Chapter Two
Being a bartender at Jimmy's Mackenzie Browning had encountered her fair share of drunks. The happy drunk, the angry drunk, the drunk that needed just a little bit of liquid confidence to make it through the night. However, the most fascinating of them all was the drunk that firmly believed that happiness was just at the other end of the glass. Ideally, she imagined that in some fashion all drunks happened to believe this, had they not she wouldn't have a job, but there was something intrinsically different about this drunk; they prayed behind it like a believer to eternal salvation and if that were the case in her eyes Billy seemed to be in deep prayer.
And as if on cue under her scrutiny "Hit me again!" came Billy's slurred intrusion in her observations as he sloshed a glass that was once full of tanqueray against the bar table.
"I think it's time to cut you off, you've had enough." Was her sharp reply, as she continued to examine him."What's the matter with you anyway?" There was something completely off about his demeanor tonight, it was no surprise that Billy was a lush on many extremes on just as many vices but there was something different that she couldn't put her finger on tonight. The image of Billy that had presented itself before her was the difference between a somewhat lust for life and the aftermath of pure defeat.
"First, I haven't had enough, not barely" he huffed the last statement under his breath as if not meaning for anyone to hear or even notice it. "Second, there's nothing wrong with me," he punctuated "and if there was it wouldn't be any of your business,"
"You shouldn't be so moody with your ride home," Mac sniped as she swiped his glass and put it behind the bar. As time passed in their conversation she was getting less interested in dissecting him and more interested in getting him out before Cane came in and all hell broke loose. "Speaking of which, for you my friend the bar is closed, my shift is up I'm taking you home."
To this Billy openly groaned as Mac continued. "Come on, you know you aren't even supposed to be here" she spoke evenly as she remembered the last time that the brothers were in the same room, needless to say, considering they hate each other, it didn't go well. Billy and Cane were suggested not to be in the same way of space since Billy, in a drunken stupor, goaded Cane on his stint with Lily clearly in the lewdest of terms and met Cane's fist on his jaw. The two nearly tore the bar to threads, so in haste she added "Cane's going to be here any minute, and if he sees you -
"Oh Fuck Cane, Mac," Billy growled officially spent. "He acts like he's the boss of this place."
"Well Billy, that's because he is. I'm driving you home now."
As if on cue, Cane strolled through the bar door and Mac sucked in a breath and hissed a silent curse. Her eyes diced between the brothers who had already been made painfully aware of each other's presence before sending a pleading glance to a tall burly man to her far right, Trevor. Knowingly he appeared from out of the corner where he was retrieving stray glasses and popped up in front of Cane's sight.
"Cane my man! Nice of you to pop up out of the love nest to join us" the man smiled as brightly as his baritone across the room as he bumped fists with Cane.
"Enjoy me while you can, I don't make a practice of leaving my nest for just anything" although he meant it jokingly, his speech was tight as his eyes pierced into the man at the other side of the room. Distractedly, he continued "How you doing, Trevor?"
"Not too bad, hey," Trevor drew closer causing Cane to tear his eyes away from Billy and look directly at his friend. His eyes were different from how they'd been a moment ago, the jovial expression he'd had was replaced with a solemn intensity. "These guys came in about an hour ago, I've never seem 'em around have you?" He asked nodding his head and giving Cane time to give a quick glance to the unfamiliar group of men. He thought nothing of it.
"No, why?"
"Keep your eyes open, that's all." He answered his stare sharp.
He didn't bother question, from the time Cane had met Trevor his gut had always been spot on, it was Trevor who encouraged him to get over himself and give into his feelings for Lily way back when, it was also Trevor who clued him in on Jimmy's when it was on the market just as Cane began to grow restless of working the family business, owning his lifetime friend a warranted place as partner as well as becoming the few people whose opinion greatly mattered.
"I will," Cane said slapping his friend on the back before retreating to the bar.
As he approached the bar his was a calm flame growing into a fire, he kept his rage below surface until it was needed unlike his brother's quick draw.
"Why are you here Billy," Cane said simply.
"What does it look like, brother?"
"I know what it looks like;" Cane snapped quietly walking passed his brother "I just want to know why the hell are you always in my bar when I'd asked you to leave permanently. Weeks ago," he finished facing him bracing his palms on the cool of the bar, he pressed them down to keep them from flying up and doing something irrational.
"You shouldn't be here Billy,"
"How un-businessman like of you Cane, you're willing to turn away a paying patron" his brother said while leaning and whispering to another customer "no wonder this place is going down the crapper"
"I'm not turning you away Bill, I'm sure you spent just enough to keep business afloat way before I stepped in," Cane swiftly replied, sparing a swift eye between Mac and Billy.
Cane knew what all of Billy's sophomoric outburst were about, this wasn't new. He made an act of parading around as the lost and hurt boy wanting the family to feel sorry for all he had been forced to sacrifice once he had come to town from Australia and been taken in by Jill and the rest of the Chancellors, and there was even a time that he felt sorry, but now his apologies had taken a different dimension.
He was sorry he didn't grow up with a silver spoon so shoved down his throat he could shit good fortune. He was also sorry that he grew up dirt poor without a dollar to his name, and his little brother Billy had the life and love that he lived for.
And now he was just tired of Billy's whining and didn't want to see or hear anything of him for as long as he could possibly stand, which as far as Cane was concerned could be a hell of a long time.
"Leave. Right now." His voice was simple, and sharp as he turned on his heel preparing to retreat. "When I come back I don't want to see your face in my bar."
"Why is it that you have to take everything from me? Huh Cane. First, it was my mother and Kay ... my rightful place in the family business, then my friendship with Lily, Jimmy's" Billy spoke to his brother's back getting the intended action when he saw him hault, and turn to face him. "Hell, you're even taking Mac away from me, what's next fucking Christmas?" he swivelled in his seat, his shaky voice raising decibels as he went further into his speech "Now look, you tried to take Deliah from me and now my marriage to Chloe is over and she's gone anyway,"
Not that Billy loved or liked Chloe in the first place, he knew their marriage was a mistake from the minute he'd proposed it, but he followed through hoping he'd be able to tough it out for Deliah's sake. As the years went by his marriage to Chloe got progressively worse ... and the only real person that suffered through the whole ordeal was Cordeliah, he watched the pained look in her eyes as his and Chloe's fights got worse and worse and he did nothing to stop it. He watched as her tiny footsteps trailed his out the door in a drunken stupor without a look back, and today he stood idly by as Chloe packed her and Delilah's things and left on the early morning flight for New York indefinitely. If that didn't spark a cause for getting piss drunk, he sure as hell didn't know what could.
"If you think I took all those things from you, Billy you're more stupid than I thought." Clearly seeing hearing this from his ex-con of an adopted brother, no less, who could now clearly do no wrong in anyone's eyes wasn't helping his case. In fact it was beyond infuriating coming from the man who continued to take everything from him.
"You know what's stupid Cane? After all of these years you still think you have a place in this family. You don't belong, you never will. You're just feeding Jill's guilt about her poor mothering skills, until the next thing comes along. Who knows, if Chance ever decides to come back, you're gonna be just like a passing thought," drawing closer he whispered "I can tell you how that feels, it's a shitty existence."
And there it was the sentiment that always hangs in the air of all their arguments. He wasn't one of them. Not a part of the unit, not a part of anything really. The words repeat themselves as he remains silent, soaking the truth of the matter in. The words are daggers that hit his soul but couldn't scratch his demeanour as he looks at Billy as strong as he had moments before. Turning away for a second time Cane reaches for the phone, not a word or a glance passed towards his sibling in his path.
Mac had watched the exchange between the brothers on the sidelines along with Trevor, as soon as she saw Cane retreat and the sour expression marred across Billy's face she could only guess the words that were exchanged between the two and as she imagined they couldn't have been pleasant. She figured she owed it to herself to check up on him considering she had been the one that had been sneaking Billy into the bar for weeks, when she knew that this may be the end result.
She waited about thirty minutes, instructing Trevor to babysit Billy as she looked for her boss. When she found Cane's door she pressed her hand on it before completely pushing it open, and was surprised to see him not angered, stoic, or shattered by his brother's words but normal. His usual self, his legs cocked up against his desk, one arm scratching the back of his head leisurely and his phone pressed into his ear as cunning leer spread across his features as he smoothly whispered "so what are you wearing right now ?"
"Oh my god!" Mackenzie shrilled as she closed her eyes and shut her ears as she slid away from the office. "I'm sorry!" she called out, passes away in the hallway "Sorry!" of Cane's interrupted conversation with Lily " I just came to bring you the extra shipments before I headed out." She weakly added as she dangled the papers in front of his door, a few more apologizes coming after that.
He laughed at that and she sighed slight relief. "You can come in Mac, I'm decent. I'm off the phone,"
They were barely blood but hearing Cane talk to his wife was nearly as bad as catching the older brother -that she'd never had - in a highly compromising position. Not that it was a rare thing to hear, let alone see but every time she felt like she were an intruder watching the unguarded moments.
With a weak smile Mac returned to the office, "it sounds like I was about to walk in on quite the show,"
"That you were my friend" Cane said easily as he accepted the shipment documents, before looking at her thoughtfully. "Sorry"
"No need! who am I to stand in the middle of young love," Mac smiled in silent awe of them before she side-stepped "we need some more V.S.O.P your little brother keeps sucking it down like it's HI-C."
To this Cane scoffed dryly barely looking up at her as he looked over shipments "Tell me something I don't know,"
She sighed and leveled herself before staring at Cane. In the few years that they had been working together, she still couldn't say that she knew him expertly well, but they lived the same type of childhood, she knew exactly what was going on behind the jovial exterior. No matter how wanted he may have felt now, there was still a part of him that still felt like an orphan. Its hard to feel like you belong when you have spend all of your life alone, believing that you would always be alone. That was the vile thing about belonging, when you spend long enough not belonging to anyone it becomes hard to shake the feeling that you ever will.
"look, Cane – I'm sorry about what Billy –
"Don't worry about it , Mac I'm fine. It takes more than Billy to bring me down," he smiled shrugging it off.
"Either way I hope you know you are a part of this family. No matter what Billy or anyone else thinks. You know as well as I do that our family isn't based on blood"
That he knew, but yet it was harder to believe. Nevertheless he offered Mac a grateful smile as the words were becoming too hard, and continued with something that avoided the topic all together "It's late Mac, you should go home."
She smiled, knowing she got through somewhat, nodded and backed away "Goodnight, Cane."