Forbidden Ties (Forbidden Ties Series Book 1)

First Edition, November 2014

Copyright ©2014 Lauren Branford

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

Forbidden Ties

Book I of II

Table of Contents

Welcome to Mayville

Open Doors

Late to Dinner

Third Floor

Blue Light

First Week

Television

Girl in the Closet

Labor Day

Video Games

Preview of Book II: Forbidden Games

First Game

              I sat in the backseat seat of my uncle’s luxury car as we made our way through the hills leading to his home.

              “Comfortable, isn’t it, Mairead?” asked my uncle Tim. He was short and nerdy looking with thick glasses and a terribly parted hairline. Looking at him, a person would never catch on to how wealthy he was. “You can adjust nearly every part of your seat, including the temperature, with the levers right there.”

              His hand moved backward, pointing at tiny knobs and switches on the armrest. I glanced over and saw that our family name, Worthington, embroidered into the side in the fabric. My mother never saw my father after I was born, so I received her surname.

              “Thank you,” I said softly as I adjusted my seat. The car was extremely calming. It helped me relax a bit from my recently tensed state of being.

              “I just want to make sure that you’re comfortable,” Tim said looking back at me with a heavy expression showing only in his eyes. “It’s been hard for all of us, Mairead. But I know that it’s especially difficult for you.”

              “Thanks, uncle Tim,” I said while giving his a half smile. It was all that I could muster at the moment. Traveling across the country alone was difficult on my body and spirit. As a young girl, I ventured this with my mother when we visited her brother, Tim, and his family. We were like Thelma and Louis, she always said, ready for the next adventure. After she had passed away a month earlier, everything changed for me. My grandmother decided that it would be best if I transferred schools to live with my uncle in the high hills of California.

              “How long has it been since you’ve visited here?” Tim asked, seemingly to make small conversation. I didn’t mind it, however since it kept my mind from wandering back into the dark void I had been living inside of.

              “More than five years,” I said with a much more chipper tone.

              “Has it been that long?” he gasped.

              “Hard to believe it, but it has,” I replied as looked down at the valley of trees spread out against the hills. Central California was lush with plants reaching for the sky. Even in the incoming autumn, I could see green for miles.

              “Though I saw you at the funeral,” Tim started. “Seeing you now in your t-shirt and jeans, it all makes sense to me. I can see how much you’ve changed since you were a little girl… So, do you still like food?”

              “Do I like food?” I asked shooting my head toward my uncle. He fidgeted and then I started to laugh uncontrollably. Suddenly, it felt like old times in the summer when Tim would fumble around jokes he heard at his work office. My mother would call him a nerd, which he would gladly helm like a badge of honor.

“Ah, that came out wrong,” Tim blushed as he corrected the part in his brown hair before straightening his glasses. “It’s just that you used to love to eat if I recall correctly.”

              “Were you calling me fat, uncle Tim?” I joked.

              “Fat?” he gasped. “Heavens no!”

              “It’s okay,” I smiled, feeling like myself again. “I know I was a chunky little kid.”

              “Well, you’ve grown quite beautifully,” he beamed. I turned away and blushed as I began to twist my long, brown hair that dangled near my shoulders. “I love how wavy and full your hair is next to your blue eyes. You look just like she did growing up.”

              “I like hearing that,” I said, truthfully.

              “Well,” Tim explained. “Kids sometimes look like their parent’s twin. I, unfortunately, look like my father with all of this thinning hair. Your cousin Cade, on the other hand, is looking quite different from Alice. The kid has grown a
lot
in the past few years. I guess that I shouldn’t call you guys kids, especially since now that you are both eighteen.”

              “It’s fine with me,” I said softly as I gazed back to the window. “We haven’t even gone to college yet.”

“True, true,” Tim agreed. “Just don’t speak to Alice about college; it makes her a nervous mess to think about Cade leaving the nest.”

“You got it,” I promised. Alice was my uncle’s sweet wife who he married ten years earlier. Cade was her son from a previous marriage. My memories of him were not very fond ones. Cade would constantly torture me about my weight, hit me with sticks when our parents weren’t watching, and found new, terrible nicknames to call me nearly every visit. He was the top reason that I resisted coming to live with them.

              “Here we are!” exclaimed my uncle as we entered the posh hillside town. There was a check in point at the entrance to the town, where several guard stood at the gate.

              “Hello there, Mr. Worthington,” smiled a man in a crisp, navy blue uniform. “How are you this evening?”

              “Doing well, Bernard,” my uncle smiled. “And you?”

              “Fantastic!” the guard smiled as he waved us through. “Go right ahead and enjoy your afternoon.”

The streets were immaculate with clean sidewalks that seemed to sparkle as we past them. Small shops popped along as we drove through downtown. Then, I noticed, above me was a sign:
Welcome to Mayville
.

After a few more minutes of driving, we made our way up another hill to a menagerie of gigantic houses that spread out along the quite road. Each had perfectly trimmed hedges, enormous front doors, and several expensive cars in the driveways.

As we pulled into the massive mansion that belonged to my uncle, I saw my aunt Alice waving to us as we pulled forward. I waved back with a smile, just as I saw the front door open. Suddenly there was a well-built man strutting toward the back of my aunt. He was well over six feet tall, with short, dirty blonde hair, and the most handsome face that I had ever seen. Just wearing a tank top, I could see his bulging muscles, huge hands, and masculine demeanor that took me by surprise.

“Who’s that?” I asked my uncle.

“See what I mean?” Tim smiled as me. “That’s your cousin, Cade.”

              “It’s so good to see you!” screamed my aunt Alice as she jumped forward and wrapped her arms around me. I squeezed her back as her long braid of dark hair descended down her shoulder. “Look at you! You are magnificent.”

              “Oh, thanks,” I blushed again, not knowing how to react to all of the compliments. I tried my best to keep my eyes off of the muscular man standing in back of her.

              “I also heard that you were on your way to being top of your class,” Alice smiled.

              “She gets her brains from our side of the family,” Tim nudged me in the side. “Though the gene skipped your mother.”

              Alice shot Tim a harsh glance as if to warn him about the inappropriate nature of his joke. I decided to lighten the mood so that they wouldn’t have to walk on eggshells all of the time around me.

              “She was a total mess sometimes,” I laughed. “She couldn’t even help me with my fourth grade math homework.”

              “See, Alice!” Tim laughed. “She has our sense of humor, too.”

              I grinned as feelings about missing my mother quickly resurfaced. Then, the towering man above distracted me.

              “Hey,” Cade as he neared me. His demeanor seemed cautious. Up close, he was even more strikingly handsome. His face had a well-defined jaw line, high cheekbones, and a smooth complexion. I noticed Cade’s lips were full and succulent looking.

              “Hi,” I replied while readying myself mentally for his embrace. Instead, Cade stuck his hand out, and, awkwardly, I shook it.

              “Shaking hands?” Tim asked. “Is that what the kids do these days?”

              Cade lowered his head and moved back toward the door.

              “Where are you going, Cade?” Alice smiled.

              “Practice,” he answered tersely.

              “Will you be back for dinner, then?” she called as he walked through the open front door.

              “Yeah,” his voice answered as he thundered up the stairs.

              “I guess we’ll be seeing him at seven,” Alice smiled at me. Secretly, I was relieved that he left. Whatever Cade was making me feel, I knew that it wasn’t right. “Let’s going inside the house, shall we?”

              Though she said
house
, I knew it more fondly as a
mansion
. Where I grew up, houses weren’t three stories tall with multiple flights of stairs, two swimming pools, and eight bedrooms. I grabbed a couple of my bags, and Tim rolled the larger ones in back of him as we strode toward the front door.

              Later that evening, a chef came into the house and made us a four-course meal. I had forgotten that the family liked to eat off of silver platters. My mother always thought it was too much. I, on the other hand, was enamored with the extravagance.

              “Now where is Cade?” Alice tisked as she looked around the room.

              “Probably still at practice,” Tim said as his eyes widened for the cheese soufflé in front of him. “Wowee, this looks absolutely amazing! Remind me to thank the chef tomorrow, honey. That is if I can catch her!”

              “Eliza, the chef,” Alice explained to me. “Is a wonderful woman, however, she avoids all compliments. For some reason, she just can’t take our praises.”

              “I’m going to trap her anyway,” smiled Tim as he popped a fork into his fluffy dinner. “Do you like cheese soufflé?”

              “Me?” I asked. “Oh, I don’t think that I’ve had it before.”

              “Oh!” Tim called out. “We have ourselves a soufflé virgin!”

              “Very funny, Tim,” Alice said as she darted him an angry look. “Go ahead, darling, try some.”

              I picked up my fork and eased it through the inflated top of a small bowl. Scooping it around, I popped it into my mouth. Warm, creamy textures invaded my tongue. My taste buds seemed to explode with delight.

              “This is the best thing that I’ve ever had,” I said staring at them with a serious expression. Tim and Alice started laughing loudly.

              “Oh, sweetie,” Alice chuckled. “You are just like your uncle!”

              Tim smiled at me through the bites of food in his closed mouth. I could tell that he was extremely happy to have me there with them.

              Suddenly, the front door opened in the distance. Looking up, I saw Cade’s muscular body heaving from what appeared to be a heavy practice. He was carrying his football gear over his wide shoulders as sweat glistened from his skin.

              “Sorry, I’m late,” he grumbled as he threw his dirty garb onto the floor and made his way into the lit dining room. Cade had scuffs and dirt marks all over his body. There was also the light smell of his musk lingering around him. Though I was eating, something about him made me not mind as much.