The Ties That Bind (Miss Taken Identity #3)

by Cleo Scornavacca

  “Yes, Rain, I got it and thank you.” I was relieved.

  “Don’t thank me just yet. I have Dominick to contend with. I’ll call you back later. In the meantime, I want you to rest. All of this stress and overthinking is not doing you any good.”

  “Okay, I will. I’ll talk to you later.”

  I hung up with Rain and noticed Tommy leaning in the doorway between the living room and the foyer, fresh from his shower.

  “How long have you been standing there?” I asked.

  “Long enough, Raven.” That’s all he said, as he turned away and headed back up the stairs to his bedroom.

  I heard the door slam shut. It nearly shook the entire house. I had to go and talk to him, but how do I explain? What exactly did he hear? There was only one way to find out.

  I went upstairs in search of Tommy and to face the music.

  I reached his room and knocked gently on the door.

  “Tommy, can I come in?” My voice was shaky.

  “Go away, Raven. I’m in no mood for you right now.” Tommy sounded short-tempered, but I needed to try to speak with him and explain what he had possibly overheard.

  “Tommy, I’m not leaving until you let me come in and speak with you.”

  Tommy spoke through the door. “I said not now!” His anger was evident.

  I didn’t care. I barged in. Tommy turned towards me in surprise, but the surprise was on me. He was standing there completely naked. His strong body glistened from his recent shower. I stood there and couldn’t move. I still had my hand on the doorknob. I was frozen. Tommy, frustrated and disgusted with me, moved to get his towel and wrapped it low on his waist.

  “Raven, don’t you ever listen? I said I didn’t want to talk to you right now, but you couldn't leave well enough alone. If it’s okay with you, I’d like you to leave me alone, so I can get dressed.”

  “Tommy, I don’t know what you heard downstairs, but I’m so……” I didn’t get a chance to finish my apology.

  “What? You’re so sorry? Raven, don’t. Stop with the apologies. I heard more of them from you in the last two days than from anyone in my entire lifetime.” It was evident in Tommy’s voice that he had reached the end of his patience with me.

  He was right. I should have left him alone for the time being, but no, I had to do what I wanted and pushed him further away from me. This should have made me happy. It’s what I wanted. I didn’t want him to care about me. Then why wasn’t I okay with it?

  “Are you leaving or do you need me to escort you out?” He said with his eyes wide and lips in a flat line, as if I should understand what he wanted and just walk away.

  “I can’t believe what I want is of no consequence to you.”

  “What you want? I think your conversation with Rain clearly stated what you wanted. And if I know Rain, she’ll do what she needs to do to help you whether you deserve her help or not. Especially now that you are not in the best of health.”

  “She’s my sister. It’s not about deserving her help or not. It’s about family.”

  “Right, because you’re all about family, babe. Who are you kidding? You would never run to Rain unless you needed help out of an emotional jam. You never go to her and ask how she’s doing or what’s happening with her life because you have so much going on in yours. It’s always about you.”

  He was hurtful, but I wasn’t Rain. I wouldn’t shed a tear and not fight back for fear of hurting Tommy’s feelings, so I decided to let him have it.

  “Me! What about you? You’ve lived your entire life around Rain and never once fucked her. Gimme a break. What does that make you? Hmmm, the hero, Rain’s hero, yet she never took you up on it and showed her gratitude the way you had imagined it would be. I’m right, aren’t I, Tommy? You wanted to be Rain’s hero, but it didn't work out that way. Ironically, she went for the bad boy. Dominick kidnapped her and fucked with her head and she still fell in love with him, in a matter of months. You hung around for years, for a lifetime, and all for what?..Nothing. I don’t think that makes you the hero. It makes you the fool.” My words just spewed forth.

  I was sick from what I just said to him. So much so that my body shook. I knew what I said in that moment I could never take back, and the worst part of all was that I didn’t mean it. I just wanted to hurt him because he had hurt me. I guess I was the biggest fool of all.

  Tommy immediately walked towards my direction. He stood in front of me with no space between us. Although I was scared, I slowly looked up at him to meet his dark gaze. Our bodies skimmed each other, yet they barely touched. There was an obvious connection, physically and emotionally. I grew warm. I was so angry that my emotions were in a war against each other. I wanted him; still, I hated how he talked to me. I hated how he pushed me without really doing anything. I needed him, yet I felt I had to push him away. I treated him like shit just now, but he was a better man than anyone I had ever been with. I wanted to be with him again, but he could never know. I couldn’t let who I was destroy him in the process. My ugliness would eat away at all the good that Tommy was. I did that to Michael. I wouldn't do that to Tommy.

  Tommy placed his hand on my cheek, as he regarded me intently. He was quiet. A fleeting glimpse of a smile or perhaps a sly grin developed on his face and then it quickly faded. I couldn’t read him. I wasn’t sure what was about to come next. His thumb gently stroked my jawline before it settled at the tip of my chin. He looked down at my lips. I felt my body squirm and wondered if Tommy noticed.

  He focused on my mouth. Then when I thought he would lean in to kiss me, to my surprise he didn’t. He pushed back and looked at me. Really looked at me and then he let me have it.

  “As I have repeatedly told you before, I brought you back here to get well, yet, that wasn’t good enough for you. You don’t think that I’ve thought about you, about being with you again? Of course I have, but I also thought about how it has affected us. Not just you and I, but Mike and even Rain. I’ve done nothing, but think about it. I can’t change it and I won’t call it a mistake, but I’ve been conflicted about what happened and what brought us together in the first place. When you fainted and needed help, I thought this was a perfect opportunity to make amends, at least on my part anyway. Possibly move forward and become friends again. Yet, once again you had to make it ugly. You don’t see me throwing Michael’s actions or your life with him in your face, but you have no problem doing it to me.”

  I was speechless for a change. I didn’t know what to say or how to react to his statements. I could see now that he and I were both conflicted about what had brought us together in the first place. We never really talked it out. Actually, we had barely spoken at all in the last few weeks. Maybe we should have? Then when I came over here to have my stupid demands heard, all of those old feelings of attraction would have been just that, old feelings in our past that we had put behind us instead of this huge conflict we are having to deal with now.

  I was just about to speak, but Tommy beat me to it.

  “Since this is clearly not where you want to be and for once, I agree with you, get your stuff together and I’ll take you down to stay with Rain.”

  “Tommy…”

  He immediately thwarted my attempt to speak by putting his hand up. “Raven, for once, just once, do what you're told and get your things.”

  With that, I did as Tommy requested and I sheepishly left his room. I slowly closed the door behind me. Once outside I leaned up against the hard, cool wood to compose myself. I wiped the tears that silently, yet quickly stung my eyes and rolled down my cheeks.

  Tommy was right about everything. I respected his honesty and knew because of my actions that I had overstayed my welcome. It was definitely time for me to leave.

  Chapter Six

  A Change of Plans

  Tommy

  Rain called me to explain what exactly had transpired during the conversation between Raven and herself. I told her that I heard much of what Raven said, so she really didn
't have to go over it with me again. Rain confirmed that Raven didn’t want to be alone with me for the entire weekend, for fear she would give in to temptation. Raven’s feelings were all over the place. She appeared to be going through the same emotional rollercoaster that I had been dealing with for some time. At first I didn’t think leaning on each other would be a bad idea, but given the emotional and physical state that Raven was in, maybe it would be better if she did stay with Rain. We said that we would talk more in person once I drove Raven down there. I was feeling a bit nostalgic and missed my long talks with Rain. I needed to get to the shore house to see my best friend. I needed this visit almost as much as Raven did.

  I hung up with Rain feeling slightly more at ease. I concluded that when Raven finished her shower we should sit down to talk. During our conversation, we both agreed that it was the right decision for me to drive her down to the shore house tonight and I’d leave in the morning so I could make new arrangements to head to Bali after all.

  The traffic wasn’t as horrendous as it could have been heading south into New Jersey. Then again, it wasn’t Friday night on the Garden State Parkway. We arrived at Dominick and Rain’s place in just under two hours.

  We pulled into the driveway and there was Rain, barefoot as usual, standing on the porch watering the flower boxes that lined the outer edge of the landing. It was a beautiful evening. It was quite warm and the sun was just beginning to set. The smell of the familiar salty air was somewhat comforting. Now that I thought about it, I was glad Rain agreed to let us intrude on Dominick’s birthday weekend.

  Rain stopped what she was doing and ran over to us. She wrapped her arms around us and gave us both a tight squeeze.

  “I’m so glad you’re both here.” She said excitedly.

  “Me too.” I smiled at her, as I tugged her close and kissed the tip of her nose.

  Rain let go of me and took her sister by the hands. “You know that it’s going to be okay, don’t you, Raven?” She asked, but was reassuring at the same time.

  Raven nodded in agreement, but was silent. Rain could tell her sister was far from okay. She did as only Rain could and keep everything upbeat and on a lighter note when someone else was down.

  “Dominick has the grill started. Let’s go and get both of you settled in, then we’ll eat.” She stated.

  “Great! I’m starving.” I hadn’t felt like eating all day, but now that I was here and I saw Rain, I felt better, more at ease and it appeared my appetite had returned.

  As we entered the house, Dominick was coming in from the patio. He stopped dead in his tracks when he saw Rain and I walking arm in arm with Raven standing on my other side, typical Kane reaction. He just couldn't be happy that he was married to her and that she loved him more than anything and that she gave him two beautiful babies. He had to get jealous over every man that looked at Rain, even me. That was his problem, not mine.

  Rain dismissed his behavior by letting go of me and walking over to her “two year old,” I mean her husband, to give him a kiss of reassurance. I really had to hand it to Rain, she knew exactly how to tame the beast. Dominick’s features softened and he walked forward to shake my hand and to welcome both Raven and me.

  “Conte.”

  “Kane.”

  That was as welcoming as it was going to get from either of us.

  “Raven, good to see you.” He kissed his sister-in-law on the cheek.

  “Thank you for having us on such short notice.” Raven looked down, as if she was embarrassed to admit that she caused this situation.

  “It’s our pleasure.” He stated.

  “Dominick, why don’t you and Tommy get the bags from the car while Raven and I get some drinks for all of us.”

  Raven wasn’t saying much and for good reason. When I turned to face her, she was as white as a ghost and appeared as though she was going to pass out again. This time Dominick caught her before she hit the floor.

  “Is this the shit that has been going on up in the city?” Rain asked, as she felt her sister’s cheek.

  “Yeah, she passed out in my foyer and when I got her to the hospital, Raven admitted she hadn’t been feeling well for some time now.”

  “Don’t just stand there and discuss her condition; she’s getting heavy.” Dominick said.

  Rain chuckled. “Sorry, put her on the couch and I’ll call Dr. Roth. He may know what to do. Tommy, did you get any instructions from the doctor that was at the hospital with Raven?”

  “I think Raven has them in her bags. I’ll go out to the car and get them.”

  “I’ll help you, Conte.”

  Dominick followed me out to the driveway, so we could retrieve Raven’s belongings and mine. Dominick wasn’t here to just lend a friendly, helping hand. He wanted to get the gist of what was really going on. He always needed to have the full story. He had to be ahead of the game, no surprises. I couldn’t blame him this time. What affected Raven would undoubtedly affect Rain. He always needed to protect her. It was the one thing I did respect him for.

  “Conte, what’s going on with her?”

  “Kane, she’s burnt out. The doctor said that it could have been a lot worse, but if she gets help and recuperates she will improve with time.”

  He grinned. “I take it that you were assisting her in that this weekend.”

  I laughed and ran my hand through my hair. “Yeah, well, I tried, but she is so damn difficult.”

  “She’s not Rain.” He commented.

  That’s all it took to set me off. I dropped the bags and grabbed Kane’s shirt and he followed.

  “You fucking piece of shit! I damn well know she’s not Rain and I’m tired of everyone feeling the need to remind me of that.” I said, as my grip tightened.

  Dominick tugged back hard and replied in a condescending tone. “Ah, it appears my wife is a sore subject for you. Tell the truth, Conte, you hate seeing Rain married to me, don’t you? It kills you that she is in my be…”

  “ENOUGH! Both of you get in this house and stop acting like children.”

  We both turned and faced Rain, who was standing on the porch with an expression on her face that was just shy of lethal. We released our grip on each other and then, like two scolded toddlers, we sulked all the way back to the house.

  Rain held open the screen door and made sure she escorted us inside with no further issues, as she addressed each of us. “I can’t leave either of you alone for two minutes or there’s an argument. You are both adults. Get inside before the neighbors call the police.”

  Once in the house, Dominick and I stood next to each other to take the punishment that Rain was about to dish out. She never gets angry, but with everything going on, she may have reached her breaking point.

  “Listen to me and listen good. First, Tommy, I let you and Raven come here and be part of Dominick’s birthday weekend, because she is not well and needs a break. You evidently have your hands full with her, but I won’t have you or my sister disrupt this very special weekend. Do you understand me?”

  I nodded. Rain was too pissed off at this point to address her in any other way.

  Dominick smirked and Rain noticed. I didn’t envy him right now.

  “As for you, my birthday boy, I told you before they came down that you needed to be the man that I knew you could be, no jealousy, no yelling, and no Kane antics. But no, you and he had to go at it in the driveway of our home. Is this what you want to teach our children, Dominick and you too, Tommy? Now, I called Dr. Roth and he said that Raven needs calm and peace. Believe me, she’s not the only one. So if you two characters are done acting like children, I’ll get us all something to drink and while Tommy helps me in the kitchen, you my dear, sweet, sexy husband will get that childish look off your face and see if our babies are still sleeping, or if they need their bottles.” She stopped and raised one eyebrow with a look of disappointment on her face, as she waited for us to agree with her.

  Dominick reached for her and she wrapped her arms aroun
d his neck. “I’m sorry, baby. You're right. I’ll check on the twins and meet you in the kitchen in a few minutes.”

  She knew how to keep the monster in Kane at bay. She literally tamed the savage beast when it came to her husband. I could see how much they loved each other and no matter their struggles, it always ended with them coming together, no he said, she said. They learned to move on and not dwell. It gave me a lot to think about in terms of what was missing in my life. There was so much of my life that needed re-examining, but we were here for Raven. My feelings would just have to wait for the moment.

  Rain and I went into the kitchen, while Dominick headed into the nursery. Anna and Joseph were away on a visit to see Daniel, so it would be just the four of us, or I should say the six of us, twins included, for the rest of the weekend.