In last week's chapter of In Pieces, Ryan was given some boundaries by Aiden in regards to his twin, Abby. Will this make Ryan's job harder? What is going on with these people? Find out more in this week's chapter. Don't forget to visit the other Briefers and see what they're up to! Their links follow my tale! Enjoy!
“Yeah, sure,” Ryan stammered, even as he was wondering how
he would get background information if he couldn’t ask questions about the band
members’ backgrounds. Guess he couldn’t. At least, not all of them. Maybe some
of them wouldn’t mind.
He made a mental note to discuss the situation with Ben
later. For right now, he’d just leave the topic alone.
Don’t ask about
transgender or family. Duly noted.
“So you and Ben are stepbrothers?” Aiden asked. At least the
potential storm had passed, to Ryan’s relief, leaving no trace, almost as if it had never
been, and Aiden was his usual sunny self once more. Ryan was glad. He wasn’t
one to court drama.
“Uh, yeah. My dad and his mom.” He tried not to squirm. Why did that question
make him so uncomfortable? Maybe because he didn’t want people to think of him
and Ben as brothers, and even saying stepbrothers was a little too close for
comfort. To consider them as being siblings would make his feelings for Ben
inappropriate, to say the least. The truth of the matter was their parents had
been married once upon a time for a few years. Okay, it had been a decade. But
there was no shared blood between them, that’s what counted. The bond Ben and
he had was something entirely different. Something special.
“I take it you haven’t exactly kept in touch with him,”
Aiden continued. “I mean, you seemed so shocked to see him up at the airport.
In fact, you were so surprised you fainted.”
Ryan’s cheeks heated at the memory. “I haven’t seen Ben in
ten years,” he said, more than a little defensively. “This was the last place I
expected him to be, much less involved with Salvation.” Who was asking the
questions here? And why did he feel the need to explain himself anyway?
“Well, it certainly is a small world, isn’t it?” Aiden took
a sip of his coffee, watching Ryan over the rim of his mug.
Ryan ducked behind his laptop screen. He knew he shouldn’t
allow himself to get so riled over a simple question. Aiden hadn’t meant
anything by it, Ryan was just reading into what he’d said. He needed to stop
being so sensitive where Ben was concerned. Especially now that they were
together again. He didn’t want to do anything to fuck that up. Not before he
had a chance to make things right, the way they should always have been.
“How long have you known Ben?” Ryan redirected the conversation to where it
should always have been. That had to be a much safer topic. Nothing taboo
there, right?
“A couple of years, I guess. We met when we played together
in a band in San Francisco.”
Ryan set his coffee aside and began to type. “What was the name of the band?”
Aiden shrugged. “Ill Harmony. Bad Vibrations. I forget. It wasn’t much of a band, to be
honest, and the music pretty much sucked. We were all glad when the lead singer
decided to call it quits. I think he went into the porno industry.”
“Ben didn’t sing lead?” Ryan was surprised.
“No, but he should have. He was a lot better than that other
guy. Maybe that was the problem. He was too good. He became a threat the other
guy couldn’t deal with so he broke up the band. Then the three of us just moved
on.”
“Is that when you formed Salvation?” Now they were getting
somewhere. This was the type of information that fans would find interesting.
“Not right away.”
Ryan glanced up, fingers poised. “Was there another group? Before Salvation?”
“Briefly. It was called Primary Wisdom, but it was
short-lived.”
“Not good either?” Ryan was becoming curious. Was it normal
to go from band to band like this? He didn’t really know.
“No, Wisdom was pretty good actually. Especially once we got
Keanu and Deacon. We had a good sound going on.”
“Was it the same genre, church metal? And by the way, how
would you define church metal? I’m sure I’m not the only one who doesn’t know.”
Aiden shrugged. “I can’t really define it. It’s just
something you have to feel. Like
religion. But no, Wisdom was more rock and roll than metal.”
That was about as clear as mud. Not very helpful at all.
“So what happened to the group?”
Aiden didn’t reply right away. Several seconds passed before
he finally said, “Internal strife, I guess you could say. Ben doesn’t like to
be told what to do. Things got really tense, so we split. Headed in a new
direction.”
“Who was trying to tell Ben what to do?”
“Ben’s mother.”
Ryan was shocked. Not once since being reunited with Ben had
thoughts of Liza crossed his mind. He hadn’t even thought to ask Ben about her,
how she was doing, was she still alive. Ben certainly hadn’t introduced the
subject himself. Out of sight, out of mind.
A chill crawled down Ryan’s spine at the mere mention of her
name. He’d never liked her, and he hated her what she’d
done to his dad. And to him, when she took Ben away, keeping them apart for ten
long years. Could that have been a deliberate ploy on her part? And why had
that idea never occurred to him before? Maybe because he’d been too busy
missing Ben to worry about her or her motives.
Lost in thought, Ryan was startled by a hand on his
arm. What the hell was Aiden thinking?
But when he glanced up, he found Ben standing there, hair freshly damp from the
shower, cheeks glowing. Ryan’s heart skipped a beat at the sight.
But what had he heard? And how would he react to the mention
of his controlling mother?
to be continued
Now go see what the other Briefers are up to!
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