Page 62 of This Time I'm Keeping You
“Sure you do.Music, food, drinks, and fun.What’s not to want?”He kissed her again.“Come on, Poppy.It will all be okay, I promise.”
“We can’t just carry on like nothing’s happening, Nick.He’s out there and knows who you are.What if he comes after your family?”
“I’ll kill him.”
Chapter24
“How’s Poppy?”his brother Thomas asked while Sam poured some beer on the grill to see how much it sizzled.The three Athertons were manning the BBQ at his cousin Suzie’s birthday party outside in the cold while the rest of the family partied inside.
“She’s scared and trying not to show it.This shithead has been tormenting her for years.”
“Why has he stepped up his game now, though?”Sam asked.“It can’t be just because of you.I mean, sure, it’s escalated since you decided she was your woman but?—”
“I’m protecting her,” he said.
“Sure, if that’s the way you want to word it, we’ll go with that.”
In fact, it was way more than that, but until this business with Davy was done, he knew Poppy wouldn’t be committing to anything.
“So, he paid someone to mug her, then stole her handbag, got into her house, and now presumably has the contents of that bag to stalk her with,” Thomas said before the discussion between Nick and Sam escalated.
“The only thing in there that can still cause trouble is her diary,” Nick said.“All the cards, bank details, and passwords are changed.”
“I hope you told her to be more careful going forward, Nick.Even Aunt Jean is savvier than that,” Thomas said.
“Sure, but she calls me every week to ask about how to get her passwords out of the password manager you set up because apparently I’m the kindest brother,” Nick said.
“We all know that’s not true,” Sam said.“You’re just a suck-up.”
“What did Billy say when you took him the gruesome piñatas?”Thomas asked.
They had left the hotel with Sam and gone straight to the police station.After handing over the long box of gruesomeness and giving their statements, they had gone to his house to change.Poppy had tried to tell him she was happy to stay there with her cat.He’d told her that was not happening, and Nick had won.
She had insisted they stop for supplies.He’d told her that wasn’t necessary, but she’d not budged.Her words had been “I am not going to a social gathering and arriving empty-handed.”
Nick hadn’t pointed out that there would be so much food and drink that it would take a year to consume it, because if she’d been thinking about that, just maybe Malcolm Davy could be pushed to the back of her head briefly.
“He’s really smart,” Nick said.“Malcolm Davy is one of those high-functioning guys who are batshit crazy but really intelligent according to Billy.”
“Oh goody, because we don’t want Poppy stalked by a regular dumbass,” Thomas said.
“I don’t get what his deal is,” Sam said.“She doesn’t want him, and now the cops are involved again, and still he’s carrying on with the intimidation and threatening behavior.”
“He’s not sane, bud,” Nick said.“Plus, there’s arrogance is my guess.He is obsessed with Poppy and thinks he should have her.”
Which is never going to happen.
They needed to end this bullshit before things escalated, and after that phone call today, Nick was sure it would.Especially now that Davy knew he was in Poppy’s life
“He can’t get around that quickly.How is he doing all this?”Thomas asked.“The man lives miles away and would need to be superman.”
“It’s called the internet—you can get anyone to do anything on there if you know where to look and how to throw money around.Plus, he probably does a whole lot of rerouting and backtracking to cover what he’s done online,” Thomas said.
“True,” Sam said.“Billy thinks he’s using a fake ID too.”
“Don’t they have security cameras at airports?”Thomas asked.“If he’s traveling on two flights in a day, someone could find him, surely?
“Yes, they do,” Nick said.“But if he’s as smart as we believe, he’s probably disguising himself.”
