No.My father couldn’t control me anymore. I wasn’t a scared 16-year-old girl. I stood up, holding the gun steadier than ever. “No,” I said firmly. “I will never stay here again. And if you want me to believe your story, I need to…talk to Poppy.” Honestly I didn’t want to talk to her. I didn’t want anything to do with this family. But Poppy was the car bomb enthusiast. Maybe I’d be able to tell if she was telling the truth.
“Yes, the two of you will be good friends, I’m sure of it. But it’s awfully late. Let’s arrange a meeting tomorrow, yes?”
I nodded. I needed sleep. Desperately. My head was at war with my heart. My head was telling me that my father was a liar. I knew that for a fact. He’d lied to me ever since I’d met him.
But my heart? It was a lot stupider than my head. Standing here after all these years staring at my father, I didn’t want to have to kill him. A part of me still just wanted for him to actually care about me. My heart always had a way of getting me in trouble.
Homecoming - Chapter 5
Sunday
Matt
The chorus of bells made me groan. “Nigel, cut it out.”
“Master Tanner said you’d extra enjoy them this morning. And I’ve been practicing.”
I groaned again. “Tanner’s being a dick.”
“Dick,” Nigel said as more bells chimed.
What?I opened my eyes and I was ass naked in bed.Not again.“What the hell?” I pulled the sheets over me. “I didn’t go to bed naked, Nigel.”
“No you did not.”
“Then why am I naked?”
“You looked uncomfortable, so I helped.”
I needed to get out of this fucking apartment. I sat up and ran my hand down my face. “Do you have any news from Poppy’s house manager?” As soon as Nigel dug up some dirt on Poppy, I could get out of this mess I was in. I was really hoping he’d find something about murders the Pruitts or Cannavaros committed. Or money they laundered. Or any laws they’d broken would be fine.
It was possible it wasn’t just guilt about Brooklyn holding Kennedy back from embracing us. Maybe it was this crazy thing I’d agreed to with Poppy. Being her fake boyfriend definitely put a damper on being Kennedy’s real boyfriend. I had to fix it as fast as possible.
“It hasn’t been 48 hours yet, Mr. Caldwell. The time will expire tonight. And I will not let you down. It’s our secret mission. Just you and me. We’ll meet in private and everything.”
Right.
“I’ll go draw your bath in the meantime.”
Shouldn’t he be talking to Poppy’s staff in the meantime? “I’m fine, Nigel. I’m just hungry.”
“One second then.” He ran out of the room and returned literally right away pushing in a cart of food. “All your favorites.”
“I can just eat in the dining room with Tanner.”
“Oh, he’s not here this morning. He’s at…worship.” He nodded his head, like he was pleased with what he’d said.
Tanner had almost as much to drink as I did last night. How was he not nursing a hangover? And wait…at worship? “Is Tanner a religious man?” I knew a lot about him, but I hadn’t known that. But it was Sunday and he had already left. It made sense.
“Lots of religions, yes.”
“What does that mean?”
“He’s been through most of them. Not any time recently though.”
I just stared at him.
“Fine, you caught me in a lie! He’s not at worship. I don’t know why I did it. I’ve been bad. Maybe I need to be punished.” He turned a little like he wanted me to smack his butt and smiled up at me.
