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Ties That Bind
Ties That Bind

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Ties That Bind

Язык: Английский
Год издания: 2019
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Серия «Obsession Book»
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Flipping his cell phone open, he dialed Tristian’s number to tell him his sister was settled. Hunter frowned seeing there was no signal on the cell phone.

Angel walked into her room and smiled seeing they had left everything like it had been before she’d moved. She threw herself backwards onto the mattress with a happy sigh as she closed her eyes. As soon as she did, what she and Hunter had just done in the elevator came back to haunt her and make her body burn.

She had been gone so long that she’d figured he wouldn’t want her like that anymore. Tristian had started dating someone… why hadn’t Hunter?

When she’d started dating Ashton… she had tried to block out the memories of Hunter and Tristian. But now that she was back, it felt like her heart was already being pulled apart again. She’d been in love with both of them for so long that it was the reason she had started dating Ashton in the first place… to forget. But when Hunter had touched her in the elevator just now, it had confirmed her worse fears… she wasn’t in love with Ashton Fox and he would never make her feel like Hunter just did.

She flattened her palm against her lower stomach and then slowly slid it down between her legs, arching her body as she did so. She closed her eyes when the imaginary image of Hunter wavered and was replaced with the memory of Tristian’s heated touch.

Chapter 3 “Jealousy”

It was almost dark when Tristian switched the mellow music out for some alternative rock then grabbed the bottle of wine he had hidden down low inside the Tiki-Bar. As he picked up three glasses, a hint of a smile flickered across his lips. He had recently found his grandfather’s hidden wine cellar within the secret hallways that ran under and through the huge building.

Keeping the other family members from knowing about the narrow hallways was the only thing Tristian was glad his grandfather had done. Now he had his own little secret and so far only one other person knew about it, Angel, and she wasn’t the type to go exploring the cobwebbed catacombs.

Seeing Ashton come in the side entrance, he called to him and waved him over. “It’s time to start meeting the family.” Tristian led them to one of the upholstered picnic tables where the twins were entertaining Stacey.

“Okay. I haven’t even started drinking yet and I’m already seeing double,” Ashton joked hoping it would be a good icebreaker.

Hearing them, Damien and Devin both glanced up seeing the bottle of wine and letting their gaze follow it as Tristian set it down on the table.

“Hey, that’s one of the bottles from grandfather’s secret stash. I saw him and dad drinking one a long time ago.” Devin grabbed it and started prying at the cork. “Where the hell did you find this one?”

Before Tristian could even answer, Damien nodded toward Ashton. “Tristian? What’d you bring him for? We need another guy like we need a hole in the head.” He slid his arm around Stacey while his twin was distracted.

“Ha ha,” Tristian set the glasses down. “I would like for you to meet Ashton Fox… Angel’s boyfriend.” He raised his finger and actually pointed as he introduced them to Ashton. “And this is Devin… and Damien, our cousins… along with Stacey, who just comes to torture them when she finds the time.” He winked at Stacey knowing she wouldn’t deny it.

Ashton stuck his hand out and tried not to cringe as the twins took turns almost breaking his fingers with their grip. Flexing his hand to get the blood flowing again, he smiled and said, “Angel told me a lot about you guys. It’s good to finally meet the twins.”

“So, our little Angel told you about her favorite kissing cousins?” Damien asked with a straight face.

“Yeah, she also told me about the bloody nose you got for the effort,” Ashton said just as seriously, if not a little bored. If he was fated to crank up the testosterone… then so be it.

Tristian laughed loudly and smacked Ashton on the back, “That-a-boy, get him.”

“Are you serious?” Stacey asked, laughing with Tristian as she reached for one of the wine glasses Devin had just finished pouring.

“Hardly ever… as far as I can tell.” Damien grabbed his glass and downed it. It was sad to see that Angel had managed to get herself yet another bodyguard. Wasn’t the Indian brigade enough?

Ignoring the twins, Tristian tapped Ashton on the shoulder to get him to quit glaring. “Over there is Uncle Robert and his wife Diane,” he pointed to the couple that was climbing into the hot tub. “They stopped having children after the twins for some reason.” He tried not to laugh when that got a smirk out of Ashton.

“Who’s your friend?” Tiffany came over, putting her knee beside Devin and leaning on it like she was bored but curious. She was wearing a baby-blue bikini that was several sizes too small with a sheer wrap tied around her waist.

She flicked Devin on the ear when he turned his head to stare right at her breasts. “Ewww, stop that you pervert.”

“Give it up Tiff, he’s taken,” Devin said in a pitying tone then winked at her. “I guess you’re stuck with me after all.” He growled when he noticed Damien trying to kiss Stacey. “Damn it Damien, I can’t turn my back on you for a minute, can I?”

When the twins tried to lean toward each other to argue, Stacey was still in the middle of them. She put a delicate hand on each one of their shoulders and pushed. “Cut it out guys or I swear I’ll go home again,” she warned them.

“Tiffany, meet Ashton… Angel’s guest for the week,” Tristian downgraded Ashton from boyfriend status to guest on purpose. If Tiffany wanted to take a shot at Ash… then who was he to stop her. “Tiffany here, is our youngest cousin and she has two siblings around here somewhere.”

“They’re in the pool with their friends,” Tiffany pouted feeling just as sulky as Devin. Rolling her eyes, she grabbed Devin’s hand and pulled him out of the chair. “Come on… let’s go get wet.”

“Sure,” Devin slapped Stacey on the butt as he followed her toward the pool.

Ashton cocked an eyebrow but bit his tongue refusing to say anything out loud. Besides, the family would probably just gang up on him if he said what was running through his mind.

Tristian pointed toward the dark haired girl climbing the later of the high dive, “That’s Paris, Tiffany’s older sister. And the strange man coming up the ladder behind her is probably her new toy for the week because I have never seen him before.” He turned in his chair looking towards the other end of the pool. “And one of the two people making out in the kiddy section would be Jason, their brother.”

“What’s in the wine around here?” Ashton asked, hoping it sounded like a joke.

“Why do you think I’m not drinking it?” Tristian smiled liking Ashton more and more… sometimes life sucked. “Their mom should be showing up soon. Aunt Carley.” So Damien wouldn’t overhear, he leaned toward Ashton and added in a whisper, “That is, unless she is so drunk that she can’t walk.”

“I bet that’s her,” Ashton nodded toward the entrance since he had been scanning it watching for Angel. The middle-aged lady looked like the girls but with shorter hair and way too much makeup. She kind of looked tired… or wait a minute… did she just stagger?

“Yeah… that’s her. I bet she goes straight for the liquor.” Tristian made a winning bell sound when Carley picked up a bottle of crown royal from the Tiki-Bar and took it to a lounge chair not even bothering with a glass.

“And who is that?” Ashton asked pointing back toward the entrance, seeing a girl around Angel's age with long brown hair and fair skin.

“That would be our other cousin,” Tristian left his chair and met the girl halfway. Knowing this would really freak Ashton out; he dipped his head, giving Shae a long passionate kiss. Once he thought it was good enough of a show, he breathed against her lips. “Don’t get mad at me… but I just told Angel’s boyfriend that you were one of our cousins. Did he fall out of his seat yet?”

Shae giggled, “No, but is he always that pale?”

Tristian glanced over his shoulder and almost choked on his laugh when Ashton instantly looked in the other direction as if he hadn’t been watching. “Okay, let’s go let him off the hook.” Tristian led her by the hand back to the table noticing Damien and Stacey had joined Devin in the pool.

“This is my cousin Shae,” he grabbed his ribs when Shae elbowed him. “I mean my girlfriend Shae,” he smiled guiltily.

Ashton crossed his arms over his chest and tilted his head studying them. “Where’s that sister of yours? I suddenly feel the urge to hide behind someone.”

“Is my brother giving you a hard time?” Angel asked from directly behind him. She was smiling at Shae, having overheard the cousin remark.

“Thank god,” Ashton leaned his head back as Angel leaned down and gave him a light kiss on the lips. He was suddenly jealous because it wasn’t half as passionate as the simple kiss he had seen her slip Hunter. “I know I won’t be twenty-one for a couple more hours but your brother is seriously trying to drive me to drink.”

Pulling her around beside him, Ashton couldn’t help but glance behind her to see if the Indian was dogging her heels. Seeing a man leaning against one of the thick polls of the Tiki-Bar watching them, he frowned at first thinking it was Hunter… then realizing it wasn’t. This man was Indian, but something about him seemed more dangerous than the one he had already met.

Ray didn’t bother to look away but instead locked eyes with Angel’s boyfriend. Giving him a cold stare, he started walking straight toward them… never breaking eye contact. Seeing Angel follow the boy’s gaze, Ray softened his expression to glance at her, not caring what Ashton thought of him.

Angel’s eyes instantly lit up, “Oh look, its Ray!”

She started to push away from Ashton so she could go to him but Ashton only tightened his hold on her hand and jerked her to a stop. She bit her bottom lip curiously, then settled for smiling brightly and waiting on Ray to reach her.

Tristian noticed the heavy-handed maneuver and frowned. Angel would want a hug from Ray after not seeing him in so long, so why was Ashton being so possessive? He stood up ready to inform Ashton that being a dick was uncool but his lips twisted into a smirk when Ray walked straight up to Angel and gave her a hug anyway.

From the unhappy look on Ashton's face, Tristian hoped this would be the beginning of a wonderful argument.

“It’s good to see you back at Sanctuary,” Ray said, hugging her for a few seconds longer than normal just to piss the glaring boyfriend off. He even went a step further and gave her a kiss on the cheek before slowly pulling away. His eyes darkened several shades as he gazed into her blue ones. “If your hand starts going numb, just tell me… and I’ll break his fingers.”

“Heh?” Angel breathed then realized what he was talking about. As a matter of fact, her hand was starting to go numb. “Oh no,” she gave Ashton’s hand a squeeze as if hers didn’t hurt at all, than winked at Ray. “He’s not giving me any trouble. This is my boyfriend, Ashton.”

She smiled reassuringly knowing Ray really would break Ash’s fingers if she had told him anything differently. One thing he had always done was keep her safe.

Angel blinked remembering just one of those times. Ray had given Hunter and Tristian a serious beating when they had conned her into climbing the old oak tree that hung out over the pond. He’d forbid her from doing it several times in the past and then showed up just in time to catch her as she fell from a high branch that wasn’t on the water side.

Ray completely ignored the introduction to Ashton. “It’s good that you have come back home Angel. Maybe your grandmother will have her wish granted and you’ll stay.” He leaned close to her ear as if to whisper but kept his voice loud enough for everyone to hear it. “I’ve got a surprise for you later.” Ray gave her a secretive smile then nodded at Tristian and Shae. Without saying another word, he walked around the huge pool and out the back gate.

“Well that bites,” Angel pouted. “Why didn’t he stick around?”

“He’s probably off getting your surprise,” Tristian hedged, knowing where Ray was going.

Turning back to the picnic table, Angel sat down beside Ashton, absently rubbing her hand when he finally let go of it. She wanted to ask him why he had squeezed so hard but decided against it as she looked across the table at Shae. If Ashton wanted to be mean… then he could just be ignored. She felt like celebrating, seeing her favorite girlfriend for the first time since leaving the mountain.

“So, has my brother really been behaving, or has he been lying to me all this time?” Angel inquired playfully.

“Probably lying,” Shae looked at Tristian and winked as she stood up. “I think I’m going to steal your sister for a minute so we can catch up.”

“What? You can’t gossip in front of the guys?” Tristian asked, glad that Angel would have a reason to get away from Ashton and Shae would have a reason not to cling to him. He had mainly invited Shae for the week just so Angel would have another reminder of why she should move back home.

“That would take all the fun out of it,” Shae informed him with a mischievous twitch of her lips.

“Fine. After all, I did steal you away from her first,” he admitted without remorse as Shae walked around the table and grabbed Angel’s hands, pulling her away like they were a couple of schoolgirls.

Glancing back at Ashton, Tristian could see the change in the guy’s personality as if it were night and day. Ashton’s lips were thinner and he could almost feel the anger rolling off him in waves.

He sighed in relief knowing he had finally found another reason not to like Ashton Fox. It seemed the boy simply didn’t like to share. That only confirmed the fact that Tristian would have to find ways of taking all of Angel’s time away from her boyfriend while they were here.

“Let me know when you’re ready for that drink,” Tristian grinned as he pulled his own flask out of his pocket. “It might be a while before they come back.”

Ashton didn’t answer as his jealous gaze followed Angel’s every move.

“I’m so glad you’re back,” Shae led Angel toward the Tiki-Bar. “Your brother isn’t the only person that missed you, ya know.” She pushed Angel gently toward one of the stools while she slid behind the bar tapping her lips with her finger. “I think this deserves a toast… how does Long Island Iced Tea sound?”

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