Amy Blankenship - Ties That Bind

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.