“I’m jealous,” Casey said, sitting up on her reclined lounge chair to reach across to Poppy who was sharing a double wide patio bed with Charley. “Let me see the ring again.”
Poppy had grown up admiring her grandmother’s engagement ring. Just because it wasn’t new to her eyes didn’t mean it wasn’t special to her heart.
Holding out her hand, she kept her face angled toward the sun as Casey admired the engagement ring.
“I’m glad you got the hand-me-down ring,” Violet said.
The women were enjoying an afternoon in the sun. The patio furniture had been set up, they’d requested sangria and had been soaking up rays for around an hour. Val and Grammie had taken the twins and the three kids to the beach, which left Faye at a loose end. She didn’t quite seem to know how to just relax; it was something all of them had to learn over again.
“We could get married,” Zoey said. “If you want.”
Faye laughed. “I wasn’t much older than you when I got married. Look how that turned out.”
“We wouldn’t be getting married because of a baby,” Zoey said. “We’d be getting married because we love each other.”
“College is expensive,” Faye said. “How would you pay for that and a wedding?”
“Turner said he’d pay for college,” Zoey said.
“Poppy will pay for it,” Primrose said. “Her trust is probably the most intact of the three of us.”
“Weddings are overrated,” Violet offered.
Something Poppy never thought she’d hear her eldest sister say.
“Where are you and Turner going to do it?” Zoey asked. “Here? Casey and I could tag onto your wedding.”
“My parents would never agree,” Casey said, forlorn. “Once they find out I’ve been staying here with my girlfriend, they’ll probably disown me.”
It broke Poppy’s heart to think of two people in love being kept apart.
Zoey was quick to comfort her girlfriend. “We only have to get through this last year of school and then you’ll be free. You can move out.”
“I can’t move out of home and afford college.”
“Stay with Zoey at ours,” Faye said. “Or Turner will work out something for you in the city. Which college do you want to go to?”
A beat of silence went past. Casey wasn’t going to answer, so Zoey did. “She wanted to study medicine at Loyola.”
“I don’t think they let lesbians into Loyola.”
Shifting her head, Poppy looked at the girl next to her. “Let them try to stop you. If that’s what you want, do it.”
“Preston will slap them with a discrimination suit if they try to exclude you,” Primrose said. “And we’ll pay for it. You don’t need your parents. Not if they’re going to dictate who you have to be to fit their mold.”
Smiling, Poppy adjusted her sunglasses while breathing out a smile. “Oh, Grammie would be so proud.”
She kept her lips curled high while raising her chin to the sun. So much had changed in such a short time. Having her sisters hanging around with the Maddox women was more than she could’ve hoped for. Holden Abernathy was an asshole, no doubting that, but his antics had brought the Granger Girls closer than they’d been for decades.
“What is the story with you and Pres?” Charley asked. “If you don’t mind me asking.”
That caused more than just Faye to laugh. Zoey, Casey, and Poppy all joined in. The amusement kept on going even in spite of Charley’s incredulity.
“If you don’t mind me asking,” Faye mocked. “You have never asked permission to probe anyone ever in your life.”
“What?” Charley said, exuding innocence while the twist of her lips told a different story. “I’m being polite.”
“A word you didn’t know the meaning of two weeks ago,” Faye retorted.
“If Primrose has to tell us about her and Preston then you have to tell us about you and David Leicester,” Zoey said. “You were talking to him on the phone last night. Are you still going out with him?”
“They were never going out,” Faye said. “He was just screwing with her. Using her to stroke his ego and she was trotting after him like a slobbering puppy.”
“I was not a slobbering puppy,” Charley replied. “We’re friends, what do you want me to do? Stop talking to him?”
“After he lied about him and Poppy? Yeah, you should,” Faye said. “One is your sister and the other is an attention seeking whore, who would you believe?”
Charley just groaned. “I know he didn’t sleep with Poppy. Do you think I’d be okay hanging out with her, letting our brother marry her, if I thought she was a cheater?”
“But you’re okay with him being a liar?”
“You never liked him,” Charley said. “None of you did, so why should I listen—”
“Maybe you should think about why we don’t like him,” Faye said. “We’re trying to protect you. How are you going to feel after you sleep with him and find out we were right? He’ll stop calling, start bragging to his friends, whatever, and you’ll feel stupid. We’re trying to save you that.”
“Oh, he’ll call,” Primrose said, injecting herself with full confidence despite not knowing all of the parties. “They always call.”
“She’s right,” Violet agreed. “Now that all of you are connected to money, expect to find yourself popular in all kinds of new circles.”
“Great,” Faye said. “See, listen to this, Charley, are you hearing it? He’ll use you to get closer to Poppy. How do you think that will go down with Turner, huh?”
“Poppy doesn’t need our brother to protect her,” Charley said. “She doesn’t need anyone to protect her. I’m her friend, I wouldn’t let anyone use her for anything.”
It was difficult to hear Charley’s tone change. The more harried and defensive she sounded, the clearer it became that she felt ganged up on. As much as Poppy wanted to leap to her aid, she also knew it was important for Charley to hear these truths.
“But you’re cool with him lying about her,” Faye said. “I’d be livid if any of my friends lied about one of my sisters. How do you see the relationship ever working out if you can’t bring him home or to family events? The minute Turner lays eyes on him, he’ll see red. You know it was our brother’s fiancée that your crush lied about, right?”
“He didn’t come right out and say they’d had sex.”
“Not on TV,” Faye said. “But I bet he said it to you.”
“Hiding behind semantics is a cop out,” Zoey said.
“Why are you all yelling at me?” Charley asked, sitting up straight. “I didn’t say anything about her. I didn’t do anything wrong.”
“Except give her grief when we got here.”
“You gave Turner grief,” Charley reminded Faye.
“Because he didn’t tell us he was in a relationship. He hid his feelings for Poppy from us.”
“And because I’m honest about my feelings for David, I get yelled at?”
“Who’s yelling?” Faye asked and exhaled. “Still sure you want to get married?”
When everyone looked to her, Poppy glanced around only to finish on a smile. “Oh, I’m sitting here thinking about how lucky I am that I don’t have to go through any of this anymore. Violet’s at the end of a relationship just like you, Faye. Primrose is starting one. Zoey and Casey have to fight for theirs. Charley has issues in almost every direction with the relationship she wants to have…” Wriggling further down on the bed, it was difficult not to be smug. “It’s never felt so good to be spoken for.”
“You could just move in with us now,” Zoey said. It took Poppy a second to realize the teen was talking to Casey. “Mom would let you.”
“Sleep in your room?” Faye asked. “We weren’t allowed to have sex in the house when we were teenagers, just because yours doesn’t have a dick, doesn’t mean you’ll be allowed.”
“We can share a room without having sex.”
Charley scoffed. “Yeah, we tried
that line too. Never worked. Mom would love to have you, but there isn’t room.”
“Turner could build an extension,” Poppy said, just coming upon the idea. “I’m sure he’d love to help.”
“Turner doesn’t have time to sneeze and he just got engaged,” Faye said. “I don’t think a building project is the best idea.”
“We did talk about buying you a place,” Poppy said. “Somewhere close to your mom if you wanted it.”
Zoey gasped and grabbed for the arms of her lounge chair. “Then Case and I could have the basement. That’s perfect!”
“Uh…” Poppy said, unsure if she should’ve said anything. “It’s your brother’s decision. You’d have to talk to him.”
The house was his decision, and Faye’s, not whether or not Zoey and Casey could play house in Val’s basement.
“He can’t say no,” Zoey said. “Not when it works out for everyone.”
“He wouldn’t say no if you asked, Poppy,” Casey said, apparently jumping on the bandwagon. “You just got engaged, he can’t say no to you.”
“Yes, he can,” Poppy said.
“But he wouldn’t,” Charley said, nudging her. “He never says no to you.”
Poppy could think of plenty of times that he had, though most were early in their relationship and not really appropriate to discuss in front of his sisters.
“Just how many apartments does your brother own?” Primrose asked, twisting onto her side to get a better look at Faye.
“There are twenty-four in his building,” Charley answered before her sister could. “Only twelve are leased though. Poppy and me are in number thirteen. He manages twelve buildings. So if you’re looking for somewhere to stay, he can hook you up.”
The way that was said implied the two might have discussed it before. Poppy hadn’t been privy to those conversations.
“I was just saying how wild it would be to live in the city,” Violet said. “We go out all the time, but the trek back and forth to the city can be enough of a bore to put us off.”
Forty miles might be a lot just to go to a party, but to say it was a trek was laughable. Being chauffeur driven in a luxury limo was hardly schlepping it.
They did have other towns, closer towns, where they could go for dinner or a little light shopping. What Violet meant was the people. Society. Those in her age range who had a similar mindset and loved to play; those were the people she wanted to consort with in the city.
“We should go,” Primrose said to her sister. “Grammie’s always saying that it’s fun to live out in the real world. We should do it… We have a brother who can hook us up now.”
Charley’s words. That wouldn’t have come out of Primrose’s mouth if she wasn’t parroting what she’d just heard.
“Yeah!” Charley exclaimed. “I bet you could work with Poppy and me!”
Violet blinked before she frowned. “Work?”
Poppy just smiled, but Primrose laughed. “We don’t have to work if we don’t want to. We could pay Turner in advance.”
“Would we have to sign something?” Violet asked.
No doubt her almost brush with a marriage certificate had made her wary of putting pen to paper.
“I could ask Preston to check it out first.”
That offended Poppy. “Implying my fiancé might try to scam you?”
“No!” Primrose said, quick to backtrack. “I just like it when Preston does his lawyer thing.”
“So weird,” Charley muttered.
“Not as weird as some other things,” Zoey said.
“What things?” Faye asked.
The younger Maddox squirmed. “Everything is changing… I can’t be the only one who’s noticed. I’m with Case. Turner’s got Poppy. Charley lives in the Venture, and she’s hung up on creepy, liar Leicester… Faye and Kev are on the outs… Everything is different.”
“Doesn’t mean everything is bad,” Primrose said. “Our family has benefited from knowing yours.”
It meant a lot to Poppy to hear that acknowledgment. Her sisters weren’t the types she might consider obvious friends for the Maddox gang, but it was amazing, humbling, to see the two families coming together.
For a score of seconds, all of them reflected, basking in the sun. Poppy didn’t hear anyone approach. His voice was her first clue.
“I thought the point of moving out of the main house was to get privacy,” Turner said.
Standing at the edge of the deck, shades over his eyes, her fiancé surveyed the scene. He tossed the tools in his hand down near the wall.
Despite the sunglasses over his eyes, Poppy could tell he was scowling. “Our sisters came to visit,” she said.
“The sun is better here than on the terrace at the house,” Primrose said. “You don’t mind, do you?”
“Don’t ask him that,” Faye said, quick to interject. “You won’t like the answer.”
“He doesn’t care,” Charley said. “He just pretends to be grumpy.”
“It’s a great act,” Casey mumbled, obviously intimidated.
“I’m gonna take a shower,” Turner said.
He only got a step before Poppy sat up, raising her arms toward him. “No, come here first.”
“I’m sweaty,” he said, though he did alter his trajectory.
“I know,” Poppy said, lacing her voice with innuendo as he sat facing her. Coiling her arms around his neck, she tried to pull him down with her. “I missed you today.”
“That,” Zoey exclaimed just as Turner’s mouth met Poppy’s. “That’s different… It’s freaky.”
“It freaks me out,” Charley agreed.
“What are they talking about?” Turner asked, though his mouth didn’t get an inch from hers.
“Ignore them,” Poppy said, kissing him again. “How was work?”
“Fine ‘cause I thought I was coming home to my girl.”
“I’m here.”
“With an entourage.”
“Hey, brother,” Charley said, leaning over to force herself into his peripheral vision. She got close enough that Poppy relaxed her arms to give him room to turn his head. “Will you extend Mom’s house?”
As he sat up, Poppy was forced to let go so she sank back into a reclined position again.
“What for?” he asked. “How many rooms do you want?” He looked at her. “I thought we were getting Faye a house.”
Poppy shrugged. “Consensus seems to be for an extension.”
“Just because Charley shouts the loudest doesn’t mean it’s what we all want,” Zoey said. “I think a house is a good idea.”
“Because you want to get laid in the basement,” Charley said. “Mom won’t let it happen.”
As the sisters descended into their own discussions, Turner arched a brow at her. Poppy raised a shoulder in a contrite half shrug. He exhaled in a way that made her think he might have rolled his eyes before he got up to go into their room through the deck doors.
The sisters were still talking a minute later when Poppy got up to follow him inside. The main room was empty, but she could hear the shower and was quick to hurry over there.
Still clothed, Turner slid the shower door closed again and turned just in time to see her enter. “Thank God you’re pretty,” he grumbled.
“You’re not really mad, are you, First?” she asked as he grabbed his tee-shirt at the back of his neck to pull it off. “I can get rid of them if you want to have sex.”
Instead of answering, he strode across the room and past her to close and lock the door before picking her up to dump her on the vanity.
“I don’t need them gone to have sex with you,” he said, loosening the bikini ties at her hips. “I can have sex with you right here.”
“I’m sorry if I said too much outside.”
“Mm hmm,” he responded, dipping down to kiss the sweet spot behind her ear.
“Zoey wants to move Casey into your mom’s place, not for sex, just to keep her safe.” She stroked his shoulders as his m
outh trekked around to her throat and he raised her thighs to his hips. “I think Primrose wants to move into the Venture… I think she’s into Preston… don’t tell him I said that. Everyone’s bonding.” He stepped back just enough to work on unfastening his pants. “It makes our lives easier.”
With her focus zoned in on his groin, it became harder to concentrate as she fixated on what would come next.
“Ritchie called about one of our buildings.”
“Uh huh,” she said, reaching for him. “Talk after.”
Dropping his pants, he kicked them aside. “After what, baby? Huh?”
Shame or embarrassment didn’t feature around him anymore. Poppy opened and closed her fingers a couple of times before lunging forward to grab his cock.
“After I get mine,” she said, yanking him back to the vanity. “Love me, baby…” Draping her arms around his neck, she pulled him down to tease his mouth with hers. “Right here, right now.”
His satisfied smile was almost feral. “That’s what I planned to come home to.”
“Every day, every minute,” she whispered, wrapping her legs around him to draw their bodies together. “Forever yours.”
TWENTY-SIX
“Sorry, I uh… got sidetracked,” Poppy said when she hopped back out onto the terrace.
“I don’t even want to think about what you were doing,” Charley said as Poppy sat back down next to her. “I think I’ll go sit over there.”
Charley got up to go and take a seat on the empty patio bed by Faye.
“I showered,” Poppy said, thinking her damp hair should’ve betrayed that. “I’m not dirty.”
“I bet your fiancé would beg to differ,” Primrose said, happy to tease her. “He is hot. No one can deny that.”
“Uh, I can,” Charley said and shivered. “He’s just Turner.”
Zoey laughed. “I know, it’s weird to think of him turning anyone on, isn’t it?”
Charley made a sound of disgust.
“Well, he turns me on,” Poppy said, proud of her man and her relationship. “Eight times last night and again before he left this morning.” The chorus of revulsion came from all of the Maddox sisters, but it just made her laugh. “I’m sorry to tell you, sisters. My man can go all night and still put in a full shift at work the next day.”
Found (Lost & Found Book 2) Page 22
