis ran through the narrow streets of Albufeira old town. The humid air burning his throat as he attempted to keep track of the white SUV that was driving irratically a way in front of him.
"Pare!" He yelled repeatedly, the people around him watching as though either they had found themselves caught up in a T.V show or Travis was a complete lunatic. "Pare! Por favor!"
His face was red, sweat dripped down his face and he could feel it trickle down his back below the white shirt that he wore.
Silently he thanked God the streets were so narrow and so filled with tourists meaning the car stood no chance of speading up and disappearing out of sight without mowing down a lot of people but was he going to be able to keep his legs moving? Was he going to be able to fight to keep going in the heat of the mid day sun?? How he wished he was in his homeland of Canada, in a familiar climate he could run all day but his legs were burning and each time he inhaled it was as though he was breathing in fire.
"Pare!" He yelled his voice hoarse from both the heat and from screaming, and then suddenly the car appeared to slow, the passenger door opened and a body was flung into the road before the car sped up onve more
Travis' legs seemed to give up of their own accord as he slowed to a jog, his mind trying to make sense of what his eyes were seeing. "No..." his voice was just a rough whisper. "NO!" Picking up his speed he ran to the figure, ignoring the screams and looks of absolute horror on the faces around him.
"Noa!" He plunged to his knees, his hands grabbing her by the shoulders "Noa!"
Noa Marta Silva, she was under his watch, his first job in Personal Protection. All it took was one mistake and she was gone.
He turned her over terrified of what he would see, the tourquois eyes that had always sparkled against her mocha coloured skin he dreaded seeing them any other way but as she came to rest on her back Travis was shocked to see the eyes were the most clear, shiny shade of blue, the lips fuller than Noa' s and pulled up into a beautiful smile he recognised
"Taylor..." but she didn't speak she just looked at him as though he was the most beautiful thing she had ever seen im her life but how? How was it possible that she was even here??? Travis bent down and took her in his arms feeling as though it had been years since they had last touched "Tay?" She didn't hug back, in fact her body was limp in his arms so he laid her down on to the ground and then he saw it.
The crimson stain against his damp white shirt. The red fluid dripping from his hands...
He looked to Taylor but her face was white, her lips blue
"TAYLOR!!!!"
*******************
Travis bolted upright in his bed, his loose grey t-shirt clung to his wide chest, damp with perspiration
The dreams were coming more and more frequently now, each one more realistic than the last and in each one it's Taylor who died in his arms not Noa. Crashing back down he covered his eyes with his arms and attempted to formulate a plan something his emotions had been preventing him from doing successfully up until now.
In Portugal, the back story he was given along with the short temper he had been left with as a result of his time in the army meant he had soon found himself living up to his reputation.
What no one knew though was that Noa wasn't his girlfriend, she was in fact a member of the notorious Silva Family, only child of Paulo Silva, Portugals most feared crime lord... that is until Travis Kelce began making a name for himself.
Jealousy came easy to the other men trying to topple Paulo and Travis had quickly become the focus of it and then Noa, his supposed lover.
A hammering in his bedroom door drew Travis back from his memories
"Fuck off!" He yelled, not having had enough restful sleep to allow him to tolerate anyone this early in the morning but they were insistant and the hammering continued.
Throwing himself out of bed, Travis pulled on a pair of black track pants and then stormed over to the door, ready to knock out the teeth of whoever thought they could ignore him when he had told them to go away.
"You're involved aren't you!" Screeched Ana as she waved something in Travis' face.
He wasn't sure what it was but he could tell by her face that he wasn't going to like it so he took hold of her wrist, dragging her into his room and slamming the door shut behind them
"What are you talking about?"
"These!" She waved the items again "Why are these being sent to you instead of her father?!"
Taylor...
Lurching forward, Travis ripped the items from Anas grip, and stared down at them.
In his hands were two photos of Taylor, her hair was tangled, her face pale and tear stained, fresh blood dripped from her lip.
She looked so young and so broken and Travis felt tears mingle with fury.
He remembered the Taylor he had first met, how fiesty and headstrong she had been, it had been her sass that had attracted him to her first and here she was a shell of who she had been then. Once again destroyed by grown men that used her as nothing more than a pawn in their game but she was alive, thank fuck that she was alive!!!
"This is about you not about Ale isn't it? You are why she was taken"
"Yes" was all Travis said, his eyes never moving from the images before him.
First her blood stained clothes and now this but no demands, no request to meet, nothing, they were torturing him with their silence and he knew they'd be loving every second of it.
"I'm getting Alejandro, you have some explaining to do"
Travis just nodded, again looking down at the images, his mind full of all the different ways they could be hurting her. Ana was right, this was about him, anything she was suffering through was all because of him.
Slamming the photos down onto his beside table he was just about to yell obscenities when his phone began to buzz on the spot it lay, next to the images that had their blank side facing up.
Unknown number...
Usually Travis would ignore them but under the circumstances he couldn't ignore anything right now.
As he lifted it to his ear a furious Alejandro Swift appeared in the doorway with a very smug looking Ana trailing behind.
"Kelce" was all he said and the line was quiet "Who is this?" Travis demanded to know and then he heard it, a tiny sniff.
"Travis...its me" her voice was tiny and weak but there was no mistaking it
"Taylor! Baby!" He didn't have the chance to say any more before he heard movement and then a blood curdling scream before the line went dead.
"Taylor!!!!!..."
