by Ivy Smoak
I studied her face and only saw…confusion. “How much money did he pay you to kill me?” I demanded.
“Kill you? What?”
“Don’t play dumb with me.”
“I have no idea what you’re talking about, Matt.” She pulled her arm out of my grasp. “You have no right to touch me after you never called me. I waited weeks like a freaking idiot.”
I lowered my eyebrows. So I was right. I had slept with her? But what the hell did that have to do with anything?
“And the whole time you were with someone else? I don’t even want to know if that woman is your wife. I don’t want to be pulled into your mess of a life.”
“My wife?”
“I saw you with that redhead and the cute little girl.”
I remembered the first time this woman had run off. Right after she saw me with Penny and Scarlett. “Wait, you’ve been running away from me because you think I’m married?”
“I’ve been avoiding you because you’re a dick.”
“Then what the hell are you doing here stalking me?”
“Stalking you? God, I’d rather be anywhere than talking to you. But I came to see Henry’s practice.”
“What?”
“My son, Henry Jefferson. The kicker.”
This woman was Jefferson’s mom? What the fuck was going on? “So you don’t work for Mr. Pruitt?”
“I have no idea who you’re even talking about.”
Her being Jefferson’s mom explained why she’d been to some games and practices. But it didn’t explain everything. “Why did you follow me at the cemetery?”
“I didn’t follow you. I was there to put flowers on my late husband’s grave.”
Oh fuck. It all finally hit me. I’d slept with Jefferson’s mom? That was so wrong on so many levels. And not only that, but she was a widow. She was absolutely right. I was a dick.
“And you were the one literally chasing me,” she added. “I thought you were trying to tell me to keep quiet because of the whole cheating thing.”
“What the hell,” Rob said, panting. “Freeze.” He put out his hand like that would have stopped her from running off.
“We have you surrounded,” Tanner said.
“Who are you people?” She put her hands in the air like she was worried she was part of an actual sting operation. She looked more scared of the homeless men threatening her than she had of me. She backed up until she was practically in my arms.
“It’s fine,” I said. “They’re my friends.”
She looked even more confused than before. And I didn’t blame her. She was probably wondering why I was friends with two homeless guys.
“I’m just here to pick up my son,” she said. “Can I please just go?”
“You’re not going anywhere with Matt,” Tanner said.
She shook her head. “I’m not this grown man’s mother. Look, I don’t know what the hell kind of weird stuff you’re into, but I want no part in it. If you weren’t my son’s favorite teacher, I’d freaking report you. Now, stop following me.”
I felt like telling her I wasn’t technically a teacher wasn’t the right move here. “So you’re not a hitwoman?”
She laughed. “No. But you and your friends are completely insane.” She started walking away.
Tanner looked like he was about to reach out and grab her, but I told him to stop. “She doesn’t work for Mr. Pruitt,” I said. I let her walk away. I didn’t bother telling her that I wasn’t married. Or that I wasn’t crazy. Fuck, am I crazy?
“Why the hell didn’t you tell us Operation Water Buffalo was a go?” Rob asked. “She could have killed you.”
That was the name they’d come up with? Why? I shook my head. “She’s not a hitwoman. What the hell am I supposed to do now?”
Rob cleared his throat. “I can think of one thing you can do.” He nodded toward Tanner.
Did he really think this was the time or place to announce our best friend status? “You guys, if she’s not the one Mr. Pruitt hired, then who the hell is?” The little hairs on the back of my neck stood up and I turned around, but no one was there.
“It’s going to be fine,” Tanner said. “We’ll figure it out. I’m here for you.”
“Not as much as I’m here for you,” Rob said. “Tell him, Matt.”
“Tell me what?” Tanner asked.
I sighed and turned around. It was better just to get this over with. “Tanner, Rob’s my best friend.”
Tanner laughed. “Sorry, I think you just suffered an aneurysm. What did you say?”
“Rob’s my best friend.”
“Knew it,” Rob said and shoved Tanner’s shoulder.
“Did Robert force you to say that?” Tanner asked.
“No?”
“Ha!” said Tanner. “I knew it. What is wrong with you, Robert? Matt’s in distress. This isn’t the time for your shenanigans.”
“Matt, you have to say it like you mean it,” Rob said.
“But he doesn’t mean it,” Tanner said.
Rob reached out and ripped Tanner’s fake mustache off.
Tanner screamed at the top of his lungs.
I started laughing. Because there was nothing else I could do. And laughing. And laughing. My legs gave out and I sat down and just stared up at the stands.
“Um…are you okay?” Rob asked.
I didn’t reply.
He sat down next to me, and then Tanner did the same.
I’d put everything into this plan. And now I had…no idea what to do next. There was probably a hitwoman still out there somewhere. Mr. Pruitt was still on my back. And worst of all, Scarlett was still in danger.
“It’s going to be fine, man,” Rob said.
“No. It’s not.” I had to go to dinner with Poppy now. I had to do whatever she wanted in order to keep Scarlett safe. It was worse than owing a debt to the Pruitts. Poppy Cannavaro owned me. And she knew it.
Chapter 30
Wednesday
I hadn’t bothered changing for my dinner with Poppy. If she was forcing me to go out with her, I’d put in as little effort as possible until she got bored of me. Hopefully she’d get bored quickly. Tonight if I was lucky. But I wasn’t feeling very lucky. Because Poppy had chosen the one restaurant in the city that I hated.
Before stepping into Central Park, I stopped on the sidewalk and texted Kennedy. “How’s your ankle feeling tonight?” I couldn’t get her out of my head. I just needed one positive thing to happen today. And maybe looking forward to her reply would somehow get me through this dinner date from hell.
But I didn’t have to wait, because before I could even put my phone back in my pocket, her response came. It was a selfie of her in a chair with ice on her ankle. She was sticking her tongue out in the picture and I couldn’t help but laugh even though I felt guilty as hell.
I texted her back. “I have a dinner meeting right now. But can I bring you something to eat when I’m done?”
“I’m living with my mom. And she thinks food fixes everything, so I’m literally surrounded by food. So. Much. Food.”
I laughed again. That sounded about right. I pressed my lips together. I’d pretty much tried to invite myself over for the second night in a row. And she’d turned me down. I was surprised by the sinking feeling in my stomach. I wanted to pretend that I’d feel this way if any of my friends told me not to come over. But this was different. And I didn’t really know how to feel about that. My phone buzzed again.
“But if you’re up for a movie, my mom goes to sleep at like 9.”
I smiled. She was asking me to come watch a movie with her. Like a date. But that was the question. Was it like a date or was it a date?
“Unless you want to hang out with her again. In which case, come before 9. But you better come hungry, because I can’t eat all of this.”
That felt a little less like a date. And for some reason that made me even more confused. I loved Mrs. Alcaraz. But I didn’t want to hang out with her ag
ain tonight. I just wanted to spend more time with Kennedy. “I’ll be there after 9.”
“Okay then.”
“Okay.” I shook my head and shoved my phone in my sweatpants pocket. Okay. The word turned around in my head as I made my way into Central Park. I’m pretty sure I just agreed to go on a date with Kennedy. And I did feel okay. I wasn’t panicking. I should have been panicking, but my breaths felt easier than they had in a long time. Okay.
Or maybe it was just that I was in the one place in the city where the air truly felt fresh. James, Mason, and Rob all loved running through this park. But I preferred running on a treadmill. Being here always reminded me of Brooklyn. And most days I didn’t purposely want to feel the knife twisting in my chest. The farther I walked into Central Park, the guiltier I felt. Had I seriously just agreed to go on a date with Kennedy? Brooklyn’s best friend? What the fuck was wrong with me?
I tried to take a deep breath, but this time my lungs felt weird. I needed to calm down. I counted down slowly from ten again and again. The last thing I needed was for Poppy to witness me having a panic attack. She’d think I’d be easy to control in whatever game she was playing. But it would have been easier if she’d chosen a different fucking restaurant.
I took a deep breath, keeping my eyes trained on the sidewalk instead of letting my gaze wander to all the places that would remind me of Brooklyn. But I kept looking up. Like I was expecting to see Brooklyn’s smiling face on the path up ahead.
My feet froze on the little bridge I’d come to a million times. The corner of my mouth rose as I remembered getting down on one knee. Brooklyn had thought I was going to propose. I’d been able to tell by the expression on her face. She’d stared at me like she was excited but also like she thought I’d lost my mind. And I was pretty sure it was in that moment that I realized I wanted to marry her. That I couldn’t imagine my life without her.
And she’d laughed as I pulled a hotdog out from behind my back instead of a ring. That sealed the deal. The fact that she’d seemed just as delighted with a cheap hotdog as she would have with a ring. I stared out over the water.
And that’s when I saw her. I squinted at the woman with red hair coming out of the nearby restaurant. She was alone and looked upset. Most likely she had just set some other poor asshole on fire and was making a quick exit.
“Ash?” I called. It was definitely her. Although, she was better dressed than when we’d had our date.
She looked up and her eyes grew so round. A few people walked in front of her, blocking my view. I walked across the bridge and…she was gone. “Ash?” I turned in a circle. It was weird. When Kennedy had shown up, I had this gut feeling that she was supposed to be some kind of sign from Brooklyn. But what if I was wrong? What if Ash was the sign? Because she’d just shown up when I was thinking about Brooklyn.
I looked around once more. Or had Ash shown up? Because she’d literally disappeared. Had I just imagined that? Was I fucking losing my mind now? Probably. I had thought Jefferson’s mom was stalking me...
But then I heard a splash.
I looked at the water and sure enough…Ash’s head was bobbing on top of the surface.
“What the hell are you doing?” I hurried over to help her out of the water.
“Go away! Pretend you didn’t see me!” she yelled, flailing her arms in the water. “Imagine this isn’t happening right now! Please, I’m begging you.”
I couldn’t tell if she was drowning or just really upset. But I wasn’t going to walk away in case it was the prior. “Did you just throw yourself in the lake to avoid me?”
“No.” Her teeth chattered. “That would be crazy.”
Her point? “Let me help you.” I put my hand out.
“Please, Matt, just let me drown in my misery.”
“I’m not going anywhere until you’re out of that water.”
“I’m not actually drowning! I’m just swimming recreationally.” She continued to tread water. “See.”
“I don’t think you’re supposed to swim in there.”
“I know that.” She looked up at the sky like she was hoping a lightning bolt would come down and just end everything.
“Then what are you doing?” I asked.
“Fine! I admit it! I was trying to avoid you. So please walk away before either of us gets hurt.”
I laughed. “Let me help you out.”
She stared at me like she couldn’t believe I was still standing there. “You’re not going to do the gentlemanly thing and walk away because I asked you to?”
“No. I’m not.”
“Men.” She sighed so loudly that she scared a duck swimming by. It squawked angrily. “Fine. But only because I’m a little scared of birds. Only slightly. It’s not on my list or anything.” Ash swam over to me, avoiding the angry duck, and took my hand.
I pulled her out and her body collided against mine. She was wet from head to toe. She’d clearly dove headfirst in the lake just to avoid walking past me. And she was shivering.
But instead of letting me run my hands up and down her arms, she pulled back. “I am so so beyond sorry, Matt.”
“My dick is fine.”
“Yeah, that. But also…” she waved her hand in front of me.
I looked down. She’d gotten the front of my hoody all wet and…a little slimy. “It’s fine,” I said. “Seriously, why did you throw yourself into the lake to avoid me?”
“Oh, I don’t know.” She wrapped her arms around herself. “Maybe because I was half an hour late for our date, flashed you in the bathroom, and then set your dick on fire!”
People had been already staring at us as soon as I found her in the water. Now they weren’t even trying to pretend they weren’t staring.
“So that wasn’t a normal date for you?” I couldn’t help but laugh.
“God, you were supposed to just keep walking. Not find me and pull me out of the lake. Why would you even look in there? It was such a good hiding spot. I have to go.” She turned around.
I grabbed her hand. “It’s okay, Ash. Bad dates happen.”
“It wasn’t a bad date. It was mortifying.” She pulled her hand out of mine. “And in this huge city what are the odds that I’d run into you again? One in a million? Don’t answer that. And if you ever do see me again and then you suddenly don’t…just keep walking. Because it means I’m hiding to avoid you. So do the respectable thing and just keep walking. Because I can’t relive that date ever again. My best friend already tortures me enough about it. She called me inferno dick for a whole week. Inferno dick. Like I make a habit of setting people’s privates on fire. It happened one time! One time,” she yelled to one of the people watching us.
The guy that had been staring quickly walked away.
“See.” She pointed to the stranger. “People are literally terrified of me because of that nickname.” A drop of something green and slimy fell from her arm. “What is that?! I have to go to the doctor! No, I hate doctors. But what if I just contracted something in that dirty city water? Gah, I have to! What the hell is my life?!” She ran away before I could get another word in.
“Don’t jump in any more lakes because of me!” I yelled after her.
“Then don’t make eye contact with me ever again!” she yelled back before sprinting over the little bridge, leaving a trail of wet footprints behind her.
She really was adorable. And a little crazy. And definitely not a sign from Brooklyn. Besides, I didn’t feel drawn to her. Not the same way I felt drawn to Kennedy. I sighed. I was going to hell.
I turned to the restaurant. Even though Ash was crazy, I wished I was running in the opposite direction of this restaurant like her. Because at least she was nice crazy and not mean crazy like Poppy. I sighed and pushed through the doors of the venue Brooklyn and I had chosen for our wedding. Surely Mr. Pruitt had invited Poppy to the wedding. She knew what this place meant to me. And she was going to purposely shit all over it. Not that it mattered. I hadn’t come here
since Brooklyn died.
Poppy was already seated in the restaurant. She was easy to spot. She was the only one with an evil smile staring directly at me. I was probably crazy, but I would have risked another night with Ash over this any day.
“Hey,” I said when I reached the table.
Her gaze scrutinized me from head to toe. “Do you have algae on your shoulder?”
I looked down at my right shoulder. There was definitely something green on there. I pulled my sweatshirt off and plopped down across from Poppy. “So what’s good here?” I lifted up the menu so I didn’t have to look at her.
“I thought this was one of your favorite restaurants?”
So she did bring me here to torture me? “Not anymore. And I think you know why.”
She reached out and pulled the menu down so I’d look at her. “Matthew, I didn’t ask you here to be spiteful. I honestly thought you liked this restaurant.”
I didn’t know what to say to that. Anything Poppy did was part of some bigger scheme. But she seemed different than she had in my office the other day. Her face didn’t look as stiff. She almost looked…kind.
The waiter came over. “Hi, I’m…”
“Can’t you see that we’re in the middle of a conversation?” Poppy snapped.
Wow, okay, not kind then.
“Sorry,” the waiter said. He went to walk away.
“But we’ll have two glasses of champagne to start,” Poppy said.
He nodded before practically fleeing.
“Champagne?” I asked. What in the hell did we have to celebrate?
“It feels like a good evening for champagne.”
I had nothing to say to that.
She leaned back in her chair. “You know…both my parents passed away when I was in college.”
I was starting to wonder if evil people were bad at segues because they were so socially unaware. Or did she think talking about death was a champagne kind of thing? That wouldn’t have surprised me.
“It was a tragic accident,” she said.
I’d heard about her parents’ deaths. And I was sorry for her loss. But it was no accident. Her parents died in a shoot-out at a restaurant. I couldn’t sit here and pretend they were good people. Innocent lives were lost that night. It had been all over the news.