It took Cain a few seconds to recover, but he swung at Woodman, missing him with one fist, but connecting to his ribs with the other, and Woodman groaned from the impact.
“Fuck you, Cain!” he yelled, wrangling the back of Cain’s neck with his elbow, his other fist smashing into Cain’s nose with a furious undercut. “What . . . did you . . . fuckin’ . . . promise her?”
Cain reached forward and grabbed his cousin’s legs in a giant bear hug, pulling Woodman off balance, and they both fell to the ground, Cain landing on top of his cousin and straddling him with strong thighs that had seen a decade of manual labor on McHuid Farm.
“Stop fuckin’ hittin’ me, Woodman!”
Woodman struggled under his cousin, but when Cain took him down, he’d pinned his cousin’s arms against his sides and a piece of broken glass was gouging into his arm.
“Admit it!” yelled Woodman, fury making him writhe beneath Cain to no avail. “Admit that you promised to take her tonight!”
Cain swiped at his nose, which was bleeding, though it didn’t appear to be broken. “If I let you up, don’t you fuckin’ hit me, Josiah. I fuckin’ mean it. You hit me, I’ll hit back. And harder. You hear?” Woodman nodded once. “I’ll let you up, and we’ll go talk.”
Cain gave him one last meaningful look, then rolled off him, springing to his feet and offering his cousin a hand from a safe distance. Woodman ignored it, standing up and pushing through the assembled crowd like a bull, up the stairs and into the upper level of the peristyle. He stalked down the long rectangular alleyway flanked with mossy, once-elegant columns until he came to the end, then he took a few more steps into the tall grass and stood with his back to the building, silently fuming, waiting for Cain to join him.
A moment later, he felt a hand on his shoulder and shrugged it away, turning to face his cousin.
“You knew,” he whispered, unable to keep the deep hurt out of his voice. “You fuckin’ knew how I feel about her. How could you fuckin’ make a move on her? On her?”
Cain flinched, hanging his head as he stared down at the ground. When he looked up again, his expression was sorry. “It didn’t mean anythin’.”
“You say that one more time, and I will break your fuckin’ nose.”
“You are too tightly wired, Josiah!” yelled Cain. “Fuck me! I’m sorry I kissed her. I shouldn’t’a done that, but it’s over and done, and I can’t take it back.”
Woodman took a deep breath, trying to calm down. “Why are you takin’ her to the fuckin’ dance in the first place?”
“Her date got sick or somethin’.”
Woodman tried desperately not to flinch. “So she asked you to take her?”
Hell, he’d only gotten her a date in the first place because he didn’t think she’d want to be escorted by someone like him, who’d already graduated. He assumed she’d want to go with someone her own age. Fuck, if she’d been fine going with someone not still in high school, he’d have fucking offered to escort her. As it was, it hurt like hell that she hadn’t come to him when things fell through with Robby.
Cain shrugged. “I offered. She was all sad and cryin’ . . . and . . . Fuck, Josiah. What the fuck do you want from me?”
“What the fuck do I want from you?” Woodman repeated, his voice stuffed with incredulity and anger. “There is a girl who we have known all our fuckin’ lives, and today you kissed her like the world is endin’. And fuck, that sucks, Cain. That sucks for me because I love her, but there’s a bigger problem now. She is expectin’ you to take her to a goddamned high school dance tonight, and I will be damned if I let you stand her up. So you tell me, Cain, are you plannin’ to head back to McHuid’s and fuckin’ take her?”
Cain’s face was stone as he stared back at his cousin. “No.”
Josiah ran a hand through his hair, his face twisting up in frustration and anger. “Did you or did you not say you’d take her to the fuckin’ dance?”
Cain ran his thumb over his lower lip and shook his head. “She was so fuckin’ sad . . .”
“So you said you’d take her to a dance.”
Cain nodded curtly.
“Then you better quit drinkin’ because you’ve got a fuckin’ date tonight and you’re goin’ to fuckin’ take her to homecomin’, Cain, or I will beat you bloody until I can’t stand up no more.” Woodman trembled from the conflicting mess of feelings inside. Betrayal. Hurt. Anger. Sadness. But his love for Ginger trumped all other feelings. He concentrated on her lovely face in his head as he added, “You are not standin’ her up while I got breath in my body.”