My glare slices through him, but he ignores it.
“Tell Amber what?”
“Oh, come on,” Rich scoffs. “Don’t pretend like you don’t know, Poppy.”
“Don’t know what?” she asks in confusion.
Rich finally meets my glare in the rearview mirror, realizing what he’s done. “Never mind, it’s nothing.”
She turns to look over the back seat, so now he has to answer her. “No, what aren’t you telling me, Rich?”
“She’s your twin, Poppy. I thought of all people, she’d at least tell you about what happened between her and Eddie.”
If I weren’t driving the car, I’d be slapping the shit out of him.
“What happened between her and Eddie?” She glances my way, forcing me to be a snitch.
“They fucked,” I reply crassly. “The day he and Amber broke up this last time.”
She slinks back in her seat, nibbling on her lip like she always does when she’s nervous. She used to do it all the time during finals week. Gnawing on the eraser of her pencil or straight up nibbling her lip every time she’s deep in thought. Only this time she’s trying to figure out her next plan of action.
“This is bad,” she whispers. “If Amber finds out…”
“She can’t find out, Poppy. You got to promise us you won’t tell her,” Rich pleads. “He’s been fucking miserable without her, and I can’t bear to see him go through that again.”
She nods solemnly. “Amber’s been a wreck too. But if she and Eddie get back together, it’s going to send Pippa into a spiral, and I’m not sure what will be worse… Amber finding out they slept together, or Pippa finding out that Eddie’s still in love with Amber?”
“Oh, Pippa knows. I can tell you that. Eddie’s been avoiding her like the plague ever since it happened. He’s felt horrible about it. I honestly don’t think he even remembers it happening.”
She looks between us. “So how do you know? Did he tell you?”
Rich shakes his head. “We only know because we heard it happening.”
Poppy chews on her lip again.
“I’m going to have to talk to Pippa about this.”
“Why?” I ask her, knowing it’s only going to lead to chaos none of us need.
“Because I know my sister and what she’s capable of.”
We pull up to Poppy’s house, parking next to the road.
“Promise us you won’t tell Amber though,” Rich begs.
She steals a glance my way, worrying that lip again in frustration. “Okay, I promise I won’t say anything. At least not right now. I’m going to give Eddie and Pippa a chance to come clean first before I intervene.”
We nod, knowing that whatever happens next will change everything.
For the briefest of seconds, she returns my stare, shifting nervously when she realizes I’m concerned about her. Thoughts of our last night together flood my brain: my hands on her curves, the way her lips tasted like an innocence that was mine to take but didn’t. Jealousy briefly overwhelms me when I realize that some other guy took that from her. A guy who didn’t deserve it. A guy who could never see her like I do.
“Stop looking at me like that!” she snaps.
“Like what?”
“Like I mean something to you.”
God, if she only knew…
