Forbidden Ties (Forbidden Ties Series Book 1) (4 page)

              “Because of him?” she said pointing to Tim with her thumb. “He likes to judge some of the crop contests. I just join him because this is the only time of the year that I go to a party in something other than an uncomfortable evening gown.”

              When we arrived, saw what Tim was talking about. The street was lit up with red and orange stringed bulbs. A giant, glowing Ferris wheel spun in the distance. I noticed many of the high school students were wearing similar outfits to my aunt and uncle. I felt like an outcast all over again.

              “Mairead!” someone yelled. I turned to Penny and Jill in torn jeans and country plaid shirts. “Where are your overalls?”

              “I didn’t know,” I said with a shrug.

              “I’ll take the blame,” Tim said raising his hands. “When I think of town fairs, I assume dressing like this; I should have told you.”

              “It’s okay,” I smiled sweetly, though I truly did feel self-conscious. “Uncle Tim and Aunt Alice, these are my friends from school, Penny and Jill.”

              “Oh, we know these two troublemakers,” Tim winked. “Mayville is much smaller than the big city, kiddo.”

              “How are you ladies this evening?” Alice asked.

              “Very well,” smiled Jill.

              “We better get going,” Tim said. “I don’t want to miss the turnips this year. I heard they are
huge
!”

              “See you later,” Alice smiled as we waved them good-bye.

              “So, what’s there to do here?” I asked as the girls as we walked along the booths.

              “You mean other than dress like hicks to demean the lower class?” Jill said sounding a bit irritated by it all.

              “Oh, Jill,” Penny protested. “We’re not demeaning anyone.”

              “I think that’s what this is supposed to be,” Jill said.

              “Then why did you dress up?” Penny stamped her foot.

              “As if you would allow me to leave with you without matching shirts,” Jill scoffed.

              “You’re right,” Penny laughed. “I wouldn’t!”

              “She’s crazy,” Jill joked.

              “Aren’t we all?” I added. Then, I noticed we were just feet from the bottom of the Ferris wheel, where Cade was standing with his arms folded. A tall and thin blonde was leaning against him. She was pretty, but I assumed a lot of it had to do with the makeup caked all over her face. Still, them standing together felt suspicious.

              “Please, baby,” whined the blonde. “Just one spin on the Ferris wheel for old time’s sake.”

              “No,” Cade said wiggling his arm free of her grasp.

              “C’mon, Cade,” the blonde whined some more. Then her shrill voice went softer, though I could still hear. “Do it and I’ll give you an extra good show tonight. Pick
whichever
toy you’d like.”

              Suddenly, the girl from Cade’s tablet had a face.

              “Who is that?” I asked Penny and Jill.

              “That’s–“ before Penny could answer, Cade saw me standing there. He seemed to use my presence as a means of escape.

              “Mairead!” he called out with a feigned smile. It felt odd for me to see him this chipper, let alone just a few nights after we hooked up in his bedroom. “You look pretty.”

              “Who’s she?” the blonde asked as she eyed my dress. I didn’t have time to think about her as I was distracted by Cade’s compliment. Why was he calling me
pretty
in front of all of these people?

              “Angie, this is my cousin, Mairead,” Cade said, introducing us. “Mairead, this is my ex-girlfriend, Angie.”

              “Hi,” Angie said as she held out her hand. As we shook, I could feel her icy fingers. Quickly, she pulled away, and stared at Cade, who was now standing next to me. “I know what you’re doing, Cade.”

              “What am I doing?” he asked with a hint of laughter in his tone.

              “You’re trying to hang out with your cousin, just so that you don’t have to spend time with me.”

              “Angie, you and I aren’t together anymore,” Cade reminded her. “So kindly leave me alone.”

              Then Cade strode away from us and through the crowd. Angie didn’t seem please with his response. She tilted her head, which, evidentially, was a signal for her other tall, skinny, and makeup-infested friends to join her. They all stood around us with their arms crossed as they silently judged me from afar.

              “Cade says she’s his cousin,” Angie explained to one of the girls. “Think he’s lying?”

              “She
is
his cousin,” Penny said glaring back at Angie.

              “Shut the fuck up, Penny,” scathed Angie. “Everyone hates when you open your mouth and show us your fugly braces.”

              Penny quickly covered her face with her hands and took a few steps backward. I couldn’t believe that this girl had the audacity to speak to her this way.

              “I don’t know who you are,” I said walking up to Angie. “But I do know that no one likes a bitch.”

              “That’s funny,” Angie said as she rolled her eyes. “Is that why you have to hang out with these losers?”

              I started to see red. Something came over me and the next thing I knew, my hand flew across Angie’s face. She turned away with a scream. When she looked back, I saw her makeup had smeared, causing her to look like a deformed clown.

              “You are going to regret this,” she muttered through her teeth. Then Angie and her crew turned around, and headed for the other side of the fair.

              “Wow,” gasped Jill. “I’ve always wanted to do that. But seeing someone else slap Angie Oberstone across the face, felt just a good.”

              “I don’t like her,” I said sternly. “Please, whatever you do, just don’t tell me that the sheriff is her dad.”

              “No, no,” Jill laughed. “She’s just the bratty daughter of a multimillionaire.”

              “Go figure,” I said looking at the mansions that lined the hills.

              “Thanks for standing up for me,” Penny said quietly.

              “It wasn’t a problem,” I said as I hugged Penny. “Now let’s go play some games and forget about that bitch.”

**

After the fair had ended, I walked home alone since my aunt and uncle had gone a few hours earlier. The girls and I had fun, but I was beat and weary about coming home so late. It was just after midnight, and I had school the next day. My mother would never have let me stay out this late. However, all of the rich kids of Mayville appeared to be able to do as they pleased. I also supposed that this curfew-less rule included myself.

The street was dark as two headlights came rushing down the street. Walking along the sidewalk, I couldn’t believe how fast the car was going. It passed me, but then the tires squealed as it spun around in a three-way intersection.

Turning around, I saw the car heading back my way. It sped up and seemed to be coming straight for me. Suddenly, I realized that it
was
headed for me.

Just in time, I leaped out of the way. The headlights canopied me in their glaring rays. Tumbling, I landed on the grass and hit my head against a mailbox on someone’s front lawn.

“Fucking bitch!” I heard a guy’s voice yell from the driver’s seat as I clambered to my feet. “Go back from where you came from!”

Without getting a glimpse of his face, I saw the black car speeding away as tears began forming in my eyes.

              I tried to hold myself together when I got home. The house was dark and void of anyone else, so I walked up the stair unbothered. After slipping off my dress, I noticed a gash along the fabric that was too large to fix. Enraged, I crumbled it up and threw it into the trash bin. Suddenly, I couldn’t stop myself from crying. I hated crying, but the tears continued to rain down the sides of my face. My careful sniffling turned, uncontrollably, into heavy sobbing.

              I fell onto the bed, unable to contain my emotions. Though I couldn’t stand my vulnerable state, it was all I could do to cope with everything that I was feeling.

Abruptly, there was a knock on my bedroom door. I assumed that it was Tim having heard my sobs, so I slipped on my nightgown, and opened the door. Only it wasn’t Tim. Towering above me was the handsome face of my cousin, Cade.

              “What’s wrong?” he asked as soon as he saw my teary eyed face. I noticed that he seemed much cheerier than the first week I had come to the town. I couldn’t speak as just being offered the question; more tears began to flow. “Can I come in?”

              “Yes,” I said while nodding. Cade entered and I closed the door behind him.

              “Why are you crying?” he looked at me with genuine concern in his attractive face. I didn’t want to create more of a messy situation, so I turned my head away. Cade came up behind me and wrapped his arms over of my body. Being close to him was more comforting than I could have imagined. “Tell me, please, Mairead.”

              “A car just tried to run me over.”

              “What?” he yelled. “Are you hurt?”

“Just a little bruised, but I’m okay, the car missed.”

“Who was it? Was it Angie?”

              “I don’t know who it was,” I sobbed. “But it was a guy in a black car. He just yelled ‘fucking bitch, go back from where you came from’ and then sped off.”

              “Angie had something to do with it. God, she’s such a jealous bitch! I’m going to get her for this.”

              “No!” I shouted. “Just leave it alone; I don’t want this to get any messier.”

              “It’s already messy.” Cade’s hand reached the bottom of my chin and turned my face toward his.  “I can’t have someone hurt you.”

              Suddenly, we were embraced in a kiss. I felt warm and protected in his arms as they reached to the small of my back. My mouth moved against his, taking in his raw scent that seemed to fill my veins with his presence.

Cade was a well-built enigma to me. Strong and silent with only tiny bursts showing that there was a fun guy hidden underneath the rough exterior. Despite my reservations, the spunky city girl within wanted to act up again, so I pulled away. “Was Angie the girl you were talking to on your tablet?”

              “Maybe,” Cade said. “But it doesn’t matter.”

              “Just wondering,” I stated. “But she was, wasn’t she?”

              “Either way, I don’t think she and I will be having fun together anymore.”

              “I don’t know how you could stood to be around her enough to call her your girlfriend.”

              “Angie?” Cade seemed surprised that I could be talking about the girl with the makeup caked on her face. “She might be a terror, but she’s pretty hot.”

              “She looked like a melted Barbie,” I added.

              “What do you know, anyway?” Cade said as he turned around. “The point is that she is out of my life.”

              “Fair enough,” I said, giving him some room. “You need a new girlfriend.”

“Maybe,” Cade said in a lower tone. There was another silence. The tension between us was so thick that I could nearly see it. “Who I really want, I’m not allowed to have.”

“And who is that?” I asked, though I knew the answer. We kissed again. This time, his grip was more intense than before. I started to feel heated. Though my body wanted Cade’s touch, I knew that it was wrong. Still, we persisted, falling onto my bed and tossing about on the comforter. “What happened to that bad boy from the night before?”

“What bad boy?” Cade smirked.

“The one who was pissed over me seeing him naked.”

“Are you sure you want
him
here?” Cade asked coyly as he looked me up and down.

“If he’s man enough,” I egged at him. For some reason, I liked both the rough and soft Cade. Quickly, he climbed off of the bed and stared at me.

“Take off your clothes,” he commanded. I froze.

“What about you–“

“Take them off,” he softly, but sternly as he stood just inches from my body. Our eyes met and I could see that he meant business. Strong and silent wasn’t just Cade’s demeanor, it was also his game.

Slowly, my hand reached the zipper on the back of my nightgown. As soon as it slid down, the fabric parted, and Cade joined me again and shoved his hands inside. He felt the small of my back, and then went lower, grabbing my buttocks around my thong.

When I went to pull away the dress, his mouth moved downward, kissing me roughly. A rush of blood shot into my head. Cade wasted no time in helping me get naked. We made out in the center of my room as my bra was unfastened, and then my thong was pulled off of my legs.