Page 20 of Legacy of Smoke
“No, I was damn careful. The pressure might feel good though.” A heating pad might feel better, seeing as it was her first time. That was a conversation from the past I didn’t want to remember. I blew out a breath to shove it away.
She curled up with the towel in place and stared at me. “I don’t want you to leave.” This time, she traced the flames inked on my forearm. Her finger trailed up and stopped on my prison web.
“One. Two. Three…”
“Hey.” I stopped her finger.
“Does Dad have his years on there?”
My breath caught. Lifers measured their time in decades. In jump counts. Tattooed in names of loved ones who’d moved on. They moved on for everyone. A parent, usually the mom, was the last to let go. Except for Pinner. Poppy hung on for him. I kissed her forehead and tossed the washcloth toward the hamper in the corner. “He’s got a few.” I stretched out and shifted around until we both found a little web of comfort clinging to each other. She’d traded the towel for my leg, and we discovered my hand fit the curve of her hip almost perfectly.
I woke twice before dawn. The first was barely after I dozed off. She went to the bathroom and then checked on Lily.
The second time, I stared at the ceiling and tried to remember if my cell’s ceiling was farther away or closer. I decided it was closer.
Then in the morning, Poppy’s kisses started my day just fine.
After that, there was only one condom left out of the three pack.
I dragged my clothes into her hall bathroom for a quick shower before I had to hightail it back to the junkyard to grab my work clothes and gear, and then get to work. I was just coming out and getting my pullover on when the door across the hall opened.
The infamous Lily staggered out looking like a paint factory threw up on her face. Mascara and eyeliner smeared into a mess that some called “smoky eye” but was better described as meth special.
She yawned, and the absolute lack of resemblance to Poppy shocked me. But she did look a lot like her mother, Jewel. It soured my stomach to know her mom knelt at my feet and pawed at my pants the first night I got out. Thank God it went no further than that.
Her eyes flickered open, and she stopped abruptly. “Austin?”
Poppy gasped and stopped dead in her tracks where the hallway met the split between kitchen and living room. “You know him?”
“Know him? Who do you think I’ve been fucking for the last five days? Why are youhere?” she asked me.
“I’m not.”
“You fucked her? Then you …” Poppy looked like she was going to cry.
Lily’s gaze bounced between us and me coming out of their bathroom. It didn’t take her long to figure out what was going on. “Oh, fucking shit. Youasshole!” She flew at me with fists and broken fingernails, and I had to use some force to keep from getting torn apart.
“Control your sister,” I begged.
Poppy flushed red. “Get… out.” It was said in that slow, staccato way, only a woman can manage. She pointed at the front door and her color turned darker still. “Get the fuck out of my house.”
Lily began screaming at Poppy. “You slept with him! How could you! I calleddibs.”
Meanwhile, Poppy pointed at the door and didn’t waver. “Now.”
“Aaaahrgh!” Lily tried one more time to gouge my eyes out, so I broke free, knocking her into the wall, grabbing my vest, and fleeing. Right before I opened the front door, Poppy changed her mind.
“Take the back door, I don’t want the neighbors seeing you. They’ll call dad.”
Fuck that. I opened the front door and strolled out in my socks. Until my coat hit me in the back. I barely caught it before it hit the ground.
I hooked it over Pinner’s saddlebags and backed it out of the spot. I set the kickstand down to retrieve my things.
“I need my boots.”
“Fuck you. We’re keeping them!” Lily screamed out the window.
Poppy blocked the door. “You stay right there, I’ll get them.” She came back with them in her hands. She threw them at my head one at a time, taking her sweet time to aim true. I dodged the first one and caught the second. I couldn’t understand a word either of them yelled, but it reached shrieking levels. A dog woke up and started barking. The neighbor across the street came out in their bathrobe, cup of coffee in one hand. He took a sip and enjoyed the floor show.
