Fallout

by Lila Rose

  “Poppy?”

  “I-I can’t think about that now.”

  “I know, darlin’. It’s too soon, but fuck me, I couldn’t have you thinkin’ I was gonna go off and screw some bird. If it was the other way around, I know I wouldn’t want anyone touching you.”

  “T-this, I… um….” She cleared her throat. I’d give my ride up if I found out what was going on in that head of hers. “She wasn’t just some bird,” she whispered.

  “What?”

  “She wasn’t some bird. She was Nary.”

  “How do you know ’bout Nary?”

  “I’ve heard things, and I’ve seen her, heard her voice down the street.”

  Fuck. I closed my eyes, breathed deeply through my nose, and asked, “What things you heard?”

  “She was your woman when she got taken. Someone you love very much.”

  “You’re right about one thing… she was my woman. She hasn’t been for a fuckin’ long time, but we’re still close. What happened to her was fucked up in a big way. Never thought she’d find happiness again, and when I realised her happiness involved another guy, I stepped back. And that tells me I didn’t love her all that much. If I did, I would have fought harder, and tried to get her to find her happiness with me.”

  Silence.

  “Poppy?”

  “I don’t know what to say,” she confessed quietly.

  “Then don’t say anything. I’ll let you go, but before I do, I need you to understand I lost the one woman I thought could be my happiness, my forever. I lost her, but now she’s back, and I want to see where we could take it to gain back what we had. Only more.” I paused to see if she’d say anything. When she didn’t, I finished with, “Think about what I said, Poppy. One day, maybe you can see something special with us and want to reach for it. I’m not losing you again.”

  Hanging up, I lay back on the bed and cursed myself. Christ, if I just fucked everything up by saying shit too soon, I’d forever regret it.

  I could only pray I hadn’t word vomited our soon-to-be relationship down the drain.

  Poppy

  My chest ached because I’d stopped breathing. Clutching my phone to my stomach, I dragged in the oxygen I needed, only it was unsteady. Shaky. Just like my body. My mind was rambled with so many thoughts. At first, when I’d heard Nary and Jerimiah talking, it hurt. No, it crushed me.

  Since the phone call, I didn’t know what to think because my mind was stuck on one thing.

  Jerimiah wanted a relationship with me.

  Me. Poppy Torian.

  Did he seriously just state he thought I was his forever?

  What did I do with that information?

  What do I do?

  Shit. God. It was too soon, and I still hadn’t told him the other reason why I’d left. He also didn’t know I worked in a strip club. I was pretty sure I dodged a bullet with my lie, though I wasn’t sure why I lied. All right, that was bull. He’d hate it more than Dad.

  Then there was the whole Python thing.

  The douche hadn’t text again. Although I’d been getting the feeling of being watched. It was a freaky feeling, one that caused my hands to shake and the hairs on the back of my neck to rise. Then again, I could have been just paranoid, letting my mind run, more than it should.

  “Poppy?”

  My body jolted. I spun around in the kitchen to face Dad. “Sorry, what?”

  He studied me for a second, then crossed his arms over his chest. “What’s wrong?”

  I snorted, “Nothing,” then shifted back around to the counter where I had been preparing popcorn with melted caramel sauce for our movie night.

  “Poppy, who was on the phone?”

  “No one.”

  “Honey,” Dad clipped, using his authoritative tone.

  Sighing, I finished drizzling the sauce over the popcorn and turned with the bowl in my hand. “Let’s finish this movie.”

  “I swear to God if you don’t—”

  “It was Jerimiah,” I blurted.

  “He the one you been texting lately?”

  Narrowing my eyes, I sent him a glare before moving around him in the doorway and heading back into the living room. I sat on the couch while Dad walked in and took his place in his chair.

  I waited. A few seconds later, he asked, “Do I have to hunt him down and cut him up?”

  With an eye-roll, I smiled. “No.” And then I shoved a mouthful of popcorn in.

  “Been watching you the last couple of weeks with your phone. You’re always on it, and smiling in a way that I knew it wasn’t your girl, Manda. Haven’t seen you smile like that in a long time, honey. But then when I walked into the kitchen, I saw a look of… fuck, I don’t know, fear in a way. Your old man’s worried, honey.”

  He knew where to hit me to get what he wanted. I hated the thought of Dad worried and if I could stop it from happening, I would.

  Absently, I flicked a few kernels around in the bowl, and said, “He wants… Jerimiah wants to date me.” When Dad said nothing for a while, I glanced up to find him beaming at me. “What’s that look about?” I demanded.

  “He’s making his play. Halle-fuckin’-lujah.”

  “Dad!”

  “What?” He shrugged. “Told you that boy was smitten back in the day, and I knew he still was when he came here a few weeks back. ’Bout time he confessed it.”

  “You shouldn’t be saying that. Normal dads would warn their daughter away from a guy like Jerimiah. Normal dads would threaten him with a shotgun.”

  He scoffed. “Please. This normal dad knows when he sees something good for his daughter. Someone I know will protect her with his whole body and soul. He’d do anything for you, honey. Always has. If you ask me, it’s you who should be worried. If he finds out where you work, and somehow sees all those dudes talkin’ to you, lookin’ at you—” He whistled long and loud. “Remember when you went on your first date?”

  Groaning, I rested my head back on the couch. “Yes,” I hissed.

  Dad chuckled. “Yeah, I see you’re gettin’ it. Now pass the popcorn and just roll with whatever happens.”

  I wasn’t sure if I could roll with it. First, I had to do something about Python. Maybe my best shot was talking to Blackie. Then maybe, just maybe, I could actually acknowledge the brewing feelings inside of me for Jerimiah. He’d wormed his way in with every text in the last few weeks. Hell, Dad had certainly given Jerimiah the seal of approval. Though, he’d already given it years ago—the night Jerimiah brought me home after my first failed date. It was also the night I fell in love with Jerimiah.

  Chapter Eight

  Poppy

  Past

  Toby and I had just stepped outside the burger place when he took my hand. I was waiting for the butterflies to happen, to start fluttering in my belly in excitement, but they must have been dead or maybe just asleep.

  Instead, I felt grossed-out because Toby’s hand was sweaty. Though, Manda did warn me boys sweated a lot when they were nervous. So maybe Toby was nervous. About what I didn’t know. We’d already gone for a walk in the park and eaten dinner while we tried to find things to talk about. The date was nearly done.

  God… was Toby thinking about kissing me? Was that why he was nervous?

  I didn’t want Toby to kiss me. Not unless those butterflies woke the hell up and went haywire inside of me. Then at least I’d know I had some type of feeling for Toby, other than boredom.

  When Toby had asked me out the other day in the library, I was shocked. After all, I’d been at school for just over two years and he’d never shown any interest in me before. Still, he’d spoken to me with confidence—confidence he failed to have on the date night—and asked me out in front of Manda. Since it took courage for him to do it, and in front of a friend of mine, I said yes. After all, he was cute. T
here was also the fact Nicky had had her eyes set on him, but he’d asked me out.

  Thankfully, Nicky was no longer on Jerimiah’s radar, and hadn’t been for a very long time. She hated me for it, blamed me for it. But it wasn’t me who got caught talking shit. Nicky had been in my face telling me how she was going to ruin me, that Jerimiah was only pretending to be my friend because of the club our fathers were in. How he felt obligated to look after me. The look on her face—when Jerimiah appeared out of nowhere, and had heard everything, then proceeded to tell her to fuck off, and if she ever breathed our air again, she would regret it—was the best moment of my life.

  It was later, when Jerimiah snuck into my room once again, he’d told me what Nicky said was all bullshit. I’d rolled my eyes and shoved him, replying with how I knew that already. I was too awesome not to love. Of course, he chuckled, something I loved to make him do, especially when his whole face changed, and all his hate for his father disappeared.

  “What time do you have to get home?” Toby asked, dragging me from my thoughts. Jerimiah seemed to consume my mind a lot, and I knew I was falling for him more and more each and every day. I’d never actually admit I already loved him, because it was wrong. He was my friend, and also, he’d never see me as anything else. How Jerimiah still dated… okay, hooked up around me was proof enough for that.

  “Ah, anytime really. My parents think I’m at Manda’s.”

  Shit. I’d said it without really thinking and wished I hadn’t. I’d been stopping myself from eye-rolling and yawning all night and had just lost my chance to get the hell out of Dodge. Maybe I could fake a period. Jerimiah hated when I talked about being on the rag. He even paled a few times. Hmm, maybe I should stop if I was ever going to impress him. Laughing under my breath, I knew the day I impressed Jerimiah into liking me more than a friend would be the day I aced all my classes. As in never.

  Toby gave me a strange look.

  Stop thinking about Jerimiah and laughing for no reason. You look crazy.

  “Really? So any time then.” He smiled, looking down at me. Of course he was taller, most guys were. But I found myself not liking his smile.

  “Y-yes. Do you want to see a movie?” Since being around Jerimiah so much, my confidence had grown. I’d stopped thinking about what other people thought about me.

  “No.” He shook his head. Then with his hand still in mine, he pulled me down the alley beside the burger place.

  When my back hit the wall and Toby moved in to kiss me, I placed my hand on his chest and pushed him back. “What are you doing?”

  “Kissing you, silly. Come on.” He took hold of my wrists and tugged them down from his chest so he could lean in again. When his mouth touched mine, I wanted to kick him in the balls. There was a lot of spit as he tried to pry my mouth open with his tongue.

  “Get off,” I mumbled, because there was no way I was opening my mouth all the way. I struggled to get my grip free so I could punch him in the face.

  He lifted his head and glared down at me. His shy boy act disappeared; instead, there was nothing but jerk before me. “Relax and enjoy it,” he told me. “Shit, you give it up for Fang, why not me?”

  My body stilled. Then I twisted my wrists from his grip, which kind of hurt, and placed them back on his chest, shoving and saying, “Jerimiah and I are just friends.”

  He scoffed, not moving away from me at all. “Yeah right. He’d have to hang out with you for a reason. You totally have to be putting out for him, and your pussy must be heaven for him to keep coming back.”

  Screwing up my face, I yelled, “You sick dick.” Kicking out, I planted my foot into his shin, then lifted my leg and kneed him in his balls.

  Toby stumbled back, cursing me. “Fuck Nicky. I ain’t putting up with you.” He started down the alleyway.

  “Wait.” I grabbed his arm. “What do you mean Nicky?”

  He sighed, turned and said, “Nicky said if I wanted a piece of her, I had to get you out on a date and see if you put out for me. Look, I didn’t want to, but then my friends heard about it and got me to agree. She told me what to say if you said no, and if I did get in your pants, she wanted proof.” He pulled his phone from his pocket and hit End. He’d been taping the whole thing. “She’d… let’s just say I’d have a happy ending if it all happened like she wanted it to.”

  A car out front screeched into the car park. We heard the door opening before it was slammed closed. Pounding footsteps hit the stairs up to the burger joint, then the bell sang. Toby and I glanced at each other.

  “Who do you—” I began.

  “Where in the fuck is she?” was bellowed from inside.

  “Oh fuck,” Toby whispered.

  Oh fuck was about right. Jerimiah had just arrived, and he was pissed.

  A clatter of something more from inside, then raised voices answered, and then… the tingle of the bell sounded again. It had Toby backing up and shoving me in front of him.

  “I only tried to kiss you. I didn’t try anything else. You kicked me in the balls and I was just going to walk away. Tell him that.”

  That was true. Not many guys would have put up with being kicked in the balls.

  With the street light facing down at the end of the alley, it lit Jerimiah’s form as it appeared in the entryway. His legs were apart, his arms down at his sides, his hands clenching and unclenching. His face… I had never seen it so dark before. If I didn’t know him, know we were close, I would have been scared out of my mind.

  “Poppy. Come here,” he snarled.

  “Um, I don’t think so.” I crossed my arms over my chest.

  “Poppy,” he growled. “Here. Now.”

  “You know, I don’t think I will until you promise not to harm Toby.”

  “Thank you,” Toby whispered behind me. His voice held a little awe, probably surprised with how I conversed with Jerimiah.

  Jerimiah let loose a rumbled growl from within his chest. His eyes flashed from me to Toby, and I actually gulped. That look was pure pain. Pain he wanted to deliver on Toby.

  His chest heaved and he rolled his head side to side a few times before saying, “Saw Nicky at a party. She wanted a piece of me. When I said no, she got pissed, and you know what she told me?”

  When Toby didn’t answer, probably from fear, which was wise, I did, “That she’s really the Wicked Witch of the West?”

  “No.” He started down the alley very slowly. “She told me how she set that motherfucker up to take you on a date. Said he was gonna fuck you over because my little pet didn’t deserve me. She told me how much better she is than Poppy. So you know what I said to her and every-fuckin’-one else at the party?”

  “That you’re going to turn into the Hulk and smash.”

  Toby snorted at my back, and it was the wrong move. Jerimiah’s eyes slammed to him. “No,” he growled. “I told Nicky to get the fuck outta my face before I forgot she was a girl and kicked her arse. She didn’t move. I then told the room if they were smart, they’d cut Nicky from their life. Cut her out of all social groups or they’d have me to deal with. Then, fuckin’ then, I said if anyone was to screw with Poppy again, in any way, I would make them pay tenfold. After that, I left because I had a cunt to hunt down and kill. Can you guess who that cunt is?”

  When he finished, he stopped just in front of me.

  “Jerimiah, there will be no killing tonight. I will not be visiting my best friend in jail. Besides, Toby’s cool. After I kicked him in the balls, he was about to leave when you turned up.”

  His eyes knifed down to me. “Why’d you kick him in the balls, Poppy?”

  Shit.

  “Ah….”

  In a flash, he reached around me and had Toby by the neck. Frantically, I gripped Jerimiah’s arm and begged, “Let him go. Jerimiah, I swear it, if you don’t let him go, I’ll… Goddammit, I’ll never talk t
o you again.”

  Jerimiah didn’t listen. Gently, he shoved me out of the way and took the steps needed to have a struggling Toby against the wall, and then he was up in his face. “You think to touch her in any way again, I will bury you alive.”

  “I won’t,” was what I thought Toby gurgled out.

  Wrapping my arms around Jerimiah’s chest, I tugged him back. Only he didn’t move at all. “Jerimiah, he didn’t do anything. Just let him go. Please.”

  Toby was dropped. He coughed, wheezed and then dry-heaved. Bet he’d never been so scared in his life. Jerimiah had that type of effect on people.

  “Go. Get the fuck outta my sight.”

  Toby nodded, shot me a grateful glance, and then bolted for the end of the alley. Jerimiah still had his back to me. I stepped away from him, crossed my arms over my chest and waited to have his eyes. Once he turned, I raised my brows.

  “Don’t,” he ordered. “Get in my car, Poppy.”

  “Seriously? I had everything under control, Jerimiah. That poor guy just about peed himself, and it wasn’t even his fault. It was Nicky’s. When he got the message of my knee in his balls after one kiss he… s-stopped.”

  I had to learn to not divulge everything to Jerimiah.

  “He kissed you?” he roared. “Force himself on you? That’s why you kicked him in the nuts?” He stomped off back down the alleyway, no doubt visualising the ways he would kill Toby.

  But really… “You’re overreacting,” I mentioned from behind him.

  He spun around so fast it made me dizzy and got in my face so our noses touched. “I’m overreacting to my friend, my best fuckin’ friend, being touched without wanting it?”

  “Who said I didn’t want it?”

  “What?” he barked.

  Looking into his eyes, I said, “I’m a single girl. I’d like to try dating and see where things lead. As for my first kiss, it was a little sloppy, but still okay.” That was a lie. “I may even try it again.”

  “You… I… fucking hell. If you want Toby to live, stay the fuck away from him.”

  “I didn’t say it would be Toby.”