“Grr, Dad!” Frustrated tears watered her eyes. “You two are unbearable!” Poppy yelled at the top of her lungs. “I hate you both!”
I grunted, “Now look what you’ve done.”
Poppy’s dad snarled silently at me before guiding his daughter to his patrol car. “I’ll call the wrecker to get up here to fetch your car, sweetheart.”
“I’ll deliver it—”
“No, she’s fine, you’ve done enough.” He waved me off.
Anxiety bunched my nerves when I realized Poppy had lost her fight, she was letting her old man lead her away from me.
“Petal—”
She paused at the passenger side of the patrol car. “I can’t leave him hanging. I'll talk to him. I promise.”
I frowned, realizing slowly that she was really leaving me.
After last night. After I gave her everything and more.
“Don’t leave, Petal.”
“I’m sorry.” She pressed her fingers to her lips and then blew me a sad kiss.
“Petal, damn you.”
CHAPTER TEN
Poppy
“You don’t know what you’ve done,” were the only words Dad mustered as we drove down the ridge. The patrol car hung heavy with silence, my skin still on fire in all the places Maverick’s touch had marked me.
I wished more than anything I could force Dad to turn the car around and bring me back to Lover’s Ridge, but instead I did the right thing and let him carry me back to safety.
For now.
Fifteen minutes later we were driving through downtown. When Dad passed my tiny apartment building, he kept driving.
“Where are we going?”
Dad’s palms tightened on the steering wheel, eyes laser focused as he clenched and unclenched his jaw and then finally replied: “Best thing I can think to do is show you what kind of mistake you’ve made. I pray it’s enough.”
“Dad, what are you talking about? Maverick is perfectly kind to me—”
“He is now.” Dad was heavy on the brakes when he finally slowed to pull into his driveway. “But what happens after he gets what he wants from you?”
“Dad, Maverick doesn't want anything from me.”
“Bullshit.”
“Dad—”
“Read for yourself, Poppy.” He flung the door of his patrol car open and rushed out. I slid out of the passenger side and followed him up the steps. By the time I was inside, he was already headed back out, a shoebox full of papers in his arms. “Here’s all of it, everything I could find that your mother left.”
“What does this have to do with Mom?”
He shook his head. “Maverick Wright is a bad man, by the time you’re finished reading these, I trust you’ll understand and I won't have to fight with you about keeping you safe.” He tipped his uniform hat at me, but there was a warning in his dark irises. “I’ll be back after my shift.”
And with that he walked out.
