I hold a hand to my mouth, stifling the sob that’s trying to escape. Because this is so much. Too much. No one has ever, would ever, do something like this for me. Tears prick my eyes, and I sniff back my emotion as best as I can, choking out a garbled, “Thank you.”
“Aw, baby,” Brookes groans. “I wish I could be there with you right now. I wanted to be there to show you, but I’m at the club waiting on fuckin’ Blake. Asshole’s thirty minutes late.”
I grimace at the name. Blake. Brookes sat down with Cam and Blake the day after we returned from Puerto Rico and told them everything. He admitted to them that he and I are together. That he’s in love. With me.
Cam made Brookes promise to keep up with his therapy sessions, but he was otherwise happy. Blake, on the other hand, was apparently indifferent. Brookes promised me I don’t need to worry about him, but I can’t help but worry, because I simply don’t trust him. Not with me. And definitely not with Brookes. The man makes my skin crawl.
“I wanted you to see it while it’s still daylight out.” Brookes’ voice cuts through my thoughts, bringing me to the now, to this beautiful, unimaginably thoughtful thing he did for me.
“This iseverything, Brookes,” I say, enamored. “Everything I’ve ever dreamed of.”
“You’re gonna do amazing things, Pops,” Brookes says softly. “And I will be right by your side, cheering you on, helping you any way that I can.”
Swiping at the tears that have fallen onto my cheeks, I’m suddenly more excited and motivated than I’ve ever been. “I’m going to go and grab everything from the dining room right now!”
Brookes chuckles again. “If you wait, I can help you when I get home.”
Home. Brookes saying that word. To me. God, it doessomething to my insides, something I’ve never felt before. This is home. Here. With Brookes.
I sigh, more content than I’ve ever been. “I love you.”
“I fucking loveyou,” he says immediately in return and with just as much raw conviction in his tone.
“When will you be back?” I clear my throat. “I mean…home. When will you be home?”
“Fuck, when you say it like that…” he utters under his breath, and I’m not sure he meant for me to hear. “I’m gonna give this asshole five more minutes and then I’m leaving.”
I grin. “I’ll be here. Waiting...”
“Chrissake, baby.” He groans, his sound almost inappropriate considering he’s somewhere in a public space.
“Bye…” I say in a teasing sing-song lilt, ending the call.
And, clutching my phone to my chest, I take another long look at the space—my space—and I swear I feel my heart swell at the thought that Brookes did this all for me.
I’m still smiling to myself like a goof as I walk back into the house. The kitchen table is a mess, and I start packing everything I have into one of my big bins to start moving it into the loft—or my design studio, I guess. I’m still giddy at the thought.
“Hey, Poppy.”
A scream slips out of me, and I startle so suddenly, I drop everything onto the floor, spinning around to find Blake standing right there in the kitchen, leaned casually over on the island counter, watching me with the hint of a smile.
I shift nervously on my feet, suddenly aware that I’m only dressed in a pair of short cotton shorts and a tank top with no bra. In my defense, I hadn’t planned on leaving the house, and I wasn’t expecting company. Folding my arms across my chest in an attempt to cover what I can, I move back a few steps, desperate to put as much room between us as I can.
“Oh… H-Hi.” I roll my lips together, my gaze flitting about nervously. “Um…I-I think Brookes is waiting for you… at the-the club,” I say, suddenly confused.
“At the club?” Blake scoffs. “I told him I’d come here….”
He pushes up from the counter, his smirk growing into a full grin but one that doesn’t reflect in his icy stare, and as he walks around the island, heading directly for me, I swallow hard, my fight or flight beginning to stir.
“I can call him,” I say, moving down to pick up my phone from where I dropped it on the floor, but Blake beats me to it, crouching down in front of me and collecting it.
When he stands back up to his full height, his eyes darken as he stares down at me while gripping my phone.
I hold my hand out but he doesn’t give it to me, just continues watching, an unreadable look in his eyes that makes my stomach knot.
“You didn’t really keep up your end of the bargain now, did you, Poppy?” Blake’s conniving smile doesn’t match the goading tone in his words and when he steps even closer, almost touching me, I smell the liquor on his breath and immediately this big house feels so much more cavernous.
“Brookes will be home any minute,” I say, my voice almost lost to the tight hold of fear that’s wrapped itself around my throat, my body shuddering.
