Chapter 10 #2
“Only, I didn’t really repel down. I got to the top and realized I was afraid of heights. Like deathly afraid of heights. Elevators make me sweat. Even worse, it was on a date with Bobby Mitchell, and I was trying to impress him. He left with Francie ‘Full Cs’ Franklin.”
“Well, Bobby Mitchell must be an idiot because you’re pretty impressive.”
“You’re just saying that to charm your way into my pants. Won’t work.”
“For that to happen I’d have to get past your hundred-and-eighty-pound security guard.”
“He’s your dog.” As she said it, Taters lifted his bowling ball–sized head and licked her face from chin to forehead.
“Tell me another thing about you that no one knows,” Decker said.
Immediately came the image of her mom passed out on the couch with blood running down her arm.
When Poppy woke her up, her mom couldn’t remember what happened.
Turned out she’d driven the car through the garage door.
She’d never told anyone that story because she didn’t want people to pity her. And she wasn’t going to start now.
“You’re the onion. You tell me something,” she said.
He sat up and leaned back against the headboard, those arms once again crossed behind his head, guns flexing. “What do you want to know?”
“Tell me something that I can’t google.”
“My right knee hurts when it rains.”
She gave a foul-buzzer sound. “Go deeper.”
He looked at her as if he were about to give some bullshit answer, but then he surprised her.
“You wanted to know why I need to do this? My relationship with my brother has been strained ever since my dad had a stroke, because I got to go live my NHL dream and he had to give up college to run the family business. I’m trying to bridge that gap and make things better.”
“I’m betting the sex tape didn’t help.”
He groaned and looked up at the ceiling. “You know I didn’t set out to make a sex tape, right?”
“You looked pretty into it to me.”
“You’re used to being under scrutiny with your show. Have you ever had a moment that was meant to be private that made it on air and was critiqued by millions?”
“Haven’t we all?”
In the beginning of her career she used to get so upset when she’d do a great show and viewers would critique her hair or a look she gave. Or when a reporter did what was supposed to be a puff piece on the show, and the article ended up being about Poppy and her dad’s estranged relationship.
Over the years she grew thick skin, but every once in a while, someone said something or pointed to something that cut deep.
“Yes, and I hate it. Even worse, I hate that I hate it. I shouldn’t let it bother me, but it does.”
“Well, imagine having a video taken showing every part of you and having it released without your permission. Even worse, it was a deep, private moment between you and someone you cared about. On top of that, having it be the ‘clip of the week’ on every station. All while you’re naked.”
“Then why didn’t you defend yourself?”
“Because I just wanted it to disappear. And I didn’t want to make it harder on Holly.”
“Is she the woman in the video?”
“Yes. And before you point fingers, I’d like to think she wasn’t the one who released it.”
“You seem to have a lot of faith in her.”
“Once upon a time, I thought I’d spend the rest of my life with her. And this affected her as much as it did me. Probably even more. So the best way to get it out of everyone’s mouth was for us to not talk about it.”
She was surprised by how vehemently he defended the woman in the video. And how protective he was of her. She wondered what it would be like to have a man be so safeguarding of her. And an annoying part of her speculated if he still had feelings for Holly.
“And don’t even get me started on what this has done to my company’s professional relationships.”
“I didn’t think of that,” she admitted.
“I’m sure that some of the crew would be like ‘Fuck yeah, he’s a cool dude.’ But what builder wants to get into bed with a guy whose bedtime activities are all over TMZ?”
She could only imagine how something like that would negatively impact her business. Sponsors would pull out left and right, no matter who’d leaked the video or how long ago it was taken.
“And the worst part was all the guys where high-fiving me, like I was a sex god. Like I’d want something so private and intimate out there.
We were in love. Young love, sure, but at the time it felt like love to us.
Now it’s just something lewd and trashy.
The first thing people will see when they google Holly’s name is that tape.
If she has kids someday, that’s what they’ll see.
I can’t even imagine how this is affecting her.
At least I’ve got a whole career in the NHL to shield me. She’s got nothing.”
Poppy was floored about how he was putting the woman’s feelings over his own. It was heroic how he spoke.
“You know, a lot of people use me for my money and fame, recently even my family, but Holly wasn’t like that. She loved me for who I am. That was special to me, a coveted part of my life and now it’s out there for people to pass judgment on.”
“I’m sorry.”
She hadn’t expected the way his jaw tightened, the way something bruised flickered behind his eyes—as if her apology had nudged open a door he kept padlocked.
People had taken pieces of him for years, traded on his fame, his money, his body, until even the good memories of his ex were stained by that damn sex tape.
She couldn’t imagine what that would do to a person’s ability to trust.
“Now your turn. Tell me about your dad,” he said quietly, and her heart jumped as if he’d screamed it.
“What are people on the set saying?” she asked.
“Everything from you being estranged to having kept him a secret because he helped you launch your career from the shadows.”
“He had not one thing to do with my career. Not a single thing. That people think so little of me pisses me off.” She paused. “What do you believe?”
“That I haven’t heard the story come from your lips, so I don’t have an informed opinion. But if you need to talk, I’m a vault.”
“Thank you, but is it okay if I pass? Not forever, but for tonight?”
“Angel, it’s your story; you don’t have to tell a single person if you don’t want to. And anyone who believes you didn’t get here on your own is an idiot. I know how hard you work, and how much your job means to you. You’d never take a shortcut. It’s not in your DNA.”
“Thank you,” she whispered, shocked at how much his words meant to her.
Layers indeed.