“They said you owed them money?” I growled, pinning Teddy with a look that promised death.
The ice cream man held up his hands. “My grandson, the troubled one. He’s been going places he shouldn’t. Making mistakes.”
I sighed. “The kid’s going to need to learn a lesson, Ted.”
The older man bobbed his head.
“I’ll send Rayko over there after we clean this shit up.”
Teddy was going to say something, but he looked around me, eyes popping out of his head.
I heard her before I saw her. The hurried slap of her sandals on the sidewalk outside. She appeared in the doorway, brown hair loose and wild, eyes huge and rimmed with mascara that had begun to run. She looked at us and froze, silhouetted by the strobing neon, her lips parted in shock.
“What in the fuck happened!” she shouted.
The only thing I could think in that second was how beautiful she was—and that she’d sworn. It was the first time I heard such foul language from the little flower, and I had to fight back a laugh.
Laughing would have been a miserable mistake.
She moved. Crossed the space in three long strides, ignoring the bloody pools and bits of carrion. Brady wriggled out of my hold. I set him down but blocked the majority of the mess from his view. When Poppy reached us, she went to her knees in front of Brady and gathered him up so fiercely that he let out a startled “Oof.” Her hands skated over his head, his face, his shoulders, as if checking for cracks.
“Are you hurt? Are you—” Her voice was ragged, knotted with adrenaline.
Brady mumbled into her shoulder, muffled but alive. “I’m fine, mama.”
She kept him pressed to her chest for a long moment, only pulling away when she noticed the sticky residue matting his hair.
“What the—?” She picked at it, then looked at me, a question on her face.
“Ice cream,” I said. My voice sounded hoarse. I knew how this must look to her. She hated the mob. She tried to run away. Now, what was going to stop her from trying to do it again?
Her breath hitched.
“Mama, you’re shaking.” Brady pawed at her cheek, worry focused on him.
“Call Boris,” I snapped over my shoulder, not waiting to see if the ice cream man heard as I hurried the duo outside. Gravel crunched under my shoe.
Poppy kept taking short, stilted breaths. Each hitch sounded painful.
Brady watched her, pressing his body tightly against her.
A few feet away, and Poppy dropped. She wrapped Brady in her arms, cuddling him, and dragging him down to her lap. Her knees bit into the rough cement, and I noticed there was broken glass just a few feet away.
“Hey, it’s okay,” Brady assured her. “Tatko gave me a protection bracelet. The bad guys can’t hurt me.”
He wriggled his arm free to try and show her. She only held him tighter, hyperventilating.
I squatted. “Hey, let him breathe, okay?”
Poppy jerked away, reaching out just in time to catch herself from falling sideways. “No. No!” she shrieked. “I knew this would happen. Iknewit.”
“Mama,” Brady protested, torn between comforting her and survival against being crushed.
“I left this shit behind!” Poppy gasped. “I abandoned my father in his old age. I cut ties with my only sibling. IHATEthe underworld.”
She was shaking. There wasn’t enough oxygen in her body to quell the tremors, to make the words come out.
“Poppy!” I grabbed her shoulders and tugged her into my arms. “Calm the fuck down.”
