Chapter Twenty-Three
Poppy
I can still taste his lips as I rush inside the safety of the Misfits secret compound, my heart thundering like it’s about to explode inside my chest. I didn’t expect to let him in so easily, but there’s something about Wesley I just can’t shake.
It’s like he’s meant to be mine, even though I’ll do whatever it takes to keep him from getting any closer.
It’s safer for both of us that way.
Warden and a few others are waiting for me when I arrive.
Arturo has been gone for at least two weeks, and Warden has made it his personal mission to make me his little lap dog while he’s gone.
The last two guys he sent out to sell product got pinched by the cops, so they recruited me, knowing they could pull me in by offering me a taste of the merchandise in exchange for selling it on the streets.
What I didn’t expect was the heat that would come with it, or the dark place it would bring me back to every time I left the safety of their compound to do a deal.
Without saying anything, Warden nods towards the door of their meeting room, barely giving me a chance to catch my breath as he indicates I have no choice but to follow.
Fuck.
The second the door closes behind us, I’m pushed from behind and forced to sit in a chair at the end of the table, facing men who only know how to scowl and cause me pain.
“Did you think I wouldn’t know?” Warden shouts, slamming his hands down on the table. “Did you think I wouldn’t hear?”
Fear consumes me as my pulse races beneath my hoodie, everything colliding at once.
“Where’s my fucking money, Poppy?”
I throw down the few bills that I have, but it’s not the amount he expected.
“Where’s the rest?”
I produce the extra vials from my pocket and place them on the table. “I couldn’t sell them.”
“And why the fuck not?”
“He said it was shit.”
Warden paces in front of me, his agitation only heightening. “First you can’t sell it because cops are around, now you’re telling me our biggest buyer won’t touch it because he says it’s shit?”
I nod, my heart racing with fear. “Yes.”
“Stupid girl!” he shouts, taking two steps toward me before his hand ricochets off my cheek. “I knew you couldn’t handle this shit.”
He produces a gun and holds it to my head.
Yesterday, I would’ve welcomed the cold metal against my temple and embraced what was coming, but after seeing Wesley today, for some reason, I’m clinging to my miserable life a little more than I should.
“Please,” I beg. “Give me another chance to prove I’m worthy of your club.”
He raises an eyebrow my way and pauses, the gun still pressed firmly against the side of my head. Lockjaw steps up to him and whispers something in his ear, something that makes his eyes go wide.
“Lockjaw tells me you were flirting with the enemy today.”
My breath stalls in my throat.
“Is that true?” he questions, clicking a bullet into the chamber of his gun. “Are you feeding them information about us?”
I shake my head. “No!” I cry out. “He’s just someone that’s obsessed with me and thinks he can save me. I don’t even care about him. He’s nothing to me.”
“Is that so?”
The way his smile crawls up his face has my stomach clenching uneasily. He circles me like a hungry animal, smirking evilly when I flinch because he’s too close.
“Then why can I smell his dick on you?”
My eyes widen.
He laughs maniacally. “Goddamn it, Poppy. I hate how useful you are to me at times.” He holsters his gun, but his scowl remains.
“Useful?”
He nods. “Don’t you realize it yet? You’re his weakness. And if I can take out their enforcer, I can take out their whole club.” His wicked smile curls at the corners. “You know what? That sounds even better. Yes. Let’s take out their whole club all at once.”
I gulp, but it stays lodged in my throat.
“But then there’s the little problem of you sleeping with the enemy, Poppy. How am I supposed to walk around here with my head held high, knowing that you went behind my back and opened your legs for the first bastard that gave you a little attention?”
“It won’t happen again, Warden, that’s something I can promise you.”
He smirks. “You see, I’d like to believe you, Poppy, but I can’t. Your track record and ties to them unnerve me.”
“I’ll do anything to prove to you I’m loyal to this club.”
“Anything?”
I nod, not liking the predatory gaze in his eyes.
“Then I’m going to need you to do something for me, Poppy. Something to get back in my good graces.” He toys with a vial of my drug of choice, taunting me with it. “If you succeed, I’ll give you two of these.”
“Really?”
He nods only once. “But if you fail me again…”
“I won’t.”
“Oh, you definitely will. You’re a fuck up, Poppy. It runs in your veins, much like your addiction that keeps you going.”
I bite my tongue before it can betray me.
“What do you need me to do?”
He smirks. “Nothing too hard. I just need you to light a little match for me.”
“A match?”
He texts me an address.
“Yup, go to this address and burn the motherfucker to the ground. Do this for me, and you’ll be back in my good graces.”
“What’s the catch?”
Still smirking, he sits on the edge of the table, holding up his hands innocently. “No catch. All I’m asking is for you to start a little fire. A giant burning M will do.”
“For Moseley?”
He laughs. “No, bitch, for the Misfits. You think you can do it without getting caught?”
I nod. “Yeah, I think I can.”
“Good. I’ll have Arturo make Moseley pay you for your troubles.”
“Why won’t you pay me?”
He shrugs. “When Moseley pays you, you can give the money to me. Consider it a way to pay me back for the drugs you didn’t sell. Now go before I change my fucking mind.”
“That’s not fair—”
He cuts me off, eyes sliding into slits. “That’s business, baby. Do as I say or find out the hard way just what happens to bitches who betray me.”
They let me leave, but I can feel their filthy eyes watching my every move as I go.
I know this address. I know it far too well, and the fact that he’s sending me there to do this has everything to do with what happened today.
But I can’t refuse. Refusing will only end with me winding up face down in some river or desert abyss.
They were supposed to be gone longer.
I barely have time to light a match before I hear their bikes roaring up the road.
Adrenaline takes over as I drop the flaming matchstick onto the ground, the vibrant ‘M’ taking shape. The flames flicker and dance around my feet, the heat gnawing at my face as the gasoline ignites, almost burning away my eyelashes.
Part of me wants to step into the flames and let the fire burn away all this emptiness inside of me, but like a coward, I run, slipping through a loose fence board just as their gates open and their club rides in.
For one second, I dare myself to look back, my heart clenching when I realize that the guy on the first bike looks pretty damn familiar.
Wesley.
Holy shit! Seeing him again only makes those strange, wayward feelings come rushing back.
He’s fucking hot as fuck on the back of a motorcycle, arms holding the handles above his head, a cute little helmet slammed down on his skull.
It’s sexy and a huge turn on… but I can’t fall victim to my stupid desires.
If I do, I’ll lose the only family I have.
Eddie and Rich ride in behind him, and the second I see Eddie, all of that vengeance I’ve been harboring inside bursts, burning through me much like the inferno that’s now going after his vehicles. The first car explodes, sending some dude flying into a stairwell, just as car two burst into flames.
The blast brings me to my knees, and I quickly scramble to get back on my feet, breaking off into a sprint in the opposite direction of their club.
“Hey, where the fuck do you think you’re going?” a familiar voice shouts after me, his footsteps slamming against the rocky earth as he races to catch up.
I slip into someone’s backyard, only to be tackled from behind a few seconds later. “Move and I’ll kill you, motherfucker,” Wesley growls, just as something hard presses to the back of my head. “Make one wrong move and I swear I’ll fucking kill you.”
My heart slams violently inside my chest, and the rage inside me takes over. “Get off of me, asshole!”
He freezes, giving me enough room to turn over and see the betrayal in his eyes. His violent breaths came out in sputters, matching my own chaotic breathing that’s hard to manage.
The second he speaks, my eyes narrow in irritation. “Poppy?” he questions, his voice slightly breaking. You can see the disappointment lingering, realizing that everything that happened earlier between us was nothing more than an effective lie.
At least, that’s what I need him to believe.
My mouth pulls evilly across my face. “Aww, Wesley, don’t go getting all soft on me now.
” The barrel of his gun looks so inviting.
Anything is better than facing the consequences of my actions head on like this.
Like a madwoman I grab the barrel, pushing it up to my throat, embracing death and everything that comes next.
If I return to Warden, he’ll kill me anyway.
“Finish me off. That’s what you’d do to anyone else. ”
“You started that fire?” Eddie questions once he reaches us, looking at me with complete and utter shock. Rich somehow appears beside them, all of their jaws hanging open like the plot twist didn’t just smack them in the face. Their look of confusion is goddamn intoxicating.
Grinning, I pull myself up to my knees, making them all shift the grip on their guns. “What? Didn’t think the smart girl could have the fire bug in her?”
“Why?” Rich’s voice comes out slightly triggered, as if he never expected someone like me to do this to them.
There’s no emotion behind my laugh, it’s as sinister and decrepit as the drugs that feed my veins. “Why not?” My laugh carries through the yard. “After what you did to my sister, don’t you think it’s deserved?”