"What kind of doctor?" I asked, wondering how in the hell he was planning to treat patients if he couldn't touch them without his arms and hands waving and wobbling all over the place.
"Shh... surrr—geon," Justin said, and Ty burst out laughing, clapping his hands one time and stomping his foot.
"He's messing with you," Ty informed me upon seeing the look of confusion, shock, and horror on my face. Ty's smile evaporated far too quickly. It was only after seeing him laugh that one time that I realized how serious he always was, which was a shame because his smile was gorgeous. His stormy gray eyes crinkled at the corners when he smiled, and he showed all of his teeth, which, while remarkably straight and white, had a bit of a totally adorable overbite.
"Oh... good one," I said with a nervous laughter. It was a pretty good joke, I was kinda sorry I had missed it.
"Dia... nost... ish..."
"Diagnostician," Ty translated for my benefit. "Obviously he can't do your usual, clinic-type medicine, but he's good at puzzles and he's got this morbid fascination with diseases—"
"Not morbid," Justin said, "juht... fa—in— inating."
"Yeah, right. How many other guys do you know can boast an encyclopedic knowledge of tropical infections?" Ty rolled his eyes. "Anyway, Candy, where d'you live? I'll take you home soon."
"Um, I live in Southeast," I said, "Where are we now?"
"Southeast," Ty said. "I bet you could walk from here, but I'll give you a ride anyway. You're in bad shape."
"I'll be fine," I said, nibbling on a strip of bacon. "So what about you? Was that your—"
"Ty, I'm home!" someone called from the living room, where the front door was. An older woman with wavy gray hair came into the kitchen, setting a couple grocery bags on the counter. She beamed at me in a way that made me feel bashful. "Hi, honey. Who's this, Ty?"
"This is Candy, she got into some trouble while I was at work last night." Ty stood up. "I'll go get the rest of the bags outta the car." He blushed a little as the woman kissed his cheek in greeting before turning to me.
"Hi, Candy. I'm Ty's mother, Judy." She stuck out her hand and then said, "Are you a hugger?"
"Huh?" Before I could manage a response, she enveloped me in a warm, motherly embrace. "Nice to meet you, Judy."
"Thank you, honey— oh, Ty." As he came back inside with the rest of the bags, Judy turned to her son and touched his arm. "Honey, can you stick around for a few more hours?"
"Ma..."
"I was, um..." Judy looked down at her feet, almost bashfully, "I was hoping to go pick out a new dress for tonight."
Ty's brow was furrowed in private irritation, but his mouth was already softening. He patted his mother's shoulder and said, "Of course, Ma. Maybe get your nails done while you're at it."
"Oh, I don't know if we can afford all that," she said before her eyes bugged as Ty pulled a couple of twenties out of his pocket. "Ty Jameson Franklin, where did you get that?"
"We had a good night at the bar," he said roughly, "y'know, before all that other shi— er, crap happened. Get yourself a nice dress. A new one too. Don't go to Salvation Army, huh? That oughta be enough. You work hard, Ma, go take it easy for a couple hours."
Judy was choked with emotion, tears welling in her eyes. There was a long moment of silence, a kind of tension that I didn't quite understand, and for a moment, I thought Judy might throw the money back at her son and yell at him. Even Justin looked tense. But then her fingers tightened over the cash and she sighed, looking down at her disabled son, who was now making encouraging noises and trying to touch her hand.
"Fine, fine. You boys have convinced me," she said, pocketing the money. "Thank you, Ty. I hate to take money from you..."
"You deserve to feel like a million bucks tonight." Ty wrapped his arms around the woman, who was only two or three inches shorter than him and hugged her tight. "I'll put away the groceries. You get outta here."
"Thank you, baby." She glanced at me and got startled for a moment, as if she'd forgotten I was there, before smiling brightly once again. "Nice to meet you, Candy. I'll be seeing you soon." With that, she took up her bag and left the house in a hurry.
"Hey, is there someone you can call to come get you?" Ty said to me as he started putting the food away. I felt stupid just watching him, so I got up and started helping. "You don't have to do that..."
"No, but I want to help. You've done a lot for me, Ty." I started putting the cold food away since I had no idea where anything else was supposed to go.
"Well, I just gave Ma the day to go shopping and she's got a date tonight. Unless you wanna hang out here with me and Justin, someone's gonna have to come get you. I can't leave him—"
"Of course not," I said, glancing over my shoulder, but Justin had left the room. "I wouldn't expect you to."
"You're welcome to stay if you want," he added idly, stuffing a loaf of bread in the breadbox. "Only you might be bored trying to hang out with me and him—"
"Actually, I... I'd like to, if I could," I said, not even realizing until the words escaped my lips, how badly I wanted to stay with him. Even though he was kind of gruff and serious, Ty had this strange warmth about him. His presence was reassuring, and safe, and... well, like I said, he was very easy on the eyes. Truth be told, I was pretty attracted to him, even though I would have bet my life savings that he already had some ridiculously hot biker chick girlfriend. I bet she had dreads and wore a bandanna, and never had to put makeup on. In my mind, she was healthy-skinny with the perfect boobs and had a nose piercing. Basically, everything I wasn't. Sure, he'd never want a girl like me, but I could hang out with him for a while longer and daydream.
Ty was so surprised by this that he stopped putting groceries away for a second. He didn't look at me, though. I wondered if he was about to tell me that I had to leave anyway, before he shoved a jar of peanut butter in the cabinet and said, "Okay then." And I couldn't have been sure because I was grabbing a gallon of milk that turned out to be really goddamn heavy for me and required all my concentration, but I think— I think— I saw Ty's lips curl into a tiny, lopsided smile.
CHAPTER FOUR
Ty
I couldn't believe that Candy wanted to stay. Every other girl I'd ever met, even the ones who really liked me, were usually pretty eager to get away from Justin. Maybe she just felt obligated or whatever, but it still shocked me. I mean it really shocked me, and maybe in a good way. It gave me a little warm feeling when I thought my heart had kinda died. It was nice to know I was still capable of emotion.
We spent a while just watching TV. Candy was obviously still tired from last night and to be honest, so was I. Justin, however, was always happy to watch reruns of House MD. House was his idol. I think Justin was dreaming of becoming just like the snarky character, just... you know, with cerebral palsy instead of a bum leg. No big deal. I worried about the kid a lot, honestly, because I knew he was capable of more than people supposed. I knew things would work out for him, eventually, I just didn't know when or how.
Especially not since his damn arm wouldn't heal. He hit it again on a door frame while Candy was there, and the pain was worse than I'd ever seen it. Poor kid was trying to be strong, but his cheeks turned red and tears rolled down his face. Despite his best efforts, he kept groaning because he couldn't keep the damn thing still. We had tried binding it to his chest a while back, but his spasms only strained against the bonds. After he calmed down a bit, he retreated to his room, since he was in so much pain and it was undignified for a twenty-three-year-old man to cry, but Candy and I could hear him weeping from the kitchen. The sound made me so angry, not at Justin, but at the world as a whole, at the fucked-up medical system, at the so-called God who was allowing all this shit happen to my baby brother. I held my head in both hands, grumbling inarticulately.
"Is... is there anything I can do?" Candy asked.
"If there was anything anyone could do, we woulda done it already," I snapped. "He needs an operation. They
can set his arm surgically so that it'll heal faster, but that shit costs a lotta money and the insurance won't cover it, no matter how many times the doctor calls them."
"That's horrible," Candy whispered. "Oh, Ty, I'm so sorry—"
"Don't be. I'm sorry enough for the three of us." I clenched my fist against my forehead and gritted my teeth, wishing there was someone around to stab or punch. Anything to take my anger out on. Suddenly, I felt her tiny hand on my shoulder. I shivered, fearing that the dam would break. She was so sweet and gentle and I was so tired of being strong, and for a second, I thought I would just lose it, and cry like a baby on her shoulder, but... no. The dam held. I sighed, pulling my defenses back together. "Thanks, Candy."
"Sure, Ty. No problem."
She stuck around for the whole afternoon. I felt like I was in middle school again or something. We played games, for Christ sake. I was a twenty-eight-year-old gang boss with a knife in my pocket and a world of hate in my heart, and here I was on a mundane, cloudy Saturday afternoon, playing Risk with this beautiful girl. It was so weird. We didn't even talk too much. It was kinda nice. She asked a few questions about me and my life, but when I didn't answer too thoroughly, she took the hint that I didn't wanna talk about myself and so, she stopped. She didn't seem to get upset or offended nor did she make any passive-aggressive remarks. She just smiled and said, "Okay," and finished setting up her armies on the board. And we just played Risk. She talked a little about herself, but not too much. I think she was as happy as I was to just... be.
By the time Ma came back, I was more relaxed than I had been in months. Ma didn't notice, though, she was giddy as a teenage girl as she whisked away into her bedroom and changed into her brand-new dress. I hardly even noticed her, honestly, because I was so focused on Candy and our game.
"Ta-dah!" Ma cried, appearing in the kitchen doorway. I turned around to see her wearing a burgundy-colored dress. It was sleeveless, but the neck went all the way up, and it had some kind of glittery, bead-y design on the front.
"Very nice," Candy said, grinning, "you look wonderful, Mrs. Franklin."
"Call me Judy, I'm having my... what's it called, renaissance? What's the opposite of a mid-life crisis? I feel young again, I feel wonderful."
"Ya look terrific, Ma."
"Thank you, honey." Ma came over and kissed me on the head, and it felt kinda weird for Candy to be seeing all this. "I even bought high heels to go with it!"
"Not Salvation Army?" I grumbled. "You're supposed to have new stuff."
"No, Dress Barn," she said with such satisfaction that it almost made me smile.
"Good."
"Ah, well, you kids enjoy your game, I've got to go finish my hair. Albert will be here shortly."
"I have time to take you home now," I offered to Candy, "Mom's date isn't until six."
"Unless... you wanted to finish the game?" she said with a sheepish little grin. "But if you want me out of your hair, I'm totally fine with leaving—"
"No, that's... I'd like to finish," I said, fiddling with one of my little plastic guys. What the fuck was happening? This gorgeous chick wanted to hang out with me and my disabled brother and play Risk and watch TV? It was so... I don't know, so normal, so nice. But at the same time, it made me feel a little nervous. As if it was too good to last.
As it would turn out, it was.
***
A couple hours after Ma left again, we were sharing a pizza and watching a crappy horror movie marathon. Candy, by now, had begun to understand Justin well enough that she caught it when he cracked a joke, and the two of them spent most of the movie yukking it up like Mystery Science Theater. It was kinda... sweet, I guess. Candy was helping him eat, and I was wishing that this moment would last forever when suddenly, there was a knock at the door that was far too loud.
Startled, I leaped to my feet. I had the knife in my jacket, but something told me I might actually need my gun. I didn't want to scare the others, though, so I didn't bother grabbing it from my room. I opened the door and was immediately punched in the face, stars exploding before my eyes as blood spurted from my nose and pain blinded me. I staggered backward, but instinctively recovered and bolted outside, slamming the door behind me as Candy and Justin both cried out in alarm. I straightened, holding my nose, eyes watering in pain.
"What the fuck!?" I cried. The guy who had hit me was six foot tall, probably four hundred pounds, bald, and wearing brass knuckles. Not someone you want to fuck with.
Unless you're me.
"You owe us money," the big man growled. "Ten grand, to be exact."
"Interesting that punches in the nose count as legal tender these days," I snapped. "Look, I had a deal fall through. I can't pay you just yet. And what the fuck are you doing at my house?" Nobody was supposed to know where anybody lived. It was an unofficial code of the streets - don't ask, don't tell. Stay fucking anonymous and protect your family. Actually, the fact that they were here meant that they were threatening my family.
Reflexively, my hand slipped into my jacket and whipped out my knife.
"You motherfuckers stay away from here." I brandished the knife wide and took a step toward him. "You wanna do business, you get me at the Den, understand?"
The big guy showed me his teeth. "And if you don't pay up, maybe we come in there and rough up your retarded little brother and— arrrgh!"
I leaped forward and slashed at him, slicing open the front of his shirt and leaving a nice, long gash on his flabby chest. He stared down at himself in horror, as if he couldn't believe what had just happened.
"I will fuck you up and ruin your life," I growled. "I've got an army of guys behind me to finish the job too, so I ain't working alone. You're playing with fire, motherfucker. You can ask anyone else in this town and they'll tell you that you'll get your goddamn money when I have it."
"You have two weeks, or someone in that house is gonna get hurt," the man grunted, holding his tattered shirt over the bleeding gash on his chest.
"You have two seconds to get off my property before my knife tastes some more of your inbred blood," I retorted, flashing the blade at him.
The guy’s eyes widened momentarily in fear before he scowled at me and turned on his heels, walking off. I could tell he was trying not to run, but he was walking so fast it looked like he had shit his pants. Maybe he had shit his pants, I don't know.
I wiped off my knife with the tail of my shirt. It was a black tee so Candy and Justin wouldn't be able to see the stains. I felt horrible having the two halves of my life come so close together. It made me feel threatened. And you don't wanna make a Wolf feel threatened. I took out my phone and sent Charlie a text:
Wildcats at my place just now. Send guys.
Charlie would take care of the rest. We had to send a message to the Wildcats that we weren't to be fucked with. "Send guys" meant "send guys to the Wildcats' hangout and have them do some serious vandalism, and if anyone's there, rough 'em up." We hadn't had to do it in over a year, but it looked like the turf war between us was gonna heat up again. God dammit. Just when I thought things were calming down a bit.
The front door opened behind me, and there was Candy, with her big eyes and frail shoulders, swallowed by my old gray sweats. The way she looked at me made it hard for me to breathe.
"Ty? What... Ty, you're bleeding!" she cried, running to me in her bare feet.
"Fuckin'... it's cold out, Candy, get inside," I said, escorting her back to the house. "I'm fine."
"No you’re not," she said, clinging to my arm. She steadied my face with her fingertips on my cheek. God, I hadn't been touched this gently in years. This bitch was gonna wear me down if I wasn't careful. I'd go from Big Bad Wolf to a cuddly puppy in her arms, and I couldn't allow that to happen. I turned my face away from her touch.
"C'mon, relax, wasn't the movie—"
"Fuck the movie," she said, grabbing my hand and marching toward the bathroom. "I'm gonna clean you up."
She made me si
t on the toilet while she ran the tap, getting the water nice and warm before dabbing at my face with a washcloth. I looked up at her, wishing she'd stop being so gentle, wishing she'd stop making me feel so... good. She made me feel kind of... important. Human. Not at all wolf-like.
"Ty, what happened? What did those guys want?"
"Just some... guys from the bar," I said, avoiding eye contact with her while she tenderly wiped the blood off my face, lips, and neck. "No big deal. I work in a rough part of town, you know? Shit happens."
"Shit doesn't happen," she countered quietly. "Not like that, anyway. Look, Ty, I'm not gonna butt into your business. I barely know you. But you're a good, sweet guy—"
"No, I'm not—"
"— and you've got a family to take care of." Candy bit her lip, wringing the bloody pink water out of the washcloth. "You've gotta take care of yourself for their sake. Imagine what would happen to Justin and your mother if they had to fend for themselves."
"Ugh." It was all I could say because I knew she was right. And I tried not to think too hard about that kind of thing, but the way she put it made me imagine how hard it would be on both of them if anything happened to me. I sighed and hung my head.
"You take good care of your family," she said, sensing that she'd hit a nerve. "It's pretty adorable, actually—"
"It ain't adorable, it's just what I have to do," I grumbled.
"Sure." She smiled and used a soft, dry towel to pat the water from my skin. "Not a whole lot I can do for your nose, I guess, but at least you're clean now."
I nodded and offered her a begrudging, "Thanks."
"You're welcome, Ty."
CHAPTER FIVE
Candace
It was almost midnight by the time Ty was finally able to take me home. It had barely been twenty-four hours, but oddly enough, I kind of felt... at home with him. I had been nervous and scared at first, waking up in an unknown place, but Ty, for all his rough-and-tumble ways, was such a gentle and caring guy. I felt safe and loved in that house. I had made fast friends with his younger brother and learned something about my own subtle prejudices against people with disabilities. Once I got past his horrendous speech impediment and twisted body, Justin really was just like anyone else. Well, maybe a little better than "anyone" else— he was exceptionally smart and had a delightful sense of humor. In a way, he was the yin to Ty's yang. Ty was the breadwinner, gruff, kind of reserved, and extremely serious. I mean, the whole time I was there, I only saw him laugh the one time. Justin, on the other hand, once you got to know him, was really a gregarious jokester, with a sharp emotional intelligence. It was almost as if he was unconsciously compensating for his brother's coldness by being the emotional caretaker. Honestly, they made a great team. I almost kind of envied the Franklin household and wanted to go back there as soon as possible.
Trust Me: A Bad Boy MC Romance Page 4