Family Ties (Hidden Secrets)

by Belden, P. J.

  Now, I was a little less excited about seeing them. Nick came over to me and lifted me up. He sat me on the counter just as he used to do when I was younger. He did it when he wanted me to focus on what he was saying.

  “Mare…” he left his sentence hanging.

  I know he is trying to give me a chance to just tell them what happened. Of course had I been a kid and this was just some kind of kiddie stuff, I would have spilled it all for them. However, it wasn’t kiddie stuff and I wasn’t bringing my brothers into my turmoil. So, I did my next best thing. I got sassy.

  “Nick,” I said in a low voice to mock his tone.

  Honestly, I wasn’t expecting him to do what he did next. He stepped closer and lifted my shirt. Of course the bruising on my face had gone down, but my ribs and back had suffered the brunt of everything.

  Everyone in the room gasped and I watch anger take over each of their faces. I shoved his hands away and shoved down my shirt moving off the counter.

  “It’s nothing,” I snapped.

  “Nothing! Nothing! Are you fucking kidding me?” Nick roared.

  “You watch your mouth young man! What is going on in here? You haven’t seen your sister in a while and this is how you act?” My father said sadly.

  “Sorry dad, but…” Colt started to apologize for Nick.

  “I’m fine,” I said, cutting Colt off hoping like hell my father wouldn’t find out. Of course, even I knew my luck wasn’t that good.

  “Dad, Mary’s in trouble. She isn’t telling us what is going on, but what we just saw tells me that she’s in big trouble.” Jeff said with worry and concern in his voice and on his face.

  “Mary is this true?”

  “I’m fine, dad. It was an accident practicing a new routine.”

  “Dad look at her, she’s not fine. Show him Mare! That wasn’t no fucking routine!”

  “Boy! What did I just tell you about your mouth?” He snapped at Nick.

  “Sorry, Sir. Just look at her, please.” He said with less venom in his voice.

  “Mary? Sweetheart, are you hurt?” My father asked softly.

  “No, daddy. I mean I’m fine. Still a little sore, but I’m okay.”

  After much coaxing, I lifted my shirt and showed my dad the bruising. To hear his strangled gasp about killed me. My papa was a strong man and the kind of man I wanted in my husband, but after Kayla… details are noted and inspected.

  “I’m really okay, daddy. Honestly. We, um, we're working on a, um, new routine with this device thing and…” I trailed off. I knew I was spitting out lies and it killed me. It was only now I understood why Kayla shut all of them out; it was the hardest thing in the world to lie to my family.

  My dad and brothers shared a look that I couldn’t understand. Something told me that it was a look saying he didn’t believe a word I said.

  “Well, you need to be careful Lil bean. I hate seeing anything happening to my little girl.”

  I heaved a sigh of relief, even though I knew they didn’t believe me. I knew that the subject was being dropped for now. The tension was thick in the room before my dad asked me about my new album I’m working on. The tension slowly left the room as we all started talking about old times.

  We spent the rest of the night catching up and my brothers took me out for our usual pizza and game night. It was always a blast to hang out with my brothers. They were all over protective and refused to see that I was not the baby sister, but a grown woman. But I loved them so much.

  Waking up the next day, I felt rejuvenated. Even though I had to go to this meet and greet, I wasn’t letting it get me down. No, today was going to be a great day. Last night ended so perfectly with my family all around me and being able to laugh. Today would be PERFECT!

  So as I drive to the Rally Center, I’m in a good mood. He was not going to ruin my time with my family. I wouldn’t let that happen. He has claimed enough of my time and taken away so much. It wasn’t happening anymore. The minute I walked into the Rally Center, I was rushed to hair and make-up. No one was happy that I was dressed so casually or that I wouldn’t let them totally glam me up. It was going to piss him off, but I didn’t care. I didn’t like wearing a ton of make-up or all the fancy clothes. I was more of a pair of jeans and T-shirt kind of girl. Sadly, in my business, or at least with my manager, that wasn’t allowed. Well, today it happened, whether he liked it or not. I wasn’t in jeans, but I was in a loose lilac skirt and a quarter sleeve white top.

  As I walked out into the banquet room, security stood near me, but not on top of me. Tank (yes, it was his actual name) and Cash were more my friends than bodyguards. They did a great job at making sure I was okay. Lyle has never really warmed to me, but he wasn’t a bad guy. Tank and Cash were brothers. They have worked side by side with each other their whole careers. It was awesome to watch them because all they had to do was look at each other and in the look the other could tell what they were saying. Tank was bulkier than Cash, but both stood at six feet four inches. They had dark brown eyes and short buzzed brown hair. Lyle had buzzed almost to the point of baldness hair. It would be red if it was long enough to see. How do I know that, because he has one of those damned goatee mustache deals. Never understood the appeal in them myself, but hey to each their own, right? His eyes were his selling point, soft green that puts you at ease.

  I waved at them and started making my way around the room talking to everyone. Everyone was friendly. It was a mix between fans and press so I had to tread lightly. Often times when the press was mixed in with fans, they switch things around and made something look horrible when it never really happened that way at all. I love my fans. After all, they were the ones that got me to where I am today. Without them, I don’t know what I would be doing. A vision of living on a ranch flashed in my mind and I smiled. When I shook out of my daydream, my eyes were drawn to a man standing off to the side.

  He was gorgeous. He had blue eyes and dark hair. He had broad shoulders and a chest that was just as broad that was showcased nicely in his tight black shirt. No, this guy was not afraid of the gym or manual labor. His jeans were tight enough to give me a good enough view of his muscular legs and perfect butt. I was intrigued, so I made my way over to where he stood. Trying not to look too eager to get to him, I talked to people on my way over there.

  “Hello. Thank you for coming. What’s your name?” I questioned when I finally reached him.

  “Tobey Young. It is very nice to meet you. I am a big fan.”

  We shook hands. Upon the first touch it was like electricity had shot through me. I have never had that kind of reaction to a man before. Looking up into his eyes, I thought I saw a flicker of desire, but it was soon gone. Who was this guy? More importantly, why was I having this reaction to him?

  Chapter Two

  Tobey

  “Scott! I need to get ready to head out. You got this?”

  Scott runs over. “Where you heading off to? You know it is really poor timing to lose a hand right about now?”

  “I know, but I have something I have to do.” I spoke over my shoulder.

  “This doesn’t have to do about that phone call from the other day does it?” Scott asked following me into the house.

  Scott and I go way back. He and I grew up together. He just showed up one summer wandering around lost. My family took him in and he just never left. No one came looking for him. Scott doesn’t talk about what happened and why he was wandering around lost at eight years of age. Even to this day, I know nothing about his parents or his past before he wandered on our ranch. Honestly, I stopped caring years ago. He was my brother and I would never view him any differently.

  I sighed. “Yes, it does.”

  Scott grabbed my arms and made me stop and look at him. “Dude, don’t do this brother. I told you I know what it was about and who it was from, but they are asking too much of you. This will forever sit on your shoulders man. You are not like that. You don’t do stupid shit like this. Why now?”

/>   “They are my family. They need my help. Are you standing here trying to tell me that I should turn my back on my family?”

  “Yeah, I am. If they are asking you to do something like this then yes.”

  “Scott we’ve already gone through this enough times! It isn’t that hard to do. All I have to do is…”

  “Is ruin someone’s life? Break their spirit? Hurt them? Kill them?” Scott ranted.

  “Kill them? Seriously Scott? Even that is a little extreme, don’t you think?”

  “I don’t know, I thought all this would be too. But here you are, running off to play the vigilante for a family that… hell you haven’t seen or heard from in years, Tobey.”

  Moving into my closet, I grabbed my duffle bag and started filling it with clothes and then walked into my bathroom, adding in my toiletries before coming back out to my room. I sighed as I set the bag on the bed to get my notebook and a spreadsheet from my nightstand.

  “Look, everything is going to be fine. It shouldn’t take long. Please take care of the ranch while I’m gone. Don’t worry.” I grabbed my bag and started for the door.

  “I don’t know who you are anymore, man, but I know I want nothing to do with any of this. When this falls back on you and destroys you instead… remember what I’m about to tell you. When you poke the bear enough, it will bite. You are playing with fire brother and I have a very bad feeling it is not going to end well for you. I just hope this doesn’t kill you the same way you plan to do to whatever family you’re going after.”

  With that Scott shouldered past me and out the door, slamming it behind him. I shook my head and headed to my truck and readied myself for the long drive ahead. Hopefully it won’t take long to get there and get this shit done. Scott’s words were swimming in my head and I wondered if he could be right. Could this all potentially fall back on me and destroy me instead? I don’t see how it could, honestly. Even as I think that there is nothing to worry about there is still this voice screaming at me.

  Karma knows no other phrase other than fuck you!

  I shook the thoughts from my head. Deciding silence was not my friend right now, I switched on the radio. Wouldn’t you know it. Of all the damn songs by all the damn artists, it had to be this one by this artist. My brain is telling me to turn it off, but my body wouldn’t move. Instead, I sat there just taking in the lyrics and the music. It was amazing. Even the artist is on my shit list right now, but they were definitely in the right business that was for sure.

  The drive was long and took forever to get there. Then I had to find a hotel room which was a task and a half. Once I had that done, I went out in search of my target. It took a bit. I searched all the places I was told they would be when I spotted them through a window. Suddenly I realized I hadn’t a plan going into this.

  A few minutes passed and my main target was leaving. I watched as they made their way across the parking lot and slid into their car. Looking around, I slowly made my way toward the car. A phone started ringing. The voice on the other end was so loud I could hear it as I strolled up to the car, but it gave me a perfect idea on where to meet. Swiftly I walked away and put my plan into action. I needed to get back to my ranch as soon as possible. Tomorrow would hopefully be the start and finish of all this shit and I can go back to my life.

  When I woke up, I wasn’t in the mood to do much of anything. Definitely didn’t want play nice to someone that hurt my family the way they did. As the day progressed it didn’t help much either. Having to leave my ranch during such an important time left me in a sour mood, but I couldn’t pass this up. No, I’m not your stalker, obsessed fan type. The reason I am here is strictly business. It seemed things were opening up for me and leading me to the quickest execution of my plan as possible. What would the odds be that she would be doing a meet and greet in town at the Rally Center. Normally she doesn’t come anywhere near the city. It’s not your huge overpopulated city. Then I found out it was for a fundraiser and it made sense. Surprised some kind of heartless woman would care about raising money for needy families was beyond me. Though then again, she may do it to keep up the ‘Girl Next Door’ image the papers have portrayed her as.

  Ever since finding out what this woman has done to my family, I have been unable to think of anything else. She haunts me in my sleep. One thing I hate more than anything is liars. She was portraying to the world how sweet and loving she was, but really, she was cold and heartless. So here I sit waiting for her to make an appearance. The thought of talking to her made me sick to my stomach. Never in my life have I ever hit a woman and I wasn’t going to start now, but the things this woman has done… Shaking those thoughts from my head, I scan the room.

  I saw her across the room. I had seen many pictures of her. Who hasn’t? Just because I live out on my ranch in the middle of nowhere and work from sun up until sun down, sometimes later, didn’t mean I didn’t know who she was or what she looked like. My eyes couldn’t break away from her; I stared at her from the minute she walked into the room. Mary had shoulder length, wavy ash blonde hair with golden highlights, slim but not overly so, very toned and sexy legs- What was I thinking? Sexy? This woman ruined my family.

  There was no way I was going to think good things about a woman that has no problems setting a family up to fail just because she could. This woman played with fire. If she thought for one second I was going to let her hurt my family and get away with it, she thought wrong. She might have friends in high places because she’s a celebrity, but it didn’t make her above the law or me for that matter.

  She was talking to some bulky looking guys and I knew they were her bodyguards. I looked around the room and spotted three in total. Hmm, I’m going to have to keep that in mind as I start working out my plan of action. Her bodyguards could present a problem if I went for the direct approach. It appears I am going to need to really think this through.

  As she moved throughout the room, I couldn’t take my eyes off her hips and the way they swayed. It was like watching the windshield wipers in the car, you are completely lost in the back and forth action that you forget your surroundings. Finally pulling my eyes away from her hips, I moved up her body to her chest. Her shirt was low cut allowing me, and everyone else in the room, ample view of the swells of her breasts. My hands itched to touch them and my cock twitched in my pants.

  Damn it Tobey! Get your shit together! You can’t like her!

  Just then she looked up and our eyes met. There was no point in trying to look away, besides, I wanted her to come over here. My heart sped up despite my brain telling me she was the enemy. It was almost like I was struck stupid. Her eyes held mine like some kind of magnetic force causing me to be unable to look away. They were such a deep green and mesmerizing. When the light caught them just right, you could see flecks of yellow in them. She started talking to another fan and my eyes were drawn to her lips. I wondered for a fleeting moment what it would feel like to have my lips on hers. What would they taste like? Would her lips be as soft and inviting as they looked from this distance?

  Stop it!

  She ruined my family. She has to pay. It was my job to make her pay not make her feel good. Family was family and I always stood by them. I was raised to always protect your own. I failed that once. I’ll be damned if I fail again. My family is fractured at best, but they were still my family. Whether they were just showing up or been there all along, it didn’t matter.

  I only found out I even had a brother a few months back when I had come across a document while cleaning out my parents’ office after their passing. When I looked at the contents of the folder, I found out that my mother was previously married and had a child in that marriage. In all the times that I can remember growing up, I could not remember my parents not being together or even her ever talking about another child. To what memories I had, there was never any of her leaving to spend time with him.

  I searched for this secret brother of mine. Was his life better than mine? Did he receive more lo
ve from my mom than I did? What was he like? I ended up finding him by chance about three weeks ago to have him ripped out of my life just as fast. When I talked to my brother and found out what happened, I told him they would pay for what they did to him. Then to find out she screwed over another member of my family too. This one I was really close to growing up.

  This little slut was going to pay for all the pain she has caused my family. I was going to make that happen; no questions asked. This woman… this Mary Williams, will pay!

  “Hello. Thank you for coming. What’s your name?” She said sweetly.

  “Tobey Young. It is very nice to meet you. I am a big fan.”

  As our hands touched, a heat shot straight through me, warming every inch of my body straight to my groin. Where the hell did that come from? I drew my hand back and quickly assessed the situation and decided I was going to need to get her to trust me to get this goal accomplished.

  “You are much prettier in person than in pictures. You look almost like anyone else that doesn’t have crazy talent that has you all over the world.”

  “Well, if I am to be honest, I was late getting here or I am sure you would not be paying me the same compliment.” She said with a laugh.

  “I am sure I would have. I didn’t say you didn’t look good in the pictures, now did I?”

  “Point for you, Mr. Young. So, I have to ask this because I am genuinely curious. Why is it you like my music? I mean is it just because I look good, as you say, or do I actually have talent?”

  She sounded less than confident about herself or her talents, which was odd because that was how she was making a living. Who cares? This is a good sign of weakness and I could be breaking her faster than I thought it would take me. This is a good thing because I not only had an opening for getting her to warm to me easily, but a quick way to take her down and get back to my ranch, where I needed to be.

  “You sound unsure of your abilities, Ms. Williams. Why would someone as beautiful as you are, who possess such talents have a reason to doubt herself?”