The Ties That Bind 1

by D. A. Young

  Perhaps, a summer fling full of misbehaving?

  Triumph swelled within Ransom’s chest at the concession on her gorgeous face.

  “Okay, so impress me,” Billy challenged, smiling playfully. “I’m dying to see everything New Mexico has to offer, Lawson.”

  Claudia squeezed the aloe stem she’d cut from her garden onto a wet washcloth. Tenderly, she applied the salve to Harley’s battered face. Her heart was forever breaking for her oldest child. The beating at his younger brother’s hands must have been a detrimental blow, not just to his pride, but his spirit as well. That pendejo Pitch had dropped him off here to recuperate with a terse explanation.

  “Little bro beat his ass.”

  “Wake up, mijo. I brought you some soup and chamomile tea.”

  She saw his left eye flicker. It was the only one he could see out of, but just barely. He closed it again and mumbled through his swollen mouth, “Not hungry. Go away.”

  “Like hell, I will! You’re going to eat; otherwise, you’ll never get back on your feet! No son of mine is going to sit in the dark and hide like a coward, Harley!”

  Claudia pulled up the chair she’d brought in from Slade’s study, next to the old bunk beds. She picked up the bowl, spooned some chicken noodle soup and held it to his lips expectantly. “I can do this shit all day. Remember when you and Ransom sat at the dining room table until one in the morning because you refused to eat my Tia Monica’s cooking?”

  “Ma, those were beef tongue tacos!” Harley protested. “No iba a comerme esa!”

  “And I bet they were muy delicioso, all cold and congealed! I don’t care if you didn’t want to eat them! You were going to or she would’ve been offended. Why do you think I told you boys to put extra red chile sauce all over them?” Claudia pointed out reasonably, secretly pleased that he’d spoken Spanish. She’d made sure that he and Ransom both could, fluently, yet Slade preferred English. Per usual, Harley preferred pleasing his father.

  “But, as usual, the two of you were too stubborn to listen to your wise and wonderful mamacita.”

  Harley tried to crack a smile, but with his split lip, it hurt too much. He settled for patting her hand instead. Claudia leaned over and kissed his bruised forehead affectionately, and Harley inhaled the comforting fragrance of his childhood, her signature Bob Mackey perfume. The gesture was one she’d done a thousand times, but he’d never needed it more than in this moment. It confirmed that he was still worthy of kindness.

  For now.

  Ma was a ballbuster who didn’t hesitate to pull punches. She’d babied them as much as they’d allowed but built them up at the same time before shoving their asses out of the nest and into the real world. Harley could always count on Ma to be honest with him.

  “I did a terrible thing, and Ransom hates me, Ma.” To say it aloud hurt more than the ass beating he’d taken. Harley cringed then hissed his pain at the sudden movement. Thinking of the terrible look in his brother’s eyes as he loomed over him, his anxiety increased tenfold. “He’ll never forgive me. I fucked up big time!” Harley blubbered. “I’m sorry! I just couldn’t help myself—”

  “No, Harley!” Claudia cut him off defiantly. She pointed a perfectly manicured nail at him. “I absolutely forbid you to think those thoughts! Somos una familia. I did not carry and raise you boys together only for you to fall apart now! You need each other! Your brother loves you so much; never doubt that!”

  Harley turned away from her, relieved that she’d interrupted what would have been his lame attempt at an explanation for his deviant, perverse behavior. “You weren’t there to see him, Ma. I never said he didn’t love me. I said he didn’t like me,” he explained dully. “There’s a difference, for which I’m grateful. Unlike our fearless leader who isn’t capable of feeling a damn thing for me.”

  “Mijo…he’s just a complicated man. Let me talk to him—”

  “And say what, Ma?! What the fuck are you gonna say that makes a difference to him?!” Harley screamed.

  He was tired of being angry. Scared. Confused. He could feel the darkness rising. It whispered, beckoning to Harley, promising to make everything better. He wished he could give it free reign. Except then, he’d lose Ransom and Ma completely. They were the only ones who cared about him.

  “I just need to be more like Ransom, and shit will be all good. I need to focus on trying harder.”

  Saint. Fucking. Ransom.

  Harley knew his twin loved him, yet, at times, he felt like he was more of a burden to Ransom. No matter what Harley did or said, he knew he’d never measure up to or be the man that his little brother was. That was his curse for all to bear witness to. The only person who still saw them as equals was their mother.

  “What the fuck are you doing with my chair, woman? And for fuck’s sake, stop coddling the boy!” Slade barked from the doorway.

  Claudia hated the way Harley shriveled in response to his father’s presence or voice. She rose from the chair to face the bastard she’d allowed to treat her child so deplorably. Harley kept so much bottled up inside that Claudia feared he’d set his demons free and do something stupid, like harm himself or his father, who was rightly to blame. Most men were proud to have children, sons in particular, but not Slade.

  He’d never been kind and loving with them. Just hard on Ransom and brutal on Harley under the guise of ‘grooming’ him. He didn’t see that over the years, all he’d done was give her baby a complex. When Slade came down on Harley, their son always vanished until he had to work again. Claudia kissed her son on the forehead before swiftly crossing the room. She took her husband by the bandaged part of his arm and squeezed.

  “Watch it, Claudia!” Slade hissed, jerking his arm away. “I’m fucking warning you!”

  “Why? Are you going to hit me, big man?” Claudia taunted and punched his injury with all her might.

  “Bitch, don’t you fucking tempt me! I’ve had about enough shit from you that I’m gonna take!” Slade threatened with a raised hand as Claudia squared up.

  “Talk is cheap, Slade. Bring it!”

  His hand came down, but Claudia was shoved out of the way as Harley rushed his father and drove him into the hallway. Ballistic with fury, he wrapped both hands around his father’s neck and slammed him into the wall repeatedly. “You dare to disrespect and threaten my mother?! I will kill you, motherfucker!”

  Slade tried to punch him in the face, and Harley narrowly avoided the swing. He retaliated by headbutting his father. Slade’s body went limp, and Harley released him and he slid down the wall. He didn’t even feel the pain and soreness from his earlier injuries as he and Claudia waited in suspense, trying to anticipate Slade’s next move.

  His wry chuckle surprised them, but it was his words that left them speechless. “Hell, I didn’t think you had it in you. So, the kitten has claws! I guess we’ll be making a man out of you yet, sunshine.”

  One week later

  “I don’t like this at all, Willamina Stanton.”

  “Why are you calling me that? You know I can’t stand it!” Billy complained to Marcus as she helped him wipe down an assorted tray of old-fashioned and highball glasses. “You should ask Mackenzie Fester what happened to her when she tried to full-name me at lunch in the third grade. It was high noon on the playground when I gave her the business! I bet she can still remember the sound that red rubber ball made when I beamed her in the face with it.”

  “If the biker breaks my little girl’s heart, he’ll get more than a rubber ball to the face,” Marcus vowed direly. Billy scrunched her nose at him but kept quiet. The small smile playing around her lips let him know that she was just as pleased as he was with the way their relationship was progressing. While waiting for her car to be fixed, Marcus offered Billy a position as a bar back. It helped him to keep an eye on her and monitor the time she spent with Lawson.

  The laughter spilling from her lips pierced his heart like an arrow. It was the same as Melody’s all-day long. Marcus saw his
ex-wife in so many of Billy’s mannerisms that at times, he physically ached with no reprieve. He watched her hold a glass up to the light, and her black hair fell like a satin curtain past her shoulders. She studied it painstakingly as if the job she was doing was the most important one in the world. That was Melody’s attention to detail, and like her mother, Billy was extremely fashionable. Today, she wore a short-sleeved, pretty floral dress that didn’t even come to her knees with her boots. It wasn’t his favorite look and they’d already had an argument about it. She humored him by listening patiently to Marcus’ grievances that the dress length was totally inappropriate for a girl of her height. Billy had paired it with glitzy-looking jewelry. She looked like a million dollars with every loser in town contemplating a robbery.

  With her looks and poise, Billy could easily be intimidating. Yet, in spite of her high-end appearance, she was exactly as Melody had raised her to be, kind to everyone she met, treating them equally. Even the whores across the way had come over in their spare time to check her out. Once they found out she was from California, they quizzed her endlessly about her life there. Billy answered all of their questions patiently and regaled them with tales of tourist attractions. She even brought her Caboodles beauty case out and shared beauty and fashion tips with them.

  “He’s not going to hurt me.” Billy was full of youthful confidence, making Marcus feel guilty for wanting to burst her bubble and warn her. But he knew that he’d rather chew glass than pick up the pieces of her broken heart. “Ransom wouldn’t do that. You’re worrying yourself for nothing and over-analyzing everything. Mom never mentioned that you were a glass half-empty kinda guy.”

  Marcus snorted rudely. “That’s because I’m normally not.”

  He liked to think of himself as being an open-minded, but he hated everything about Billy and Ransom’s relationship. He hated that Ransom couldn’t keep his eyes off Billy and vice versa. Like magnets, they were drawn to each other and given a wide berth. All the men in town knew that Ransom was in the picture, the same way they knew he’d be a problem if they even looked twice at Billy or stared too long.

  The only reassuring thing about this relationship was that if shit ever went sideways, Ransom would protect Billy or die trying. The flipside of that logic was when you dated a biker, the chances of that scenario actually becoming a reality were greater than a snowstorm in winter.

  “I’ve said my piece for now. Let’s change the subject. “Cosby Show” or “Family Matters”?”

  “Duh, both! Don’t forget about “227” either! Whose version of “I’m Every Woman” is better? Whitney Houston’s or Chaka Khan’s?”

  Marcus stroked his beard as he contemplated the question. “That’s a hard one. Whitney killed it for sure, but we’re talking about Chaka Khan in all her bodacious glory! That woman is fiiine! Sorry, Whitney, but I’mma have to rock with Chaka. Is New Edition better without Bobbi Brown?”

  “He’s talented but on one for real. I like the whole group together much better. I wonder what happened between them? Maybe they can do a reunion tour and get back together again. Where were you when the Challenger blew up?”

  “I was in the Panama Canal on assignment. You?”

  “Sitting in my fourth-grade class watching it. I’ll never forget it. Some kids started laughing because they thought it was a joke. My teacher flipped out on them and we all started crying.”

  “What’d you think of O.J.’s chase?”

  Billy pursed her lips. “Uh, that his friend drives like Mom! Where were you during the riots? Mom let me stay home the day the verdict was read, and we watched it on the news.”

  “I’d just gotten out of the military and started working here. They rioted in my old neighborhood. It made me glad that my parents were no longer living there. My pop’s old shop was vandalized.”

  “How did you wind up here? It’s in the middle of nowhere. Being that you’re from L.A., I would have thought you wanted to be somewhere with more action. At least a decent place to get a late-night meal or hear some good music.”

  Marcus smiled at her observation. “It’s not that bad. If I want to hear something, I’ll go to Albuquerque or Santa Fe for the day. After the military, I needed a change of pace. When you get to be my age, you appreciate a little peace and quiet.”

  “Wow. You said that like you were seventy instead of almost forty. For a moment, I almost believed you,” Billy teased. “Exactly what kind of peace and quiet are you getting? The strip joint and brothel are on ‘til the break of dawn, and you’ve got bikers popping in and out of here constantly.”

  “These glasses are just about done. Can you grab another tray?” Marcus smoothly changed the subject and grabbed the morning checklist, deliberately scanning it like he hadn’t done it first thing when he arrived this morning.

  The doors opened, signaling the bar’s first customers of the day. Billy smiled brightly at the sight of Ransom and the shorter man that accompanied him. The smile slid off her face and was replaced with a look of abject horror when they neared and she saw the damage to his face. Immediately, Billy rushed him. Grabbing his arm, she raised her hand tentatively to his gorgeous face. “What happened to you, babe?!”

  “Billy!” Marcus called sharply at the same time Billy registered that the man was not Ransom. He looked like him and walked like him, but, he felt…wrong. Touching him didn’t send her heart and pulse racing as usual. Then she saw noticed his long ponytail.

  The shorter blonde man with him snickered, and she quickly withdrew her hands. “Sorry! I thought you were Ransom. Since you’re not, I can only assume you’re Harley?”

  The girl stuck her hand out, but Harley ignored it, intently studying her. “I’ll be whoever you need me to be. What’s your name, darlin’?”

  She was breathtaking. Those feline-eyes were lively and astute. There was an innocence about her and her complexion was what he noticed first. Her skin was flawless. Not a blemish to be found anywhere from what Harley could see. She was a blank canvas waiting to be painted. A deeply arousing thought that had Harley shifting restlessly. He wondered what she’d be like in bed.

  Passionate and a whole lotta hellcat, he decided.

  “What can I get you guys?” Rage probed. He gave Harley a friendly clasp on the back and shook the other man’s hand, smoothly interjecting himself between his daughter and the volatile biker.

  “I’ll just have a Coors,” the other man said. “Same for Harley. Supposed to be real busy in an hour for that car show this weekend. Thanks, Rage.”

  “Say, Billy, would you mind calling Lorelai out? I want the boys to try her new concoction. That is, if y’all don’t mind?”

  Harley wasn’t about to let her get away just yet. “And how do you know Ransom, beautiful? This is my friend, Pitch, by the way.”

  “It’s nice to meet you, Pitch. Ransom and I are very good…friends,” she elaborated.

  Billy was trying to be cool but failed miserably when heat suffused her face. Ha. The things Ransom did to her when they were alone could hardly be considered friendly. The shortness of breath and palpitations he orchestrated with every heated look and caress were more like hazards to her health.

  “Billy, I need Lorelai,” Marcus reminded her pointedly.

  “Sorry; yeah, nice meeting you both.” She waved goodbye and fled, retreating beyond the swinging double doors to find his business partner.

  Lorelai was in the office going over last night’s receipts. Since their first encounter, they’d formed an uneasy truce. Billy knocked politely on the door and Lorelai glanced up. “Sorry to bother you. Marcus would like you to come out and show a few customers the new drink you created?”

  Lorelai rose from her chair. “Stay here, Billy! That’s not a request.”

  Instinctively, Billy rebelled at her autocratic tone as the older woman left the office, pushing the door halfway closed. “Yeesh! Sprung much?”

  “I heard that!”

  “You were supposed to!” she ret
orted.

  Nonetheless, Billy obeyed. Grabbing the cordless phone from Lorelai’s desk, she dialed the number for Lawson’s Automotive. Ransom picked up on the second ring.

  “Lawson’s. How can I help you?”

  Despite the ruckus in the background, his gravelly voice came through clear enough that Billy started grinning stupidly. “It’s me. Just calling to say hi.”

  Ransom’s low, raspy chuckle had Billy squirming and crossing her legs. “Hey, fancypants. I was just thinking about you.”

  “Is that your head cheerleading squad I’m hearing in the background?” she drilled tartly.

  Lorelai had made a point of telling Billy about the female groupies that hung around the outside of Lawson’s or across the street at the diner with goo-goo eyes, vying for any biker’s attention.

  “I don’t even know what you’re talking about,” he blithely answered. “We still on for later?”

  “I don’t know. It depends…” she teased.

  His voice dropped an octave, accelerating her pulse. “Oh yeah? On what?”

  Billy easily envisioned the cocky grin plastered across his handsome face. Hell, she could practically hear it. “Are you going to behave yourself?”

  “Do you really want me to?” Ransom challenged.

  He’d taken her to the movies yesterday to see the new Tom Hanks movie, “Forrest Gump”. It started out good, except, Billy couldn’t recall the plot to save her life. They’d found seats in the back, and fifteen minutes into the movie, they were making out—heavily.

  So far, Ransom had kept his word about giving her the tourist treatment of New Mexico. They’d visited Roswell, and for two days, Billy had gotten her fill of alien-themed restaurants, stores, and the UFO museum. She’d also experienced the adobe dreamland of Santa Fe. They’d ventured off the freeway and onto the Turquoise Trail National Scenic Byway, which covered fifteen-thousand square miles in the heart of central New Mexico, linking Albuquerque and Santa Fe. On the way, they’d stopped and visited the mining towns of Golden, Madrid (which boasted less than two-hundred residents), and Cerrillos, where the movie “Young Guns” was filmed. The towns were known for their turquoise and despite her protests, Ransom bought her a sterling silver and turquoise cuff.