Trapped (Caged #2)(4)

He shifted his eyes to Tria’s.

“Demetria, you will ride home with Keith,” he said. “We’ll forget about the past and continue as it was meant to be. If there’s anything you want from…from where you have been living, we’ll send for it later.”

His words slithered over me like a big bucket of night crawlers.

“Fuck you,” I spat. “Tria can do whatever the f*ck she wants and live wherever the f*ck she wants. She isn’t going anywhere with you.”

Leo’s eyes narrowed as he continued to glare at me and speak to her.

“Does he make all of your decisions for you now? Is that why you have turned your back on the only ones who ever cared enough to take you in?”

“It’s not like that,” Tria said quietly. I hardly recognized her voice as she spoke to him. “He doesn’t tell me what to do.”

“He seems to have a way of telling many others what to do,” Leo argued. “It certainly sounds like he has you at his beck and call.”

“Kiss my ass,” I growled. “You have no clue what you’re talking about, old man.”

Leo shifted his gaze away from me and looked at Tria.

“I see what this is now,” he said. He gripped the handle of the crutch, and he leaned on his leg. “You’re nothing but his whore now.”

“Motherf*cker!”

Tria turned before the word was out of my mouth and wrapped her arms around my waist. She used every bit of her body weight to shove me backwards, but I didn’t flinch. I could have picked her up and tossed her out of the way, but the delay was enough time for about twenty guys to gather around their community leader. They didn’t actually move toward me, which probably averted a bloodbath, but they formed enough of a barrier to make me pause. During that time, Leo moved backwards a bit and was quickly ushered out of the clearing and into an awaiting vehicle.

Tria continued to hold on to me and tried to push me backwards.

“Would you stop that?” I asked through clenched teeth. “I’m not doing anything. Not now, anyway.”

Tria looked up into my eyes. I guess she found what she was looking for because a moment later, she loosened her grip and stepped back a bit.

“It would be best if I don’t come across him again,” I told her. “I don’t give a shit if he’s crippled. I will f*ck him up.”

“I know,” she whispered, “but you can’t.”

The group that had advanced to protect their leader moved away, and within seconds, everyone was scampering around the area and collecting all the trappings—from ribbons to rocks. I just shook my head and watched as the tail lights started to disappear down the road.

“Liam…you can’t.”

“Best keep me away then,” I told her.

She nodded and was about to say something else when Douchebag himself walked up to us. Protectively, I positioned myself between Tria and Keith and stared him down.

I was never one to blame the son for the sins of the father, but this * deserved whatever he got.





Chapter 2—Hold the Temper


“I want to talk to you,” Keith said to Tria. He turned his eyes to me. “Alone.”

“Fuck off,” I replied. I grabbed Tria’s hand and pulled her closer to me.

“Demmy, does he always tell you what to do?” Keith sneered. “What happened to being all ‘independent’?”

Tria’s eyes narrowed toward him, and then she looked back at me with a sigh.

“Just…let me give him a few minutes,” she said.

“No!” I responded immediately. “No f*cking way! I’ve had about all the bullshit I can stand for one night.”

Tria met my gaze and sighed again. She stood up on her toes to speak into my ear.

“If I do this, he’ll have his chance to say what he wants, and then we can all move on. Otherwise he’s going to harp on it.”

“Let him,” I said, not caring if he heard me or not. “He can go be a pissy, brokenhearted douchebag away from you!”

“Five minutes,” Tria said.

I knew I had already lost, but that didn’t stop me from arguing about it some more.

“Stay in sight,” I finally said as I gave up. She was just too damn stubborn. “And don’t go anywhere near a car where he can grab you and shove you inside of it.”

Keith rolled his eyes.

“We don’t do that kind of crap around here,” he informed me.

“No, you’d never do anything like that,” I said with obvious sarcasm. “And you wouldn’t drug up a woman and f*ck her, either. Oh—but it’s all okay because she was brainwashed into thinking it’s in her own best interest.”

“Liam, stop,” Tria said, but there wasn’t a lot of passion in her voice, so I kept going.

“And don’t even think about f*cking with Tria,” I said, “because if you so much as touch her, I am going to rip you apart. I don’t give a shit how many friends you surround yourself with—you will not leave this place under your own power. Got it?”

“Whatever,” Keith mumbled.

They walked together to the far side of the clearing, and I kept both eyes on them the entire time. He didn’t touch her, which was a damn good thing because I meant every word I said. They could f*cking pound me into the ground afterwards, but I would break both his legs if he put a finger on her.