Page 32 of Almost Beautiful (Beautiful 3)

“Did you figure it out?” America asked.

I shook my head. “No, but I will.”

“What are you talking about?” Shepley asked, straightening his shirt.

“Those guys were weird,” America said.

“They came over to talk to us,” I said. “But after we told them you were coming back, they hung around. They didn’t talk to us, try to buy us drinks, anything. Almost like they were waiting for you.”

Travis and Shepley traded glances.

“Have you seen them before?” I asked.

Travis made a face. “No. And I better not see them again.”

“What he said about us being bitches,” America said. “He knew it would set Travis off. The whole thing is just sketch. Something is up.”

“You two need to stop watching those crime shows on Netflix. You’re getting paranoid as fuck,” Travis said, looking at me.

I frowned. “Those guys were half your size. You didn’t need to swing on them.”

Shepley shrugged. “I just roughed him up. If I’d thrown a real punch, I might’ve killed him.”

“Same,” Travis said, monotone.

I tugged on Travis’s hand. “I’m telling you guys, something’s up with them. Mare’s right. We need to find out what it is.”

Travis looked to Shepley, who shrugged. “One of them had a Parkland College keyring with an Eastern State one on the same chain. They’re just a couple of cock suckers from Champagne, Illinois who’ve never met a Maddox.”

I arched my eyebrow at Shepley. I thought I was the observant one.

Travis took off his jacket and draped it over my shoulders.

I hadn’t noticed until that moment that I was shivering.

“You know what we need to do?” he asked, kissing my cheek. “We need to move on. I’m not going to spend my life looking over my shoulder, Pidge. I don’t want you to, either. I’m going to call on that job next week, and you’re going to start tutoring. They’ll finish the investigation, and it will all be over."

I nodded, waving to America when Travis opened the passenger door. I slid in, annoyed that I was still shivering. I wasn’t cold, I was nervous.

Justin and Ricky had come to pick a fight with Travis.

I needed to know why.

Travis stood outside my door and lit a cigarette, holding his other hand flat against my window.

I pressed my palm against his, and he winked at me, blowing out a puff of smoke.

He took a few puffs and then pinched off the cherry, mashing the lit ash into the gravel with his boot. He stuffed the butt into his pocket, and just as he walked around the back of the car, Justin and Ricky came into view.

They were standing in the far shadows of the parking lot, staring at the Camry. Ricky and I locked eyes, and he spoke something to Justin, but didn’t look away.

I lowered my chin and lifted my hand, prominently displaying my middle finger.

Travis opened the door and I put myfuck youaway, smiling at him as he turned the ignition and then placed his hand on my knee while he drove to the road.

The men stepped back into the darkness, out of Travis’s eyesight, but I knew they were there, watching.

“Everything okay, baby?” Travis said. “I’m sorry. I know you were looking forward to tonight.”