It had been ages since he’d come up with a single verse, but there were six of them, sure as the morning sun shone in through the windows. That was his chicken scratch scrawled across the page in a rush of inspiration.
Running a hand through his hair, he lay back in bed with a chuckle.
Fucking Bay had been right. Holdengate was the perfect town for resetting.
Or maybe it was just filled with the right people.
Talking to Bay had been so… effortless. Something rare for Travis, since he was constantly on alert, trying to navigate or predict what the other person wanted out of the conversation.
It was refreshing, and Travis was shocked to realize he wouldn’t mind spending more time with a certain local.
Gathering up the papers and setting them on the side table, he threw the covers off and winced as he stood. The skin beneath his blisters was tight and hot, and he grunted as he walked across the floor.
After a shower, he was careful to sanitize and bandage the blistered area before donning three pairs of the socks. He decided against the boots for the moment, since he wasn’t sure what he’d find downstairs.
When he did finally step into the kitchen, he was surprised that Bay was nowhere to be found. Dana sat alone at the kitchen table, a cup of coffee steaming next to her arm as she turned the page of a book.
“Well, good morning, rock star,” she chirped with a smile.
“Good morning, Dana,” he responded, and waved her off when she made a move to stand.
“No, no. I’ll get it, but thank you.”
Except when he turned to the counter, he didn’t find a regular pot of coffee. Instead there was a plastic cone with a filter and fresh coffee grounds inside.
“It’s called a pour over,” Dana informed him. Her chair scraped against the floor as she stood, reaching for a kettle on the stove.
“It’ll be hot,” she warned, and poured the fresh water over the grounds. It bubbled up and she had to pause and pour multiple times before lifting the plastic cone off and revealing the extra fresh coffee in the mug.
“That’s… new,” Travis remarked.
“Bailey insists on it, he’s spoiled,” she explained. “He introduced me to it a few years ago, and we haven’t been back to a coffee pot in a long time. Unless we have a lot of guests, because pour overs can be high maintenance.
“I see,” he murmured, and doctored the coffee lightly before he joined her at the table. He was in the mood for something sweet.
“You two have fun yesterday?” she asked slyly with a glance over the lip of her mug as she took a sip.
The smile that tugged at his lips couldn’t be helped. “We did, and I actually learned that I’m going to need a new wardrobe if I’m going to be staying here.”
She glanced at his Henley and jeans before nodding vigorously. “Yes, you definitely will. Those clothes are not ideal.”
“And I suppose you know which ones are?” he teased.
She grinned proudly. And that was how he spent an entire afternoon with Dana, picking out new clothes online to have delivered to the inn. By the time lunch had passed, he had a basic wardrobe on its way. Dana was also easy to talk to, and he came close several times to asking about Mr. McAlister, but a part of him just couldn’t do it. It wasn’t until later, when he had returned to his room and had his pencil poised over the paper to write music that he realized why.
He would rather hear it from Bay himself. He wanted to know everything about Bay. His family, his life. Where he’d been all day.
Later that evening, the sound of snow and rocks crunching under tires reached his room, and he glanced out the window. Bay had returned home.
Part of Travis wanted to peek out of his room, catch his attention, but that seemed too… weird. Everything he came up with seemed too suspicious to actually follow through on.
So, much to his dismay, he remained in his room and played the song he’d written the night before. Quietly, he added vocals, experimenting and practicing a new sound, one very different from anything he’d done before.
It was quieter, softer.
So soft that when footsteps sounded in the hallway to his room, they were clear as day, and the music trailed off into silence as he waited with bated breath. He shook himself out of it, not wanting it to appear as if he’d been listening for those very sounds. He strummed his fingers over the guitar strings and continued playing. A few long moments later, the footsteps retreated. The knock on the door he hoped for never came, and he sighed.
As the steps withdrew, he slumped back against the headboard. But then… a new melody drifted through his mind, and his fingers strummed a chord. Then another. And another… until he was frantically jotting down notes and lyrics and half thought out ideas. His mind was moving too quickly to truly keep up, so he started one progression of chords only to switch to another with a completely different rhythm.
The evening came and went, the sunlight dissolving into the night while he was oblivious. He was so focused, so lost in his own head, he didn’t even notice when a knock came. The music held every bit of his attention. He had no choice but to listen while it was playing a debut in his head.
The entire night, while he was a slave to the songs about new beginnings and hard pasts and mysterious chances, a pair of chocolate brown eyes kept reappearing. As did a tall, muscular figure. Veined forearms. A kind smile and even kinder words from plump lips.
When he finally drifted off to sleep in the same manner as the night before, surrounded by sheet music and new lyrics, the visions carried over to his dreams.
Bulbs of gold decorated the ceiling, reflected in the dark depths of a pair of knowing eyes.
Eyes that were hooded. The vision shifted until Bay was beneath him and Travis stared down at those very eyes that had captivated him the night before. His tongue dipped out to wet those full lips, and Travis leaned down to chase it. Their lips crashed together, the scruff of Bay’s unshaven face scratching against his. It seemed so fucking real, Travis groaned and shifted closer, placing one palm against the side of his head to hold him still. But then it all flipped, and Travis was staring up at Bay, and he was the one being held in place as Bay lowered his head. Travis tipped his head up and parted his lips as they kissed, their mouths slotting together in a messy, eager pairing.
Greedy for whatever happened, Travis palmed his shoulders, all his smooth, hard muscle moving like waves beneath his warm skin. Trailing his hands down his sides, Travis gripped his waist and ground up into him at the same time he ground down. Sweet friction. Their matching groans were lost in the kiss, and Travis opened his mouth more, making room to deepen the kiss. Their tongues twined, and as they gasped for air between kisses, Travis trailed his hand around to the front of Bay’s jeans to unbutton them. He teased his fingers just inside the waistband, his heart pounding as he prepared himself for whatever came next. Whatever it was, he wanted it. He wanted Bay.
Bay lifted his head and stared down at him, and they shared a glance that said a thousand words without either of them parting their lips for anything other than a breath.
Travis gripped the waistband of his jeans and shimmied them down his hips. Bay’s skin was hot to the touch as he slowly skimmed his fingers along his abs, and then lower, until he could wrap his fingers tight around his hard—
Travis jerked awake, blinking into the darkness of his room, papers rustling under him as he sat up.