Page 38 of Resisting His Charm
Fuck. I cannot follow her.I can’t let Poppy see whatever the fuck Imogen’s done in that kitchen.
“Is she okay?” Poppy asks.
“Yeah, let’s go out front.” I step towards her.
“You know, whatever it is you’re hiding or don’t want me to see, you can just say:Poppy, you can’t see that.”
“What makes you think I’m hiding something?”
“You have a tell.” Poppy shrugs.
“I do not have a tell,” I scoff.There is no fucking way I have a tell.
“You do. It’s slight and most people probably miss it. But when you’re all up in your head about something, your little finger taps along your thigh three times. Left hand.”
I blink at her. No one has ever noticed that. I know I do it. It’s why I stop when I’ve tapped three times. That’s how long it takes me to realize it. “It’s nothing,” I assure her.
“Okay, then you won’t mind if I go get a glass of water?” Poppy lifts a challenging brow. “I’m assuming the kitchen is through there.”
“I’ll get it. Why don’t you go wait on that cute little porch swing out front.”
“Sammie, what’s back there?”
“I have no idea. I just got here too, remember?”
“Fine. I don’t need to know anyway.” Poppy turns and walks towards the front of the house. And then, out of fucking nowhere, she spins around and starts stomping towards the kitchen. My arm catches around her waist as she tries to brush past me. “Let me go!” she snaps.
“You do not want to go back there, Poppy,” I tell her.
“Actually, I think I do.” She twists and then she’s out of my hold and storming towards the kitchen. “Well, fuck… I was kind of expecting drugs or piles of cash or a naked guy. This is not what I thought you were hiding,” she huffs.
I stop behind her, taking in the scene. “Fucking hell. Really, Imogen?” I yell out to my sister. Two soldiers are slumped over the table—they’re breathing at least. The other one is pinned against the wall, a knife through each of his hands, his eyeballs shoved into his mouth, and is that…?
Oh, fucking hell, his tongue is poking out of his shirt pocket.
“You weren’t supposed to come back here.” My sister sighs. “It’s not what it looks like.”
“Really? Because it looks like you knocked these two out and then did that…” Poppy points to the guy pinned to the wall. “…to him. What did he say to you? Just so I know not to repeat it. I happen to like my eyes in their sockets.”
“Poppy, this is…”Fuck, how the hell do I even begin to explain this to an outsider?“You should go. Tell Jaxson something came up and I couldn’t make it.” There is no way she’s going to want us at dinner now.
Poppy spins around and looks at me. “Why can’t you make dinner?”
“Because…this. You probably should have Googled me when your cousin told you to do it. Maybe then you would have been prepared for this. At least you would have read the news articles about what my family is suspected of being involved in.”
“Let me guess… You’re in the mob, mafia, or something like that?” Poppy hums.
“Not exactly,” I tell her. We’re not a mafia family. “But we do make our money illegally—through organized crime.”
“Okay, well, you still need to have dinner. Imogen, you should wear something ugly. You’re too pretty to be sitting at a table with my feral cousins. They will eat you alive,” Poppy tells my sister.
“They could try.” Imogen laughs. Then she turns to walk out the door.
“Wait… What the fuck did he say to you?” I call after her.
“He said he couldn’t wait till you were done with her so he could try out the golden pussy that has you flying across the country,” Imogen grunts.
“You should have told me, not taken matters into your own hands,” I tell her.
