Six
Patrick
“No.Bullshit.Undoit,” Gage growled, his arms folded over his chest as he looked between Poppy and me with his jaw clenched.
“We can’t justundo it,” Poppy objected, shifting her weight beside me.
His eyes narrowed on her, but he didn’t speak.I took a step forward, essentially putting myself in front of Poppy as I stood toe to toe with Gage.
“Really?This is what we’re doing?”he asked.
“If that’s how you want it to be, then yes.I’ve said it once; I won’t say it again.Protecting Poppy is my only concern, and I don’t care what it takes.Stand in my way, and I will make you regret it.”
“I don’t see why you two have to pretend to be dating,” Gage said, looking past me at Poppy.“Why couldn’t you just come to me for help?”
“Because you’re not being very helpful,” my sister, Julie, chided, standing beside him and scowling.“I get that you don’t love my brother pretending to be her boyfriend, but you and I both know that she’s as safe as she’s going to be by staying with him.”
“Yeah, but how is that going to work?She goes from being married yesterday to having a fake boyfriend in another town today.You don’t think people are going to ask questions?”
“I made a mistake,” Poppy said, throwing her hands in the air.“Several, actually, and all of them equally stupid.But there’s nothing I can do now unless I leave town and go back to Coyote Creek.”
“Do you think it will be safe there, though?”Julie asked softly, clearly on Poppy’s side.
“I don’t know that anywhere will be safe.They’re going to find his body eventually, and when they do, I’m going to be the first person they suspect.”
We had arrived at the inn about twenty minutes ago and filled Gage and Julie in on everything after my parents picked up my niece, Daisy, for a playdate at their condo.It was nice having some privacy so we didn’t have to worry about her overhearing any of this conversation—the fewer people who knew what Poppy had done, the better.
“Did you tell Terry how long you and Patrick have been dating?”Gage asked, his posture still rigid and tense.
Poppy turned and looked up at me, her face scrunched as she tried to remember.
“You said we had been dating for a few months,” I answered softly.
“Shit,” Poppy hissed, tipping her head back in frustration.
“It’ll be alright,” I assured her as I ran my hand across her lower back before pulling it away when Gage’s eyes shot daggers at me.
“You said that you got married six months ago in Las Vegas, right?”Julie asked, walking into the open living room and taking a seat on the couch.Poppy and I followed her, with Gage reluctantly trailing behind us.
“Yeah.I was out there with some friends, and he bought us a round.He said he was there for a conference, and then we got talking and found out that we both lived in Coyote Creek.I thought it was strange that I hadn’t known who he was, but I also hadn’t lived there long.I was new enough for people to know who I was, but I hadn’t taken the time to get to know anyone.Anyway, we started drinking, and one thing led to another.Before I knew it, we were sayingI doand stumbling down the aisle in a rundown building as fake Elvis sang off-key.”
“What if you were already dating Patrick before you got married?”Julie said, leaning forward and resting her elbows on her knees.“Maybe you getting married was what temporarily broke you guys up?”
“That could work,” I said, raising my eyebrows and nodding.
“Did you ever try to file for divorce?”Gage asked, looking directly at Poppy as he stood next to Julie.He was apparently still too pissed off to take a seat and join us.
“I did, actually.I looked into several options, including annulment.I had paperwork drawn up for the divorce, but he refused to sign it.”
