Yeah, I could be a dick when I wanted to be.
“You don’t smoke!” Keith shouted.
Brandon just shrugged as he inhaled. He had definitely gotten the hang of it over the past day, and he blew the smoke out in a long cloud. Keith just looked back and forth between us for a minute, and I tried to hold in the smirk and look like I was more interested in my beer than anything else going on around me. Finally, he glared at me again.
“You are not welcome here,” the douchebag said to me.
“I’m just hanging out,” I said. “You know—supporting my girlfriend while she supports his wife.”
I gestured toward Brandon with my thumb a couple of times as I let the word girlfriend slip out just as casually as I had lit Brandon’s cigarette. Keith’s face darkened, but his back straightened up as he seemed to get control over himself. He stood taller as he turned to Brandon.
“This area is reserved for people in our community,” Keith said.
Brandon stood on the top step of the porch. I leaned against a post behind him, which I hoped would continue to hold the roof up even with the extra force of my shoulder against it. Keith went on.
“You know how outsiders can affect us, and you were already warned about this one and how he has influenced one of our own. How can you let him stand there?”
Brandon glanced over his shoulder and up at me. The doubt in his eyes was obvious along with the same sorrow and confusion that had been there all day. The tension around his eyes lessened as he looked at me, and he gave me a bit of a grin. Keith’s little speech might have been pretty once, but it wasn’t hitting home for Brandon any more—I could see that and assumed Keith could, too.
“He seems okay,” Brandon said with a shrug. “He’s definitely no worse than that asshole Eric you hung out with from school. Besides, he’s with Tria, and you were always going on about how Tria was one of us, no matter what.”
More smirking because I was pretty sure those same words had once been used by Keith, against Brandon. From Keith’s narrowed eyes, I knew I was right. Brandon leaned back a little and sipped his beer, and Keith must have decided to ignore him.
“I said you aren’t welcome here,” he told me again.
“And I pretty much ignored you,” I replied. “You wanna go for round two?”
“Always about the fighting, isn’t it?” he said. “Always about the violence. Have you hit her yet?”
“Fuck you,” I said with a glare.
“You don’t belong here!” he bellowed.
“Well, you got that right,” I replied as I waved my hand toward Brandon and then back behind me and toward the house. “I wouldn’t stand for this shit.”
“What have you told him?” Keith asked Brandon in disbelief. “You shouldn’t be talking to him at all!”
“What does it matter?”
“Dammit, Brandon!” Keith yelled. “I told you about him and how he’s screwing around with her! You really want her involved with someone like that?”
Brandon looked over to me, and his shoulders rose and fell again.
“I dunno,” he replied quietly. “I mean, he seems okay, and Tria really seems to like him. I mean—it’s not like what he’s doing is illegal or whatever.”
“He fights in a fucking bar for cash.” Keith snarled and it was obvious he was losing the cool façade he had been trying to keep up. It was funny, and I gave him a big smile as I took another sip of beer.
“Yeah, and you do what?” Brandon’s words were sharp. “Wait around for your dad to retire or die so you can get his disability checks? It’s not like you’re doing anything all that noteworthy. When was the last time you even went fishing?”
“What the hell?” Keith threw his hands up in the air. “This guy is around for a couple hours and has you poisoned against your own people?”
“I’m not poisoned!” Brandon said. He pushed himself off the steps and stumbled a little. “Everything I’m doing today is about my family, and we are a part of this community! You think I want this? You think I want to watch you lose your virginity with my wife?”
It just figured.
Keith’s hands clenched into fists, and he looked away from us with a tensed jaw. I was pretty sure his dark complexion was the only thing hiding his embarrassment.
I couldn’t help myself; I snorted out a laugh.
“Well, at least you don’t have to worry about getting her actually turned on or anything,” I said with a nasty, cocky smile. “By the time you get to her, she’ll be so full of cum you ought to be able to slide in pretty easi—”
The punch to my face wasn’t from the direction I expected it, and it caught me off guard. I spun to my right, caught my balance before I fell over, and then looked to Brandon as I righted myself. He was standing with his legs spread slightly and knees bent. His hands were still in fists like he was ready to take me on fully, but I just held my palm out to him as I stood up straight.
“You’re such a tough guy,” Keith said with a sneer still plastered across his face and his own embarrassment forgotten for the moment. “You don’t even defend yourself?”
“No reason to,” I replied as I rubbed my chin. It was a pretty good hit for a guy without much muscle. “I deserved that one.”
“Yes, you fucking did,” Brandon growled.
“I know, dude. Sorry. My mouth is on its own sometimes.”
Brandon narrowed his eyes for a second and then nodded briefly as his hands relaxed again at his sides. He bent over and picked up his dropped cigarette and spilled beer.
“You just don’t get it,” Brandon said quietly. “Nikki wants a baby, and I haven’t been able to give her one. What am I going to do? We don’t have health insurance, and there’s no way we could afford going through a doctor to have it done.”
“You’re doing it for your people,” Keith said. He smiled down at Brandon as he nodded.
“I’d do anything for her,” Brandon said. He got this faraway, dazed look in his eye, and I figured I shouldn’t have given him another beer.
“Yeah, we had that discussion,” I reminded him. I rubbed at my chin a bit more, and it was pretty achy.
“You have got to be kidding me,” Keith grumbled as he looked between Brandon and me. “What’s next? He going to join in the ceremony?”
“Hell, no,” I replied.
“He’s going to be there,” Brandon said.
“I am?” I responded. I was definitely going to need more beer. I wondered if the peyote would be in a little bowl next to the chips and dip.
Brandon shrugged.
“You’re with Tria,” he said simply. “You should be there with her.”
“Until she comes to her senses,” Keith said. “Now that she’s back home, she’ll remember where her place is!”
“Tria has a home,” I said as I narrowed my eyes at him. “With me.”
“Come on, Keith,” Brandon moaned. “This shit is hard enough as it is. Can you just lay off for tonight?”
“I can’t believe you are taking his side over—”
The front door opened then, and Keith halted his little rant as Tria came outside. She had changed her clothes and wore a fitted shirt and long skirt that looked like it was made of soft, tan leather. There were green beads down the arms and sides, creating a line all the way to the bottom of the skirt.
Tria looked at Keith and then quickly looked over to me. I could see her checking out the side of my face, and I wondered how much of a mark there might be.
“You’re fighting already?” She glared at me.
“I’m just taking the hits here, baby,” I said with a smile. “No blood, no foul.”
Tria looked at Brandon then, who nodded and confirmed my story.
“It’s true,” he said. “I hit him, and we’re all good.”
“You’re what?” Tria’s eyes darted between us in disbelief, and I would have been lying if I said it didn’t amuse the hell out of me.
“It’s all good, babe?
??really.” I raised up my bottle, and Brandon did the same before draining the rest of it.
“Babe?” she repeated with an eye roll. “Seriously?”
“You prefer sugar? Pumpkin? Muffin?”
Tria groaned.
“I told you to stay away from him,” Keith said. His voice was dark as he pointed a finger at her.
Tria didn’t look at him or respond. Instead, she turned to Brandon.
“We’re set for tonight,” she said. “Nikki wasn’t sure who was driving us up there. We can’t take everyone in that car.”
“Well,” Brandon answered as he glanced from me to the douchebag, “Keith said before that he would take me and the guys—Luke, Devin, and Conner. Sue was going to pick you and Nikki up. Um…Liam could ride with us…?”
His voice trailed off, and he looked over at Keith as he spoke the half-question. Keith rolled his eyes and looked away. I considered punching him just for being rude, but Tria turned sideways right at the same time, and I got a good look at boob profile. Reminded of my goal, I took a long breath to calm down.
“He is not going,” Keith said with certainty.
“Keith,” Tria said quietly, “I want him there.”
“Doesn’t matter what any of you want,” I said. “If Tria goes, I go. End of discussion.”
“You don’t have any rights here,” Keith informed me. “You don’t get a say in this.”
Brandon suddenly spoke up.
“Community and tradition first. Right, Keith?”
“Always.”
“Above our own wants and desires.”
“Exactly.”
“So, Nikki chose Tria to be with her—as per our tradition,” Brandon surmised. “And as a member of our community—like you always say she is—Tria can bring her significant other with her, even if he’s not from Beals.”
Keith’s eyes darkened.
“So he rides with us,” Brandon proclaimed with a smile.
“Okay with me,” I shrugged.
The anger behind Keith’s eyes was undeniable, but there was also resignation. Brandon had fought him at his own game and won.
“Who knows?” Brandon said as he raised his hands up with the palms toward the sky. “Maybe he’ll see how awesome we are and decide to move back here with Tria after college.”
“Over my dead body,” Keith mumbled under his breath.
“Arrangeable,” I replied with a raised eyebrow.
He was about to say something, but a noise from behind me caught the attention of all of us. Nikki stepped through the doorway in the strangest dress I had even seen. It was mostly earth tones but with some orange and blue worked into it with beads—hundreds and hundreds of beads. They made geometric patterns all across the top half of the body of it and around most of the sleeves as well. It was high necked, long sleeved, and covered her completely. As I looked closely, I thought the image in the center of the dress—over her stomach—was maybe supposed to look like a lobster.
It was…interesting. I suppose it was beautiful if you like that kind of thing, but it wasn’t the least bit sexy, which I guess is what I thought it would have looked like, given the circumstances.
“You’re beautiful,” Brandon said with a wide, genuine smile. “My mother’s dress fits you perfectly.”
“Thank you,” Nikki said simply.
“Your mother’s?” I heard myself ask.
“She wore it a long time ago,” Brandon said.
“Brandon was conceived in a ritual like this one,” Tria informed me quietly.
I just shook my head slowly, not really knowing which parts of all of this were the most disturbing. I turned to Tria, and she reached out and pulled me by the arm until we were a few feet away from the rest of the group. Keith and Brandon went back to talking to each other, and Nikki stood on the porch and watched the road.
“You sure you don’t want to just go to that shit-hole diner in town for a cup of coffee instead of this party thing?” I suggested, even though I knew it wasn’t in the cards. I couldn’t have been less interested than if someone told me we were going to watch gay porn all night.
With a coy smile, Tria looked up at me through her lashes.
“Liam Teague!” she exclaimed. “Are you asking me out on a date?”
The tension that had been building in me dissipated as the corners of her mouth turned up.
“I’ve never taken you on a date,” I said. I was a little startled by the sudden realization.
“No, you have not,” she said. “Actually, I’ve never really been on a date. I mean, Keith and I sort of went to prom, but since we didn’t have money for the tickets or suitable clothing, we just went to a party out on the beach and called it prom. I don’t know if that counts or not.”
“It doesn’t.” I decided it wouldn’t count—not because I didn’t think it should count, but because I didn’t want it to.
“Well then, I’ve never been on a date at all.”
“I guess I ought to fix that,” I told her.
“When we get home, I’m going to hold you to that,” Tria said.
“Deal,” I replied. “And I want to point out that through exercising restraint to rival that of Atlas himself, I haven’t punched anyone yet.”
“Yet?” Tria took a slight step back and crossed her arms.
“Hey, the night ain’t over.”
She turned her head to look at where Keith and Brandon were still talking softly to each other, then to Nikki, and then back to me.
“I didn’t know he was going to show up here,” she said. “I didn’t think we’d see him until the ceremony. Sorry about that—I should have warned you or something.”
“You can’t warn me about something you don’t know is going to happen,” I said. “Besides, I don’t need a warning about Douchebag. He’s too weak and too stupid to worry me.”
“Be careful,” she said. “Keith has a lot of support here.”
“It’s all good,” I said, trying to reassure her. “Just keep your distance from him, okay? I don’t want you around him unless I’m there.”
“He’s not going to do anything to me,” Tria said, but her eyes betrayed her words.
“Shitty liar,” I reminded her. “You had to hide out to get away from him before.”
“Well, I don’t think he’ll do anything with you here,” she clarified.
“Yeah, me either, but I want you to stay close anyway.”
I slipped my arm around her waist, pulled her body close to mine, and then pressed my lips to the top of her head. Keith looked over at us then, and I made a point of sliding my hand lower to rest on her ass. He glared, and I raised an eyebrow at him as I gave her a little squeeze.
“You’re doing that on purpose, aren’t you?” Tria asked.
“Yep,” I replied. “Fucker needs to keep his eyes to himself.”
Before Tria could make any further comment or admonishments, the sound of rubber wheels on asphalt came from down the road. A rusty old Gremlin pulled up and parked. Inside were a woman and a young man. Nikki introduced them as her mother, Patricia, and brother, Steven.
We went through the whole “Why is he here?” thing again. I bit my tongue a lot, trying to understand why my being here was such a big deal when Nikki was about to get banged by a whole group of guys right in front of her own family members.
The whole thing was just sick. This was fuckupedness to end all fuckupedness.
“It’s time,” Nikki said from the top step of the porch.
Everyone starting piling into vehicles, and I headed toward Keith’s truck with Brandon. Tria glanced at me nervously, and I rolled my eyes. Keeping my mouth shut and my fists to myself was going to be a herculean task over the next few hours.
I was never one to back away from a challenge, but I had the feeling this night was going to be a disaster.
~End Part 1~
Author’s notes
Do not despair!
I know it’s a cliffhanger ending. It
’s not my usual style, but I swear you do not have long to wait! Caged: Book 2—Trapped will be released on August 4, 2015!
Preorder Caged: Book 2—Trapped on Amazon today!
Excerpt from Caged: Book 2—Trapped
Tria laid her head against my shoulder and relaxed against me as I exhaled smoke off to the side so it would stay out of her face. I snaked my free arm around her stomach, and she gripped my forearm with her slender fingers.
“Are you going to tell me something about yourself tonight?” she asked.
“No,” I told her with a firm shake of my head. “I was kind of thinking it was your turn.”
“My turn?”
“Yeah,” I said as I took a long pull from the cigarette. “It occurred to me that you haven’t really told me a whole lot about growing up here, but you keep trying to drag shit up about my past. I think a little turn-taking is in order.”
“So if I tell you something, you then have to tell me something else?”
It wasn’t exactly what I had it mind. In fact, the whole thing had been as much of a diversion tactic as actually wanting to know more about her childhood. I wasn’t completely sure I wanted to know more about this place while I was still here. I didn’t think I’d get out without cracking skulls.
“Actually, maybe that’s not such a good idea,” I said. “At least, not now.”
Tria must have been thinking the same thing.
“Yeah, maybe we should talk about that when we have a little more…distance.”
“Yeah.”
“But, we could maybe do some of that when we get home?” she suggested.
I sighed.
“You aren’t going to give up, are you?”
“Probably not,” she said. She turned her head toward me and smiled before leaning back against me again.
I felt her shiver in the night’s chilly air and pushed against her back a little so she would sit up again. Gripping my cigarette between my lips, I pulled my jacket off and wrapped it around her shoulders. Tria stuck her arms through the sleeves and wrapped the front part so it overlapped around her torso.
The jacket was insanely huge on her, and I should have found it comical, but I didn’t. Instead, my cock took very specific notice of how she looked and decided to attempt escape from the crotch of my jeans, which made me groan.