by Lila Rose
“That’s just fucking stupid,” he snarled.
“Sorry, I was just dumbing things down for you.”
His face turned the same shade as my hair before his hand landed on my face, where he shoved me back with so much force, I landed on Manda’s lap with a surprised cry. Just as I was about to raise my foot and kick him in the face, the room fell silent. All except for a chair crashing to the floor.
I watched as Lennon looked at where the noise had come from. His eyes widened before he scrambled to stand. I knew who was coming. Having spent so much time with him either at my place or at the compound with my dad, I could sense Jerimiah in a room full of people in seconds. Manda helped me sit, and then I thought it better to stand beside a terrified Lennon. Jerimiah was feared around the school. I just didn’t realise how much.
“Wait, I—”
Jerimiah gripped the front of Lennon’s tee and brought their faces close. “You think you can touch girls like that?”
“No, I didn’t mean—”
“Bullshit. Whatever you’re gonna say is bullshit.”
Glancing around, I saw two of Jerimiah’s mates making their way over to us. I also noticed a teacher was wading through the tables and chairs coming our way.
“Teacher coming,” I warned.
Through clenched teeth, Jerimiah clipped, “You ever touch a girl like that again, especially Poppy, I will fuckin’ take you down. You hear me?”
Lennon nodded.
“Apologise.”
“Jerimiah Liang,” the teacher yelled.
Lennon moved his gaze to me and muttered, “Sorry.”
“It’s fine.” I nodded. Jerimiah didn’t let up his glare or hold on the guy though. Stepping up, just as his friends arrived, I touched Jerimiah’s arm. “Everything’s fine. Come on, Jerimiah, sit down.”
He took a breath and released Lennon as the teacher stepped up.
“What’s going on here?”
“Nothing, just talking,” Lennon spat out and then took off.
The teacher turned to me. “Poppy? Jerimiah? Manda? Anyone want to tell me what that was about?”
“For the life of me, I can’t remember,” I stated, and then smiled before sitting back down next to a stunned Manda.
“What she said,” Jerimiah replied, and took the seat Lennon had vacated on my other side.
The teacher huffed, mumbled something under his breath, and stalked away.
Jerimiah’s friends moved around the table and sat opposite us, looking just as shocked as Manda still was.
Jerimiah rested his arms on the table and turned just his head to face me. He was still scowling as his eyes ran over me, seeing if I was harmed in any way. Heck, it was only a hard shove, but he was acting like I’d been stabbed.
To lessen the tension, I grinned and then said, “Maybe next time you want to come to my rescue you could wear tights, briefs, and a cape. Like a real hero.”
His gaze darkened for a second more until his lips twitched. Then he closed his eyes and sighed before gazing at me calmly. “Don’t need to be a hero. It’s what friends do for each other. Have their backs.”
“So…,” Manda started, until Jerimiah looked at her. She then squeaked and glanced everywhere else.
Laughing, I put her at ease. “Manda, Jerimiah. Jerimiah, this is my friend Manda. Oh, and Jerimiah conned me into being his friend too.”
The guys across from us laughed. Jerimiah turned to them, and they quickly coughed to cover their humour.
“How?” Manda asked, finding her confidence.
“Our fathers are in the same motorcycle club.”
Jerimiah’s friend’s faces brightened in understanding.
“Guess the cat’s outta the bag now and you’ll have to hang with us,” Jerimiah said with a smirk.
“Ah, no.”
I took a sip of my drink and heard Manda whisper, “Are you crazy?” while Jerimiah’s friends’ expressions went back to being shocked.
“Why?” Jerimiah pressed.
“You’re in year ten. I’m in year eight. That should explain enough. If it’s not, there’s also the fact you annoy me too much.”
Jerimiah chuckled, then ruffled my hair. “You adore me.”
Rolling my eyes, I pushed his hand away. “You wish.”
Since things were out in the open with us being friends, I decided to appear at his house that night because I’d only ever been there the once. However, it was only moments after arriving I wished I hadn’t.
“What’re you doin’ here?” Jerimiah asked as he moved aside to let me in. Walking through, I stopped just to the side of the door so Jerimiah could close it. When he did, he took my hand. “Let’s head to my room.”
Then there was a bang at the back of the house, and I felt Jerimiah tense. We both looked towards the entryway and saw Jerimiah’s dad stroll in.
“What are you doin’ home?” Jerimiah asked gruffly.
Jerimiah’s dad, who I knew as Switch, stopped and grinned. His eyes travelled over me slowly, and when he spotted my hand in his son’s, he grinned. And it wasn’t a nice one.
Ignoring his son, he said, “Charlie’s girl, right? Poppy?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Sir. Hmm, I like that.” He winked before flicking his gaze to Jerimiah. “You two close?”
I was surprised when Jerimiah tugged my hand in his, and I teetered sideways. Jerimiah stepped in front of me. Like his father, he ignored that question, and asked, “What are you doin’ home?”
Switch chuckled. I glanced over Jerimiah’s shoulder and Switch met my stare.
It was then I saw it.
A gleam in his eyes. I didn’t like it or trust it one bit. It felt wrong. He felt wrong.
Chapter Five
Fang
Present
Talking of my dad dragged up too many hateful emotions. I needed Poppy to understand something else. “Poppy, I was seriously drunk outta my mind that night and talkin’ shit. I didn’t mean anything by it. Fuck, I’m sorry if it hurt you—”
She waved her hand out in front of herself. “It did a lot… because I’d been in love with you. But that was only part of why I left.”
Shock locked my body in place.
She’d been in love with me?
Christ.
She’d loved me.
All the time I’d thought she’d seen me as an older brother. That night I’d been drunkenly wallowing in unrequited feelings I had for her and thought if I got some action in the sack, it’d take my mind off her. When I’d flirted with the woman who would take my mind off Poppy, the bird asked me about Poppy. I hadn’t wanted to lose the chance to get off, so I’d lied and told her Poppy was nothing to me, nothing more than a nuisance who followed me everywhere. Fuck me. I’d even told her how I couldn’t stand her attention… and Poppy had heard it all. She’d heard it and I’d crushed her.
She’d been in love with me like I had with her.
But… “Wait, what do you mean that was only part of why you left?”
She twitched, like her whole body spasmed.
“Poppy?”
“It doesn’t matter.” She snorted. “I seem to be saying that a lot.” She shook her head. “But I’ve decided it really doesn’t matter. I’ve just been stressed about, well, everything and…” She shrugged and smiled sadly. “I guess, I’ve been taking things out on you in a way.”
“I’d still like to know.”
Her jaw clenched. “Can we please just drop it?”
“Fuckin’ hell, darlin’. You left me. We were close, and you left without returning my calls and texts. It’s gotta be aired about why you cut me out.”
She fisted her hands at her sides. “Did you really care?”
“Of course I fuckin’ did.”
A snort. “If you did, if you really did, you would have taken the time to come find me.”
Well… Christ.
I opened my mouth, then closed it.
Her brows rose and she smirked, as if to say, “See.”
Throwing my hands up in the air in frustration, I explained my side. “You left me, Poppy. Like I meant nothing to you, and I didn’t understand why. Fuck, I was hurting, confused, and goddamn pissed that the most important person in my life cut me out.”
Pain flashed through her eyes. “I had my reasons.”
“And I had mine why I didn’t come to you. You know how stubborn I am. I got my back up about you leaving without a bloody word.” I growled in the back of my throat. “But things change from now on.”
Her head cocked to the side. “How?”
“We get back what we had, become friends again.” And then, fuckin’ then, I claim her in the way she’d never run from me again.
She straightened, a hand going to her stomach. It slid up over her heart and then stopped around her neck. “I-I don’t know if I can.”
“Why?”
“Fang—” She started but cut off when another frustrated growl rumbled up and out from my chest. With an eye-roll, she said, “Fine, Jerimiah.” I nodded. “I need… my mum, work… I can’t….” She let out her own cute, bitty growl. “My time’s already busy.”
“You’ll fit time in for me.”
She glared. “I don’t know if I can.”
“You will.”
Another cute noise in the back of her throat followed. “You’re still frustrating, demanding, and annoying.”
Smirking, I winked. “And yet, you still like me.”
Fuck. It was the wrong thing to say. The light in her eyes dimmed a little. I had to let things drop. For right then, I needed to leave things as they were, partly settled. But one day I’d find out everything I wanted to know.
To help her, save her, and make her mine.
Running a hand through my hair, I said, “Look, let’s just see how things go, yeah?”
A deep breath through her nose made me grin as she said, “I suppose.”
I chuckled. “I’m happy with that at least.”
She nodded. “Um, I do have to go now though.”
“All good. We’ll catch up soon.” She looked at me with scepticism. “Poppy, I’ll be around. You can’t get rid of me.” She gave me another nod. “Would it be too much to hug it out?”
Her eyes narrowed. “Fa—erimiah.”
“Poppy.” I held my arms wide.
“No.”
“Yes?”
“No,” she demanded, though I saw her lips fighting to stay in their serious line.
“So… not yet.” I winked. “We’ll work up to it.” I moved to the window.
“You can use the front door.”
Turning, I shook my head. “This was how it was. This was us.”
“Maybe we need change.”
“No, babe. We had something good. I want it back, and I get what I want. You should know that by now.”
“Jerimiah—”
“See you soon,” I called, before smiling and climbing out the window.
Fuck me, but it felt like I walked back around to the front of the house with a new spring in my step. I’d left things too long, and honestly, I didn’t know how much I’d missed my Poppy. Missed her in ways I’d blocked for a fucking long time. Hell, when we were close, I’d wanted her bad, but she’d been young. I’d planned on waiting until she was eighteen to claim her…. I’d fucked that up. Screwed it up royally by being the horny little fucker I’d been.
Then she’d left, and I drowned.
I’d sunk low without my Poppy around.
We’d get it back though.
We had to.
Swinging my leg over my ride, I couldn’t help but think she was more stunning. She’d been stunningly cute back in the day, to a point I had to warn guys away from her.
My body stilled at a new thought. Did she have a guy already?
Shit. I wanted to go back to find out. I didn’t. We’d left on a high, not at each other’s throats, and I wanted it to stay that way for a while. Wanted to prove myself to her that I wasn’t screwing us around.
A few hours later I was at the bar in the compound rolling my phone over and over in my hand while the other held a beer. Noise surrounded me, yet I didn’t really hear what was going on. I’d already texted Charlie for his daughter’s phone number, with a note I’d update him on his son when I found out his punishment. Since then, I tried to figure out a way to approach Poppy about if she had someone in her life.
Well, in a way that wouldn’t piss her off. I couldn’t really say, “Are you dating? If you are, get rid of him before I kill him.” Or, “No guy had better be in your life because you’re soon to be mine, and if there is, I’ll kill him.” Then there was, “You’re mine, any guy touches you, I’ll kill him.”
I was starting to see a pattern in my ideas; they all ended in death. Just the thought of my Poppy being with someone else built a fuckin’ furnace inside of me.
What I also noticed was that yeah, I’d been fuming about Nary and Vicious, but I’d never felt the furious heat I did with the thought of Poppy and another guy.
Guess it was because I’d always known something was gonna happen with Nary and Vicious. So when it did, I wasn’t shocked by it. Yeah, it hurt I’d lost her, plus it killed she got taken on my watch, but I was finally content with knowing they were happy.
Fucking hell, I was even happy for the fucker Vicious.
“What’s got your panties in a twist?”
Lifting my gaze from my phone, I watched Vicious taking the seat next to me. All happy thoughts for him vanished.
“Nothin’.” I glared.
“How’d it go with the woman?” he asked.
My head jerked back a little in shock. I glanced around and then back to Vicious. “Are we really doin’ this?”
“What?” He took the beer Gamer handed him and had a swig.
“Talkin’ like we don’t hate each other, like we’re mates?”
“I don’t hate you,” he said, and then grinned. “I don’t like you so much, but I don’t hate you. Not since I got what I wanted. And we’re brothers, so we gotta get along in some way.”
“You know, Nary and I never slept together.”
The bottle in his hand shattered, crumbled to pieces. He sneered. “We never speak of Nary and you ever again. Brother or not, I’ll fuckin’ slice your throat open.”
Snorting, I smiled. Gamer looked at me like I’d lost my mind. “Right. So in my understanding, you don’t want to talk about girly things, like how your woman is, and how my woman is.”
His dark gaze swung my way, then lightened. “Fuckin’ cocksucker.”
With a laugh, I tipped my beer his way. He got me. I wasn’t willing to talk about Poppy to him, and in return, I wouldn’t talk about Nary.
Starr, Nurse’s woman, popped up to the bar and rattled off an order for Gamer to fill. “Sweetheart, you do know the lazy motherfuckers here can come up and get their own drinks. This ain’t Pick and Billy’s pub,” Gamer explained.
“Oh, I know, but I don’t mind.” She smiled, then glanced to Vicious and me. Her eyes slid down and then she yelled across the room, “My man… blood…” She gulped. “…Vicious. Blood.”
“Shit,” we heard Nurse curse. “Catch her.”
Moving quickly, I pocketed my phone and wrapped my arm around her waist as her eyes fluttered in her head and her legs gave out from under her. Then she was dead weight in my arms. I lifted her, then carried her to a couch some brothers vacated for me and laid her down.
“Tell us again how you got a queasy one when you’re known to work with blood day in and out, brother?” someon
e called.
“Fuck off,” Nurse replied, heading to Vicious to fix up the cuts on his hand from the beer bottle. Chuckling, I left my brothers to watch over Starr, and made my way down the hall to my room.
Sinking to my bed, I lay back and again pulled out my phone. I sucked in a breath and opened up a text to Poppy.
Me: Tell me something I don’t know about you.
Poppy: Who is this?
Me: Your friend.
Poppy: Sounds more like a creeper to me.
I chuckled. Her response reminded me of how she used to be around me: herself. She’d always said what she wanted without a care in the world. Well, eventually she had.
Me: Poppy!
Poppy: Yes, Creeper?
Me: I’ll go by anything else other than creeper.
When I’d hit Send, I cursed my idiot self for leaving it wide open.
Poppy: Wanker? Clown? Sacklips? Any of those?
Me: Okay, bad move on my part. I’ll ONLY go by Jerimiah or hot stuff.
Poppy: All right. Jerimiah it is. And to answer your question: I hate nachos.
What the fuck? She used to eat them all the time with me.
Me: Bull. You ate them with me.
Poppy: ….
Sitting, the realisation crashed into me once again. She only ate them for me, because she knew I fuckin’ loved them. Hell, she had been in love with me. Only love would make a person suffer through a meal they hated.
Me: I’m not sure we can go on… not liking nachos is not human.
Poppy: Okay, it was nice knowing you again for the brief moment.
I frowned. The woman was too quick with that reply.
