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“I don’t know what you said to that boy.” He spoke quietly, but his voice still carried. “I don’t know, and at this point, I don’t care. You have interfered with the lives and traditions of my people for the first and only time I will stand for such a thing. From this point on, you are not welcome here, nor are you welcome in the lives of my family.”
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 fuck she wants and live wherever the fuck 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.”
“Motherfucker!”
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 fuck 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 asshole 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.
