“Come in, Mare,” Travis answered.
America walked in with Shepley, and she smiled at the site of us tangled in each other’s arms. “We were going to grab a bite to eat. You two feel like making a Pei Wei run?”
“Ugh … Asian again, Mare? Really?” Travis asked.
I smiled. He sounded like himself again.
America noticed as well. “Yes, really. You guys coming or not?”
“I’m starving,” I said.
“Of course you are, you didn’t get to eat lunch,” he said, frowning. He stood up, bringing me with him. “Come on. Let’s get you some food.”
He kept his arm around me and didn’t let go until we were in the booth of Pei Wei.
As soon as Travis left for the bathroom, America leaned in. “So? What did he say?”
“Nothing,” I shrugged.
She raised an eyebrow. “You were in his room for two hours. He didn’t say anything?”
“He usually doesn’t when he’s that mad,” Shepley said.
“He had to have said something,” America prodded.
“He said he got a little carried away taking up for me, and that he didn’t tell Parker the truth when he walked in. That’s it,” I said, straightening the salt and pepper.
Shepley shook his head, closing his eyes.
“What, baby?” America asked, sitting taller.
“Travis is,” he sighed, rolling his eyes. “Forget it.”
America wore a stubborn expression. “Oh, hell no, you can’t just—”
She cut off when Travis sat down and swung his arm behind me. “Damn it! The food’s not here yet?”
We laughed and joked until the restaurant closed, and then filed into the car for the ride home. Shepley carried America up the stairs on his back, but Travis stayed behind, tugging on my arm to keep me from following. He looked up at our friends until they disappeared behind the door and then offered a regretful smile. “I owe you an apology for today, so I’m sorry.”
“You’ve already apologized. It’s fine.”
“No, I apologized for Parker. I don’t want you thinking I’m some psycho that goes around attacking people over the tiniest thing,” he said, “but I owe you an apology because I didn’t defend you for the right reason.”
“And that would be …” I prompted.
“I lunged at him because he said he wanted to be next in line, not because he was teasing you.”
“Insinuating there is a line is plenty reason for you to defend me, Trav.”
“That’s my point. I was pissed because I took that as him wanting to sleep with you.”
After processing what Travis meant, I grabbed the sides of his shirt and pressed my forehead against his chest. “You know what? I don’t care,” I said, looking up at him. “I don’t care what people are saying or that you lost your temper, or why you messed up Chris’s face. The last thing I want is a bad reputation, but I’m tired of explaining our friendship to everyone. To hell with ’em.”
Travis’s eyes turned soft, and the corners of his mouth turned up. “Our friendship? Sometimes I wonder if you listen to me at all.”
“What do you mean?”
“Let’s go in. I’m tired.”