Released (Caged #3)(64)

Tria wrapped her arm around mine, and we took turns staring blankly out the window until we arrived at Tamara’s. Damon opened the door and ushered us both into the restaurant. My family was already there: Michael and Chelsea, Ryan and Amanda, and of course, my parents.

Other than people whose paychecks were signed by Tamara herself, only those bearing the last name of Teague were present in the entire place. It was a little early for lunch, but there should have been a few others around, which meant my father had cleared the whole place out.

There was already a bottle of thirty-year-old scotch on the table.

At eleven in the morning?

I shook my head slowly and then turned toward Tria, holding her a little closer.

“I don’t want to do this,” I mumbled between my teeth.

“We don’t have to,” Tria said.

“Yeah,” I sighed, “we do. Teague tradition, and you don’t f*ck with tradition.”

Two seats had been saved for us just to the right of my parents. Michael and Chelsea were across from them, and Ryan and Amanda on the left side of my father, to the right of Michael and Chelsea.

Parent, spouse, child, spouse, etc.

Tradition.

I hadn’t thought about any of it in years, not since the first Christmas I was away from my family and sober. I remembered sitting in my apartment and trying to find Rudolph on television because everyone was supposed to watch that on Christmas Eve, weren’t they? It wasn’t on any of the cable channels, and I almost ended up having a relapse over it.

I sat down, and Dad poured me a glass of scotch without saying a word.

A server came around, took Tria’s drink order, and placed little baskets of bread around for everyone. No one reached for any of it though, and the little saucers of olive oil and balsamic vinegar remained untouched.

I reached out and brushed my fingers against the edge of the glass. Despite how early in the day it was, a drink sounded pretty damn good.

“Liam,” Douglass said quietly, “you should say a toast.”

More tradition.

It’s amazing how much of it I had forgotten, yet it all came back so quickly.

I cleared my throat and listened to my brain try to come up with something clever, but I had nothing, so I just said what I had been thinking anyway.

“You shouldn’t take people for granted,” I said softly. “I did…I have. I took Katie for granted. She was always there, and when I needed to just go say shit that I didn’t really want to say to anyone else…well, she was always there to listen. I thought she would always be there.”

I raised my glass toward the center of the table.

“I took her for granted,” I said again, and my glass clinked with Michael’s, Ryan’s, and my father’s. At the same time, my mother’s and Amanda’s wine glasses and Tria’s tumbler of lemonade all joined the glasses of scotch.

The whiskey burned my throat and warmed my chest. Tria found my hand under the table and squeezed it.

“I’ve taken people for granted,” my father said with a nod. “People who worked for me, people who did things for me. Maybe it’s human nature. I also took for granted one of the most important people in my life.”

He didn’t look at me but just kept staring at the swirling amber liquid in his glass.

“I took him for granted, and now I’ve missed a third of his life. I can never get that back, not ever.”

He held his glass out, and we all touched the edge of it.

“I’ve taken my son for granted,” Mom said. She was never one for beating around the bush. “I took him for granted when he was younger, and I wish I hadn’t. He was my life, and I threw it away for the sake of a principle I thought mattered. Now I know better.”

The sound of glass touching glass followed.

“I’ve taken my family for granted,” Michael said.

Chelsea went next, and then Ryan—the themes the same. Only Amanda had anything different to say.

“I took my position for granted,” Amanda muttered. Her gaze darted toward Tria, but I didn’t think Tria noticed. “I won’t any longer.”

Everyone looked at Tria, who shifted around in her seat.

“I’ve tried not to,” she said softly. “I think there was a time when I took Liam for granted…”

She looked up and me and smiled slightly.

“I won’t do that again, though.”

Glasses clinked again, but I barely tasted the scotch. If it wasn’t for the burn, I might not have even known what I was drinking.

There was little said afterwards about the funeral, death, or Krazy Katie. It wasn’t like anyone but Tria and I could actually talk about her anyway. I did notice several looks between Amanda and Tria, which made me wonder just what the heck was going on there. I had a bit of an idea—Tria had made it clear they knew each other from foster care and that Amanda had been pretty competitive even back then.

I also had a pretty good idea what Amanda meant by position as well. Tria carried the firstborn child of the firstborn child, the heir to Teague empire after me. As far as I knew, Amanda and Ryan weren’t planning any little ones just yet.

The chef prepared pasta and vegetables along with an assortment of fresh breads, and crème br?lée for dessert. I didn’t even notice everyone ate vegetarian until Tria pointed it out later.