A Fallow Heart (Tommy Creek #2)(82)

“Get off,” she demanded, shoving at him again, but this time, she couldn’t break free. “Travis.” She growled his name from between gritted teeth. “I’m warning you.”

The jerk tried to kiss her. When his mouth loomed close, she panicked. Needing immediate freedom, she hiked her knee up, glad her skirt was loose enough to lift a satisfying height to hit her target.

As soon as she cracked him between the legs, he choked out a surprised, pained grunt and lurched over, cradling his privates before tipping sideways and pitching to the floor. Curling into the fetal position, he gasped, “You…bitch.”

She sniffed, unimpressed by the insult and began to step over his leg to stride off, but he caught her ankle and nearly sent her sprawling onto her face.

Just as she yelped out her surprise and threw out her arms to catch herself, a strident voice roared from down the hall. “Hey! What’s going on here?”

Cooper, something inside her called. He’d come.

Except, when she lifted her face and tugged her foot free from Travis, losing her sandal in the process, Cooper wasn’t the man charging toward her. She was so disappointed to not see him, she didn’t even recognize her brother-in-law until he caught her arm and steadied her, helping her straighten back to her full height.

“Thank God Em sent me to check on you. Are you okay?”

She tucked her mused hair out of her face. “Yeah. I…I’m fine.” She lifted her face to smile at her savior, but he’d already turned away and was hauling a still-hunched Travis to his feet.

“You messed up, pal,” he said calmly enough before shoving the wounded man against a row of lockers and pinning him there. “Now apologize to my sister.”

Instead of cowering and immediately spitting out an impassioned apology, the idiot blinked at Branson. “Sister?”

“He’s married to Emma Leigh,” Jo Ellen explained vaguely as she tugged at her brother-in-law’s arm. “Bran, let him go—”

Travis spit out a surprised laugh. “You mean someone actually married that rude, mouthy dike twin of yours?”

Branson’s face molted to an immediate and intense, angry scarlet. “What did you call my wife?”

Before Bran could inflict any permanent damage and Travis sued him—which was exactly what he’d do—Jo Ellen tightened her grip and tugged her brother-in-law backward. “Branson. No. He’s not worth it.”

He let her pull him away, but continued to glare at Travis, challenging him with his narrowed eyes to make one wrong move.

“That’s right,” Travis taunted, leering. “Let the little woman lead you around by a leash.”

Branson’s nostrils flared but he kept his cool and refrained from lashing back, even verbally. Jo Ellen relaxed a fraction of an inch until Emma Leigh showed up with a sleeping infant passed out against her.

“Bran, what’s taking so—” She paused when she saw Jo Ellen pressed up against his chest. “What—” She finally turned to spot Travis deeper in the shadows, panting shallowly as he curled his injured body against the wall, and Jo Ellen’s lost sandal as she slipped it back on.

Taking in the scene, she lugged her baby higher on her shoulder and demanded, “Okay, what’d I miss?”

Still not knowing when to shut up, Travis ogled her, focusing his attention on her milk-filled breasts. “Damn, Emma Leigh. Guess I deflowered the wrong sister.”

Branson tensed under Jo Ellen’s restraining hand a split second before he let out a roar. She dodged into his path just as he charged, successfully tripping him up.

As they sprawled against each other, she lifted her voice and called, “Enough!” Latching her arm around Branson’s and keeping him tethered to her, she glared at the other man. “Travis, go back to your family. Now.”

But his family had already found him. “Trav?” The feminine voice from behind the four of them, made everyone turn to not only find his wife and children standing there watching, but half of their high school class gathered around to enjoy the show.

After wiping at his red face, he pointed accusingly at Jo Ellen. “She attacked me. She—”

His wife sighed and rolled her eyes, breaking into his accusation. “Travis, don’t even start with me again.” Grabbing the hands of her two children, she reeled them away and stalked off through a gap where the crowd immediately parted to let her pass.

“Look what you did?” Travis accused, whirling toward Jo Ellen.

She shook her head sadly. “Please tell me you’re not that pathetic.”

“Well, what did you think to accomplish, luring a married man out into a dark, quiet hall?”

She rolled her eyes, “I meant to talk, Travis. Only talk.”

He blinked blankly. “Talk? Talk about what?”

“I just wanted to thank you,” she said with a saccharine smile. “Thank you for showing me what a complete and utter * you were ten years ago so I didn’t make the biggest mistake of my life and actually marry you.”

He sputtered, offended, but she lifted a hand. “Why don’t you race after your wife now and try to beg your way back into her forgiveness?”

He glanced at everyone watching him and pushed from the wall, limping as he hastened away.

“Oh, and Travis,” Jo Ellen called after him. When he paused and glanced back warily, she smiled sweetly. “Before you go, I just want to confess…I made out with someone else when you and I were dating, and what’s worse, he was a hundred times better kisser than you were.” When his mouth fell open, she added, “He’s a hundred times the man you are. But that shouldn’t be too hard for you to believe since you were always just so jealous of him.”