Takedown Teague (Caged #1)(79)

“We have to do it for the tribe,” he said. “We don’t have to like it, but it’s our decision.”

“Nikki?” Tria turned to her friend.

“Well, the good news is,” Nikki said with a half smile, “that I’ll be fairly drugged up the whole time. Makes everything a little easier on me.”

Tria’s eyes met my questioning ones.

“Peyote,” she said simply. “It’s used in a lot of the rituals.”

“You ever do it?” I asked. My hands were starting to shake, but I locked them into fists to keep them still.

“Yes,” she replied but didn’t elaborate.

Nikki told us about a few more details of the ceremony and how Tria was mostly to be there for her afterwards. She didn’t go into the details about what they were going to do, only that I wasn’t invited.

“Can he stay here?” Tria asked. “I mean—while you and I get the arrangements made?”

Nikki looked quickly to Brandon, who just scowled at her.

“They came all this way,” she said to him.

He turned to glare at me for a minute, then got up off his chair and headed for the kitchen.

“Fine.” He grumbled as he walked away. “But he’s bringing beer.”

“I’ll buy it,” Tria said as she looked over to me. I knew what she was saying—that Michael would be buying it. I just shrugged.

The two women continued talking, the conversation turning to people they knew in town and what Tria was going to wear to the ceremony. I took the opportunity to sneak outside for a smoke. I stood on the little porch and leaned on the slightly slanted railing, lit a cigarette, and blew smoke into the misty air. As I stood there, the mist turned to steady rain, so I took a step back to make sure I was completely covered by the roof of the porch.

I heard a sound to my left and glanced over to watch Brandon open and close the front door quietly. I looked back out into the dirt driveway and watched the potholes fill with water from the rain.

“Could I have one of those?” he asked.

I looked at him out of the corner of my eye, trying to figure out just what the hell he was doing, but the request at least seemed genuine. I grabbed the pack out of my back pocket and pulled one out. I handed it and the lighter to him, and Brandon lit up. He coughed a couple of times, which made me smirk.

“I don’t really smoke anymore,” he said.

As if I couldn’t tell.

He took a couple more puffs to get used to it and then tried inhaling again. He handed the lighter back to me with a quick thanks and stared out into the rain.

“So, how does this work?” I asked, partially because I was curious but also because I felt like being an *. “You stand outside in the rain and watch guys f*ck your wife or what?”

He tensed, and I felt my body react the same way in a natural, defensive gesture.

“No,” he said through clenched teeth. “It’s a sacred ceremony.”

I tried to keep myself from snorting out loud, but I failed.

“Never heard a gang bang called sacred before.”

“You know,” he said as he turned toward me, “I wouldn’t expect you to understand.”

“Well, you are right there,” I agreed. “I wouldn’t let anyone lay a hand on Tria—not for any reason.”

“It’s not the same at all,” he said. “It’s not like we’re…f*ck it. You don’t get it, so there’s no point in talking about it.”

“So why don’t you enlighten me?” I suggested as I tried to hold my sarcasm at bay. “Go ahead and justify this shit, if you can.”

Brandon sighed and took a drag on the cigarette. He seemed to be getting the hang of it.

“We’re dying,” he said quietly as smoke curled around his long hair, “in a very literal way. Every year we lose more people to death than we gain from births. If we don’t do something about it, we will cease to be. Beals and our way of life would be no more.”

“It’s because of the f*cking inbreeding, you know.”

“I know enough,” he said with a nod. “It was one of the reasons I went to school in Jonesport. They were offering a course in genetics. We do look outside the community to strengthen the gene pool, but it’s not that simple. There are very few people who aren’t born to this life that want to embrace it. We’re simple.”

“You mean you’re poor,” I corrected.

“That, too.” Brandon moved a couple of steps away, which allowed me to relax a little. “That’s why people like Tria are so important to us. She may not have been born here, but she grew up here. She understands us better than other outsiders.”

“That’s a crock of bullshit,” I said.

He stared at me through narrowed eyes but did not reply.

“Did you entice all the lovely ladies with promises of orgies?” My sarcasm came out again at full throttle.

“This isn’t what I want, you know!” he shouted back. “If there was another option, don’t you think I’d take it? Do you think I want her to have to go through this?”

“I dunno. Maybe you get off on it.”

“Fuck you! Like you’re any better than us.”

“Maybe not,” I said. “But I wouldn’t put up with this shit.”