Blood Ties

by JD Nixon

“It’s not a date,” I insisted, glancing over at the Sarge, embarrassed. “Besides, Abe’s been chaperoning me the whole time, haven’t you, sweetie?” I winked at Abe who looked embarrassed himself that he’d been caught out being so obvious.

  Jake laughed and slid his arm around my shoulders. I leaned against him, one hand resting on his thigh. He stole the spoon from my other hand and wolfed down the rest of my dessert.

  “This is good,” he said to Abe, his mouth full. “Tell the chef I give it two thumbs up.” Then he drank my coffee and ate the chocolate mint that came with it, before munching on some of our uneaten breadsticks. The Sarge regarded him silently, his face expressionless.

  “What have you been doing today besides watching Des and Maureen move out?” I asked Jake, reaching up to wipe some crumbs from the side of his mouth. He grabbed my hand in his, brought it to his lips and kissed it, smiling at me.

  “I’ve been hanging with Two Dogs and Harry, babe. Harry was off-roster and Two Dogs took a sickie.” His best friends since primary school, the mates he’d gone to the nightclub with on that night we had met again. Two Dogs, so named because when he was a kid he had two identical pet dogs that only he could tell apart, was tubby and balding and worked for the Council in the payroll section. Harry was tall, lanky and freckly and worked at the prison with Jake. As I said before, they were both really nice guys and Jake was a rare creature in the Bycraft family for having friends who weren’t also his relatives. “We went for a surf and played a few games of soccer with some of the young ones. Then I had dinner at Mum’s. Heard the girls gave you a hard time today. You okay?”

  “I’ll live,” I replied, a little frosty.

  “Babe,” he remonstrated mildly, running his fingers through my hair. I almost purred with happiness. “Don’t be like that. I’ve got no control over those girls, you know that. Besides, you should see their legs. Bruises coming up everywhere where you whacked them.”

  “Good. I hope they’re in a lot of pain. I’m going to be covered in bruises tomorrow too where they kicked me. And where Rick tried to strangle me.”

  He leaned in close to me, gently brushed my hair aside and whispered in my ear, “I’ll kiss all those bruises better tonight, my beautiful Tessie. Will that help?” He kissed me on the neck again. He held my eyes and I nodded, my pulse suddenly shooting up to the sky.

  Abruptly remembering that we were not alone, I changed the subject and told him that the Sarge and I were planning on fixing up Des’ old chook house. He frowned.

  “No need to bother someone else with that kind of stuff. I’ll do it for you. I’ve got tomorrow off, remember? I’ll pick it up in my ute and have it fixed and painted for you by the end of the day. Your dad can help me.”

  “Thanks, Jakey,” I smiled up at him lovingly.

  “It was no imposition,” the Sarge said quietly. “I was glad to help.”

  “Thanks anyway, Finn,” Jake said, friendly but firmly, looking across the table at him. “But it’s my job to sort out my girlfriend’s problems. That’s one of the reasons a woman keeps a man around, wouldn’t you agree?”

  “Of course,” the Sarge replied, impassive. I guess he took the hint – Jake wasn’t exactly being subtle.

  “Great! I’ll come by very early tomorrow morning to get it, if you don’t mind. That will give me all day to work on it.”

  The Sarge said, “Help yourself.”

  “Thanks.” He stood up. “I’d better get this lovely one home. She’ll need a good rest after taking on my relatives by herself,” Jake said, looking at me with those striking eyes in a way that left me in no doubt that a good rest was the last thing I’d be getting tonight. A thrill shot up my spine.

  “I wasn’t by myself,” I reminded him as I stood up too. “The Sarge was there. He gave Rosie a face full of spray.” I laughed at the memory.

  “I know. I heard all about it, believe me.” He turned to the Sarge. “You better watch your back when she’s around, mate. Rosie’s gunning for you now.”

  The Sarge shrugged his broad shoulders. “She can bring it on. I’m ready.”

  “At least it might take her mind off trying to kill Tessie for a while,” he laughed and held out his hand to the Sarge. “Thanks for taking care of my girlfriend tonight, Finn. I bet she had a great time.”

  “I did,” I confirmed. “Thanks so much for the lovely dinner, Sarge. Sorry to run off on you.”

  He stood up and shook Jake’s hand. “Don’t worry about it. I should hit the sack early anyway. The removalist van will be at the house first thing tomorrow morning.”

  A thought hit me. “Sarge, what are you going to sleep on tonight? You don’t have any furniture. Maybe you should come back to my house? At least there’s a bed for you there.”

  He smiled at me and it stayed on his lips a few seconds longer than normal. Jake was squeezing my shoulder tightly in a silent scream of despair, seeing his chance of some good loving evaporating for the second night in a row.

  “I have a blow-up mattress and a sleeping bag to do me. I’ll be right. Thanks for the offer though, Tess. I appreciate it,” he said finally, and Jake relaxed his iron grip on my shoulder. Jake shook hands with Abe and I gave Abe a quick peck on the cheek for looking after me, and hand-in-hand we left the pub for the drive back to my place in his ute.

  Dad and his mates were still going strong when we arrived home, loudly swapping fishing stories so full of bullshit I could have fertilised my herb garden for a year with them. After a quick hello to them and a warning to Dad about not staying up too late that he brushed off scornfully, Jake and I retired to my bedroom for the night. And from the moment I shut the door and turned to face him until we both finally fell asleep hours later – naked, entwined in each other’s arms, utterly exhausted, our bodies pulsing with over-satiation – every thought about anything except him and me was forcefully driven out of my mind with the sheer pleasure of his wonderful lovemaking.

  Chapter 10

  I slept heavily and only woke up when Jake began stroking my breasts and kissing my neck. I rolled over to face him and kissed him sleepily. He kissed me back, his tongue snaking its way into my mouth. I reached down to find him as hard as a steel rod again.

  “Didn’t I wear that out last night?” I teased as I kissed his shoulder.

  “Yes, you did,” he murmured, his mouth busy with my breasts. “But this is a new one. I always bring a couple with me when I stay over at your place because I know how greedy you are.”

  I giggled and let him have his wicked way with me once more. Finished, we lay on our backs, clasping hands, panting.

  He sat up to peer down sadly at his deflating self. “Oh no, look. You’ve broken another one.”

  I giggled again and hit him with my pillow. He hit me back with his pillow and we wrestled on the bed together for a while, laughing. He soon overpowered me and I was trapped underneath him as he sat on my legs, holding my arms down.

  “I’ll only let you go if you answer three questions,” he said, trying to keep his face serious.

  “Okay,” I agreed, smiling with relaxed satisfaction.

  “First question: who is the best-looking man you’ve ever met?”

  My smile widened. “You, Jakey.”

  “Correct answer. You’re ready to move on to the second question. Who is the best lover you’ve ever had in your whole life?”

  I giggled. “You again, Jakey. Hands down. Or pants down, maybe.”

  He laughed and leaned down to kiss me slowly. “Another correct answer. What a clever girl you are! Now you’re ready to move on to the third and final question. Are you ready?”

  “Yes,” I said, trying to look solemn, but failing miserably.

  “Who is the man you love more than anybody?”

  “That’s an easy one,” I smiled. “Dad.”

  He tickled me pitilessly until I squealed for mercy. “That’s not right. Try again.”

  “What was the question again?” I laughed.

&n
bsp; “Who is the man you love more than anybody?”

  “Oh, I know. That really cute guy in that TV show about the doctors . . . you know, what’s-his-name. I’m completely in love him.”

  “That’s not the right answer either!” he thundered and I had to suffer through another tickling, giggling uncontrollably and nearly squirming myself off the bed. “I’m going to ask you one more time. Who is the man you love more than anybody?”

  “Is it you, Jakey?” I laughed. He leaned down so that our noses were touching.

  “I don’t know, Tessie darling. Is it me?” he asked, serious all of a sudden.

  “Yes, it’s you, you goose,” I said and kissed the tip of his nose. He rolled off me and lay back next to me on the bed, smirking smugly.

  I leaned on his smooth, muscular chest and traced around the intricate phoenix tattoo that spread across his chest and stomach with my finger. He’d had that done just before we met up again a couple of years ago. I always hoped it symbolised his deep desire to rid himself of his Bycraft heritage, rising up to leave it permanently behind in a new life. But maybe that was wishful thinking on my part because he’d professed ignorance of its mythological importance, only ever admitting to me that he’d liked the design when he’d seen it in the tattooist’s artbook.

  His one other tattoo was the word ‘LIBERTY’ inked across his shoulder blades in gothic script. He’d had that done straight after he’d walked out on his wife for good and you sure didn’t need to be a psychologist to work that one out. When I’d first seen it, he’d told me with a crooked self-deprecating smile that the tattooist had suggested the word, tactfully noting that the word he’d originally wanted – ‘FREE’ – might indicate to the world that he was a cheap root. I’d laughed at his story, but I’d also felt deep sadness inside – this wasn’t a man who wanted to be tied down again anytime soon. Especially as he’d gone to the bother of permanently marking his skin with his philosophy.

  “I’m hurting everywhere because of your awful relatives,” I complained, sitting up in pain at a twinge in my side.

  “Poor baby. Show Dr Jakey.” I pointed out where my greatest hurtings were, and he confirmed that I was bruising up nicely over my torso. He took the time to kiss them all better. “You’re such a tough cookie, aren’t you, my little Tessie?” he sympathised proudly and we kissed lazily for a while before separating. I lay on my back, my hands behind my head, one leg thrown carelessly over his and yawned.

  “You weren’t very subtle with the Sarge last night, were you? He was only trying to help.”

  “I don’t want him getting any ideas about you. It must be frustrating for him to come here and find that he’ll be working with such a smart and beautiful woman, only to learn that she’s already taken.” He leaned over to kiss me. “And taken by someone who loves her madly and thinks that she’s the best thing that ever happened to him and will never let her go.”

  “That’s so sweet, but you’re on the wrong track completely. He thinks I’m a yokel,” and I told him about the Sarge’s surprise at my proficiency on the computer.

  “That was a stupid thing for him to say. Everybody uses computers these days.” He paused a beat. “Even yokels like you,” jumping out of bed before I could thump him.

  He always lorded over me that he’d been born in the city, not Little Town, his mum going into early labour with him while she was visiting her husband in the maximum-security city jail. Consequently, Jake was the only Bycraft not born in Little Town and I’d sometimes wondered if that little accident of birth was what made him so different to everybody else in his family.

  As I sat up yawning again, noting it was time to get ready for my run, I saw a shadow at my window. Jake noticed the line of my glance and saw the shadow too. He stalked over to the window angrily and pulled the blind up. There was the unmistakable sound of someone pushing through the foliage, their feet crunching on the gravel I’d deliberately laid under every window in our house so I could hear anyone trying to break in.

  “Piss off, Denny! I won’t tell you again to stop looking through Tessie’s window! I’m going to thump the Christ out of you if I catch you again,” he shouted out the window as his younger brother made his hurried escape down the side of my house. “Jesus, that shits me!” he fumed. “How many fucking times do I have to tell him?”

  “Do you think he saw anything?” I asked, disconcerted, arms across my breasts, feeling vulnerable. I didn’t want anyone, let alone a Bycraft, watching Jake and me during our private time together. He turned to me and his anger disappeared. He came over and put his arms around me, drawing me tightly to him.

  “No,” he said soothingly, stroking my hair. “The blind was down. I’m pretty sure he only got there too. He might have heard us talking. That’s all.”

  “I wish your family would leave me alone,” I mumbled into his shoulder.

  “We don’t seem to be able to,” he said with a sad smile. “There’s just something about you that gets all our blood boiling, one way or another, for good or bad.” And he touched his lips on mine, and we kissed slowly for a long time until I felt better about everything.

  Needing oxygen, I pushed him away. “I’m going for a jog. Do you want to come?”

  “Nah, I might go around to Finn’s place and collect the coop. Now I’m awake, I might as well make an early start on it.”

  “Okay, I’ll make you some breakfast when I get back from my run.” I turned to start gathering my running gear.

  “Tessie,” he said, serious again.

  I looked up, “Hmm?”

  “Take your spray or even your gun with you today.”

  “I can’t run with that stuff on!” I scoffed. “I’m not scared of Denny. He’s never tried to hurt me before. And I’ll have my knife with me as usual.”

  “At least take your mobile. Please, Tessie.”

  I sighed and humoured him. “I always do, honey-boy. There’s no need for you to worry. Romi will probably join me and the Sarge said he might too.”

  “What?” He was immediately riled. “I’m getting sick of that man already. It’s bad enough that Abe’s always sniffing around you. I don’t want another man doing the same,” he complained, pulling on his jeans.

  “Don’t be stupid, Jake. That’s a horrible expression. He’s not ‘sniffing’ around me. He’s just coming for a jog,” I said irritably, twisting myself into my sports bra.

  Anger rising, he said, “Don’t you call me stupid.” He was very insecure about what people thought of his intelligence, and I guess that people did tend to dismiss him because of his great beauty and because he was a Bycraft. It was a sore point with him that I’d been to university and he had dropped out of high school after grade ten to start a carpentry apprenticeship that he’d never finished. “And don’t you get too friendly with him, Tess,” he warned.

  “Don’t you start telling me who I can and can’t be friends with, Jacob Bycraft,” I retorted, instantly in fine fettle.

  “Oh, you’re going to be like that, are you?” he snapped.

  “Yes, I am,” I snapped right back at him.

  “Well, maybe you can fix the fucking chicken coop yourself then.”

  “All right, I will. I don’t need your help,” I said defiantly, and to twist the knife some more I added, “I’ll ask the Sarge to help me instead.”

  He glared at me, hurt by my comment, threw on his t-shirt and stalked out of the bedroom and the house, slamming the front door behind him. The sound of his ute revving up broke the morning peace and he roared off down the driveway.

  Men! I thought angrily as I did up my shoelaces. After a quick visit to the bathroom and a drink of juice, I jogged slowly down to my gate and spent the next few minutes stretching while I waited. I had a lot of pain from my bruising and didn’t think that the jog was going to be pleasant. I watched as the Sarge’s car came driving down the long straight road, but I could see that he wasn’t alone. Romi was sitting in the front seat, a huge, ecstatically h
appy smile on her face. If it had been any wider, her head probably would have split in two.

  He turned into my property and parked off the main driveway on the patchy, neglected lawn. Romi rushed over to me, floating on air. “My bike got a flat tyre and I thought I’d have to push it all the way to your place and then Finn came along like a white knight and rescued me and gave me a lift here and the BMW is so nice and did you know that the seats are real leather and he listens to some really cool music and we passed Jakey on the way and he looked really angry when he saw us and he didn’t even wave back at me and . . .” She finally paused for a breath, sucking in some much needed oxygen.

  “That’s nice,” I said dismissively, in a stroppy mood. “You ready to go?” I greeted the Sarge tersely, unfairly feeling that he was to blame for my fight with Jake. I jogged off straight away back towards the intersection for Beach Road.

  Normally I was a sociable jogger, happy to chat or more typically merely listen to the endless stream of self-absorbed teenage consciousness that issued from Romi’s mouth. This morning though, I fervently wished that I was by myself so I jogged harder than the other two, pulling ahead, leaving the poor Sarge to cop the whole earful of Romi’s starry-eyed chatter. She was a beautiful girl and I loved her like a little sister, but she was an idealist with overly romantic views of life and people. She thought Jake and I were Romeo and Juliet. And this morning I could have cheerfully strangled her.

  Evidently the Sarge thought so too because after a while with her, he also accelerated. Though I tried to run even faster to get away from him, I was aching everywhere from the bruising and was suffering a great deal of pain to run at all, let alone at the rate I was pounding the street. He finally caught up to me.

  “How are you feeling today?” he panted.

  “I’ll live,” I said, trying to speed up again, but I couldn’t. Romi, fuelled by her teenage crush, had caught up to the both of us and none of us talked for a while because I was setting such a cracking pace.

  The beach part was tough and I ran on the soft sand even more than usual to the groans and complaints of the others. I ignored them both and bent on pushing all my emotional angst into physical pain, I drove myself to breaking point. The others didn’t have to follow me. I wasn’t making them.