Taylor x Travis: In Every Life

i hate you, i love you

The last time we'd shared any form of a kiss had been after a brutal fight that had left us both reeling, and we'd responded by fucking like animals. Angry sex with hard, rough kisses had ended after three rounds, and then we'd both stalked away and not spoken for two days.

Set six weeks before the last one shot 'you'll always find your way back home'

Taylor's POV

The house was quiet when I got home, which wasn't a surprise. If it wasn't pierced by the sound of arguments, it was always silent.

My heart immediately flinched back when I closed the door and locked it behind me, preparing itself to shield against an attack. Not one day had passed in the last week where Travis and I had been able to stand being in the same room as each other without it ending in a screaming match that no one ever actually won. I was so tired, tired of the fighting, the sleeping in the spare room, all of it, but it took two people to argue and I couldn't risk begging for a ceasefire and getting myself hurt.

Luckily, there was no sign of Travis. He must have gone to bed already, which made my shoulders relax as I fed the cats and started making a small dinner. Once I'd eaten, I started cleaning the kitchen, wiping down the counters and starting to do the dishes. 

"Do you have to be so loud?" A rough, grumbly voice caught my attention and my head snapped up to see Travis coming out of the bedroom. He was shirtless, wearing just a pair of pajama shorts and blinking tiredly at me.

"Well do you want to do the dishes in the morning?" I grumbled back, scrubbing at a pan. 

"Well excuse me." Travis huffed. "Did you have fun working all day and ignoring the rest of your life?"

"You know what, yeah, I did." I stopped what I was doing and glared at him. "It was really nice working with people who aren't out to fight with me over the fucking dishes. And don't you dare fucking start on your stupid cheating accusations again, because I'm far too tired for that shit." Every time Travis and I fought after I'd been at the studio all day, he insisted I'd been fucking one of my producers in the recording booth.

"Oh you're tired." Travis laughed cruelly. 

"Yeah, I am!" I stuck my hands on my hips. "I'm allowed to be Travis! I know we do different things and your job is more physical than mine but I'm still tired!"

"Tired from having sex with as many other people as you possibly can?"

"Oh fuck you!" I laughed in disbelief. "You don't see me accusing you of cheating just because I'm pissed off! Do you seriously ever think I would do that to you? After everything that's happened?"

I thought I saw a flicker of guilt over Travis' expression then, but it immediately vanished a second later. Being accused of cheating was another level of betrayal, because I'd been broken down by a man who had cheated and cheated and lied until I was nothing more than a shell. Travis knew that. He knew how much that had hurt me.

"Maybe that's just your way of coping." Travis grumbled, and my eyes narrowed.

"Or maybe this is your way of covering up the fact that you're cheating on me." I accused, and anger flashed across his face. "Yeah." I folded my arms. "Doesn't feel good does it? So don't fucking accuse me of something like that."

"Oh you're a fucking piece of work." Travis snapped. "You think you can just..."

"Shut up!" I yelled, finally snapping. "I'm sick of you picking a damn fight over everything! So will you just shut the fuck up and leave me alone?"