Trapped (Caged #2)(34)

I sighed. I wasn’t sure if Ryan was trying to be subtle or if he was just wondering if this was the same girl Michael had mentioned or what, but his dancing around the fact that Tria was sitting at the same table got old fast.

“Tria, this is my cousin Ryan,” I told her, “and his fiancée Amanda.”

“Hi,” Tria said as she looked up with big eyes at my cousin. The dude made me look small.

“Ryan and Amanda, meet my girlfriend Tria.”

“We’ve already met,” Amanda said matter-of-factly.

I glanced at Tria as she squinted at Mandi to get a better look. Her head tilted to one side while Amanda just watched and waited.

“I don’t recall…” her voice trailed off as her eyes got wide.

Amanda smirked, and Tria simply looked astounded.

“I do remember you,” Tria said.

Mandi just nodded as she turned to Ryan.

“Tria and I were in the same group home together,” she announced. “Right before I was adopted by the Madisons.”

“No shit?” I said. I focused on Tria for a moment as I tried to understand her expression.

“Damn small world, huh?” Ryan remarked.

Neither one of them seemed to care to elaborate. I thought about some of the stuff Tria had said about her time there and wondered if she had mentioned Amanda before, but she hadn’t talked too much about the other kids there. Tria had only mentioned the one girl who had been adopted before her.

When the stretch of silence became uncomfortable, Ryan piped up again.

“So…you’re coming, right?”

“To what?” I asked. As if I didn’t know.

Ryan tilted his head and raised one of his bushy brows at me.

“The wedding, *.”

“Wasn’t planning on it.”

“Told you,” Amanda said. “I bet he threw the invitation away.”

I had, but I wasn’t about to tell her she was right. I was half tempted to change my mind just because they obviously had a bet going, and I didn’t want her to win. I could be spiteful that way.

“Come on, Lee,” Ryan said. “It’s a good opportunity.”

I wasn’t going to ask him what kind of opportunity. There were dozens of answers, and I wouldn’t like any of them.

“I don’t have a tux.”

“I have your tux.” Ryan tossed his words at me.

“Won’t fit,” I said. “I’m a lot bigger than I was then.”

“He’s too stubborn,” Amanda said. “He’s going to continue to be an ass and a brat, and not—”

I was about to start calling my cousin’s girl a variety of names, but someone else beat me to the punch, so to speak.

“Don’t you talk to him that way!” Tria snapped as she stood up and tilted her head up to look at Amanda. She was easily six inches shorter than Mandi and wasn’t wearing three-inch heels either, but that wasn’t about to stop her. Her face darkened, and her eyes flared. “I will not put up with that!”

“Aren’t we the feisty one?” Amanda remarked.

For some reason, this was nothing like the verbal sparring Tria and Yolanda had done in the past, and I didn’t find the scene the least bit amusing or comfortable. Ryan stepped a little closer and put his arm around Amanda’s waist to hold her against him, and I stood to move between the two women.

“Mandi, give it a rest,” Ryan said softly.

She shrugged him off.

“Well, you certainly found your voice,” Amanda remarked. “But I wonder just how much you know!”

Tria glared, and I could see her shoulders rising and falling with her breaths.

“You know why he doesn’t want to go?” Amanda snapped at Tria.

“Shut up.” I growled in her direction.

“How about I explain what his mother went through—”

“I said, shut up!” I yelled.

People at other tables were looking at us at this point. I pulled Tria a little closer to me, completely blocking her from Amanda. I could tell by the look in the blonde’s eyes that she had no intention of letting this go and would probably tell Tria and the world everything if I didn’t do something drastic.

“I’ll f*cking go, all right?”

“Great!” Amanda’s face lit up in a bright smile. “I’ll put you down with a guest.”

Ryan gave me a remorseful look and a shrug. He never did have any control over her, and I suppose that was one of the reasons he liked her.

Tria looked up at me with a confused expression as Amanda continued to babble.

“It’s definitely going to be the talk of…well, everyone! There are eight hundred guests, and the reception will be at Sophie’s, and you just wouldn’t believe some of the names who are going to be in attendance…”

“You’re insane,” I mouthed at Ryan. He just shrugged again as he pulled Mandi a little closer.

“Come on, babe,” he said. “Let’s leave them to it.”

“See you there!” Amanda waved with her fingers as Ryan dragged her out the door of the restaurant.

I closed my eyes for a moment to refocus myself. I couldn’t believe what I had just agreed to do.