Released (Caged #3)(59)

“I feel silly,” she whispered. She glanced around at other patrons.

“Don’t,” I said. “Is there anything else you want to have now?”

We picked out a few more things before Damon drove us back to Michael’s house. I sighed as soon as we got there, immediately recognizing my cousin’s car parked near the front door. His customary taste in vehicles hadn’t changed.

“Ryan is here,” I informed Tria.

“Are you okay with that?”

I shrugged.

“It’s okay.” There wasn’t a whole lot I could do about it anyway. It was his parent’s house.

I carried the bags inside and was thrilled to death to see Amanda in the foyer as soon as we walked in.

How was that on ye old sarcasm scale?

“Hello, Liam…Tria.” Amanda’s smile was disingenuous, to say the least.

I didn’t like the way she said Tria’s name, either. I couldn’t quite put my finger on it, but it reminded me that I had never asked Tria about knowing Amanda as a child. I was going to have to remember to do that.

“Mandi.” I nodded. As long as I was in this house, I’d be relatively polite to her.

“I hear congratulations are in order,” she said. “Doing things all out of order, but marriage and baby, hmm?”

I stopped and stared at her, mentally revoking all thoughts of being polite.

“Too bad you didn’t have a ceremony we could all attend,” she went on. “It would have been nice to see what sort of scene I could have caused during your reception.”

“You pretty much forced me there,” I reminded her. “If you think I’m going to apologize to you for that, you can suck my cock.”

“Liam!” Tria hissed.

“Just a figure of speech,” I said with a glance in her direction.

“Not the point!” Tria glared at me. “I’m going to go put these away.”

She brushed past Mandi and rushed up the stairs.

“Family reunion going swimmingly, I see?” Michael walked in from the kitchen with Ryan just behind him.

“You married a bitch,” I informed Ryan.

“Yeah, but she’s hot,” Ryan said with a big smile. He came up behind a bitter-faced Amanda and wrapped his arms around her waist. He tried to kiss the side of her neck, but she pushed him away.

“I need to speak with Chelsea,” she muttered as she walked away.

“You go do that,” I quipped back. “And next time I decline your f*cking invitation, take the f*cking hint.”

She stopped at the bottom of the stairs and looked over her shoulder at me.

“You know I only did that for your own good,” Amanda said. “It didn’t really work out as well as I hoped, but I only did it to bring you back with everyone. Ryan wanted it so much. I know we haven’t really talked since we were still in high school, but I know how much you meant to this family, and how much they meant to you. That can’t all have changed, not even after everything you’ve been through.”

I narrowed my eyes at her but didn’t respond.

“She means well,” Ryan said as he walked over. His hand clasped my shoulder. “She has a shit way of showing it, I know. She never learned how to do any of that shit as a kid.”

“What shit?” I asked.

“Being with people,” Ryan said with a shrug. “You remember how she was in high school.”

“She was a total bitch,” I said. “She was only pleasant if she was winning at Halo.”

“Why do you think I still let her win?” Ryan chuckled.

“Amanda has her methods,” Michael admitted. “Sometimes they are as harsh as yours can be, Liam.”

I felt the phrase f*ck you and the word bullshit creep around on my tongue, and the urge to cross my arms and roll my eyes followed immediately when I bit my tongue. While I considered various inappropriate reactions to the truth, Tria came back down the stairs.

“Are you ready?” Tria asked tentatively. She looked around for a moment, presumably looking for her female cousin-in-law. “Hello, Ryan.”

“Hey there, Tria,” Ryan said. “Welcome to the family.”

“Thanks,” Tria said.

“Let’s go,” I said. I grabbed her hand and got myself the hell out of there. Seeing Tria’s insides on a monitor was a much less uncomfortable idea than hanging around my cousin’s wife.

Damon drove us to the doctor’s office, and we hung out in the waiting room full of screaming little kids and women with simply huge stomachs. Tria smiled and laughed at the kids’ antics, but it all just made me nervous. Once it was our turn, Tria lay down on the table while a nurse got everything set up.

“All ready?” I asked. I could hear the nervousness in my voice.

“I am,” Tria said. “Are you?”

I could only nod. Any words would have given my anxiety away.

Tria shivered and complained about the cold goop the nurse smeared over her belly, but as soon as the nurse moved onto the next step and images began to appear on the monitor next to her, she stopped talking altogether and just stared at the screen.

“What is that?” she asked in amazement.

“That would be your baby’s heart beating,” the nurse said. She smiled and pointed out the head and stomach, the arms, and the legs. “Did you want to know the sex?”