Page 59 of This Time I'm Keeping You
“I hate him,” she growled.
Nick walked Poppy backward until he reached a chair, then lowered her into it.“Stay,” he said, then kissed her softly.
“I’m not a dog.”
“Please stay.”He ran a hand down her arm.
She gave a jerky nod.
Nick pulled out his cell phone to call Billy.The phone on the desk rang as he found his cousin’s number.Sam picked it up.
“This is not your office, Sam!”Poppy hissed.“You can’t just answer the phone.”
“Yeah, she’s here.Who is this?”Sam said into the receiver.“It’s your publicist, Poppy.”He held it out for her.
“Billy, assface has struck again,” Nick said when his cousin answered.
“Hi, Astrid,” Poppy said, taking the phone as Nick talked to Billy with his eyes on her.
“Astrid?”Sam looked confused.
Nick watched as she listened to whoever was speaking.The color drained from her face, and her eyes then shot to his.
“Leave me alone, Malcolm!”
Chapter23
Poppy loathed the familiar fear she felt as Malcolm Davy spoke.It slid its icy tentacles through her veins, making her knees weak.
“Give me that receiver!”Nick roared as the deep, raspy voice on the end of the phone told her she was going to pay for her betrayal.That she’d cheated on him and would have to be punished.
“No!He’s nothing to me, and I’ve never been yours, Malcolm,” Poppy got out around the tightness in her throat.
Sam was wrestling with Nick, trying to hold him back.“We need a location, and the more she talks, the better chance we have of getting it,” Sam said, struggling to keep his brother away from her.“Billy will trace the call from the station.
“Is he there with you, Poppy?Nick Atherton, the man you’ve played the whore for?”Malcolm Davy asked.
“You leave him alone!”The words exploded out of her mouth, her fear turning to rage that he knew who Nick was.“You’re a weak coward for doing this!For hiding from me!”Poppy added.
Sam now had Nick in a headlock.
“I know that you’re letting him touch you, Poppy.Fuck you when you’re mine.”
“I loathe you,” she said, “and I have never wanted to be with you.”She felt stronger with Nick and Sam here, and the words she’d always wanted to say were suddenly pouring out.
Nick gave Sam a jab to the gut, and he was free and coming toward her in long, angry strides.
“It was all right while you were living your life alone and we were playing our game, Poppy!You running, and me finding you because I knew that was what you wanted,” the voice said.
“No!I don’t want you anywhere near me!”
“You want me, Poppy,” he insisted.“But now you’ve made me angry, and you’re going to pay.”
“I’m not scared of you.”She pushed down the fear.Nick is here.I’m safe.
Big arms closed around her, and then she was surrounded.Nick’s front pressed to her back.She could feel the tension in him as his hand cupped hers and turned the phone so he could hear what was being said.
“I’m killing him, too, Poppy, and that’s on you.Your fuck buddy will die a horrible death, and you’ll watch because you’ve betrayed me.”
