Chapter 19
Chapter Nineteen
Watching Poppy dance with her best friend, I lean back in my chair.
She looks happy, really happy. It crosses my mind that I’m going to fuck up her life.
The more time I spend with her, the more I want to keep her.
And the only way to do that is to take her away from her hometown, away from her family and friends.
I know it’s selfish of me, to expect her to up and move when I can’t offer the same level of commitment. It’s also only been a fucking week. Why the hell am I thinking about keeping her?
“It’s been a long time since she’s been this happy,” Jaxson says. The three Kestral brothers have been sitting with me all night, which I guess makes it a little less awkward being at a stranger’s wedding.
“What do you mean?” I ask him.
“She’s had a rough go of things. But this past week, she’s smiled more than I’ve seen her do in a real long time.” He pauses to take a sip of his drink. “Whatever you’re doing—I don’t want the details—but keep doing it. She deserves to be happy.”
“I have to go back to Vegas tonight. I haven’t told her yet,” I admit. I’ve been putting it off. I need to be on that jet in a couple of hours.
“Take her with you,” Joel says.
“Take her with me?” I question. I can’t lie. The thought has crossed my mind. I just didn’t think she’d go along with it. “She has a business here. I can’t just expect her to up and leave town with me without notice.” I’m not that much of an ass.
“Her business will be just fine. She should get out of town this week, take her mind off things,” Jaggar adds.
“What do you mean?”
“Wednesday is the anniversary of her mother’s death,” Jaxson explains. “It’s always a hard day for her.”
Like I said, I’d figured her parents had passed. I was just waiting for Poppy to be the one to tell me about it. Which is why I don’t press her cousins for more information. “I’ll ask her.”
I watch as Poppy and Alice approach the bar. Poppy kicks off her heels, climbs up on the barstool and then onto the bar top.
“Oh, great, she’s doing it again,” Joel groans.
“She do this often?” I ask, already standing.
“Yep,” Jaxson grunts.
Making my way over to the bar, I position myself in front of Poppy. At least she’s wearing a floor-length dress and every fucker here can’t see her panties tonight. “We really need to stop meeting like this,” I tell her.
“Poppy, seriously, I’m not doing it,” Alice hisses out.
“Yes, you are,” Poppy insists. “Sammie, use those muscles of yours and get her up here.”
“Yeah, I’m not touching a woman who’s not you,” I tell her.
“Aw, that’s sweet, but seriously I need someone else up here with me.”
“Why?” I ask her.
“Because I cannot line dance on this bar alone.” Poppy looks at Alice.
“Fine, but when you get married, I’m paying you back for this,” Alice grumbles, scooping her dress as she climbs onto the stool. Poppy grabs on to Alice’s hand, and before I know it, they’re both on the bar.
“DJ, play our song!” Poppy yells out.
A country song starts blaring through the speakers, and Poppy and Alice pick up the bottom of their dresses and start doing some kind of synchronized dance. Jaggar comes to stand next to me.
When the song starts telling them to shake it, I turn to him. “What is this song?”
“Country Girl, Luke Bryan. They’ve been doing this for as long as I can remember,” he groans.
I stare up at Poppy, ready to catch her if she falls, but I can’t help but be amazed by how free she looks right now. “This is how we met,” I tell Jaggar.
“What?”
“She was dancing on one of my bars, fucked the wood up with her heels too.” I laugh. I remember getting a message from my dad about having to have that bar top sanded down and resurfaced. He wasn’t impressed.
When the song ends, Poppy jumps—literally jumps—at me. I catch her. But fuck, that came out of nowhere. “Good reflexes,” she tells me, her palm patting my chest.
“As if I’d fucking let you fall.”
“Aw, you say the sweetest things.” Her lips press against mine and I fucking take everything she’s giving me. The taste of sugary wine hits my tongue.
“How drunk are you?”
“I’m not. I’ve had two drinks all night because this is a night I was not going to forget. Why?” Poppy says.
“I need to ask you something and I need you to be sober to give me an answer,” I explain.
“Is it about anal? Because it’s not really my thing but something tells me you’d make even that feel good,” she says.
I raise a single brow at her. “It’s not, but when we do get to that, I guarantee you’re going to fucking love it. I want you to come back to Vegas with me.”
“When?”
Well, that wasn’t a straight-up no. “Tonight. I have to leave in about two hours.”
“For how long? Wait… I can’t get a ticket that quickly, Sammie.”
“A ticket for what?”
“For a flight.” She stares at me as if I should know that.
“Poppy, we have our own jet. You don’t need a ticket.” I laugh.
“Oh, so organized crime pays well then, huh?” she hums.
“We do okay. So, is that a yes?”
“I need to say goodbye and wait for Alice to make her exit from this reception, and I need to stop by home and get changed and pack a bag.”
“Okay.” I nod. I’ll take it. If I have to hold up the jet for another hour, then so be it. Because she’s coming back with me.
“I also need to get Kellie to sort out my clients for the week, but it was going to be a quiet few days anyway. She can either see them herself or they can reschedule.”
“Okay, do what you have to do. I’ll let the pilot know we’re taking off in three hours.” I lean in and kiss her.
By the time we land in Vegas, Poppy is asleep and Imogen appears tired as fuck.
“Are you okay? You look like you haven’t slept in days.” I ask my sister.
“I’m fine, and you’re not supposed to tell a girl she looks tired, Sammie J,” Imogen fires back at me.
“Okay, let’s get off this jet. I’ll take you home first.”
I pick up Poppy, and her eyes blink open at me. “Are we here?”
“We are.”
“Put me down. I can walk,” she says.
“I like carrying you,” I tell her.
“Sammie, put me down,” she repeats while wiggling out of my hold. “You’re not carrying me down those rickety jet stairs.”
“Fine, but I wouldn’t have dropped you.” I place Poppy on her feet.
Imogen is ahead of us, and by the time we make it to the tarmac, she’s leaning against the car. She looks even more pale than she did on the jet five minutes ago. I let go of Poppy’s hand and walk over to my sister.
Placing my fingers under her chin, I tilt her face upwards. “What the fuck is wrong, Imogen? And don’t tell me you’re fine. You’re not.”
Imogen flinches. “It’s just motion sickness or something. Can I stay at your place tonight? Don’t take me home. If Mom sees me looking like this, she’s going to freak and I don’t want her to freak out.”
Something is wrong with her, and I’m going to find out. I usually wait for her to tell me what’s going on with her, but she’s not telling me shit.
“Okay, you can come home with me.” Opening the door, I let my sister get in first and then Poppy. I follow behind her. Then I pull out my phone and send a message to the doctor we have on call, instructing him to meet us at my apartment.
Poppy rests her head against my shoulder on the drive there. “I probably should have asked… You don’t live with your parents, do you?”
“No.” I chuckle.
“Okay, cool. Because that would have been awkward.”
Once we’re in my apartment, Imogen heads for the guestroom and I show Poppy to my room. “I have a doctor meeting me to check on Imogen. You should hop into bed. You’re tired.”
“Is she okay?”
“I don’t know,” I admit. “I’m sure it’s nothing.”
“Yeah. Do you mind if I have a shower?”
“Poppy, do whatever you want. Make yourself at home.” I lean down, kiss her forehead, and then go in search of my sister.
I find Imogen sitting on the bed in the guestroom.
“I have the doc coming to check on you.”
Her eyes widen. “No, he can’t,” she says, shaking her head.
“Why not?” I drop down next to her.
“Because if he finds out, he’s going to tell Mom and Dad. I don’t want them to know yet. I need more time.”
“Know what, Imogen?”
She looks at me with tears in her eyes. “I’m dying,” she whispers.