“Absolutely not. Just want to know how loud I need to turn my music up when I get home.”
“Well, as far as I know, one isn’t waiting for me naked on my bed.”
“Good to know. I’d appreciate it if it stays that way too.”
“Mom will be home. I’d hardly arrange that knowing she’s there.”
“Wouldn’t put it past you.”
“Wow, really have low expectations of me, huh?”
“What do you expect? I hear all the things you all get up to.”
“Right, and I know all the things the squad gets up to but do you hear me accusing you of all that shit?”
“Have I kissed both of your best friends?” she asks, her voice hitching a few decibels. “No, exactly. I’ve gone nowhere near any member of the team.”
“Yeah, because you all think they’re pricks.”
“Well, there is that. But even if they weren’t. They’re your friends, Zayn. There’s like some unwritten rule about that shit.”
“I must have missed that one when I did the test.”
“You’re a cock. Why either Ruby or Poppy went anywhere near you is beyond me.”
“You love me really.”
“Only because I have to. Most of the time I don’t like you very much.”
“If it makes you feel better, I’ll give you a free pass to kiss one of the guys.”
“If it makes me feel better? Fucking hell, Zayn.”
“The offer is there if you want it.”
“Wow, I really appreciate your permission. Now which loser should I choose to exchange saliva with?”
I shudder at the thought of her kissing any member of the team, but I have kinda asked for this.
“I can’t promise I won’t lay him out after, be warned.”
“You can take the boy out of the trailer park,” she mutters as we leave the place behind us in the darkness it belongs in.
Ignoring her, I turn the music up and try to keep my thoughts of what might have happened in the mall earlier out of my head. The last thing I need is to jump to conclusions.
It’s dark by the time we get back. As usual, Mom is in her office working but as ever, I don’t hold it against her. She’s worked damn hard to get where she is. She studied and got her degree behind Dad’s back because it was something she always wanted but never had the chance, and then she landed herself a kickass job here which has allowed her to have the life she’s always dreamed of. I’m proud of her for pursuing her dream. Most people’s dreams in Harrow Creek just shrivel up and die. There aren’t many who manage to do what she’s done.
“Have you both done all your homework?” she asks after begrudgingly asking about our weekend.
“Uh…” Harley hesitates.
“Get upstairs and get it done, young lady.”
“I’m going, I’m going.”
“And you?” Mom asks, turning her hard stare on me.
“All done, although I want to read over a report I’ve written.”
“That’s my boy.” She squeezes my shoulder in support before I follow Harley up the stairs to unpack and get ready for a new week to start, or at least, that’s what I allow them both to believe.
I sort my stuff out before changing and sneaking back out. It’s not a hard task seeing as both Harley and Mom have locked themselves away.
I close the front door as quietly as I can and jog to my car.
By the time I pull up at Poppy’s house, I’ve almost convinced myself that I’m crazy and turn back around. But even still, something has me climbing from my car and heading to her front door.
Before I can talk myself out of it, I lift my hand and knock.
There’s movement inside, a baby crying and other kids shouting so when a harassed-looking woman pulls the door open, I can’t say I’m surprised.
“What?” she barks, looking me up and down.
“Uh… is Poppy here?”
“She’s in her room.” She’s gone before I even get a chance to ask where that might be.
Hesitantly, I step inside and close the door behind me. I glance around. The house is a mess, there is stuff everywhere, and the shouting and screaming continues.
Locating the stairs, I head up, leaving the chaos behind me with a wince.
The first two rooms are clearly the kids’ rooms followed by a bathroom all of which are as messy as the last.
The next door is closed and something tells me that it’s the one. Rapping my knuckles against the chipped paintwork, I wait to see if there’s going to be a response.
“Come in,” a quiet yet familiar voice calls.
Sucking in a breath, I twist the handle and push the door open.
She’s in bed facing away from the door as I first walk inside and close the door behind me. But when I don’t say anything, she twists around.
“What’s—Zayn?” Her eyes go as wide as saucers as she stares at me. She sits bolt upright in bed as she blinks a few times. “What the hell are you doing here?”
I close the space between us as she shifts up the bed, keeping the sheets to her chest.
“Are you okay?”
“Uh… confused, mostly. Why are you here?”
I run my eyes over the small amount of her I can see, looking for evidence that she might not be okay.
“Zayn?” she prompts when I don’t respond.
“What happened at the mall?”
The limited amount of color that was on her face drains away, leaving her ghostly pale. My stomach drops, that’s all the confession I need to know my instincts were correct.
“I-I wasn’t feeling well.”
“Bullshit, Poppy.” I drop down onto her bed and slide a little closer to her. “Tell me what really happened.”
Her eyes bounce between mine before they drop to the sheets.
“Poppy?” I reach out, my hand landing on her upper arm and she flinches away. “Pops?”
“He was there, okay? He cornered me. Said some things, did some things. I just needed to leave, so I said I was sick. Happy now?”
“Happy?” I ask incredulously. “How could that possibly make me happy?”
She shrugs, pulling the sheets up higher in an attempt to hide from me.
“Damn it, Poppy,” I snap, wrapping my fingers around her sheets and tugging them away from her. “Stop hiding from this.”
Fuck.
My eyes drop from her eyes to her body that I’ve revealed. She’s wearing a thin white tank and a pair of panties, leaving inches upon inches of smooth skin on display.
Her breath catches as she notices what’s got my attention and she reaches out to take her covers back.
“No,” I bark. “No more hiding. Not from me.”
“I don’t have the energy for this. You need to leave before my parents catch you.”
“Your mom let me in. She sent me up here. I don’t think she cares.”
My words don’t seem to be news to her. “Of course she doesn’t.”
My brows pull together as I study her. There’s so much more to Poppy than meets the eye and the more I learn, the more it’s confirmed that most people see straight past it.
Kicking my shoes off, I move closer, sitting on the sheets so she can’t use them to hide behind. I’m not leaving this room until I get some truths out of her.