Chapter Nine #4
His face only softens when he sees me, cheek slightly bruised, a nice little cut under his left eye.
You can see the relief in his eyes, like all he wanted was to know that I’m okay before he gives in, allowing the security guards to slam him against the wall, holding him there until one shows up and slaps a pair of cuffs on his wrists.
By the looks of him, I’d say he was undercover PD, but I can’t be too sure.
Wesley doesn’t fight them, just goes from glancing at the disaster on the floor before looking back up at me. To anyone else Wesley would look like a murderer, but to me, he looks like my savior.
He mouths the words, “Are you okay?”
I nod just as they start manhandling him toward the door. Eddie follows, Amber screaming after him, even though she knows he won’t stop.
“Where are you taking him?” Eddie questions.
“Jail,” the one with the cuffs grits out, pushing Wesley toward the door.
“I’ll bail you out, man!” Eddie shouts after him just as a few police officers march into the club, seizing Wesley from security.
“Don’t bother!” Wesley shouts. “Just fucking take care of Poppy for me.”
He doesn’t even care about himself.
He just cares about me.
Damn it, Poppy.
Amber and Eddie stand by the entrance, holding hands, she’s encouraging him by saying “everything’s going to be okay” just as I stumble over to them.
Eddie’s glare slices through me, and I suddenly feel very small. “What the fuck happened?”
“He lost it,” I inform them. “One minute, I’m walking out of the bathroom, and the next, that goon is crowding me, not letting me move any further until I agreed to dance with him.
Wesley must’ve seen him touch me because the guy was flying across the room before I could even process what was happening. ”
I had to lie.
It was the only way to make me not seem like the villain here. I purposely egged that guy on until it went too far, the drug taking over me.
They can’t know my little secret.
No one can.
“Eddie, are you okay?” Amber questions, staring up at him with concern etched in her eyes.
He shakes his head. “I don’t know if he can get out of this one,” he mumbles. “This is his third strike.”
I gasp. “What does that mean?”
When he finally speaks, his voice is a mixture of calculated control and fear. “It means he’s going to prison, maybe for a long time this time.”
“Oh shit,” Amber whispers.
But all I feel is guilt. My hand reaches up to cover my lips. “He can’t go to prison. He was just protecting me,” I choke out, my voice barely above a whisper.
Eddie snaps. “Like you fucking care. You’ve been nothing but a scathing bitch toward him since you met. Don’t act like you give a fuck about him now, not when it’s your fault this even happened.”
My eyes migrate to the floor, still hazy, still in my fog, the guilt making everything worse.
“Yeah, that floor isn’t going to help you get out of this one, Poppy. I hope you’re happy. Because your wish just got fucking granted. Now you’ll never have to see him again.”
Eddie takes a few steps toward the door, ready to race out after his friend. Amber tries to stop him, mumbling something to him that I can’t quite comprehend.
Everything is fading.
The sounds…
The lights…
That familiar pain in my chest aching so hard it feels like my heart’s about to burst.
Black spots dot my vision seconds before I hit the ground, the cold, hardwood floor is the only thing that reaches out to embrace me, taking me back to that dark place that brings me peace.
When I finally wake up, I’m in a hospital room. The lights above me sear my retinas with a blinding white beam that makes me immediately close my eyes.
“She’s awake!” a familiar voice exclaims, and suddenly someone takes my hand.
“We were so worried, baby.”
My mother.
“Weren’t we worried, honey?”
A grunt.
Must be my father.
My eyes flutter open to see my parents and sister sitting at my bedside. My mother looks genuinely concerned; my father does not. He’s standing by the door, arms crossed, his pressed suit impeccable as always.
He’s naturally annoyed, especially when it comes to me.
I can do everything right, and it’s still never enough.
I received perfect attendance every year that I went to school, never missing a day (except senior ditch day), even when I was sick.
He didn’t care. Those straight A’s I achieved on every report card didn’t even matter to him.
Hell, I was valedictorian of my graduating class, and he talked on his phone during my whole speech, not hearing a single word.
The only time he’s ever been proud of me is when I told him I got accepted to Yale.
He almost celebrated that. Then I decided to take my core classes at UNR to stay near my sister, and that pride faded.
Stanford wasn’t good enough for him. To everyone else, you’d think I was his perfect child, but behind closed doors, I’m nothing to him.
I’ve always played it off like I’m his favorite, but that’s always been Pippa. If people only knew the truth.
The doctor comes in, and my father instantly softens, putting on that concerned father face someone would expect in this situation.
“Hello, I’m Dr. Vale. How are you feeling, Poppy?”
I blink a few times. “A little hazy, actually.”
He nods. “Well, that’s to be expected. Can I ask you something?”
“Sure,” I say warily.
“Do you take recreational drugs?”
My father’s hardened gaze snaps my way, making my blood turn cold.
“N—No,” I stutter out.
My sister smirks, enjoying my discomfort. Thankfully, nobody sees it.
Dr. Vale frowns. “That’s what I thought. Well, I hate to inform you of this, Ms. Kiplinger, but last night you were drugged.”
“Drugged?”
He nods. “I was told you were at a club last night.”
My head bobs, but it suddenly feels like my neck weighs a thousand pounds.
He pats my hand. “Date rape drugs are common in clubs. We found certain traces of chemicals found in what people know as a common roofie, but also some other things we’ve never seen in date rape drugs before.
It’s strange, and something new to worry about hitting the streets. Whatever it was, it’s concerning.”
I feel like a deer caught in headlights.
Frozen.
Fearful.
Like all my dirty secrets are being laid out for everyone to analyze and see.
“Are you taking drugs?” my father rages, staring at me like he sees right through me.
“Of course not, Daddy,” I try to argue, but the disappointment is still there, running deep in his judgmental eyes.
The doctor turns to my father and frowns. “Sir, I just asked that question to rule out possible scenarios. As I said, what’s in her system is nothing like we’ve ever seen before. New drugs are popping up on the market every day, and I think she was drugged at the club she visited last night.
Pippa steps in. “It’s a common thing, Daddy. You know Poppy would never do drugs. She’s too good for that.” She smirks at me from behind their backs, but like always, when Pippa speaks, our dad softens.
“Of course. Poppy would never do something like that,” he says, quickly correcting his tone. “I’ve raised good daughters.”
Dr. Vale smiles, then starts looking me over.
“You’re going to have a bit of a concussion.
When you fainted, your head hit the hard floor.
It’s going to be a few days of recovery for you, but I think you’re going to be okay.
” He fires off a few questions to check my memory, and besides not knowing the exact day, I passed every one.
“Yeah, you’ll be fine. If you start to have headaches, have any nausea and vomiting, vision changes, or memory lapses, please get yourself checked out. ”
“I will, Dr. Vale. Thank you.”
He excuses himself from the room, leaving me alone with my parents and sister.
“What has gotten into you, Poppy? First Yale, now this.” His voice carries so much fear, control, dominance, and the weight of everything that holds me back.
“Daddy, I’m sorry.”
“If you weren’t out always partying, you’d be at Yale like we planned. Instead, you’re going to Stanford, and I had to pay your way to get there.”
My heart almost stops beating. “Excuse me?”
He smirks. “Did you think with your college scores that you could get in on your own, Poppy? No, like always, I had to pull some strings to get you in there.”
The room starts to spin as tears prick my eyes.
“Jacob, that’s enough. Leave the poor girl alone,” my mother chastises.
“Shut up, Evelyn. Let me parent our children for once. They need a dose of reality every once in a while.”
I can’t even look him in the eye. Every word that leaves his mouth is another to punish me.
“Just go,” I whisper, barely able to speak.
“Excuse me?”
“I said go!” I shout a little louder. “If I’m such a damn disappointment, then get the hell out of here. I don’t need you making me feel worse than I already do. Besides, don’t you have a board meeting or a conference call you’re missing?”
He shakes his head. “Come on, Evelyn, let’s go.”
“Jacob, I’d really like to stay and make sure she’s okay.”
“She brought this on herself. I said we’re leaving, so we’re leaving.” He grabs my mother by the hand, forcing her to leave the room.
Pippa hangs back, waiting until they’re halfway down the hall before she meanders over to the bed.
“Thanks for covering for me, I guess. Not that it helped.”
She shrugs. “He was already pissed off that he had to come down here. People are already talking about the fight at the club and how one of the Kiplinger sisters was involved. He’s trying to bury it before it affects his job.”
I pick at the sheet covering me and sigh. “Do you think he was telling the truth?”
“About what?”
“Stanford?”
Pippa shrugs. “Probably. I wouldn’t put it past him. He had his heart set on you going to Yale, and when you didn’t get in again, I heard him mumbling something about how at least one of his daughters was going to an Ivy League school.”
My confidence dwindles even further.
“Hey now, don’t look like that. Whatever Dad did, he did it for your own good. We both know how smart you are, Poppy. You deserve to go to Stanford. You earned it.”
“He just said I didn’t.”
“Well, you did. If it wasn’t for me begging you to go to UNR with me, you’d be in Yale finishing up your PHD. I’ve held you back, and I’m sorry for that.”
“Pippa Kiplinger is sorry for something? Has Hell frozen over?”
She laughs, pushing me playfully. “Shut up. I can admit when I’m wrong sometimes.”
“Have you told Amber yet?”
She shakes her head.
“When are you going to tell her, Pippa?”
She moves away from the bed, closer to the door. “When the time is right.”
“They’re getting married in a few weeks.”
“We’ll see.”
I can see the wheels turning in her head. She has something planned. Something that isn’t good. “Pippa, just tell her about Eddie. Don’t do something stupid.”
Her laugh is almost evil; the way it curdles from her throat and fills the room with haunted cackles. “We both know it’s too late for that, Poppy. Well, get some rest, okay? At least you didn’t end up in jail like Wesley.”
Immediately, I sit up a little straighter. “Wait, he really went to jail?”
She nods. “Now Eddie is down a groomsman. Such a tragedy. Couldn’t have happened to a better guy.” She smirks. “Why do you care, anyway? You hate Wesley.”
“Sure, but that doesn’t mean I want him to go to prison.”
She shrugs. “Maybe it will be good for him and teach him that it’s not okay to go around hitting people?
He almost killed that dude, Poppy. Imagine the newspapers tomorrow if that guy actually died?
Dad’s already pissed about our family name being slung around because of this stupid club fight, and you passing out in the middle of it.
Imagine if it was linked to someone’s murder, too.
You’re just lucky they haven’t found out about your little addiction yet.
The second they do, consider your inheritance gone. ”
“And yet, you get away with murder, and he doesn’t even bat an eye.”
She blinks but doesn’t say anything.
“I don’t understand why he hates me so much.”
She holds my gaze for two whole seconds before moving into the doorway. “Face it, Poppy, as long as I’m around, you’re never going to be Daddy’s favorite girl, so rest up, dear sister. Friday is Amber’s bachelorette party, and it’s going to be one hell of an occasion.”
“Pippa, what are you up to?”
She smirks. “You’ll see.”
Then she’s gone, leaving me alone in the hospital to overthink my entire existence.