AllFreeNovel
Share Us
It’s what their lawyer tells him. Ty is not even sure he wants to argue about that. Everything that man informs him of seems final.
There will be no grave, nor a gravestone or a plaque, to signify a place where Ty can take a knee and pay his respects. He doesn’t even know if he wants to do that, but it feels so damn wrong that he’s not given the choice. Even the dirt his father’s body has become is denied to him.
Is this kindness? Tayida can't help but see it as a final jab at him, as he has always been the unwanted appendage of the Wright family. A child who’s never been accepted nor celebrated by George’s parents.
The lawyer doesn’t discuss living arrangements or allowance for Tayida. Ty doesn’t bother asking either. By now, he’s figured out the signs of being dismissed.
George had made plenty of disastrous mistakes to cause a rift between himself and his parents with his financial woes. Ty shouldn’t be the one to carry the burden of his shame by association, yet he is suffering for it, nonetheless. His grandparents neglect him, his mother ignores him from the other side of the world, and his non-existent social life barely gives him the support he needs to survive.
It hurts to be grateful for the kindness of strangers.
It hurts to ask for help.
It shouldn’t but it fucking does.
The last shreds of his pride are dead, killed by basic necessity.
Ty is so grateful when he gets to sleep in someone’s overcrowded house, after crashing a party, or in someone’s basement when their parents are out of town. He’s profoundly thankful when he can shower safely, albeit quickly in someone’s home and have a cup of coffee too.
This goes on only for a few months, but the constant pity he must rely on, for that short period wears his soul down. There seems to be nothing on the horizon to keep him hopeful for the future, yet he wakes up every day feeling like his life is about to change dramatically very soon. Like someone is waiting for him.
Despite all odds, that hopeful, serendipitous feeling keeps him going, bringing him closer to the men who would become his everything.
CHAPTERTWO
Tayida – Ty – Beloved One
FALL OF 2010
“Hey, you okay, man?”
Tayida looks away from the forms he’s butchering and drops the pen that has been slipping from his sweaty fingers. The boy standing too close to him, making him nervous, grabs it for him before he can think to do it himself. He hands it back over and they face each other again. Ty can’t help but exhale and relax. The boy’s smile is genuine and kind. He’s hardly a boy though. This dude is huge.
“Thanks,” he mumbles. When the guy doesn’t walk away, he adds hastily, “I’m Ty.”
His new acquaintance chuckles, but before Ty can imagine anything sinister, he holds out his hand and says, “I’m Cyril, Cy.”
Tayida smirks. “Ty and Cy.”
Cyril beams back at him expectantly but Ty is so out of his element – making small talk, and meeting new people, is totally not his thing. Luckily for both of them, Cy’s got people skills enough for two. He looks over Ty’s paperwork and bursts into uncontrollable laughter.
“What now?” Ty can’t help but laugh with him.
“Same birthday.” Cyril pokes at his forms.
“Shit! Really?”
Cy dangles his own neatly filled out forms, and sure thing, there it is – November first, nineteen-ninety-two.
“Brother from another mother,” Cy deadpans and laughs so hard at his own stupid joke, it’s infectious.
Both shake their heads, chuckling and suddenly the room has enough oxygen for Ty to go through with this bullshit and finish filling out the forms. Cy is like the sun – bright, open, warm, solid, and unmoving.
They are inseparable from day one. Tayida doesn’t have enough pride left to pretend he doesn’t cherish their instant connection like it’s his most prized possession.
The training modules are fucking difficult. Ty’s never been one to shy away from hard labor, but combat training has nothing to do with lugging scraps of metal through filthy factory yards. Thus far, his body has only had to build up enough strength to ensure his survival. At basic, Tayida needs to work on a completely different set of skills – resilience, stamina, strength, perceptiveness and so much more. There are multiple academic components he needs to tackle as well, and he prides himself on his high scores.
He struggles with the physical aspect of their training but some savage need to overcome any weakness that holds him back, helps him push through. That and the constant support he receives from Cyril. Cy goes through all the training modules like he’s been preparing for them all his life.
