Oh, she loved him too.
Here was the proof.
Emma shook the curtain a little to make it seem like they were getting dressed.
“I love you, Chris. You have me. I’ll always have your back. When bitches like that roll into my hood, I’ll kick their skanky asses back to the ghetto. You’re mine.”
He hugged her.
He felt better.
“Well, let’s do the walk of shame, you hussy.”
She winked at him.
When they came out, holding hands, Denise was standing there, and her mouth actually dropped open when she saw them.
“Oh, still here?” Emma asked, fixing her hair.
“Your lipstick is smeared…” Denise said.
Emma looked down at Chris’s pants. Gently, she rubbed her hand over the lip marks.
“We’ll have to get that dry cleaned,” she stated.
“Again,” Chris added.
Emma wasn’t done.
People were staring.
Well, it was time to stake the harpy through the heart and call it a victory.
“Anyway, I don’t know what you meant when you said it was lights off, one position, and boring as hell. I’m thinking it had everything to do with the woman he was fucking,” she said, loudly so anyone still in there would hear them.
Denise blanched.
Emma had her backing up.
“So, for the record, if it’s any of your business, he’s a really great partner in bed, in the car, in the shower, and all day when I’m bored.”
Denise continued to back up, and she kept moving.
Emma was a little shocked she had her this scared. The woman looked like she was about to race out of there.
“I concur,” Greyson said from behind them. “He’s great in bed. What happens at Castle Croft stays at Castle Croft. You know how we rich get bored and like to have fun.”
Oh, shit!
She recognized the voice.
Emma turned around, and her eyes went big. She knew he was checking out Chris’s appearance.
“Let’s go, Harry,” Denise said, hauling ass out of there to put distance between her and Greyson Croft.
In fact, everyone was gone.
As soon as she was gone, Greyson started to laugh. He turned Chris’s head and looked at the hickey on his neck. It was one hell of a love bite.
Emma really put her mark on this one.
Literally.
The man was smeared with lipstick on his neck, face, shirt, and pants.
“Dimitri is going to be jealous when he sees this. He only got to sit in a tub with Emma.”
Chris relaxed.
Emma laughed.
“That’s what he said.”
Greyson hugged Chris. He knew the man was freaking out that he was going to be in trouble.
He wasn’t.
Greyson got it. He understood why Emma had to protect the man beside him.
“Emma, go do your interview, and let’s get this done,” he stated, still not finished with Chris.
As a few people lingered, he gave him a kiss on the cheek and dropped his arm over the man’s shoulders.
“We have your back, Chris. I swear we do.”
Christopher Ford felt better.
Family had come through.
Once again.
Chapter Nine
Park
W hen Dimitri pulled up to the park, so Poppy could take a few moments to regroup, he helplessly watched as she suffered. Without saying a word, Poppy got out and headed toward the bridge that went over the small pond. She stood there looking at the water, and he didn’t know what to do.
He wasn’t sure how to make her feel better.
This was out of his element, and he knew it.
Dimitri wanted to ease that pain, give her some peace, and soothe that hurt in her heart, but he wasn’t sure how to even go about doing that.
Did he reassure her?
Did he tell her the pain would go away?
All Dimitri knew was he knew what it felt like to feel that kind of pain.
As she stood there, he watched her checking out the ducks that were floating by and the babies following them. It was spring in Vegas, and that meant a rebirth.
For the few and lucky.
Heading over to a vendor selling coffee, he bought two and returned to her side. When he arrived there, he knew she was crying.
“Are you Poppy or Detective Wayne?” he asked.
“Is there a difference?” she asked.
“Yes, there is. Poppy would want me to comfort her and hold her. Detective Wayne would want me to let her work through it on her own. Unfortunately for me, they look the same, so I have to ask.”
When she didn’t laugh, Dimitri felt like he blew it.
Then she took the coffee.
“It’s Poppy.”
Dimitri took that as his invitation. Resting his arms on the metal rail beside hers, he gave her what she needed.
Someone to listen.
“I’m sorry it hurts after all these years. I’m sorry that it never healed, and this person has made it come back. If I could go back and change it, for you, I would.”
She believed him.
It was sincere.
“It stings. I wish my mother had made better choices in her life. I wish she put her kids first, but I remember all the visitors, the ‘uncles’, and the way we pretended we were okay. We weren’t.”
Dimitri understood that too.
“I wish my mother made better choices too,” he admitted. “Mine left me with a monster and I became one. That’s why I have to put Sam and Petra first because children shouldn’t be punished for their parents’ mistakes.”
“You’re not a monster,” she stated without even looking over at him.
Well, that was debatable, and he knew it.
“Ehhhh.”
There were days when he believed that, and days when he couldn’t be told otherwise. It was a tossup.
“We’ll get through this,” he offered. “We’ll make it through to the other side, and it will get better. I promise.”
She hoped he was right.
“Can I hold your hand?” he asked. “Can I be there for you when you need me to?” Dimitri asked.
God.
She needed that.
“Yes, please.”
“Who do you want to talk to next?”
“My father.”
Oye.
This was going to be a bad one. He could already tell. Dimitri wanted to talk her out of it. He wanted to tell her that it was a horrible idea, and not to torture herself. When he was feeling this low, he instinctually wanted to hurt himself for being ‘bad’. Surely, that was the reason his mother had abandoned them.
It had to be him.
Talking her out of it would be the smart thing to do.
Only he didn’t.
“Then who?” Dimitri asked, hoping there would be an opening where he could distract her with someone other than her possible biological father.
“I want to talk to my mother’s boss. In fact, we should start there.”
Hallelujah.
They’d escaped that one. Dimitri let out a sigh of relief when she changed her mind.
“Whenever you’re ready, we can go.”
She looked at her watch.
“You promised to meet Emma for lunch. We have to do that first.”
He turned her, so she was facing him.
“I’ll cancel. If you’re not up for it, they will understand,” he promised. It looked like Emma would have to ‘check out’ his girl at a later date.
It only took her a moment to contemplate it.
“No, I need to be cheered up. If anything, they will do that. Your family is amusing.”
He was aware, and he’d share them with her, so she didn’t feel so damn alone in life.
Dimitri got it.
He understood the pain of not having anyone to call your own. His life had been fraught w
ith that.
Until now.
His phone chimed.
Pulling it out, it was a picture of Chris’s neck. Under it, it said three words.
‘Hickey. Checkmate, Commie.’
He began laughing.
When Poppy glanced over at him and stared at him like he was insane, he handed it to her.
She stared at it.
“Who gave him the hickey?” Poppy asked. “What am I missing?”
“It was likely Emma. I’m sure there is a very funny story to go with it too. There always is. Don’t tell him I laughed. The best part of dealing with Chris is to play that I’m disinterested or irritated by it. That blasé response makes him insane. Between the two of us, I really like him, and I find him incredibly amusing.”
She laughed.
Finally.
“Now I have to find a way to get even. This can’t drop here. If I didn’t hit back at him…he’d think something was wrong.”
“Your family is crazy.”
Yes, yes, they were, and he loved it.
Dimitri Gideon definitely had a family, and in that moment, he’d share it with her.
“Wait until lunch.”
She smiled and took his hand.
The storm had passed.
“We have a few minutes until we have to leave. Would you care to walk the long way back to the vehicle?” he asked. “It’s spring. I’d like to enjoy it.”
“I think I’d like that,” Poppy stated.
He squeezed her hand, and they began walking. At a food dispenser, he bought her a cup of cracked corn to feed the ducks. While he held her coffee, she fed them, only to have them come out of the water, and follow her down the pavement.
Dimitri laughed.
“Well, it looks like you made friends.”
She laughed as one pecked at her boot. Dimitri grabbed some more corn and tossed it into the water, so they’d go back where they’d come from.
“Thank you for saving me from the ducks,” she teased. “They looked sketchy. I think one was a pickpocket.”
He made her badge appear.
“Oh, look at that. They aren’t the only ones who can do that,” he teased.
She laughed.
“Out of the frying pan and into the fire.”
He handed her back her coffee.
Then, he went with the moment, remembering he was courting this woman. Since she was Poppy and not the detective, it felt right.
“You’re beautiful,” he said. “I love watching you smile. I’ve never seen anyone lovelier.”
She blushed.
“Thank you.”
Leaning down, he picked a tulip from the flowerbed and handed it to her.
“Two lips for my Poppy?” he teased before stealing a kiss.
When he pulled away, she laughed.
“Oh, I see what you did there, slick. You’re a dangerous one,” she teased. “Oh, and now I have to arrest you for picking flowers in a public park.”
He held out her handcuffs.
She laughed even more.
“Someone has very light, sticky fingers.”
“You don’t say, Detective Wayne. Many have commented on that, and yet, I’m not in jail. Interesting.”
She snorted.
Dimitri held her hand and they headed back to the ride.
“What if I had a way to help you find out who killed her, but it wasn’t exactly legal.”
She looked over.
“What do you have in mind?”
“If you wanted to retest the DNA in that file, how hard will it be to get it done?”
“It’s a cold case. There’s a line of them before it. They do it methodically. Since they all deserve justice, that case has to wait its turn. DNA tests take months, and they cost the city a ton of money. I’ll be retired before it goes through.”
Yeah, he was aware.
Fortunately for her, he had money, and Greyson had connections. It wouldn’t take that long for him to get it done, and for Dimitri to fund it.
“What if I could get you that DNA in a matter of days, and then you wouldn’t have to wait until you retired?”
She stared at him.
“How the hell can you do that?”
Dimitri told her his plan, and how it involved more than just him, but also his family.
“Are you insane?”
“Apparently.”
“Dimitri…”
“Let’s go have lunch, and talk it out with Greyson and Emma. If they agree, I’ll handle it.”
She couldn’t believe it. This man was willing to go above and beyond for her. He was willing to break the law, and she was going to let him do it.
That said it all.
She was crazy about him.
“Don’t stress it, Poppy. I know what you’re thinking,” Dimitri stated.
“Oh, do you?”
“It’s illegal.”
She gave him a kiss, catching him off guard. It took him a second, but then he was very much engaged in the kiss.
Slowly, she pulled away.
“Yes, two very sexy lips,” she said, setting his mouth free from hers.
It took him a second.
“Babochka,” he whispered. “I didn’t say we were doing it yet,” he offered. “That may be premature.”
She touched his cheek.
Oh, kissing this man would NEVER be premature. She had faith in him.
“That’s simply for offering and giving me hope. Without hope, there’s nothing to believe in. I needed that today, so the kiss isn’t because of the plan, but because you offered me that elusive feeling of hope.”
He stared down into her eyes.
He was aware of how precious that emotion was. She gave him hope.
“Thank you for that gift,” he said. Then he knew they needed to get the day going.
Or he’d stand there all day and kiss her.
“Let’s go. I have to harass Chris. My day is about to get better,” he stated. Only, he knew that wasn’t possible. He’d been kissing Poppy. His day was already at the pinnacle.
She went with him, a new spring in her step.
Poppy’s fingers were crossed.
And she prayed.
* * * G R E Y S O N C R O F T * * *
He watched them.
When the man kissed and touched her, he was enraged. He was furious that she was, once again, nothing but a whore.
She was exactly like Eloise.
That pathetic bitch was always flaunting her sexuality, doing different men, and never getting it.
She never saw him and his devotion.
Well, that was about to end.
This woman was going to pay for it and pay for it soon. This asshole may have hidden away his woman, but he’d make sure she was his in the end.
Then, he’d teach her a lesson.
One that this bitch would finally learn.
* * * G R E Y S O N C R O F T * * *
Peter’s Café
The Las Vegas
Strip
When Dimitri and Poppy showed up, the rest of the family was already seated. Chris was beside Emma, his arm over her shoulder, and he was smiling like he’d gotten lucky.
Oh, this man was trying to bait him, and he wasn’t afraid to let him do it. His best friend seemed really calm.
Dimitri could tell that Greyson was trying not to laugh at the look on Chris’s face.
“Where’s Curtis?” Dimitri stated. “You had better not be alone.”
He laughed.
“Gee, thanks, Mom. Want to hold my hand as I go take a leak?” he asked.
Dimitri lifted a brow.
“Uh, no, I do not. There seems to be a little too much touchy-feely going on in this family,” he said, pointing at Chris’s neck.
Emma laughed.
“Seriously. Where is he?”
Greyson knew he was worried about the boy. They all were. The whole family could be in danger at any moment.
“Curtis wanted
to run some errands instead of lunch. He’s avoiding you.”
Dimitri sat after pulling out Poppy’s seat for her.
“Pardon?”
“There’s trouble in paradise,” Greyson stated.
He sighed.
Oh, hell.
Here it went.
“It’s going to be about sex, isn’t it? You’re going to ruin my day by talking about him fornicating with my sister, aren’t you?”
Greyson laughed.
Emma joined in as Chris was still smiling.
“First, let him get it over with. He’s going to explode,” Dimitri said, pointing at Chris.
“Sex booth, porn shop, hickey.”
He laughed.
“Set up, never going to be real, and you likely asked Greyson’s permission first. I know him, her, and you.”
Chris scowled.
Dimitri winked at Emma.
“Hey, Poppy,” Emma said. “I apologize in advance. They are jackasses. They think it’s funny to act like cavemen. If they get bad, just beat on them. It works for me,” she stated, elbowing Chris to prove her point.
“Ouch! Do it again.” Chris teased.
She laughed.
“I’ll keep that in mind, Emma, but today I needed to laugh, so thank you.”
Chris rubbed his side.
“Someone is cranky he isn’t sporting this sexy new hickey,” Chris teased, wiggling his eyebrows at the Russian.
Dimitri could let that go, or he could make the man suffer. Oh, it looked like option B it was…
“Emma, want to make out?” he asked her without batting an eye.
“Oh, once you go Russian…”
Chris stared at her.
“Traitor. You just went commie on me. Ouch.”
Greyson laughed.
“Children, not in front of the guest.”
Poppy found it amusing. She liked watching Dimitri relax and be himself.
“I do have a question,” Poppy asked.
‘What?” Greyson asked.
“Why is it so quiet in here?” she asked, looking around. “I had lunch here once. It was packed and there was a twenty-minute wait.”
“I bought out the lunch space,” he said. “Peter likes me in here, I pay for the hour, and we get to eat without someone staring at us like people in a zoo.”
Mob Justice Page 29
