Ties That Bind

Lonesome

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Shiloh sat at the metal table in the visitor's room waiting on Otto to be brought in. She hadn't been there often to see him and she usually used Steven as a reason that she couldn't visit, but that wasn't the only reason. She always felt like she was being watched when she came and it made her skin crawl, but Otto was one of her closest friends so she could deal with it long enough to see him.

She frowned when he was escorted in, glancing at the cuffs on his wrists and ankles. He chuckled as he held his hands up, making her grin at him.

"They think I'm a danger to others. They don't realize that you're the closest thing I have to a sister and probably the last person I'd attack. How ya been, Shi?"

Shiloh shook her head and grinned at him. "I'm good. How are you? Luann told me about the addition to your sentence. I'm sorry, Otto."

He waved a hand. "Don't be. I did what was necessary to protect Club interests. I wasn't getting out any time soon anyway."

Shiloh gave him a look that he smiled unrepentantly at. "Yeah, but life? You were only doing six years, to begin with."

Otto nodded. "I know but it's done now, so no going back. How are the kids?"

Shiloh rolled her eyes at his subject change but pulled their school pictures out of her bag. "They're good. Juniors in high school, if you can believe that."

He chuckled as he looked at the pictures of Jacob and Danielle. "Boy, you're gonna have your hands full with those two. Are they doing good in school?"

Shiloh shrugged. "Yeah, Dani's doing great, wants to be a nurse when she graduates. Jacob on the other hand... I don't know what to do with him. He's always so angry."

Otto shrugged. "Well, he's got a lot on his shoulders already, Shi. You know that."

She nodded. "I do. I try to let them be teenagers but sometimes I just have to have help. I can't help that. These friends he has... "

Otto chuckled. "Let the boy be, Shi. If he's not doing anything to get put in the joint, he's good. Let him be a boy."

Shiloh chuckled and shook her head. "How did I know that was what you would say?" She sighed and reached across the table to squeeze his hand. "I'm glad that I came to see you, Otto. I've missed you."

"I've missed you too, little bit. I tell Luann all the time that I wish you'd come see me more."

Shiloh nodded. "I will, I promise."

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By the time Shiloh got home, it was early evening. She frowned when she noticed that Jacob's car wasn't parked along the curb where it usually was. When she walked into the house, Dani was sitting on the couch doing her homework.

"Where's your brother?"

Dani shrugged as she turned the volume down on the tv. "I don't know, probably with his buddies. He dropped me off and said he'd be back later."

Shiloh shook her head. "It's a school night. He knows better than this. Any idea where he might be hanging out?"

"He might be at Teller-Morrow. He's been working there a little part-time. When he isn't working, he and his friends hang out with the bikers."

Shiloh shook her head. She was well aware of who the Sons were. Otto was one after all. "Just lovely. Okay, I'm going to go find your brother. Are you good here with your dad for a bit longer?"

When Dani smiled and nodded, Shiloh walked back out to her car. She had told Jacob before that she didn't want him hanging around at TM but apparently that had fallen on deaf ears. She sighed as she started her car and backed out of the drive. She didn't have anything against the club really, although she knew well enough what they were about. She just didn't want Jacob to get in the way or be there if something happened.

When she pulled onto the lot of Teller-Morrow, sure enough, there was Jacob's car parked along the fence. She parked beside it and got out, slamming her car door and stomping across the lot toward a building that resembled a bar. She was almost to the door when a blond man came walking out with a mountain of a man beside him.

"Can we help you, darlin'?"

Shiloh nodded. "Yes. Is Jacob Harris here by any chance?"

The blond tilted his head and grinned. "He may be. You're a little old for him, aren't you, sweetheart?"

Shiloh crossed her arms over her chest and gave him her best "mom" look. "I'm not too old to be his mother. Is he here or not?"

The man beside the blond winced as the other man smirked. "He's right inside."

She felt them behind her as she opened the door and walked into a cloud of cigarette and pot smoke. She coughed and gave her eyes a minute to adjust before seeing her son by a pool table with a half-naked woman hanging off of his arm and a bottle of beer in his hand.

"Jacob Steven Harris! Aren't you supposed to be home right now?"

Jacob turned with a curse and shoved the woman away from him as he put his hands up. "Mom, what the hell? I told Dani I'd be home later."

Shiloh nodded as she stepped closer to her son, eyeing the woman who was still too close to her baby. "It's a school night, Jacob. Get home. Now." She turned to the woman who was still clinging to her son. "Underage dick your thing, honey?" When a black-haired man snickered, she pointed to the bottle of beer in her son's hand. "I wouldn't laugh too hard, blue eyes. Giving alcohol to a minor is against the law."

She heard a throat clear behind her and turned to see the blond looking less than pleased. "Well, maybe if his mom kept a better hold on him, he wouldn't be here, huh? Too busy out partying yourself?"

Before Shiloh could recover from the shock of that statement, a brunette woman about her age smacked the blond in the back of the head. "I didn't raise you to talk to mothers that way!" She pointed at Jacob. "You get your ass home and don't come back until it's your shift to work." Then she slapped the blond on the arm. "And you apologize to this lady. She has a right to be pissed off."

The blond rubbed his head. "Shit!" He looked at Shiloh and shrugged. "Sorry. I get sarcastic sometimes."

Shiloh nodded shortly as Jacob stepped past her to the door. Neither said a word as they went to their respective cars and left the lot.