“No!” I responded immediately. “No fucking 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 fuck 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 fucking 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 fucking pound me into the ground afterwards, but I would break both his legs if he put a finger on her.
I could hear Steven and Conner talking quietly to each other, and both of them seemed to agree that whole ceremony thing was just screwy, and Brandon standing up to Leo was pretty cool. Apparently Conner was seeing a woman from some town north of Jonesport, and Steven was interested in a girl from Florida that he met on the internet. Neither one of them seemed to think this particular tradition was worth upholding.
Keith was talking with his hands, and Tria had hers crossed over her chest as she looked away from him and toward the small fire on the ground. People were milling about the area—cleaning up the decorations and speaking in hushed tones. I wondered how many others were glad someone spoke up to Leo the Lion.
I narrowed my eyes as I focused on Tria and Keith. It had been way too long, and though I could still see the outline of both their shapes, I wasn’t the least bit comfortable with any of this shit. Though I wanted to honor Tria’s words and do as she asked, I couldn’t stop myself from moving a little closer—just to make sure he wasn’t being too much of a dick to her.
I took a couple of steps backwards, which put me right next to a big tree and somewhat in its shadow. Conner was still talking to Devin, and they both seemed to have forgotten I was there. I slowly walked around the tree, trying not to step on anything noisy—and moved up a few feet toward the area where Tria and Keith were talking. At first, I could only hear the tone—they were both talking in hushed voices—and I didn’t like it immediately.
It wasn’t Keith’s condescending tone—I expected that—it was Tria who had me moving faster. Now that I was closer, I could see her arms wrapped around herself like she was trying to climb into her own skin. I took a few more steps until I could hear them clearly.
“Don’t you see what you’ve done?” Keith was saying to her. “You’ve been gone for months, being influenced by a world you know is nothing like where you grew up—where you belong. And now you have come back and brought…that guy with you…and the whole community is suffering. All because of you. What you’ve done.”
“It’s not like that, Keith,” Tria said. “It’s not! I am grateful for what everyone here has done—”
“Yes, and I can see how your gratitude shows itself,” he interrupted. “You stopped your best friend’s only chance at having a child!”
“I did not,” Tria said.
“Oh no? You really think Brandon would have gone off on my dad if it wasn’t for you bringing him here? You brought an outsider into our home. You told him the secrets you swore to never tell anyone outside the community, and you tainted all of us with his ways.”
“I didn’t—”
“You’re selfish, Demmy. That’s what you are.
You care nothing for the people who gave you a home and a life, and you’ve turned your back on us. How can you live with yourself?”
“I didn’t mean…” Tria’s voice trembled as she spoke, and her arms tightened around her upper body.
“You’re a pathetic excuse for a woman,” he said. “No wonder no one in your own family ever wanted you.”
The transformation was immediate, and it sent goose bumps down my arm.