Takedown Teague (Caged #1)(78)

Under the kitchen table, there were stacks of canned goods, boxes of saltine crackers, and various other bought-in-bulk items. Nikki brought out iced tea in plastic cups that looked like they were collected from some sporting event, but whatever logo had once graced the side was too worn to be discernible. There was a huge pile of them on the counter by the refrigerator.

I felt like I was in some twenty-first century version of Sanford and Son, and I wondered at what point an old guy was going to escape from a back RV and clutch at his heart.

“You have no idea how much this means to me,” Nikki was saying to Tria.

“You would have done the same for me,” Tria replied.

I cringed and glanced over to her, wondering if she realized what she was saying. I could tell by her expression she hadn’t really considered how the words could be taken.

“I mean,” Tria went on, “if I needed you…for anything…”

“I know.” Nikki smiled slightly.

There was a pause in the talking, which became way too long for my liking. I tried sipping the tea, but it was unsweetened, and the bitter taste hung around in the back of my throat.

“So, when’s the party?”

“Liam.” Tria chastised me with her tone and widened eyes.

“What?” I said. “You want to just pretend we’re here for something other than a warped f*ck-fest?”

“Liam!” Tria’s eyes widened again, and she mouthed shut up at me.

“It’s okay, Tria.” Nikki spoke up. “What is it that midwesterners say about elephants hanging out at the table or something like that?”

“It’s just an elephant in the room,” Brandon corrected.

“Right.” Nikki agreed with a nod. “Brandon went to the high school in Jonesport. He knows a lot more about life outside.”

“How’d you manage that?” I asked, genuinely curious. “I thought you guys were all pretty much isolated here.”

“We do tend to keep to ourselves,” Brandon said as he eyed me coolly. “But the exile is self-imposed. We stay here because we choose to. I volunteered to go outside for schooling to bring knowledge back to the community.”

His eyes shifted to Tria.

“Which is what Tria should be doing.”

“Brandon.” Nikki sighed as she looked at him.

“Tria’s not coming back, you hear me?” I yelled. “So just get over it.”

“Liam!”

“Tria!” I mocked her tone. “This whole ‘use the guy’s name as a form of punishment’ thing is getting old.”

Brandon snickered under his breath.

“Brandon!” Nikki scolded him again.

“What did I do?”

“Just stop it!”

More silence as everyone shuffled their feet and pretended to be interested in their drinks.

“Well?” I wasn’t going to let this go. “Is anyone going to answer my question?”

“It’s tomorrow,” Nikki said. “As soon as the moon rises.”

I couldn’t help it—I rolled my eyes.

“Does the moon f*ck you, too, or just watch?”

“Liam!”

“Is boiling lobster part of it?” I asked.

“All right, Liam!” Tria suddenly shouted as she stood up. “You are either going to stop with the crass remarks, or you are going to shut the f*ck up. Do you hear me?”

God, I loved her temper.

Raising an eyebrow at her, I leaned back on the couch and crossed my arms over my chest without a word. She seemed to understand my answer, so she sat back down and turned to Nikki.

“I have to admit this isn’t a ritual I know a lot about,” Tria said.

I had to squeeze my lips together to keep quiet.

“It takes place up on the hill near the clearing in the trees,” Nikki said. “You remember the one?”

“Yes, I know it,” Tria said. She glanced at me sideways but quickly looked away again. “There are a lot of ceremonies held there.”

“I’ll be in the center,” Nikki continued, “and all the women of the community will stand around me in a circle with their husbands behind them. The single men stand farther behind, either near their mothers, or sisters, or some other woman who is there to represent them.”

Nikki paused for a moment to collect herself.

“Leo will start the ceremony with an offering, and then…and then Brandon goes first.”

“Ultimately, it will still be my child,” Brandon said. “So it starts with me.”

This time I had to ball my hands into fists and only barely resisted the urge to muffle myself with a hand in my mouth.

“If Brandon had any male relatives, they would go next,” Nikki explained. “Since he doesn’t, it will go by the men who have already fathered the most children, and then by age—oldest to youngest—of the men without children.”

Tria looked down at her hands and nodded.

“And you’re really going to do this?”

“It’s our way, Tria,” Brandon said in a cold voice. “Maybe you should remember that.”

“Careful.” I growled under my breath.

Brandon glanced at me before looking back to Tria.