“I can’t lose you both,” she blurted.
She couldn’t find the courage to look at Cam, so she focused on Travis.
“You’re not going to lose us,” he protested. “No matter what happens, at the end of the day, you will always be able to count on both of us.”
“But our friendships? And the two of you—your friendship? What about that? You can’t tell me that if this goes south, I’m not responsible for destroying all of that.”
Cam stood, and his body pressed against Lia’s side.
“You can’t tell me you haven’t thought about this six different ways to Sunday. You’ve weighed it all.”
He was right; she had thought about every contingency, but she’d also somehow whitewashed all of the risks that were involved with sparkles and glittery rainbows. Because that’s what you did with dreams that were far off in the distance: You played up the benefits and played down the sharp edges. She was about to tell them that she needed more time to think, when Travis beat her to it.
“How about we just hang out tonight—as friends? We play some cards, have a drink, keep it low key. We’ve never really hung out with an eye toward something more. Let’s find our rhythm and see what makes sense for us.”
“Cards?” Lia repeated.
Travis nodded and pulled out the drawer in the coffee table, producing a deck.
Cards. She could do cards. Low key. Low stress. Low freak out. She could do this.
They were being hustled. That was Travis’s only thought as he shucked off his pants and tossed them to the floor.
“Cheers,” Lia laughed, toasting him with her shot of whiskey before she sipped from it. She didn’t toss it back and drink the whole thing. No, she savored it, because she’d said she didn’t want to waste it.
Travis didn’t care, though, because he didn’t want Lia to get drunk. The way things were headed, he could see tonight getting a whole hell of a lot more interesting.
He caught another look that Lia darted between him and Cam. Both of them were stripped down to nothing but their boxers. Socks were gone too. Lia, in contrast, had only removed her necklace and a single sock.
The woman was a fucking card shark, and goddamn if Travis didn’t find that hot as hell. He shook his head.
“How’d you learn to play cards like a Vegas poker legend?” Travis asked.
Lia shrugged, looking completely at ease on the cushion next to Cam. Which was fucking phenomenal. He wanted her chilled out and comfortable with them—and the fact that she wasn’t freaking when the clothes started to come off was a good sign indeed.
“My dad played when I was a kid. He taught my brother and me. I went to poker night once a week at my brother’s place until…” her words trailed off and her expression darkened. “You know. Until the shit went down.”
Both Travis and Cam’s attention landed on the same thing. “You have a brother? How the hell didn’t we know that?” Cam demanded.
This time, Lia grabbed the shot and tipped it back, swallowing until the glass was empty. She set it on the table with a crack.
“Because he’s dead.”
“When?” Travis asked softly. He leaned over the coffee table, grabbed her hand, and squeezed. He needed the closeness when it was obvious she wasn’t into talking.
Cam’s hand landed on her knee in a similar gesture of support. Even though Travis knew whatever she was going to say next was going to suck donkey balls, he was happy that the three of them were already pulling together like a unit.
“The day they took me,” Lia bit out. “Those assholes killed him. Three rounds and he was down.”
“Then I’m even more glad we fucking ended them and lit up their camp like the Fourth of fucking July,” Cam said, wrapping his arm around Lia’s shoulders. He pressed a kiss to her temple. “I’m so sorry, sweetheart. I had no idea.”
She squeezed Travis’s hand. “Wish I’d known sooner, would’ve made them suffer even more.”
Lia smiled sadly. “He died protecting me. Hell of a big brother, right?”
“The best,” Travis replied.
Lia dropped Travis’s hand and reached for the bottle. “I think that deserves another drink.”
Neither man protested as she filled her shot glass again and tossed the whiskey back.
The card game all but forgotten, Travis focused on Lia. How incredibly fucking amazing she was. She’d been through so much, and she’d clawed her way back every single time.
Travis folded his cards onto the table. “Think I’m done with this hand.”
Lia set her glass down on the table more carefully this time. “I think I’m done with this game.” Her eyes landed on Travis before shifting to Cam. And then she did something completely unexpected—she grabbed the hem of her T-shirt and pulled it up and over her head.