Ties That Bind

by Neeny Boucher

  “It’s not about numbers,” Christina sighed. “I’m not interested in competing on those terms. We’ve done the revenge thing in other ways and I’m not interested in playing those games.”

  Christina gulped because this was so hard to explain and she could understand both sides. “You see, this is the big difference between us. Rileu thinks ‘emotional’ attachments are worse than physical ones. It’s the ultimate betrayal to him. To Riley, if feelings weren’t involved it doesn’t really count, but it does to me, and let’s just say, he’s a very experimental boy.”

  “Tell me more,” Bonnie leered. “What are we talking? An overview with examples would be good.” Mandy glared at Bonnie and then they had a pointy-fingers match, each jabbing their finger at the other, hissing insults.

  Christina wanted to analyze the situation and understand it. There were elephants in the room. She and Riley were pretending there weren’t.

  “Do you think he’s a sex addict?” Mandy whispered.

  Trying to be diplomatic with her words, Christina ‘ummed’ and ‘aaaghed’. “He’s always had a high sex drive,” Christina started. “He likes sex a lot and he’s good at it. I love having sex with him. I know this might sound lame and cheesy, but it’s like a spiritual experience.”

  “That explains all the ‘OH MY GOD-ings’, Bonnie quipped, but Mandy shushed her. Reaching over and squeezing Christina’s arm in encouragement, Mandy whispered. “Go on, Dina. Get it out.”

  “Is he a sex addict?” Christina mused. “I don’t know. What I do know is that Riley’s never liked to sleep alone. This is his pattern. He’s either with somebody or he’s not. If he’s with you: he’s committed one hundred percent, which is why he doesn’t do it very often. And if he’s not,” she shrugged. “He… parties.”

  Turning to her friends, Christina made eye contact. “I think I can live with his history, if we can talk about it openly. We fall into this habit of being competitive victims, you know? What’s worse, who got hurt most, who’s the most aggrieved, which is really just arguing over who’s the biggest loser. I don’t want to do that anymore. I want to move on, but we can’t. It’s like we’ve just reached the place where we can talk about when we first split up without pain, but there’s a whole other territory where we haven’t ventured.”

  It was a place Christina was about to head to now, and apart from her, there were only two other people that knew the gory details. One was in the room and the other one was in the building. Bonnie and Christina had only ever given Mandy the cliff notes version of the divorce debacle because it was something neither of them wanted to dwell on.

  Even now, Christina still found it painful to think about or discuss. “I don’t know if he’s ever really forgiven me for Ted Bateman or if he can. You remember Ted Bateman, right?” she whispered. “The guy I was seeing when all the shit went down in our divorce?”

  Both women nodded and Christina grimaced. “Riley pretends Ted never happened and he’s never even allowed me to explain. To be honest, I haven’t tried that hard because I didn’t want to re-open old wounds, but it’s there – festering under the surface.”

  “Wait,” Bonnie frowned. “What does Ted have to do with any of this? You’re not still in love with Ted, are you?”

  Christina shook her head. “I was never in love with Ted. I’ve only ever been in love with Riley. What has Ted got to do with this? Everything and nothing: Ted is the symbol. I can’t talk about Ted or anything from that period of my life. I feel like I’m walking on fault-lines, only, I’m not sure where they are. If I step somewhere without warning, a crevice is going to open up and swallow me whole. I can’t live like that. It’s like being in a bipolar relationship with highs and crashing lows. If we can’t be honest and talk through our pain, it won’t go away.”

  “Blah, blah, blah,” Bonnie groaned. “Relationships. Your boyfriend is a psycho and an ex-man whore. How terrible? He actually knows what to do in bed. You knew that going in! You, of all people, know what Riley’s like. Did you think he was just going to miraculously change this time?”

  Christina scrunched her face up. It was true, she did know that going in, but wasn’t it a women’s prerogative to change her mind or talk something to death? “It’s not that simple,” Christina dithered.”

  “It is,” Bonnie sighed. “The decision on this is simple. You’re either in or out. He can’t change who he is, or won’t change who he is, and he can’t change what he did either, Dina. I don’t see the point in obsessing over it. Accept him for who he is or move on.”

  “No,” Mandy said forcefully. “It’s not obsessing and I agree with Dina. You do need to talk about this or it’s not going to work. Love isn’t just about wild sex and passion. It’s about someone who will be there for you through the good and bad. The one that eases your fears and not creates them.”

  Turning to Bonnie, Mandy smiled and pointed a finger. “I might be Mrs. One Boyfriend and not have the same sexual experience as you, but I know how to make a relationship work. I’ve been with Dave for thirteen years and we’re still going strong. Relationships aren’t easy, especially when you’re with a famous guy, but if you truly want a real one, you have to be able to tell each other everything. There should be no secrets between you. They need to talk this through.”

  “Dave’s a dick,” Bonnie blurted. “Whenever I hear this shit, it’s about women making all the sacrifices and guys just agreeing so we’ll shut up. Or worse, it’s all about hurt feelings. Oh look, I’ve got hurt feelings. Why does everyone want to talk about feelings? Feelings are boring.”

  Mandy laughed. “Oh, Bonnie,” she said shaking her head. “Who are you trying to kid? You’re talking to us. We know you love us and you can talk all the shit you want, but we love you too.”

  Bonnie made gagging noises, pretending to stick her finger down her throat, but Christina and Mandy grabbed her. They hugged, tickled, and pinched Bonnie until she got red in the face. “Stop it!” Bonnie screeched. “Or I won’t be responsible for your injuries.”

  They laughed so hard, they could hardly breathe, but they kept their arms around one another. “What are you going to do, Dina?” Mandy asked. The women fell silent, letting Christina process her thoughts.

  It was a good question. What was she going to do? “I’m going to talk to him,” Christina finally said. “Even if it’s uncomfortable and opens up things. I love this man. I want to be with him for the rest of my life. I want kids with him. If we don’t start now, what’s it going to be like in ten, fifteen, twenty years? I don’t think we’ll last and I can’t do this again.”

  “Breeders,” Bonnie grimaced in disgust. “Seriously? When you start talking about making shit machines, I’m done. I’m going to find the bikers, do some drugs, and then shag Jed until he can’t walk. Oooh, and then there’s fireworks. Legit ones, not like last night, and I want to see the pretty colors when I’m stoned.”

  “Bonnie!” Mandy screeched. “Ewww! And you’re not going near the bikers. Those poor men! Oh my god, remember the last time? Dina kicked one of them and we had to chase her on motorbikes. It was so embarrassing!”

  Christina flushed. It was embarrassing and the bikers had been so nice to her. “I didn’t mean to,” she whined. “It was an accident.”

  “Accident, my ass!” Bonnie snorted. “You don’t deliberately kick someone if it’s an ‘accident’ and lesbihonest, I was proud of you. It almost gave me a lady boner.”

  Bonnie left and Mandy followed, leaving Christina alone. She stared at her reflection in the mirror. “Time to be a grown up,” she whispered. “One of us has to be.”

  **********

  Riley

  “This way,” Jed pointed. “Let’s get Dave and Andy James on the way. I want to make sure those pricks don’t have any other friends here that we don’t know about”

  Riley and Jed pushed through the double doors with purpose. It had been a pretty shitty night, but this was the opportunity Riley had been waiting for
. First, he wanted to get revenge for Dina and second, he wanted to take out the evening’s frustrations somewhere.

  They entered the room where the band was and Riley spotted Dave lounging on the couch with Johnny. He caught Dave’s eye and inclined his head to come over. Scanning the room, Riley saw Andy James with Gabby and called out to him.

  Gabby tried to follow, but Riley shook his head. He didn’t want any women involved in this. It was men only.

  As far as Riley was concerned, there were men’s ways of doing things and women’s. Women over-analyzed everything, thinking that legal threats, complaints, folded arms, and the silent treatment worked. It never did, not with assholes like Beaumont and Palmer.

  The Laws of the Jungle applied here and guys like that didn’t listen to reason or polite words. The only thing they understood was being confronted by a superior adversary and getting a beating. Most men understood this at an instinctive level and Riley was going to remind them not to touch things that didn’t belong to them. They’d laid hands on Dina and she belonged to him.

  **********

  “They’re mine. Do you understand me?” Riled stated to the group. “No one touches them, but me.”

  “What if someone jumps in?” Andy James asked, with a grin so wide it almost split his face in two. “Are we allowed to come in then?”

  “This is not WWF, Andy,” Jed groaned and then his eyes went sly. “But… I suppose if Riley got tired, he could tag one of us in and if one of them, say, was to come your way, I don’t think any of us would complain if you defended yourself.”

  Clearing his throat to get everyone’s attention, Steven Riley stated in a firm voice. “As I understand this, our purpose is to keep Nick safe. We’re also here to keep the violence to a minimum or avoided, if possible.”

  Riley would have preferred Steven wasn’t involved at all, but Dave had insisted. A reluctant Steven listened as Riley explained what his plan was, his eyes shifting left and right. Riley didn’t have to be a mind reader to know Steven found this distasteful. It was written all over his face.

  “Fuck,” Dave muttered, glaring at Riley. “This is stupid. The only reason I’m coming is to make sure you don’t go crazy.”

  “Does Dina know what you’re doing?” Johnny asked. To everyone’s surprise, Johnny tagged along, even though they’d tried to talk him out of it. This was as far from Johnny’s scene as you could get, but he insisted because ‘blood was thicker than water’.

  The practical part of Riley wondered what use Johnny would be if things turned ugly. He could see it now, Johnny standing there in bewilderment mumbling things like, ‘oh man, that’s not cool’.

  “No,” Riley answered. “She doesn’t know and she doesn’t need to. Okay?”

  They were a strange group, a mix of a reluctant Steven, irritated Dave, a confused Johnny, an excited Andy James, amped up Jed, and a determined Riley. They marched down the dark hallway at the back of the Hub & Spoke, which took them the back way to the garden bar. The men could smell the dope before they pushed the door open, entering an environment none of them were prepared for.

  The room was full of bikers partying, semi-dressed women, and Mason Glenn. Riley did a double take and he wasn’t the only one. What the hell?

  The top halves of Mason Glenn’s girlfriends were naked and they were standing in underwear, and high-heels. A couple of cigarette smoking bikers were plastering their tits in a white substance as everyone else looked on. The women were giggling and they weren’t the only ones.

  “You’ve missed a spot, boys,” Mason leered at the bikers. “I want full coverage. You’ll have to use more for Rosie, but watch the points on Amy.”

  “What-the-fuck?” Andy James gasped, articulating the unspoken thoughts of the group.

  “I second that,” Steven agreed. “What’s going on here? Everyone is entitled to do what they want in their personal lives, so long as it’s between consenting adults, but there should be some kind of warning on the door.”

  At the sight of them, Mason threw his head back laughing. “You’re just in time, boys.” Mason leered at Riley, pointing at Rosie and Amy. “I’ve had an idea for our Foundation. We can champion breast cancer by doing this.”

  “My mother died of breast cancer,” Johnny seethed, staring daggers at Mason. “Is this some kind of sick joke?” Steven and Dave nodded their heads in agreement, as Andy looked embarrassed, and Jed stared mesmerized at the boobs before him.

  Rather than being deterred by Johnny’s disapproval, however, Mason was amused. “Then I’m sure she’d support this initiative, Johnny Cool.” At the use of his hated paparazzi nickname, Johnny’s eyes turned dark.

  “No, she wouldn’t,” Johnny snapped. “And don’t talk about my mother. You sick freak. You stole her underwear and Dina gave you a beat-down for it.”

  The room erupted with Johnny and Mason arguing, the bikers laughing at the thought of Mason being beaten up by a girl, and Jed encouraging the bikers to carry on with the plastering. Putting his hands up, Steven yelled. “STOP IT!”

  Everyone fell silent and Steven looked around in disgust. “We have one purpose, one thing to do. Let’s not lose focus. We get it done and then we go back to our business. Agreed?”

  The men nodded, all except Jed. He wanted to wait for another five minutes watching the boob-show. To his annoyance, however, he was over-ruled.

  Mason stared at them with calculating eyes. “What is your purpose? Tell me. You never know. I may be of some help.”

  “I really doubt that,” Steven drawled. “All evidence points to the contrary.”

  “Meg wants to see you,” Jed lied. “She needs to talk to you about… something. She wouldn’t say. Just it’s for your ears only.”

  Mason’s eyes lit up. “Does she now? Mmmm. Intriguing.” He left the room without a backward glance and the men breathed a sigh of relief.

  “Let’s go do this,” Riley urged. The men made their way to the fire exit door, pushing through, and shutting the rest of the party out behind them. The cold air hit Riley in the face, but he was too focused to let it stop him.

  The first person he saw was Manu and then he spotted his targets. Beaumont and Palmer were standing with the Anys, and Tiffany Ellis’s village idiot husband, David, drinking beers. They looked cold, but relaxed, and Riley aimed to change that.

  Moving forward, he came to rest in front of the group. Stephany Gilmore greeted him, but he ignored her, staring intently at Beaumont and Palmer. Without saying a word, Riley took off his tie, jacket, shirt and vest, laying them across a picnic table. “Riley,” Stephany Gilmore breathed. “What are you doing?”

  Riley made brief eye contact with Stephany, before turning and locking eyes with the two pricks he’d come for. “What am I doing? I’ve come for a piece of them,” he pointed at Beaumont and Palmer. “I found out they hit my girl and they’re going to pay.”

  Chapter Thirteen: Whipping

  Christina

  “I’ve been looking for you,” Gabby groaned. “Where’ve you been? Everyone’s just disappeared. Andy’s run off with Riley and the other guys, and the fireworks are supposed to start in fifteen minutes. My feet hurt and I want to go home.”

  Christina had just exited the bathroom, when her grouchy sister grabbed her arm in the darkened hallway. “I don’t know,” Christina shrugged, “but Bonnie and Mandy are in the ‘den of sin’ at the end of the hall with the bikers. We need to stop that.”

  Both sisters traipsed down the hall and were halfway to their destination, when they heard an unwelcome voice behind them. “Darth and Mini-Darth,” Mason chortled. “You almost look attractive in this light. Darkness suits you.”

  Gabby audibly swore. “Whatever, Jabba,” she retorted. “Nothing in this world makes you attractive.”

  “Jabba?” Mason chuckled. “I’m not fat.” He ran his hands suggestively down his body, grinning at Gabby. “Oh, I assure you, I’m fighting fit and rearing to go.”

  Christina tri
ed to resist the urge of engaging Mason, but failed. “No,” she stated condescendingly. “Gabby is referring to the Star Wars universe. It’s more to do with the content of character than physical attributes. I think of you as Jabba the Hutt too.”

  “I was Dina,” Gabby agreed. “That and, you know, how most people would die of alcohol poisoning before they could overcome the grossness that is Mason.”

  Mason’s eyes glittered and he did something horrible with his mouth. He slowly licked his lips and then used his thumb and index finger, making his mouth resemble a vagina. “So you think of me, Darth?” Mason leered.

  “Only when I’m taking out the trash,” Christina countered. “Now, please excuse us. We have somewhere to be, which is pretty much anywhere away from you.”

  As she went to move on, Mason turned feral, grabbing a hold of her arm. She tried to pull away, but he held on tight. “You love this don’t you, Darth?” He hissed in her face. “With Riley as your tame pit-bull, creating a job for you and flitting around, donating other people’s money.”

  Gabby slapped Mason on the head. “Get your hands off my sister, dick-face, and speaking of donations, why don’t you donate yourself to science? But then again, science has standards. Another epic fail for you.”

  “That’s assault,” Mason growled at Gabby. “If you want to do it properly, I know a little place we could go. I’d have to take you from behind,” he sleazed, “so I wouldn’t have to see your hideous face, but it could be done.”

  Christina sighed. He was a one-trick pony, with his attempts to intimidate women with his dirty sex talk. She was tired of his ability to reduce people to his level and decided, for once, to rise above it.

  Taking Gabby by the arm, she started moving away. “No, just no,” Christina shook her head. “It’s enough, Mason. You’re boring now and we’re leaving.”

  For a moment, Christina thought they were going to escape unscathed, but Mason spat bile, his comments echoing down the hall after them. “You know, Darth, one of the few things I’ve found bearable about you is that you were the resident bad girl, but now look at you? Pa-thet-ic. Trying to act all moralistic. That’s not you, Darth, and you’re not fooling anyone. Anyone, except yourself.”