He shifted his eyes to Tria’s.
“Demetria, you will ride home with Keith,” he said. “We’ll forget about the past and continue as it was meant to be. If there’s anything you want from…from where you have been living, we’ll send for it later.”
His words slithered over me like a big bucket of night crawlers.
“Fuck you,” I spat. “Tria can do whatever the fuck she wants and live wherever the fuck she wants. She isn’t going anywhere with you.”
Leo’s eyes narrowed as he continued to glare at me and speak to her.
“Does he make all of your decisions for you now? Is that why you have turned your back on the only ones who ever cared enough to take you in?”
“It’s not like that,” Tria said quietly. I hardly recognized her voice as she spoke to him. “He doesn’t tell me what to do.”
“He seems to have a way of telling many others what to do,” Leo argued. “It certainly sounds like he has you at his beck and call.”
“Kiss my ass,” I growled. “You have no clue what you’re talking about, old man.”
Leo shifted his gaze away from me and looked at Tria.
“I see what this is now,” he said. He gripped the handle of the crutch, and he leaned on his leg. “You’re nothing but his whore now.”
“Motherfucker!”
Tria turned before the word was out of my mouth and wrapped her arms around my waist. She used every bit of her body weight to shove me backwards, but I didn’t flinch. I could have picked her up and tossed her out of the way, but the delay was enough time for about twenty guys to gather around their community leader. They didn’t actually move toward me, which probably averted a bloodbath, but they formed enough of a barrier to make me pause. During that time, Leo moved backwards a bit and was quickly ushered out of the clearing and into an awaiting vehicle.
Tria continued to hold on to me and tried to push me backwards.
“Would you stop that?” I asked through clenched teeth. “I’m not doing anything. Not now, anyway.”
Tria looked up into my eyes. I guess she found what she was looking for because a moment later, she loosened her grip and stepped back a bit.
“It would be best if I don’t come across him again,” I told her. “I don’t give a shit if he’s crippled. I will fuck him up.”
“I know,” she whispered, “but you can’t.”
The group that had advanced to protect their leader moved away, and within seconds, everyone was scampering around the area and collecting all the trappings—from ribbons to rocks. I just shook my head and watched as the tail lights started to disappear down the road.
“Liam…you can’t.”
“Best keep me away then,” I told her.
She nodded and was about to say something else when Douchebag himself walked up to us. Protectively, I positioned myself between Tria and Keith and stared him down.
I was never one to blame the son for the sins of the father, but this asshole deserved whatever he got.
Chapter 2—Hold the Temper
“I want to talk to you,” Keith said to Tria. He turned his eyes to me. “Alone.”
“Fuck off,” I replied. I grabbed Tria’s hand and pulled her closer to me.
“Demmy, does he always tell you what to do?” Keith sneered. “What happened to being all ‘independent’?”
Tria’s eyes narrowed toward him, and then she looked back at me with a sigh.
“Just…let me give him a few minutes,” she said.
“No!” I responded immediately. “No fucking way! I’ve had about all the bullshit I can stand for one night.”
Tria met my gaze and sighed again. She stood up on her toes to speak into my ear.
“If I do this, he’ll have his chance to say what he wants, and then we can all move on. Otherwise he’s going to harp on it.”
“Let him,” I said, not caring if he heard me or not. “He can go be a pissy, brokenhearted douchebag away from you!”
“Five minutes,” Tria said.
I knew I had already lost, but that didn’t stop me from arguing about it some more.
“Stay in sight,” I finally said as I gave up. She was just too damn stubborn. “And don’t go anywhere near a car where he can grab you and shove you inside of it.”
Keith rolled his eyes.
“We don’t do that kind of crap around here,” he informed me.
“No, you’d never do anything like that,” I said with obvious sarcasm. “And you wouldn’t drug up a woman and fuck her, either. Oh—but it’s all okay because she was brainwashed into thinking it’s in her own best interest.”
“Liam, stop,” Tria said, but there wasn’t a lot of passion in her voice, so I kept going.
“And don’t even think about fucking with Tria,” I said, “because if you so much as touch her, I am going to rip you apart. I don’t give a shit how many friends you surround yourself with—you will not leave this place under your own power. Got it?”
“Whatever,” Keith mumbled.
They walked together to the far side of the clearing, and I kept both eyes on them the entire time. He didn’t touch her, which was a damn good thing because I meant every word I said. They could fucking pound me into the ground afterwards, but I would break both his legs if he put a finger on her.
I could hear Steven and Conner talking quietly to each other, and both of them seemed to agree that whole ceremony thing was just screwy, and Brandon standing up to Leo was pretty cool. Apparently Conner was seeing a woman from some town north of Jonesport, and Steven was interested in a girl from Florida that he met on the internet. Neither one of them seemed to think this particular tradition was worth upholding.
Keith was talking with his hands, and Tria had hers crossed over her chest as she looked away from him and toward the small fire on the ground. People were milling about the area—cleaning up the decorations and speaking in hushed tones. I wondered how many others were glad someone spoke up to Leo the Lion.
I narrowed my eyes as I focused on Tria and Keith. It had been way too long, and though I could still see the outline of both their shapes, I wasn’t the least bit comfortable with any of this shit. Though I wanted to honor Tria’s words and do as she asked, I couldn’t stop myself from moving a little closer—just to make sure he wasn’t being too much of a dick to her.
I took a couple of steps backwards, which put me right next to a big tree and somewhat in its shadow. Conner was still talking to Devin, and they both seemed to have forgotten I was there. I slowly walked around the tree, trying not to step on anything noisy—and moved up a few feet toward the area where Tria and Keith were talking. At first, I could only hear the tone—they were both talking in hushed voices—and I didn’t like it immediately.
It wasn’t Keith’s condescending tone—I expected that—it was Tria who had me moving faster. Now that I was closer, I could see her arms wrapped around herself like she was trying to climb into her own skin. I took a few more steps until I could hear them clearly.
“Don’t you see what you’ve done?” Keith was saying to her. “You’ve been gone for months, being influenced by a world you know is nothing like where you grew up—where you belong. And now you have come back and brought…that guy with you…and the whole community is suffering. All because of you. What you’ve done.”
“It’s not like that, Keith,” Tria said. “It’s not! I am grateful for what everyone here has done—”
“Yes, and I can see how your gratitude shows itself,” he interrupted. “You stopped your best friend’s only chance at having a child!”
“I did not,” Tria said.
“Oh no? You really think Brandon would have gone off on my dad if it wasn’t for you bringing him here? You brought an outsider into our home. You told him the secrets you swore to never tell anyone outside the community, and you tainted all of us with his ways.”
“I didn’t—”
“You’re selfish, Demmy. That’s what you are.
You care nothing for the people who gave you a home and a life, and you’ve turned your back on us. How can you live with yourself?”
“I didn’t mean…” Tria’s voice trembled as she spoke, and her arms tightened around her upper body.
“You’re a pathetic excuse for a woman,” he said. “No wonder no one in your own family ever wanted you.”
The transformation was immediate, and it sent goose bumps down my arm.
Tria dropped her head and looked off to the side. At the same time, it looked like she practically shrunk into herself as she backed down from his look. Her lips smashed together, and I knew she was holding back something she wanted to say. She reminded me of a dog that had been kicked one too many times when trying to gain the affections of an abusive master.
In that moment, she stopped being the woman I knew. She wasn’t the confident and vital woman who demanded more from me than I wanted to give, or the one who called me out on my bullshit, or the one who demanded I explain my apologies. Instead, she had become a frightened little girl cringing from something terrifying.
It fucking pissed me off.
“What the fuck have you done to her?” I yelled as I took a step forward. Conner appeared out of nowhere, stepped in between us, and held out his arms a bit. I knew he was going to make me go through him if I was going to make a move against Keith. Even if he agreed with me, he wouldn’t go against Leo’s son.
I turned to Tria instead, reached out, and put my hands on either side of her face. I tilted her head up to look at me.
“No one tells you what to do,” I said through clenched teeth. “No one. Not him. Not me. You do or say whatever the fuck you want!”
Her gaze darted over to him and then back again.
“It’s not that easy,” she said quietly.
“I’m not going to let him touch you,” I said emphatically.
“I know,” she whispered as she gripped my forearms.
“Demmy, you know you belong here,” the douchebag said, unwilling to end his rant. “We’re the only ones who took you in and gave you a home when your own mother didn’t want you. This is where you grew up, and these are the people and the ways you know. We both know it’s just a matter of time before you are back—with me—where you belong.”
“Over my dead body,” I snarled.
“Arrangeable,” he snapped back.
I started to release her, the rage boiling up inside of me demanding to feel the rough strike of knuckles against yielding flesh. I clenched my hands as I stepped forward, ready to down Conner in one swing to get to my real target.
“Please don’t,” Tria cried out as she stepped in front of me, and wrapped her arms around my waist again. She turned her head up, and her gaze captured mine. “Please don’t do anything, Liam. Please!”
Those eyes would be the death of me—I would have sworn to it.
“Why not?”
“I’ll tell you more later,” she promised. “Just don’t do this here, and don’t do this now.”
Keith had taken a step back, and his body was tight and ready. He knew what I wanted, and he was perfectly willing to take me on. The little shit had no idea what he was walking into—I was going to pulverize him. Except…
Except she was in the way.
A long, slow breath did very little to calm me. Tria’s hands running over the sleeves of my jacket worked a little better but not that much. Conner was at Keith’s side and was beginning to pull him away, mumbling something I couldn’t hear.
I looked at Tria’s pleading eyes.
“One of these days,” I said softly to her, “I am going to kick his ass.”
“Not today,” she begged.
Conner was having trouble getting Keith to go, so I turned back to him.
“You’re done,” I said. “Don’t you fucking come near her again, you hear me?”
Tria’s fingers tightened around mine, and I turned to take her away from him.
“How long before he shows you what he’s really like?” Keith called out at us. “Did you see how much he wanted to hit me? Did you see how close he came to hitting an elderly man with one leg? You really think he’ll stop at hitting guys in a cage? He’s violent, Demmy! It’s only a matter of time before he starts hitting you! Is that what you want?”
I stopped in my tracks and turned around to face him.
“Shut your fucking mouth,” I said in a slow, quiet voice. My gut tightened up at the very idea of what he was suggesting I might do. I couldn’t even voice any words from the disgust I felt at the thought.
Tria continued to plead with me as she tugged at my arm until we were moving away from the clearing altogether and toward the trees. Devin and a couple of the other guys who rode up with us gathered around Keith and led him over to the parked vehicles. I felt instant relief when the lights from the truck lit up the clearing just long enough to get them turned around and headed out. As soon as they left, I turned to Tria and gently placed my hands back on the sides of her face.
“I’d never do that, Tria,” I swore to her. “What he just said there—I’d never fucking do that. Never!”
“I know that,” she said simply, and her easy smile brought back the woman I knew.
I wrapped my arms around her and held her against me as most of the others from the community finished clearing away the area where the would-be gang bang didn’t take place. After a few minutes, we both calmed a little and Tria decided she needed to assist, so I stayed close to her as she helped collect the feathers and ribbons from the trees around the clearing.
“You there!” The old woman who had told me where to stand earlier snapped at me. “Pick up the rocks and bring them over here!”
She pointed to a large wheelbarrow, indicating where the stones should be set. Not wanting to argue with the hag, I kept Tria in my sights as I walked around the clearing and picked up a bunch of rocks, which most definitely had sperm shapes painted on them.
I made sure I didn’t touch the pictures.
Once they were all in the wheelbarrow, Steven walked over and moved them to one of the trucks, and Heather helped load them up. Tria stood from where she was packing feathers in a box and came over to me, brushing her hands on her skirt as she went.
“Steven is going to give us a ride back,” Tria informed me. “He’s helping Helen and Heather clean up.”
Tria had snapped out of her little personality switch fairly quickly, but I still didn’t like it one bit. He had done something to her. I didn’t know what, but I was pretty sure when I found out, Tria was not going to be able to stop me from killing him.
“All right,” I said. “Let’s go.”
“I’ll be along in a bit,” Tria said as she looked off over her shoulder and into the darkened forest beyond the clearing. “I want to hang out for a minute.”
“What? In the middle of the woods?” I looked around at the dark tree trunks and darker shadows beyond them. “No fucking way.”
“Liam, it’ll be fine.”
“No,” I insisted. “You are not hanging out in the woods in the dark by yourself.”
“It’s not the city,” she said. “Keith already left, and there’s no one out here I don’t know. I’ll be fine.”
“No way,” I said again. “Not by yourself.”
I looked around the clearing and then peered into the deeper woods where Tria seemed to be heading.
“I’ll stay with you. Protect you from bears and shit.”
Tria laughed.
“The only bears on this island are the school’s basketball team.”
“Don’t fuck around,” I said as I narrowed my eyes. I walked up beside her and grabbed her hand. “There could be anything out there.”
“Let’s go.” She shook her head at me.
“Go?” I questioned. “Aren’t we already here?”
“I want to go a little farther,” she said. “It’s not far, just up the hill over here a bit.”
“Tria…it’s dark!” I p
rotested as she hauled me through a bunch of pines, over a fallen log, and across some squishy swampy stuff I didn’t want to know about.
Following her deeper into the forest, my eyes adjusted to the lack of light enough to at least see larger bits of fallen trees and rocks before I actually fell over them. Tria didn’t seem to have any trouble at all, even though we didn’t appear to be following any kind of path or anything. I made sure I kept a good grip on her fingers because I knew I’d be lost otherwise. Everything around us looked exactly the same.
Where were the fucking street signs?
Tree signs.
Wormsign.
Whatever.
Tria paused abruptly, and I ran right into her back.
“What?” I whisper-cried. “What is it? Is it a bear?”
Tria giggled.
“No, it’s a fire pit,” she said.
“A what?”
She took a few more steps forward, and the trees around us sank back into the deeper forest as we emerged into a small clearing with a large pile of rocks in the center, encircling burnt up bits of trees. The moon lit up the whole area, and there were all kinds of soft-looking moss and plants covering the ground. The whole place was totally surrounded by trees, and the scene looked like an ambush waiting to happen.
Did bears hunt in packs?
I shuddered.
“Come on, Tria,” I said. “Let’s go back.”
“In a minute,” she replied. Her voice was soft and calm but didn’t make me feel any better. She walked forward a little before pausing and turning her head in a wide arc to take in the view.
I glanced around and wondered what else was out here besides bears. Lions and tigers were pretty unlikely, but I wondered if there were other big cats, maybe cougars or mountain lions or something.
Or were those all the same thing?
There might have been other animals around as well, like wolves or coyotes. Weren’t there certain birds of prey that could be dangerous? For all I knew, there could even be pumas.
What the fuck was a puma, anyway?