The Strings That Hold Us Together

by Kendra Mase

  After another second, Jack’s mom’s cold disposition disappeared. Her arms wrapped tightly around Jack, hands just touching. “It’s good to see you.”

  “It’s good to see you too, Ma.”

  Katherine looked down at her shoes, wondering if she could blend into the stone siding. She didn’t want to look at such an intimate moment. It felt like intruding. When she peeked back up, Jack was reaching toward her.

  “Mom, this is my friend, Kit.”

  Friend.

  “Hi—hello.” Katherine stumbled forward with her words. She extended her hand, dropped it. “It’s really nice to meet you.”

  “Nice to meet you.” Jack’s mother studied Kit’s face. “You can call me Emily.”

  “She’s Emilie’s niece. She actually just came to the city to work with her in the summer.”

  “Oh! My old friend,” Emily said, understanding. After the exclamation, though, her face turned sad. “I keep meaning to visit.”

  Katherine’s eyes sparked for the slightest moment, confusion clouding over as her lips thinned.

  “She would love if you came to the city to visit sometime,” she said slowly, each word after another.

  “I’ll have to,” Jack’s mom said, nodding.

  “Where are Dad and the guys?” Jack asked, noting the empty house behind his mom.

  “Oh,” she sighed. “For your father’s birthday and anniversary gifts, all he wanted from them was to go camping out back with him.”

  Jack paused, looking around as he took in the darkness of the house and his mother standing in her robe. “You’re kidding.”

  “I’m not. That is where they are. Out in the woods, somewhere.” Emily nodded back toward the other side of the house. “I doubt they got far, though. Jeremy was out earlier tonight and met up with them, he was already half in his cups and Jace was throwing a fit about going out to begin with.”

  “Jed?”

  “The only one who has ever put up with your father, as you know,” said Emily, her final words dragging.

  Jack huffed a sort of dejected laugh. “Yeah.”

  “I’m sure—you should go and join them. Like I said, I doubt they went far off the fields.”

  “Your friend can stay here,” she added, turning her attention to Kit. “If you’d rather?”

  Kit looked back to Jack wide-eyed as if unsure what to say.

  Trust her to make him want to laugh right now. “She’ll come with me, Ma.”

  After another second, his mom nodded, this time at Katherine. “We’ll have to further meet each other later, then. See you in the morning, both of you.”

  “’Night.”

  Slowly his mother began to close the door. She stopped halfway. “Jack.”

  He looked back at his mom.

  “I’m happy you came home.”

  With that, she closed the door, and Jack followed Katherine as she padded down the front porch steps.

  Once they started to move around the back of the house where fields of flattened ground and pasture extended, Katherine lifted her head to Jack. “That didn’t go too terribly, did it?”

  “No,” Jack said, his voice a tad lighter. “It didn’t. But, of course, that was Mom.”

  “I didn’t know that your mother was friends with my Emilie.”

  “Yeah, that’s how I knew her in the city, remember.”

  Katherine paused, thinking for a long moment over when Jack came to pick her up or when Emilie mentioned him and Avril as if second nature. She nodded. “Right.”

  “Do you need anything out of the Jeep before we go and see how far out my dad decided to camp for the night? I don’t think it should be too far, but I have a feeling I need to show my face, or else I’ll have more to repent for in the morning. We don’t have to stay, just for a little.”

  “Okay,” Katherine agreed. She shrugged the loose tote over her shoulder with her more important things she always carried at her side. Her thin coat scrunched up toward her neck at the movement. “I have my bag.”

  He snorted. “Of course, you do.”

  “Are you making fun of my tote?”

  He raised an eyebrow as they walked. “If you use my fabric scissors, I will cut you.”

  “But not with these scissors,” Katherine finished, mostly believing it after picking up her own mini pair, also in her bag from an antique stand at the farmer’s market last weekend before they shut down for the winter.

  She was very fond of them.

  She smirked at his sudden glee, however. Once they found the rest of his family, she wasn’t sure how long it would last. “It is a very serious offense, Jack.”

  He shook his head, and even Katherine couldn’t help but laugh. The sound was full and light through the cool air.

  All the oddly printed totes were another procurement from Emilie, but Katherine liked them from the funny quotes to plain shopping ones. They all worked well enough and fit everything she needed to have throughout the day. Her arms could only hold so many immediate deliveries.

  “You’ll be sorry when you ever need anything out of it.”

  “I’m sure I will be,” Jack said as they continued to walk. He stuck his hands into his pockets, slowing down so that she could keep up with him, seeming to know exactly where they were going.

  It was hard for her to imagine growing up here in the middle of nothing. She could hear the wind and cracks of branches underfoot, but otherwise silent.

  “Hey, Kit.”

  She looked up at him.

  His lip curled gently at the corner of his mouth. “Look up.”

  Tilting her chin toward the sky, she did. Across her vision was a black sky filled with stars.

  Her lips parted at the miraculous sight.

  She shook her head as she looked back down at him. “What did you wish for that night?”

  “What night?”

  He knew exactly which one she meant.

  His teeth flashed in the darkness. “I thought you said you didn’t want me to tell you.”

  “I changed my mind.” For one thing, after that night, she figured he’d never speak to her again. It would be a memory, just for her.

  Now they were… here.

  “A lot of things, I guess,” Jack said, looking at her. “Life. For the longest time, I felt like I was just here, stagnant. I wanted to be a photographer and at some point, I became that person on the opposite side of the lens, waiting for a flash that never came. I’m closer to thirty than twenty-five and suddenly—I don’t know what I wished for. I wished for anything. I wished for what I needed, I guess.”

  Just like he dreamed that day at Artist’s Quarter.

  He nudged her. “Stop it.”

  “What?”

  “I can hear the gears turning,” he said. “What did you wish for?”

  Katherine opened her mouth before she stopped, glancing at him.

  “What? I showed you mine, now you show me yours.”

  She rolled her eyes, but Katherine thought back to when she wished. Long after the stars fell from their highest point, the sun was already mostly up, but she figured that it wasn’t much worse than wishing on a ceiling as she leaned over the edge of the bridge overlooking Ash river the next day.

  Turning her gaze back to the townhouse, she thought of Avril and Jack and the night she had with them, and for the first time in her whole existence, it was the first time, for just a second, Katherine didn’t feel alone.

  So, she wished the most ridiculous of wishes that she was certain would never come true. Not for her.

  She almost said it now. What did she wish for?

  You.

  A yell cut her off.

  It was something between a shout and a screech as the sound of leaves and branches crunched underneath what was inexplicably a person, feet in front of them.

  “What the hell happened?” Jack screamed right back into the darkness. He stomped toward the silhouette from where Katherine froze in her tracks.

  “Jack?
”

  “Jace?” Jack reached out a hand that was slapped away.

  “Jace?” another voice called out ahead of them. More branches crunched until a larger figure stepped in front of them. Katherine’s eyes began to adjust, seeing the similarity in height with the man with a tight haircut around his ears where Jack’s had begun to grow out, or else Katherine might’ve guessed they were twins.

  Instead, they were just brothers.

  The three of them.

  “Jack?”

  “Jed.” Jack looked up from Jace until all three of them were looking at the eldest brother, eyes flicking back and forth.

  Both of them seemed to ignore the brother still on the ground, grunting through his teeth as he reached down toward his lower leg. Katherine moved toward him, and even in the dark, there was no mistaking the slick shadows smearing his pants.

  Jed, on the other hand, stepped over the two of them, throwing his arm around Jack.

  “Welcome home, little brother.”

  Jack gave a stiff laugh. “You didn’t think I was coming.”

  “Leann told me, but no.” Jed clapped him on the back. “Good to see you anyway.”

  Jack reached a hand around to the back of his head.

  Katherine kneeled down in front of Jace, his eyes, when he looked up at her, were the same molten honey as Jack’s. She swallowed at how they glowed. “Are you all right?”

  “No, I am not fucking all right,” Jace snapped. His one hand gripped and stretched around air with pain. “Fuck!”

  “Looks like a rock caught you.” Jed crouched down beside Katherine and inspected the gash. Blood gushed down Jace’s leg. It looked like someone had sliced a chunk out of his calf.

  Jace swatted Jed’s hand away.

  “Well, don’t touch it! Shit!” Closing his eyes, he attempted to take a deep cleansing breath but only came out with expletives.

  “You’re fine. What a welcome home, hey Jack?” Jed said, waving him over.

  Without a question, the two men each threw one of their younger brother’s arms around their shoulders, hauling him back off the ground. As they did, another stream of blood dripped onto the leaf-covered ground.

  “We aren’t far from camp,” Jed explained. Both of them were doing a better job of ignoring the protests coming from Jace than Katherine was. Slowly she followed behind, catching Jack glance back to her to make sure she was still there. “You two came looking for us?”

  “We stopped at the house first.”

  “Figures,” Jed replied. He hauled Jace farther up on his shoulder.

  It granted him a hiss.

  Jack looked straight ahead. In the near distance, the light from a fire began to light up the trees, and a cleared path. “Is he in a good mood?”

  “Considering that his one son is piss drunk after coming home late from a party down the way and another one is coming back to camp with more complaints than he already openly announced on the way out here,” Jed recounted with a shrug. “Could be worse.”

  Again, Jack glanced back at Katherine. His eyes widened slightly.

  She bit her lip so as not to smile. So far, she liked Jed. She liked him a lot.

  “So, what happened out there?” The question came from the burlier man across the flames of the campsite. Turning around, whatever else he was about to say died on his lips.

  The two brothers, with the youngest slung over their shoulders, paused on the edge of the site.

  Jack visibly swallowed as Brian stared at them. “Hi, Dad.”

  For a long moment, there was only silence and the crackle of fire.

  “Jack.”

  Without another word between the group, Jed spoke up, guiding Jack to help set Jace down at the edge of the fire. The flames and lanterns were bright. In this light, Jace’s leg looked angry behind ripped jeans.

  Brian walked with them as he settled against one of the overturned logs. “What happened now?”

  “Jace apparently had a little accident,” explained Jed. “I sadly was not there to see it.”

  “Accident?” Jace seethed. “These two came out of nowhere. I thought they were a bear or something.”

  “He fell,” Jed finished simply. “On a rock.”

  Kneeling down beside his youngest son, Brian whistled as he started to roll up Jace’s pant leg. For a minute, Katherine was sure he was going to get a boot to the face. “Must’ve been one heck of a fall.”

  “Clumsy again, Jace?” The final brother, Katherine knew to be Jeremy, sat up from the darkness somewhere across the fire. Long, dark strands of hair fell across his brow. “This is why I told you all before that I would have been the better choice to help and get more dry firewood. And Jack is way too short to be a bear. Or did you think it was Pat wandering the trees after you?”

  “Shut up. You’re drunk.”

  “Still,” Jeremey said, voice slow and even.

  Katherine pressed her lips together not to laugh. It was relatively easy when she glanced back to Jace, who was still seething. Her mouth went dry at the wound. A perfect slice trailed up his calf before he sounded off another round of expletives into the trees.

  “Jesus!” Jace screeched.

  Brian pressed his weight into the open space with what looked like a shirt.

  Beside her, the sudden pressure of Jack leaned up against her. She noted his unease.

  Katherine nudged her hand against his, without waiting for permission to slip hers into his like they did that day out in Ashton on their adventure together, she gave it a squeeze.

  Brian’s face contorted as the blood flowing from the long gash down Jace’s leg slowed, but did not stop. “This is going to need stitches, Jace.”

  “Are you going to have to take him to the hospital?” Katherine suddenly spoke up.

  The three faces in front of her all turned as if just noticing she was there.

  Brian looked around to his other sons, a dry laugh escaping his lips. “Anyone here have a needle?”

  Jed huffed a similar laugh.

  So did Jack, somewhere in his chest that rocked against her.

  Only did Katherine raise her hand, trying to mimic the sound in jest, not noticing until Brian turned back to his middle son at her side how serious he indeed was.

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  “Not so happy about that magic bag of yours now, are you?”

  “Shut up,” Katherine breathed after she pulled out her sewing kit from the very bottom of her tote, now sitting in damp dirt beside her and a log. Mud cushioned her knees as she kneeled down.

  Jace was still going on about something. At this point, she managed to tune him out, mostly anyway.

  At the very least, she knew he was still conscious despite the slightly oozing wound.

  “Are you sure you can do this, Kitten?” Jack asked, more serious this time. His voice sounded as if he stood a few feet away rather than leaning over her shoulder. “It’s a distance from the house, but we could still pack him up and carry him there.”

  And then what?

  At her stunned expression, Brian tactfully informed her that the nearest hospital was a good hour away, not to mention the walk back with Jace. Out of the five men, Jace was by far the tallest. The hospital would just piece him back together with a needle and string anyway—just like she could. In theory.

  Closing her eyes, she focused on her hand not shaking as she held the needle. After letting it heat over the open fire, Jack’s father threaded it for her. She wasn’t sure she could have kept her hand steady enough to do it herself anyway.

  “Shouldn’t we, I don’t know, numb him or something?”

  “With what?” Jed asked.

  Promptly, Brian handed over a wide flat bottle from a bag labeled Supplies. The bottle was also clearly labeled. Bourbon. Without further ado, he doused a healthy amount over the open wound.

  Jace’s low howl echoed through the space until silence settled back around them.

  Katherine’s lips parted from the shock
alone.

  Next to her, she was pleased to see that Jack looked the same, his skin turning a strange pallor in the glow of the fire.

  Brian only took a deep breath and nodded. Taking a sip of the liquor, he passed it down to his son, who was still breathing heavily. “That’ll work. Drink up, Jacey.”

  Who were these people?

  She had met people who liked to be beaten for a living, as well as the rest of Ashton’s underworld. She met drag queens, bikers, catcallers, and art students who thought two highly of their coffee orders. Yet, her hand was still shaking.

  “Close your eyes for me, Kitten,” vibrated behind her ear.

  Still holding the sterilized needle between her thumb and forefinger, Katherine shut her eyes without protest. She could still see the flicker of the flames behind her eyelids.

  But all she could feel was the long, deep breath that coursed through Jack’s chest against her back. In and out. She followed the movement. Once, twice…

  Her hand stopped shaking.

  “Looks like we are both going to be doing scary shit tonight, huh?”

  She nodded, opening up her eyes. Here she went. Deep breath.

  “Okay.”

  The moment her needle punctured Jace’s skin, his mouth went to the top of the bourbon bottle to conceal his grunt of agony.

  Katherine felt her chest heave to the side.

  “Oh my god,” someone coughed a few feet away, likely the eldest of Jack’s brothers. He covered his mouth with his hand, no doubt to hide a smile.

  Katherine shut her eyes again.

  Deep breaths. Deep breaths.

  “You gonna be sick there, Kitten?”

  Swallowing down the involuntary gag, Katherine glared behind herself, whispering. “Shut the fuck up, Jack.”

  “Since when did you get such a mouth on you?” he murmured into her neck so low she almost shivered.

  Since about the moment she decided that she could become a plastic surgeon and stitch Jack’s brother up, apparently that was when she found her voice, a quiet plea.

  “Back up.”

  “I’m just here in case you pass out or do something else wildly crazy like what my father just made you agree to.”