Ties That Bind

by Neeny Boucher

  He would never forget, as long as he lived, the disgust on Bonnie’s face. “Seriously?” She’d sneered, with eyes as cold as ice. “Pl-ease. I’ve been looking after Dina before you were in the picture. No one needs to ask me that, especially you.”

  Although the experience was humiliating, it did ease his mind. Bonnie was right and if he was going to leave Christina’s welfare in anyone’s hands, there was no one more formidable than Bonnie Howard. Now, all he had was one thing to attend to before he and Christina could leave for their romantic getaway.

  **********

  “He’s going to hate it and I don’t think you should go alone. Let me come with you.”

  Christina was sitting at her dressing table, putting the finishing touches on her hair and makeup, while Riley lounged on her bed eating breakfast. He made eye contact with her in the mirror, meeting her intense gaze evenly and grinned. “Yes,” Riley agreed. “He’s going to hate it and I don’t want you anywhere near it. Come on,” he winked. “This is long overdue.”

  She rolled her eyes and shook her head. He knew she was nervous, but this duty fell to him. Bic Runga’s “Sway” started playing on the radio and Christina grinned at him.

  “Remember this?” She giggled, waggling her eyebrows. Before he could respond, she turned the radio up singing along without missing a beat. He remembered all right. When they were teens, it was one of her favorite songs, and they’d made love to it numerous times.

  It made him nostalgic for the farmhouse, but at the moment that was a ‘no go’ area. Christina had made it abundantly clear that while she was prepared to challenge his demons, she drew the line at sharing his bed with the ghosts of females past. At first it irritated him and he’d become defensive, but then he saw her point. As a compromise, they’d taken up residence in her family home, but rectifying his well-used bed problem was on his to-do list.

  Riley stood behind her, running a hand down her silky hair. “I’ve got to go,” he said reluctantly. Her face went pensive and he kissed the top of her head. “I’ll be back as soon as I can and then we can leave.”

  Christina thrust a folder at him and her eyes were full of concern. “Good luck,” she whispered. “I wish-”

  “Me too,” Riley nodded and he did. He wished it hadn’t come to this, but it had. He tried to convince himself it was just one more battle, one more foe, one more thing to be laid to rest, but that was a lie. He was about to have a reckoning with an old friend and he wasn’t looking forward to it.

  **********

  “What the fuck is this about?” Mason snarled. “Do you have any idea how much I hate this place? I’ve had to spend an extra day here with-my-family for this meeting. Quite frankly, I’d rather play Twister, naked, with Mrs. Gustafson and her senior ladies club, than spend any more time in this tedious shithole.”

  Mason had kept Riley waiting for over an hour at the Hub & Spoke, and as time ticked by, his patience dwindled to non-existent. They sat across a table from one another, Mason carving profanity into the table with his fingernails, and Riley drumming along to The Red Hot Chili Peppers. He sat dispassionately as Mason unleashed his hatred of all things Shanwick, in a steady twenty minute monologue, acting as if he was the one aggrieved and been kept waiting.

  Throwing a folder across the table at Mason, Riley pointed. “That’s our plan for the Foundation. We’re going to structure it around veterans and we’re including Lift in it as well.”

  Mason read the documents and then a sneer crossed his face. Slamming the folder shut, he shook his head. “No. This has Darth, the do-gooder, written all over it. I’m not agreeing to this.”

  Taking a sip of his beer, Riley held Mason’s eyes in a hard stare. “Christina,” Riley corrected. “Her name is Christina and it’s a great idea, Mason. It shouldn’t matter who it came from. This is what we’re doing.”

  Mason sat in his chair and his eyes glittered dangerously. “Oh really? We’re doing it, are we? I call bullshit on that one. Count me out.”

  Riley sat forward and smiled. “When I said ‘we’, I meant ‘we’re’ doing this with or without you. We’ve done the numbers. Your money would help, but it’s not necessary.”

  Mason looked at Riley in accusation; betrayal on his face. “Huh,” he grunted. “You’re taking away my Foundation? This is your genius plan? Kicking me out of my own Foundation and saving me money?”

  Riley couldn’t help it. He burst out laughing. Few people had Mason’s vicious insight and wit. He could slice through an argument, reducing it to absurdity, and offending everyone.

  Mason was a chaos driver of mayhem and malice. He reveled in it and used it to his advantage by keeping people off balance, but it wouldn’t work with Riley. He was too familiar with Mason’s tactics and he had a few weapons of his own in his arsenal.

  In truth, Riley would miss Mason’s company. His combination of fire, energy, and crazy had enabled them to achieve enormous success. Working with Mason was like being part of a three-ringed circus; Riley playing ringmaster and Mason as mad genius.

  “Yep,” Riley agreed. “This is my genius plan. We’re saving you money and kicking you out of your Foundation. I mean it was only for tax purposes, right? You told me time and time again, you didn’t give a shit about it.”

  Mason’s face contorted and his lips pulled back into a snarl. “Who’s going to fund it? You? Darth? Tell me, I’m interested.”

  “Her name is Christina,” Riley repeated. “And I’m going to fund it. I want out of our business partnership. I’ll be divesting all my stocks and investments in your companies. I’ll use some of those funds. There’ll be a lot, won’t there?”

  Mason leaned back, staring at Riley with his colorless eyes. It took him a moment to respond, and for a brief moment, pain was evident in his eyes before he blinked it away. “So,” Mason mocked, “you’re breaking up with me? Because of Darth?” He snorted in disgust. “This is entirely predictable, but an over-reaction.”

  “Christina,” Riley repeated again. “Call her Darth in my presence one more time and I’m going to do to you what I did to those other assholes. The only reason I’m not punching you in the face is because I promised her I wouldn’t.”

  Leaning forward, Riley jabbed a finger in Mason’s face. “Up until now, I’ve under-reacted to you. I asked you to do one thing. One. After all the shit I’ve done for you. All you had to do was try and get along with her, but you couldn’t help yourself. You sent my woman – my woman - dirty pictures and texts, and harassed her. Who the fuck do you think you are?”

  “Who the fuck am I?” Mason bellowed. “Who the fuck are you? You hypocritical, sanctimonious dick! Tell me where the boundary is, Riley? We’ve shared women before.”

  Riley’s right eye began to twitch and he had to breathe to control his temper, especially in the face of Mason’s predatory stare. “We won’t be sharing Christina,” Riley growled. “In this life time or any other. You’re a lot of things, Mason, but stupid isn’t one of them. You know Christina is off-limits.”

  Smirking, Mason gave a calculating stare. “Don’t act like this has all been one way,” he sneered. “You know why you and I connect, Riley? Because we’re assholes: deep down at our core. If it weren’t for me, you’d be the biggest asshole around. I make you look less of an asshole, but you are one.”

  Mulling that over, Riley agreed. “There’s probably more than a little truth to that,” he shrugged. “Yes, I’m an asshole. You and I were notorious assholes. We could give lessons in assholery, but this was our chance to do something good. A legacy: our legacy. Bad boys turned good, remember? And you just can’t or won’t.”

  “Wow,” Mason hissed. “Chrissssstina comes back into your life and suddenly you want to be holier than thou. Who picked you up when you were nothing but a mean drunk and screwing women I wouldn’t touch? Who made you rich? Without me, you’d be some little farmer’s trust fund baby, trying to kill yourself with booze, drawing pictures, and writing slit-your-wrists po
etry over the woman that dumped you.”

  Riley blinked. That was only partially true. Mason had screwed more than his fair share of dubious women.

  It was also amazing how healed he felt from the past. Not that long ago, he would have reacted in outrage to Mason’s comments, but there was no pain or shame. “Yes,” Riley agreed. “You made me rich or richer, but if I’d known what you did to Christina, we would have been done long ago. You knew she’d been falsely accused about my disappearance. Hell, you knew where I was, and instead of clearing it up, you attacked her with the rest of the pack. That makes you the same as all the people you despise.”

  Mason had very few weak spots, but Riley was pressing on them now: their friendship, his hatred for Christina, and Mason’s history as a social outcast. All factors interlinked, but by removing his support, he’d exploited Mason’s greatest fear: being truly alone.

  Riley had expected to feel guilty and was surprised that he didn’t. Maybe he was an asshole deep down at his core? Mason didn’t have a lot of friends or people he trusted: partly through his own pathology and ability to drive them away.

  No one could sabotage or be as vicious as Mason, except maybe Riley, but it wasn’t his default position, and he didn’t try to justify it. Mason had always trusted and relied on Riley to pull his ass out of the fire. Now, their friendship hung in the balance and both men knew it. “I did it for you,” Mason retorted.

  “No, you didn’t,” Riley laughed, but there was no mirth to it. “I never asked you to do that. I’ll own my shit, but I’m no longer responsible for yours. You crossed a line, Mason. You should have never gone after Christina. You brought this on. Not me.”

  Mason stared at him like a cobra, before lashing out. “I even did these stupid projects for you. You stiff-armed me into this. I didn’t want to do it, but I did it anyway because you asked me to. All because you wanted get back into Chrissssstina’s pants. Don’t blame me for how it worked out. This was your idea.”

  On that, they both agreed. “I made a mistake, Mason,” Riley admitted. “I realize now this would never work, but at least I tried and so did she.”

  Standing up, Riley threw some bills on the table. “For some stupid reason, I thought we were friends. I thought maybe you valued all the times I’ve stood by you and got you out of the shit. I stuck by you, even when everyone told me I was a fool. Maybe they were right? Because it looks like all the years we were friends counts for shit.”

  Grabbing the folder, Riley headed to the door without a backward glance. He would rather face off with Beaumont and Palmer a hundred times than ever do this again. It actually hurt him and if there was another way, he’d exercise it, but Mason had made it impossible.

  “Wait,” Mason called out to him. “Riley, wait.” He met Mason’s eyes that held a hint of regret, before Mason beckoned him over.

  “You are my friend,” Mason said quietly. “You are probably my only true friend in this world and I concede, what I did to Christina was wrong. What can I say? Facing off with an adversary like her gives me a hard on.”

  Riley smiled. He got that. He’d done that. She was fierce in battle and brought out your competitive aspects.

  Sighing, Mason begrudgingly admitted. “You might not believe this, but I’m going to say it anyway. I don’t like Christina. She and I will never be friends, but I respect her. She’s one of the few people I do and she’s done good work. If you want my contribution for the Foundation, you have it. I don’t want out of our partnership. Stay, and I will leave Christina alone.”

  For all his faults, Mason had been a good friend and Riley wanted to maintain that connection. He worried about Mason being left adrift in the world, alienating everyone he came in contact with. Riley didn’t have much of a moral compass, but Mason had none. He could only imagine the havoc Mason would wreak on his own, which is why it made this difficult.

  “At the moment, you’ve made it impossible,” Riley said truthfully. “It’s going to be a long road back for me to ever trust you again. You’re going to have to prove yourself and I swear, if you do anything else to Christina, that’ll be it.”

  Mason stared at Riley, nodding. “I hope it works out for you, Riley. Christina’s the type of person that can live in this world alone. Sure, she’d be a bitter, twisted, scary, old cat lady,” he shrugged, “but she’d survive. You,” he shook his head. “I’m not so sure. If it goes tits up, you know where to find me.”

  The two men shook hands and Riley felt deflated. He hoped that this was enough, but with Mason you could never be sure. If this became inverted, they would go to war and neither of them was good at taking prisoners.

  **********

  Christina

  “I call them ‘just for Mason’,” Bonnie hissed at Christina and Mandy, waving around a blunt pair of scissors. “I’m carrying them with me everywhere and if that little creep steps one toe over the line,” she snapped the scissors menacingly, “he’ll be a eunuch.”

  The women were in Christina’s bedroom ‘helping’ her pack her bags and fighting about what she should take. In actuality, Christina had called them to keep her company while she waited for Riley. He’d been gone nearly three hours and with each passing moment, her nerves became more frayed.

  “Where are you going?” Bonnie asked.

  Christina shrugged. “I don’t know. It’s a surprise. He told me to bring my passport and that’s all I know.”

  “It’s so exciting,” Mandy beamed, clapping her hands. “And romantic! It could be Paris or Rome. Oooh, I know! I bet it’s London.”

  Bonnie rolled her eyes. “Why do men do this? They need to give us something. It makes packing impossible. Do you take hiking boots? Stilettos? What?”

  “Ooooh, that reminds me,” Mandy cried, grabbing a bag and thrusting it at Christina. “Here are your shoes. I got these back for you on Saturday night. You and your shoes! This is the second time. You are such a Philistine.”

  Christina agreed. She was a Philistine and she needed to be more careful in future with her shoes. She actually liked this pair.

  Frowning at Christina’s jeans, shirt, and ballet pumps combo, Mandy asked the duh-obvious question. “Is that what you’re wearing?” And when she nodded, all hell broke loose.

  “You are not wearing that!” Bonnie snapped. “No-no way. You look like a cross between Jennifer Aniston and Martha Stewart, but less Aniston and more Stewart.”

  “It’s just a flight,” Christina protested. “I need to be comfortable and he doesn’t care what I wear anyway.”

  “You’re going on a private jet,” Mandy sighed. “And he does care. He was the one that bought you lingerie and hot shoes, remember?”

  “It’s really simple, Dina,” Bonnie rolled her eyes. “You put the hot things on and they want to take the hot things off. See? Hot things on, hot things off. That’s how it works.”

  Christina did see and conceded that maybe her friends had a point. Grumbling, she hauled most of her clothes off. The jeans stayed, but they were paired with black high-heeled boots, a figure hugging lacy white t-shirt that hugged her non-existent hips, and a natural cropped sweater.

  They fluffed her hair, touched up her make-up, and argued over accessories. Standing back and admiring their handiwork, Mandy and Bonnie nodded. “Better,” Mandy grinned. “And I envy your flat stomach. Most women would kill for it, Dina!”

  Christina grinned back. “It might not be flat for that long,” she whispered. “I want to have a baby.”

  She hardly dare admit this to herself, but she felt this longing for a child: a child of her and Riley’s. It was something that he’d always wanted and she wanted to give that to him. A part of her wondered if a child would balance him and complete them as a couple.

  “Are you insane?” Bonnie hissed. “No, seriously! Have you gone full crazy?”

  “Dina,” Mandy shook her head. “Tell me… you’re not… For once, I agree with Bonnie.”

  This was not the reaction Christina
expected. Okay, maybe from Bonnie, but not from Mandy. “Why?” She asked. “What’s wrong with wanting to have a child?”

  “There’s nothing wrong with wanting a child,” Mandy frowned, pursing her lips. “Children are wonderful. I’m just wondering if this is the right time? Children can put pressure on a relationship and there’s enough pressure on you both as it is.”

  “Why do you want a child? Now?” Bonnie demanded.

  Christina wasn’t sure of the reasons ‘why’. It was more emotional than logical and it just felt right. For someone that had spent large portions of her life justifying her decisions through her head, it “felt” good to embrace her heart.

  “I can’t explain it,” Christina smiled. “I just do and Riley has always wanted a child. I want to give him that. I want to make him happy.”

  “He wants, he wants, he wants,” Bonnie snapped. “Him, him, him. It’s always about what he wants. What about what you want? Or doesn’t that matter?”

  Mandy placed a gentle, restraining hand on Bonnie’s arm. “Dina,” she tried to smile, but failed. “You will be a great mother – the best. I know you will. It’s just… you guys have only been back together for a short time. I just don’t want to see you rush into anything and then…”

  This was not how Christina imagined this conversation going. She expected Bonnie to be negative, but she thought Mandy would be supportive. “And then what?” Christina demanded. “And then we crash and burn? And then it all ends in tears and you think I’m going to be left literally holding the baby?”

  “Yes/No,” Bonnie and Mandy said in unison, giving each other “shut up” looks. “It’s just-” Mandy started, but Bonnie cut over her.

  “You get lost in him,” Bonnie stated bluntly. “I don’t want to see you trailing around after him, making your life fit into what little space he leaves you. You’re more educated than him. You’re more talented than him. You can do anything you want to, Dina! You don’t have to live your life for the sole purpose of making him happy. You broke up because of this, remember? He wouldn’t even entertain what you wanted to do. If you just cave now, what was the point?”