Page 110 of I'll Keep Her Safe

“Dad! That’s not very responsible.” A wicked smile curves along her mouth as she nods. “But I like it.” She laughs, then her brow furrows. “What will you do while I’m at work tomorrow?”

I scratch my chin in thought. There’s something that’s hovered at the edge of my consciousness for a few weeks now, but what I didn’t realize was that I was waiting for Bailey’s blessing. Waiting to make sure she would be happy about me and Poppy. Now that I know she is, it feels like the perfect time.

“Do you know any good tattoo studios around here?”

Bailey laughs. “More tattoos, huh?”

“It’s for Poppy.” My mouth twists into a sheepish smile, and Bailey sighs, but it’s not with annoyance; it’s with a kind of gentle acceptance.

“There’s one I pass on the way to work each morning. I could show you on the way in.”

I grin. “Sounds good.”

The door opens a crack and Dean pokes his head in. It makes Bailey roll her eyes as she rises from the sofa, pulling the door all the way open.

“Come in, you dork.”

Dean chuckles. “Didn’t want to interrupt.”

Bailey takes the pizza boxes from him, lingering beside the kitchen for a moment as if deciding whether to get plates, then shrugs and sets them right on the coffee table.

Dean toes off his sneakers and joins us. “You two all good now?” he asks tentatively.

Bailey squeezes my arm. “We’re good.” She takes a bite of her pepperoni pizza, her brow furrowing. “But I keep thinking about Kurt, how far he’s pushed things this time. Something really needs to be done about him.”

Dean nods vigorously, his mouth full, and I give her a savage smile.

“Oh, don’t worry. We have a plan to take him down.”

Bailey looks vindicated. “About fucking time.”

“It sure is.”

I tuck into my pizza with a new sense of purpose. I can’t wait to see Kurt destroyed, but more than that, I can’t wait for him to leave Poppy the fuck alone. I can’t help it; I’ll always want to protect her.

I’ll always want to keep her safe.

37

Poppy

The plan worked.

Violet and I went to Daisy’s house a few days ago to figure out the details, and after much deliberation, we decided that simply enticing Kurt to hit on Violet wasn’t enough. We needed something that would really harm his career and destroy any future chances of him getting another job in the industry.

Wes was in the kitchen, cooking dinner while we brainstormed ideas, and we were surprised to hear him offer to help.

“Why would you do that?” I asked as he entered the living room, wiping his hands on a dishtowel.

His brows sunk into a deep frown. “What he’s done to you is truly awful. All I can think is that if it was Daisy, I’d want to murder the guy. So, yeah. I’ll help however I can.”

I launched to my feet to hug him, the girls laughing behind me. “Thank you, Wes.”

“This is better anyway,” Violet said, tapping her chin in thought. “If he’s the kind of guy I think he is, he’s much more likely to trust a man. He probably thinks women know nothing about business.”

I cringed. She had that right. Except it wasn’t limited to business.

Wes looked disgusted. “Well, let’s use that to our advantage, shall we?”

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