Lori turns her attention to Poppy, asking for a tour of the house and for any instructions she needs. Poppy explains about the pool being out of commission while I kiss the kids and text Hawk to make sure he saw Lori come in.
Once we’ve said our goodbyes to the kids, Poppy and I head out to the party. And I wonder just how long I can go without telling her about my dealings with her mom.
We arrive at the party early. We park in the lot, and I help Poppy out of the passenger side of my truck, taking the minute to hold her close to me.
“You look good enough to eat,” I tell her. “Fuck this party. Let’s go to my room and make a party of our own.”
I kiss the side of her neck, the warmth of her hair and that gorgeous salon scent from her shampoo filling my nose. This isn’t the stuff I bought her, so she must have picked up a bottle when she went back to work. My mouth waters, and I want nothing more than to bite her, lick her, taste every inch of this body as I peel the dress right off her.
Poppy sighs, angling her head to the side to give mebetter access to her throat. “Phantom,” she murmurs. “This is technically our second date. Are you expecting me to go all the way with you?”
“Hoping, begging, needing,” I say, licking and suckling the tender, soft skin of her collarbone. “I want to be inside you, behind you,” I grumble. But then I grab her hand and lead her over the gravel toward the front door. “Let’s give these gifts away and fuck.”
“The most romantic second date ever,” she laughs.
I swat her ass as we walk through the compound door, and I immediately regret it because I don’t want to move my hand.
The compound is decorated with a few streamers and balloons.
“Phantom.” Penny runs up to me, her ass cheeks hanging out of her frayed denim short shorts. She’s wearing glittery flip-flops and a skintight leopard-print tank top. “So, this is her, huh?”
Penny looks Poppy over from head to toe. “I hope you’re not one of those snooty bitches.” Penny’s giving mean girl vibes, and I roll my eyes. This is a compound, not a high school clique. But Poppy works in a salon. She knows women. I cock a brow at Penny and stand back.
Poppy looks from me to Penny and gives her a confident smile. “If by snooty you mean sexy, that’s the look I’m going for.” She motions to her little black dress. “This is all for him, though, so I’ll let you know how he likes it later tonight.”
Penny cackles. “I like you. Come meet the girls.”
Poppy turns to me, and I nod, waving her off. Pennytakes off toward the bar, and Poppy leans close to my ear. “Am I stupidly overdressed? Was this the wrong thing to wear?”
I cup her ass with both hands and pull her close to me. “Did you lie to Penny just now, or did you wear this for me?”
She laughs and leans her hips against mine. She laces her hands together behind my neck, her brown eyes blazing with heat. “Only for you,” she purrs.
“Then who the fuck cares.” I lower my lips to hers and kiss her so that every asshole in this compound knows she’s mine.
She parts her lips and groans, melting into me until, finally, I have to let her go. I’m going to be tenting my fucking jeans all night if we keep at this.
She licks her lips and blots the smudged lipstick with her fingertips, then follows Penny to the bar. I hear Stella squeal, lots of hugs, and chatter. Shadow’s at my elbow, holding out a beer.
“You got a minute?” he says.
I nod, and we retreat to a corner.
“Elliott’s happy with the work. He’s ready for another run,” he tells me.
“What about the fuck who jumped King?” I ask.
“He still won’t talk about it.”
Ever since Dylan got jumped last week and beaten to within an inch of his life, I’ve been trying to put together the pieces. Somebody wants a piece of this Elliott gig. With this amount of money and product moving, that’s just common sense. But there’s nobody in town, no one that I know, who can put together theprotection and power that we can. Something isn’t adding up.
“You think he got side work?” I have to ask it. Dylan’s been a prospect for over a year now. But time doesn’t mean shit. Some guys will turn on their mother for a blow job, a snort, or a couple of bucks. You never really know someone until they’ve proven themselves—time and time again. Dylan hasn’t done anything wrong—not that I know about yet. But that doesn’t mean he has done enough right to convince me I can trust him.
“Been thinking that same thing.” Shadow looks troubled. “We got a new gig, he’s got a new hole in his mouth where his teeth were. You want eyes on him.”
I nod. “I want to know everything. Who he talks to, who he sees. I want to know how bad his shit stinks if that’s going to help us figure out what the fuck he’s into.”
Shadow nods. “Go back to the party. I’ll cover this.” He turns to leave but then stops. “How do you want to handle it if I see something going down?”
