Chapter 15 In Her Hands
In Her Hands
Poppy's smile survived the first three impossible requests.
The fourth made her crush my fingers.
"Delta alums want to know if we're holding boat space," Mackenzie said, reading from her phone. "Not asking. Wanting to know."
"Kappa's asking too," Camille said. "They heard the party might cap out before half the house registers."
Poppy stood between Luna and me at the open front of Brewster Bay's unfinished outdoor bar, one arm linked through mine and the other through Luna's.
The white Kappa tank she wore had ridden up enough to show a strip of golden stomach above her cutoffs.
Her hair spilled over one shoulder in dark curls.
Her smile stayed bright while her nails bit deeper into my hand.
Around us, the bar looked like an idea somebody had started building before the money caught up. Framing, a broad unfinished counter, stacked trim, tools pushed safely against the wall. The pool and path lights were finally working, but the sun hadn't dropped far enough for them to matter yet.
The final party was eight days away. Judging by the requests piling across Poppy's phone, people had decided Brewster Bay could stretch to fit the entire lake if she asked it nicely.
It couldn't.
Harper turned her tablet so we could see the arrival estimates without forcing us through every number.
"We have more interested boats than usable dock space, more drivers than parking, and enough people to turn the pool deck into a lawsuit.
That's before the resort guests who already paid to be here. "
"So a normal sorority function," Jessa said.
Elena took a slow drink of water. "Normal functions usually have enough bathrooms to prevent a diplomatic incident."
Jessa pointed at her. "See? That's why we keep her. Foresight."
Kit and Bristol stood together across the counter, Kit with her phone ready and Bristol studying the lists as if one of them might confess to lying. Neither interrupted. They'd both recognized what I had. This wasn't really a numbers problem anymore.
Everyone was looking at Poppy.
Mackenzie and Harper wanted her to remember that Delta had driven a huge share of the interest. Camille and Jessa wanted their Kappa sister to protect the women who'd worked beside her all summer.
Elena wanted a plan that wouldn't send anyone into the lake wearing a neck brace.
Kit and Bristol wanted Poppy to get through the conversation without carrying every disappointed face home with her.
Poppy wanted all of them happy.
That was the one outcome Brewster Bay didn't have room for.
"Nobody's getting shut out because of her letters," Poppy said. Her voice stayed syrupy and warm. Only the extra second before the sentence gave her away. "Give me a minute and we'll build something fair."
"Fair to which house?" Mackenzie asked.
Poppy's grip changed. My fingers stopped taking the damage. Luna's arm did instead.
Luna looked down at the small hand locked around her forearm, then at Poppy's profile. Until then, she'd been letting Poppy hold on the way she always did. Easy affection. Familiar warmth. Poppy making a human chain because she preferred every person she loved within reach.
Luna turned into the contact.
She slid her arm free only long enough to put it around Poppy's waist. Her palm settled at Poppy's hip, firm and flat. Poppy's next breath went deeper. Her weight shifted a fraction toward Luna before she caught herself.
Luna's thumb pressed once into the soft skin above Poppy's shorts.
The gesture was quiet, barely visible to anyone who wasn't pressed against them. It gave Poppy enough strength to lean while everyone waited for her to make the impossible feel generous.
Poppy set her phone on the unfinished counter and pulled the working list closer.
"First thing," she said, "I'm Kappa. Very happily Kappa. I love my house, and none of you get to look at me like I'm about to forget that because Kit and half of Delta are family too."
"Wouldn't dream of it," Jessa said.
"You were absolutely dreaming of it."
"Briefly. It wasn't my best dream."
Poppy's laugh came out real. The relief lasted only until she looked back at the list.
"But this isn't a Kappa party," she continued. "It isn't a Delta party either. It's Brewster Bay's party, at a resort full of people who booked a vacation before the internet decided we were the center of summer. They come first."
"Registered guests and whatever the Brewsters need to run the resort safely.
Then we put hard caps on arrivals by water and land.
After that, every remaining place goes through one confirmed registration list. Same opening time.
Same rules. No Delta allotment. No Kappa allotment.
No captain, alum, boyfriend, hot cousin, or girl with a boat named after herself gets a secret entrance. "
Mackenzie's disappointment tightened her mouth. "Delta helped build this demand, Pops. If everybody hits one list at once, women who did the work might not get in."
"I know."
Two words, and Poppy meant both of them. Her shoulders held steady. Her free hand curled against the counter.
Harper stepped in beside Mackenzie. "And current members? Are they competing with alumni too?"
"Everybody competes with everybody," Poppy said. "I hate that answer. It stays the answer."
Luna's hand moved from Poppy's hip to the small of her back. She didn't rub or soothe. She held. Poppy leaned into the pressure for one heartbeat, then used it to stand straighter.
Camille waited until the Delta side had finished. "Kappa women committed to setup. With no preference, they'll feel like they built a party for everyone else."
Poppy's eyes closed for half a second.
When they opened, she reached across the space and caught Camille's hand.
"I know that too," she said. "And I need you to tell them I didn't forget a single hour they gave us.
But gratitude can't make the dock longer.
It can't give the deck a second load limit or carve another lane through the parking lot.
I won't pay Kappa back by helping Brewster Bay do something unsafe. "
Camille squeezed Poppy's fingers before letting go. "They still won't like it."
"Neither will Delta," Mackenzie said.
"Good," Elena said. "Equal misery. The foundation of every durable agreement."
Kit snorted. Bristol's mouth moved at one corner.
Poppy glanced at Elena. "You're not helping."
"I'm keeping the negotiation from developing feelings."
"Too late," Jessa said. "Mine are devastated."
"Those are allergies."
The laugh that rolled across the counter gave Poppy room to breathe, but it didn't dissolve the pressure. Her fingers found Luna's wrist now, keeping Luna's hand against her back. Familiar Poppy affection would have moved on by then, touching the next person, pulling someone else into the circle.
She kept Luna.
I noticed. Luna definitely noticed.
So did my cock, because there was nothing subtle about the way Luna's body angled behind Poppy or the way Poppy's juicy breasts rose under that tight white tank when Luna's thumb began a slow pass along her spine.
The arousal didn't erase what Poppy was carrying. It sharpened it. She was beautiful when she made a room laugh. She was devastating when she held her ground even though every ‘no’ cost her something.
"One list," Poppy said. "Confirmed entry, clear waitlist, no hidden link. The rules post to both houses at the same time. If a space opens, the next person gets it. We stop when the property is full, even if the next woman waiting is somebody we love."
Bristol touched one finger to the capacity list. "The process holds if confirmations have a deadline. Otherwise, people will reserve a place and decide later."
Poppy nodded. "Good. Add it."
Kit looked from Poppy to Luna, then back to the list. "Delta can live with fair."
She didn't say it for Poppy. She said it so Poppy didn't have to keep selling the same answer.
Camille's attention settled on Luna. The deck quieted by degrees as everyone understood where the last pressure point lived.
"You're comfortable with this?" Camille asked her.
Luna's hand stayed on Poppy.
"I'm standing here."
"You're also the person who can keep Kappa from losing half the available places before most of our women open the link.
" Camille kept her tone level. She wasn't challenging Luna's loyalty.
She was asking her to use it. "At least review the plan before it goes out.
Give us an early window. An hour. Something. "
Poppy went very still against her.
Luna looked at the phone on the counter, then at Camille.
"No."
Camille's chin lifted. "No early window?"
"No review. No revision. No Kappa window."
Luna moved around Poppy without taking her hand away. Her palm traveled across Poppy's lower back until she stood at her side, their hips touching. Poppy's fingers caught the back of Luna's tank and held there.
"Poppy built the only fair plan in front of us," Luna said. "If I touch it now, every woman who doesn't get what she wants will decide the problem was Poppy's judgment. It isn't. The property has a limit. Her plan respects it."
"You haven't read the final wording," Camille said.
"I don't need to."
Poppy looked up at her.
Luna held out her phone. "Send it to me."
Poppy picked up her own phone with an unsteady hand. She tapped twice. Luna's screen lit.
She didn't open the file.
She shared it directly into the Kappa channel, added one sentence, and hit send with her arm still around Poppy.
Every Kappa phone around the counter buzzed.
Jessa read hers first. "Poppy Summers built Brewster Bay's final-party rules. They stand as written. Questions come to me." She looked at Luna. "Damn."
"That last sentence is mine," Luna said. "The rest is Poppy's."
Camille checked the message. For a moment, she looked caught between the answer her house wanted and the woman who had just taken responsibility for disappointing them.
"They're going to call you," she said.
"Then they won't be calling her."