Takedown Teague (Caged #1)(87)

“I’m just taking the hits here, baby,” I said with a smile. “No blood, no foul.”

Tria looked at Brandon then, who nodded and confirmed my story.

“It’s true,” he said. “I hit him, and we’re all good.”

“You’re what?” Tria’s eyes darted between us in disbelief, and I would have been lying if I said it didn’t amuse the hell out of me.

“It’s all good, babe—really.” I raised up my bottle, and Brandon did the same before draining the rest of it.

“Babe?” she repeated with an eye roll. “Seriously?”

“You prefer sugar? Pumpkin? Muffin?”

Tria groaned.

“I told you to stay away from him,” Keith said. His voice was dark as he pointed a finger at her.

Tria didn’t look at him or respond. Instead, she turned to Brandon.

“We’re set for tonight,” she said. “Nikki wasn’t sure who was driving us up there. We can’t take everyone in that car.”

“Well,” Brandon answered as he glanced from me to the douchebag, “Keith said before that he would take me and the guys—Luke, Devin, and Conner. Sue was going to pick you and Nikki up. Um…Liam could ride with us…?”

His voice trailed off, and he looked over at Keith as he spoke the half-question. Keith rolled his eyes and looked away. I considered punching him just for being rude, but Tria turned sideways right at the same time, and I got a good look at boob profile. Reminded of my goal, I took a long breath to calm down.

“He is not going,” Keith said with certainty.

“Keith,” Tria said quietly, “I want him there.”

“Doesn’t matter what any of you want,” I said. “If Tria goes, I go. End of discussion.”

“You don’t have any rights here,” Keith informed me. “You don’t get a say in this.”

Brandon suddenly spoke up.

“Community and tradition first. Right, Keith?”

“Always.”

“Above our own wants and desires.”

“Exactly.”

“So, Nikki chose Tria to be with her—as per our tradition,” Brandon surmised. “And as a member of our community—like you always say she is—Tria can bring her significant other with her, even if he’s not from Beals.”

Keith’s eyes darkened.

“So he rides with us,” Brandon proclaimed with a smile.

“Okay with me,” I shrugged.

The anger behind Keith’s eyes was undeniable, but there was also resignation. Brandon had fought him at his own game and won.

“Who knows?” Brandon said as he raised his hands up with the palms toward the sky. “Maybe he’ll see how awesome we are and decide to move back here with Tria after college.”

“Over my dead body,” Keith mumbled under his breath.

“Arrangeable,” I replied with a raised eyebrow.

He was about to say something, but a noise from behind me caught the attention of all of us. Nikki stepped through the doorway in the strangest dress I had even seen. It was mostly earth tones but with some orange and blue worked into it with beads—hundreds and hundreds of beads. They made geometric patterns all across the top half of the body of it and around most of the sleeves as well. It was high necked, long sleeved, and covered her completely. As I looked closely, I thought the image in the center of the dress—over her stomach—was maybe supposed to look like a lobster.

It was…interesting. I suppose it was beautiful if you like that kind of thing, but it wasn’t the least bit sexy, which I guess is what I thought it would have looked like, given the circumstances.

“You’re beautiful,” Brandon said with a wide, genuine smile. “My mother’s dress fits you perfectly.”

“Thank you,” Nikki said simply.

“Your mother’s?” I heard myself ask.

“She wore it a long time ago,” Brandon said.

“Brandon was conceived in a ritual like this one,” Tria informed me quietly.

I just shook my head slowly, not really knowing which parts of all of this were the most disturbing. I turned to Tria, and she reached out and pulled me by the arm until we were a few feet away from the rest of the group. Keith and Brandon went back to talking to each other, and Nikki stood on the porch and watched the road.

“You sure you don’t want to just go to that shit-hole diner in town for a cup of coffee instead of this party thing?” I suggested, even though I knew it wasn’t in the cards. I couldn’t have been less interested than if someone told me we were going to watch gay porn all night.

With a coy smile, Tria looked up at me through her lashes.

“Liam Teague!” she exclaimed. “Are you asking me out on a date?”

The tension that had been building in me dissipated as the corners of her mouth turned up.

“I’ve never taken you on a date,” I said. I was a little startled by the sudden realization.

“No, you have not,” she said. “Actually, I’ve never really been on a date. I mean, Keith and I sort of went to prom, but since we didn’t have money for the tickets or suitable clothing, we just went to a party out on the beach and called it prom. I don’t know if that counts or not.”