Ceaseless Chains Copyright © 2020 xXMopelXx All Rights Reserved.

Chapter posted - July 31, 2020

** IMPORTANT **

In this novel, the teacher that Teagan had an affair with in Boundless Ties is now called Blake MacCabe. Previously his name was Chris McLaughlin, but I wanted to change that. Also, this story is based in Canada, where the legal age of consent is 16 for sexual activity (5 year gap max). Teagan was 17. Just have that in mind before you comment! 

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Thank you guys for all the response and support - so excited you're loving this <3

Playlist Song: Jessie Ware - Hearts

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C H A P T E R  5

Teagan

Every week, Elsie and I took turns buying groceries. This week it was mine.

I was surfing through the aisle for bags of chips when I heard a small baby's wailing cry, followed by male shushing. Glancing over my shoulder, I noticed a young family with a little baby girl in their arms, cooing to her gently.

The dad's profile came into picture and my gut clenched, my heart thumping an old pattern right in the middle of the grocery store.

He must have felt my gaze all over him because Blake tilted his head a fraction and caught my surprise.

I hadn't seen him in years, specifically since I'd turned eighteen. We'd been forced to burn our flame to ashes when the nature of our 'inappropriate' and 'forbidden' – as my parents put it – relationship came to the front.

It was luck that he hadn't gotten fired from Eastwood High School.

My parents found out, told his, and we ended things on a sad note. I got disowned, packed my bags for Boston, friendship between our parents got strained and Blake finished his contract as a P.E substitute, before returning to university for his studies.

My little sister texted me two years ago to tell me Blake met a nice girl – one of legal age – and got hitched.

Now I was seeing the fruition of his marriage in the form of the little bundle of joy he cradled in his arms.

I'd been smitten with him at seventeen, the same way he'd been with me at twenty-two. We were young and naïve. That experience taught me that age was just a number and love truly knew no bounds.

Blake was the gentlest soul I had the pleasure of meeting; I learned so much from him. An intuitive, philosophical type who made me feel confident and intelligent, giving me enough courage to apply to Harvard.

Our timing was wrong, but what we'd felt for each other hadn't been. Pursuing each other back then, after seeing one another at our parents' fancy soirées countless times wasn't right, I knew that now.

But we paid the price and I served our time.

Looking at him now, I didn't have any ill-wishes for him – I never had – only good feelings and love. I was so content he'd found his proper ending.

Projecting the happiness I felt for him in one look, I smiled at him discreetly, acknowledging him without saying a word.

He caught on. Even with his thick-rimmed glasses, I saw the gentle playful wink he sent me, one that was so reminiscent of old times.

Nothing more needed saying. I didn't want to go over and introduce myself to his wife, who was fussing with the diaper bag. I didn't think it would be okay, and I didn't want to ruin their bubble of peace.

Walking away, I cast him one more lingering look. He did the same. We shared a mutual smile.

As I headed towards the checkout, longing travelled through my heart and left another everlasting imprint. I placed a hand on my stomach, pausing, seeing the baby girl's face in my mind.

And thinking of my own dead, unborn child.

* * *

How's the search for a new place going? – Cher

It was Saturday night and I'd locked myself in the bathroom, right in the midst of trimming my hair. I put the scissors down to answer her text.

It's going. I've been looking online and I visited a few places, but I'm not satisfied. I'm forking a lot of money, so I want to be certain before I enter a contract. – Teagan

Are you looking into living alone or with a roommate? – Cher

Alone preferably, but I can't afford that. I just want to be out of Elsie's hair. She's got a small place and we're cramped. – Teagan

Ah. I see. Maybe I can help you out sometime? We can look at places together. – Cher

I'd love that. Thank you 😊. – Teagan

PS: Come over to Trent's tonight. The whole gang will be there. We're having game night. – Cher

I thought about it. I really, truly thought it through. Since I came back to my home city, I kept my distance from the guys. I tried with the girls as well, but to no avail. They tore down my walls and forced me out.

After not being around everyone for more than two years, suddenly reintegrating myself didn't feel natural. I tried to convey this to everyone, but my words were dismissed.

I sometimes felt like they needed me the same way someone needed an old bone repositioned – a painstaking essential reality. I was a vital part of their sum, they claimed.

I'd been part of them for so long that they felt I needed to be there with them everywhere, even though I nicely told them I didn't. But I knew what they wouldn't come to terms with: we'd all grown up and apart. Things couldn't always be like the past.

I was twenty-one, not seventeen anymore.

They were trying to mend the bonds that had been severed a long time ago.

But tonight, I didn't feel like playing the bearer of bad news.

I'll be there. – Teagan

* * *

We ate a pizza dinner, and everyone decided to move to the balcony for Cuban cigars.

My head was pounding so I decided to stay back and resume my duties in the kitchen, where I whipped up some chocolate lava cakes for us to indulge with glasses of Porto. Elsie rubbed off on me in the best ways possible.

I sat by the island counter, rubbing the tension out of my shoulders and neck when Oliver stepped inside.

Seeing me, he kind of awkwardly halted, but then moved closer. "Hey. You okay?" he asked gruffly.

Oliver was really trying to be polite, and I appreciated it more than he knew, considering everything. Last I heard, he hated me. Last I checked, I stopped caring and lived my life on my terms anyways.

Tentatively, the corners of my mouth lifted into a weak smile. "Yeah. I'm good."

He swallowed and his gaze darted around the kitchen, as if the conversation lay plastered on the cupboard walls. "You want some Advil?"

I shook my head. "I avoid painkillers unless necessary."

A familiar grin flashed over Oliver's mouth. "Some things don't change, I see."

He remembered.

"Some things don't, I guess."

The air bubble between us suffused with all the things that had changed. He and I were physically close, but time made us acknowledge the changes we couldn't dare to speak out loud for fear of cutting open old wounds.

Oliver rounded the counter and took a seat beside me, unsure if I'd bite him. I wouldn't. Unknown to him, I only bit when asked. Nicely.

With that move, room was created for a truce as our bubble expanded.

I welcomed Oliver. He'd always have a spot next to me, so long as we kept bridging.

"So you're looking into moving out?" he started the conversation once more.

"Mhm. Currently visiting places right now. Haven't found anything that's wowed me yet, you know."

"For sure, finding a new place can be intimidating. You should be thorough." As he said this, his face took on a calculating look, brows furrowing.

"Yeah." Because what else could I say?

When the silence became unbearable, Oliver shifted and... I was blindsided temporarily by the full force of his golden gaze.

I'd never seen more beautiful eyes in my life. The brown was like a light honey, occasionally darkening into a deep russet when Oliver was feeling too many emotions. They were showcased by sooty colored lashes.

"What is it?" he murmured softly, guard lowered.

I could never lie to Oliver. I could hide, omit things, but never when plainly asked. Although, when I really thought about it... I did lie to him once. For our own benefit.

Where could I start? "You..." I never gazed away from his transforming expression. "You still have the most striking eyes I've ever seen."

The mask of indifference crumbled for a fraction of a moment at the utterance of my words.

I cleared my throat, blushing a little. "Sorry. That was uncalled for, I know. I just got distracted."

He recovered, smirking in a manner that was so lazy, so cocksure, and so close to a playboy. It wasn't one I'd ever seen, much less been accustomed too.

The Oliver I remembered had a cheeky grin, laced with so much rebellion.

"It's all good," he said in a heavy voice tinged with sassiness to ease the tension. "I know my eyes are perfect."

I laughed. Oliver did a double take at the girlish sound. I tamed and put a lid on it.

Oliver grasped the water pitcher on the counter and poured two glasses. When he slid one my way, the pads of our fingers grazed each other, and my left hand jerked a little from the shock. "Ouch."

He laughed huskily.

The zing stayed there for a flicker of a moment, before it slowly travelled through my clammy palm, throbbed at my wrist, and climbed higher and higher until it's claws were wrapping around my beating heart, squeezing to remind me of the sweet best friend I'd lost.

I acknowledged with my mind what my heart couldn't. Friendship again with Oliver Abhay Ashford would destroy me. If I lost it, it would hurt more than the last time. I didn't think I could bear it. Cutting ties with him the first time had left a bitter, acidic taste in my mouth and a void inside of me that never filled, no matter how much time passed. Cutting ties with this Oliver, the intense brooding kind, would make my heart fucking ache. Because I knew from word-of-mouth just how much more special he'd gotten. I'd feel obliterated.

Better to keep my distance now and nurse my old wounds in silence.

Oliver's eyes were locked on my hands, covered with the gold bangles his mom had given me. They slowly roved up my forearm and beelined it straight for my cleavage, like a typical male.

I wore a low-cut tank top and because I was heavily blessed, my layered dainty necklaces lay nestled comfortably in the valley of my breasts.

Was it my imagination or did his eyes darken? Fire licked up my insides, my toes curling under the chair and I met his stare head-on, challengingly. Daring him to look away.

Old Oli would have coughed and glanced away, cheeks tinged pink. Grown Oli was a shameless beast in his own category, not giving a single fuck.

Never looking away from me, he lifted his glass to his mouth and watched me over the rim like I was an enigma he wanted to unravel. I arched a brow.

He licked his wet lips when he was done, his jaw working. I had this urge to rake my fingernails through the rough stubble on his beautiful, chiseled cheeks and see how it would feel beneath my nails. Vicious, maybe.

"I like that you got rid of the blond," he said low, casting me an appreciative glance from head to toe.

The paid compliment, the intensity of his stare and coupled with the heat in the room did something funny to my insides. Something I didn't want to decipher.

"Thank you." I loved my natural tresses, glad I'd ditched the façade. All those years in Boston, trying to be someone I was not.

Oliver's eyes once again fell down to my forearm. "I can't believe you still have those."

My throat felt tight suddenly. Why wouldn't I, Oli? You may have disliked me, shunned me all those years ago, but I have never forgotten you or your loved ones. "I've never been without them." I gave them a little jangle. "Not in all these years."

Nostalgia made his lips curl up.

"I loved your mother, Oli." It was the first time I'd used his nickname since I came back and it caught him by surprise, as well as me. It was the heat of the moment and his turbulent gaze that caused me to spill such nonsense – spill words that no longer mattered. "She was so kind and every time I came back home for a visit, I..." I always went to her grave, even though you supposedly thought I was the scum at the bottom of your shoe.

Oliver's body twisted my way and his hand shot out, clutching my palm. I gasped a little. As if with the small action, he could force the rest out of me. "Tell me, Teagan."

Trent chose that second to enter the kitchen and Oliver dropped my hand like it scorched him. When our best friend noticed us sitting so close to each other, he was concerned. "You guys okay?"

"Teagan has a headache," Oliver echoed matter-of-factly, as if just a mere moment ago we hadn't been trying to overcome our differences and finally, finally fucking talk. "I'm giving her company."

"Oh. Cool." Trent clicked his tongue, then added with a shit-eating grin, "You guys want my company too?"

"Hey, baby." Jared popped up behind Trent and threw a loving, brawny arm around his chest, pulling him into his rock-hard body with a laugh. For two point five seconds, they pretended like they were lovers, throwing mock kisses at each other. Then they looked at us, excited. "Are we ready for dessert?"

"Just another minute in the oven," I informed. "I'll bring them out when they are done."

"Alright." Trent eyed Oliver and I suspiciously. "We're going to start a game of Jenga. You guys in?"

Trent and Jared left after we assured that yes, we would be playing. Oliver still lingered behind. He helped me prepare the cakes on a tray in quiet company. We didn't try to rehash the previous conversation regarding his mom.

When I whirled around with the bottle of wine, Oliver was leaning against the kitchen doorframe, waiting for me.

He reached out a big hand for me to take, catching me off-guard. His gentleness took me further back. "Let's go?"

I grasped his hand. Thinking of those severed bonds of ours, I realized with this gesture, we created a new beginning. My hand felt lightweight in his and a shiver rocked my body, which I ruled out thanks to the nipping air coming from the open balcony door. It had nothing to do with his effect on me.

For a wink in time, it felt like we were teenagers again, carefree and inseparable. As Oliver led me towards everyone, my heart clenched.

An old bond mended itself when I allowed the realization that I would always be a part of these people. I was in their lives and I was vital to them.

There was no us without all of us. Including Quentin, who was no longer here. 

My friends' smiles confirmed this. 

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A/N's: Thoughts on Teagan's character as of now? For me, there's something heartbreaking about her and I love writing it. What are your thoughts so far on Oli and Tee's dynamics?
PS: Really excited for you guys to read chapter 6 and 7 - the sexual tension is *insert fire emoji*

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Chapter goal: 325? x