Takedown Teague (Caged #1)(32)

Tria glared at me, looked like she was about to say something, but quickly closed her mouth instead. She started to walk ahead of me, like she was going to escape into the building and avoid me altogether. I took a couple of quick steps and placed my hand over the door, obstructing her entry. Tria growled through her teeth and clutched at Gorilla Gucci.

I ignored the bag and its potentially frightening contents.

“Get out of my way!” she snapped.

“Fuck, Tria, I didn’t mean—”

“I know exactly what you meant! I thought maybe you weren’t going to be like that, but I can see you are! So get the f*ck out of my way before I slap you!”

A little chill went through my body, and the boner I couldn’t seem to find earlier started shoving painfully against the buttons of my jeans.

Holy shit, why did I find that hot?

“Stop it!” I yelled as my heart beat furiously in my chest. I ached to grab her, slam her up against the door, rip off her shorts, and do her in front of the neighborhood. “I didn’t mean it like that! It just…it just came out wrong.”

I moved further between her and the door as I took a deep breath.

“I’m sorry,” I said.

“You think I’m f*cked up just like everyone else in school did,” she said. I didn’t have to see the slight tears welling up at the corners of her eyes; I could hear them in her voice.

“Fuck, Tria. I didn’t mean it that way, I swear.” Well, I did think it was f*cked up, but I hadn’t meant to direct that toward her. “So you dated a guy you grew up with—what’s it to me?”

She glanced at me, her expression telling me immediately that she didn’t believe a word coming out of my mouth.

“Look, Tria,” I said quietly. I reached out and placed one hand on the door frame and leaned a little closer. “I’m not going to lie to you and say it isn’t a little…surprising. It doesn’t mean I think any less of you. Besides, you aren’t with him anymore. You don’t even live there anymore.”

“Why don’t you just say what you want?” she asked. The anger was gone from her voice, but her words stung more. “Tell me I’m a freak. Tell me I’m going to hell. Tell me what a horrible person I am. I’m used to it.”

“I don’t think that,” I told her.

“Don’t you?”

“No!” I narrowed my eyes, my own ire returning. She didn’t have any reason to doubt me. I had never lied to her.

She took a step back and covered her face with her hands. A moment later, she let out a loud growl, shook her head, and then looked back at me. Her throat bobbed as she swallowed, and I tried not to think filthy things about how awesome it looked.

Her shoulders sagged as she let out a long breath.

“I wasn’t expecting people here to find out and judge me for it.”

“I’m not judging you.”

“Judgment day! Judgment day!” A singsong voice called out from above us.

“Shut up, you crazy bitch!” I yelled.

Tria snickered, and the tension between us instantly faded away as Krazy Katie threw her still-lit cigarette out over the edge of the fire escape and toward us. It dropped to the cement in front of me, and I bent over to pick it up.

“Thanks!” I said as I took a long drag off of it.

“Even she knows now,” Tria muttered.

“Krazy Katie isn’t going to tell anybody anything, are you, baby?” I yelled up at her. I smiled as I looked back at Tria. “Even if she did, no one would believe a word of it.”

“What’s wrong with her?” Tria asked quietly, as if Krazy Katie would care if she heard anything Tria said.

“I told you before—she’s crazy.”

“But what kind of crazy?” Tria asked. “Is she schizophrenic or something?”

“Hell if I know,” I responded with a shrug. “All I can tell you is she doesn’t make any sense about ninety-five percent of the time. Then the other five percent of the time, she says something you think is absolutely brilliant.”

“Like what?” She looked up at the fire escape with wide eyes.

I could feel a smile creep over my face as she stared toward the fire escape. She was beautiful in the faded light from the one and only functional streetlight around, and I was thrilled she hadn’t stayed mad at me. It made me feel…giddy.

“Like mares eat oats, and does eat oats, and little lambs eat ivy…”

“Liam!” Tria smacked me on the arm and laughed.

“What?” I placed my hand on my chest and tried my best to look shocked. “I looked it up on the internet! It’s true! All of it! The lambs, the mares—everything!”

Tria shook her head and laughed again. It was a wonderful sound, and I was glad we weren’t ending the night with any more talk of her ex-boyfriend-brother, Keith Harrison.

We headed into the building, said goodnight at Tria’s door, and I went up to my own apartment for my date with a handful of lather and my fingers wrapped around my cock.

*****

The following Wednesday, our walks came to an abrupt end.

I had just dropped Tria off and was already wishing it were time to pick her up again. The nights were a lot longer when I wasn’t working, but she was. Stepping over the little brick border around a half-dead bunch of annuals, I hopped off the curb to cross the alley behind Fin’s, figuring I’d spend my time at Feet First even though I didn’t have any spare cash for dinner or a drink. I reached into my pocket, pulled out my smokes and lighter, and took a deep drag on the Marlboro. I blew smoke high into the cooling night air and then turned abruptly at the sound of my name.