Page 83 of Affinity

A look of annoyance came over her face before she shut it down. “If you’re so happy and in love, why are you here with your brother and not him?”

Placing my hands on my hips, I narrowed my gaze on her. “Why are you here?”

“It’s a free country,” she shot back.

I noticed she didn’t say she was there to buy groceries. It seemed Paul had the same thought as me. His hand wrapped around my bicep and started to pull me toward the car.

For every step we took away from Poppy, she took two toward us.

“You need to stop right there,” Paul growled out as he stepped in front of me, blocking me from Poppy’s view.

“Ah, how sweet. He’s like a little bulldog trying to protect his master.”

“Get in the car, Abbi,” Paul said through the side of his mouth only loud enough for me to hear.

I stepped toward the car, but when I did, I heard a woman gasp and then Paul’s deep voice. It was low and soothing, but deadly at the same time. “You don’t have to do this. If you decide to leave now, nothing bad will happen to you.”

“Nothing bad is going to happen to me, but I can’t say the same thing about you or your sister,” she said in an all too serious voice before she laughed maniacally.

What the hell was going on?

As if sensing I wasn’t moving toward the car and instead to him, Paul turned his head and our gazes locked. The only thing I could see was fear etched all over his face.

“I think it’s best if you look at me, big boy,” Poppy laughed again.

Placing my hand on Paul’s back, I peeked around his arm to find Poppy pointing a gun at him.

When did she get a gun?

I knew the second she spotted me. Her smile grew until she resembled the Joker, and when she aimed the gun at me, my heart stopped.

I wasn’t sure when it happened, but Poppy had become unhinged. It probably didn’t help the situation that she was surely on some drug that was fueling her craziness.

“Someone call 9-1-1,” a man shouted from the next row of cars over.

“Why did you have to ruin my life?” she shouted. Her eyes were wide and crazed as she watched Paul and me.

“I didn’t do anything to you. If anything, it was you who messed with me. I know you had something to do with me getting run off the road,” I shouted back.

“Shut up, Abbi. Can’t you see how serious this is?” Paul gritted out.

“Of course, I can, but this isn’t my fault. Maybe if she realizes that, she’ll leave.” It sounded stupid even to my own ears.

Poppy’s lip curled over her teeth. “Don’t be a dumb twat. You ruined my plans to get back with Jenner.”

If she thought he’d ever take her back, she was delusional. Which she clearly was.

Trying to get past Paul and not succeeding, I tried to stall for time. Someone surely had called the cops, and they’d be here any minute. “Please explain to me how I ruined your plan. You haven’t been in his life since you filed for divorce and cleaned him out. Did you think you’d win him back by going to the press with false stories about his life?”

“I never lied. All of it was true, and you know it.” She waved the gun around before she zeroed in on me again.

“You’re going to get us killed,” Paul gritted out.

I watched as he slowly took the smallest of steps toward Poppy. I wanted to yell at him to stop, but I knew it would only make the situation worse. The fact that he was an ex-marine and knew what he was doing didn’t help my fears of him getting hurt.

“You should listen to your brother,” she tilted her head to the side and twitched. “Better yet, keep going. I want you dead. Once you’re out of the picture, I’ll be there to console the poor and damaged widower, and then I’ll swoop in.”

My phone started to vibrate in my back pocket, and somehow I knew it was Jenner. He’d found out about Poppy holding us at gunpoint. If he knew, then the police had to know, meaning this would all be over soon. I wanted to answer, but I didn’t know how without alerting her of my movements.

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