“Miss me?” he asks, closing the computer he has open on his lap. He sets the device on the table in front of him. The place is scarcely furnished. It came this way.
“Sammie, get out of my apartment.” I point to the door. Why the hell did I close myself inside a room with this man?
“You don’t really want me to leave.” Sammie stands and starts to slowly stalk towards me.
“Yes, I do.” I hold my hand out in a stop motion. “Do not come any closer.”
“We need to talk.”
“I have nothing to say to you. Was that not evident when I left without saying anything?” I fold my arms over my chest. Sammie’s eyes land on my cleavage. “Stop staring at my boobs,” I growl, quickly unfolding my arms.
His right shoulder lifts and drops. “They’re fucking great tits. They deserve to be appreciated.”
“What do you want, Sammie?”
“You.”
“Well, I’m not available. Now you can leave.”
“You’re already mine, Poppy,” he says.
“No, I’m not.”
“Yes, you are.” He takes a step forward.
“I left, Sammie. I don’t like you. I don’t want anything to do with you. You need to deal with it and leave me alone.”
“Why’d you leave?”
“Because I don’t like you,” I tell him.
“Why did you really leave, Poppy? And this time, try the truth.”
I shake my head. I can’t tell him the real reason I can’t be with him. “Just leave, Sammie.”
“I’m not the one who leaves, Poppy. I don’t run from my problems. I face them. Now, tell me… why did you leave?” He takes another step. He’s so close now. I can smell him, and damn it, I like it.
My hands shove at his chest. “Your uncle killed my mother, Sammie. I can’t be with you because your family is responsible for taking mine from me. You need to leave. Get the hell out of my apartment!”
“See? That wasn’t so hard, now was it?” He smiles at me. He doesn’t look shocked by my outburst.
“You knew!” I gasp. “You knew and didn’t think to warn me that maybe I’d have to come face-to-face with the man responsible for my mother’s death?” I scream at him. “I hate you!”
“First, I only just found out. Second, it’s not true.”
“What?” I shake my head.
“The cartel didn’t kill your mother, Poppy,” he says.
I laugh. “Okay, sure, whatever you say, Sammie. Of course you’re going to proclaim your family’s innocence.”
“I don’t lie. If I thought for a second they had anything to do with it, I would tell you. But I’m telling you they didn’t. They don’t even work out of Kestral Valley, Poppy. They never have.”
“I know what happened, Sammie. It happened to my mother. I was the one who took the phone call that changed my life forever. I was the one who had to bury both of my parents the same day.” I can’t stop the tears from falling. Tears of frustration, grief that I still feel every day for my parents and anger over the fact that this man is standing here trying to tell me lies.
“I’m sorry.” Sammie reaches out to touch me, and I step backwards. “Poppy, I’m telling you the truth. I have no reason to lie to you.”
“They’re your family, Sammie. I know the lengths your family goes to, to protect each other. I’m not an idiot. You haveeveryreason to lie to me.” My hands wipe angrily at my cheeks.
