Family Ties

Chapter One - The New York Princess

A/N: Hi! This is my first ever story and I hope you like it! Let me know what you think in the comments!
xx Lazybug

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Matt was about ready to pitch Bam overboard. His younger brother was being increasingly irritating as they navigated their way to Hoonah, along with Gabe, where Bam had to see a man about buying a new chainsaw. Why Matt had volunteered for the trip, he had no idea, but he was regretting the decision already.

'You're coming in too fast,' Bam warned, and even though he was probably right, Matt ignored him out of spite. He eased off the engine slightly however, and they cruised into the dock, stopping with a bump that made Bam sigh audibly.

'I told you,' Bam muttered.

'Did we die? No? Then shut up,' Matt replied, climbing awkwardly onto the dock. Gabe was trying not to laugh, and he knew to keep his mouth shut when these two got at it. They tied the boat off and headed into town in silence, an effort to avoid further arguing.

The bitterness was replaced with curiosity as they neared the local pub, which was far more packed than usual. The brothers exchanged a look and headed for the front door. They slipped inside quietly and stood at the back as a man addressed the pub from the stage that was set up for live music on Fridays.

'This little town of ours in fine just the way it is, and I for one don't want to find it crawling with tourists,' he was saying, and the patrons cheered in agreement.

'Some sort of protest?' Bam suggested.

Matt shrugged, and spied Kenny across the room.

'I'm gonna hang out here while you do what you need to. I wanna know what's going on,' he said, and Bam nodded.

'We won't be long,' he said, effectively trapping Gabe into going with him.

Matt waved them off with a hand and wormed his way through the crowd until he was standing beside his favourite junk man.

'Long time, no see,' Kenny said with a grin.

'Yeah, how've you been?' Matt asked in an equally quiet voice so he didn't interrupt the man speaking.

'Same old, same old,' Kenny replied, taking a sip of his beer. 'You?'

'Always something happening in Browntown,' Matt told him. 'What's going on here?'

'Protests against that new resort,'

'Resort?'

'You haven't heard? Some bigwig wants to buy up heaps of land and build a place for hunters to stay while they have a go at our game,' Kenny said, wrinkling his nose. Matt raised an eyebrow.

'Are they allowed to do that?'

'They are if they get the land and the right permits,' Kenny told him. Matt listened to the speaker rile the people of the town into a frenzy. The broke apart after a while and the boys made their way towards the bar.

Kenny ordered himself a beer and Matt ordered a soft drink out of habit. They caught up, since they hadn't seen each other for a few weeks. Kenny told him all about the interesting things that had come into the junkyard and Matt relayed all the updates from Browntown.

Kenny was midway through saying something when his jaw went slack.

'You reckon she got lost?' he said, jerking his chin to the door. Matt turned around to see the very out-of-place woman standing in the doorway.

She had long blonde hair, lightly curled and tucked inside the thick black scarf around her neck. She had a matching beanie keeping her head warm in the cold Alaskan air. Her lips pursed as she took in the establishment, eyes masked behind massive round sunglasses.