Page 74 of Last Boy

My eyes must widen to the size of dinner plates, and I feel sick.

“When the fuck did you sleep with Walker?” I hiss, all but frothing at the mouth.

Her face turns beet red, and her eyes fly to Hudson’s before mine again. “A very long time ago. I thought…I assumed that’s why you didn’t want to talk to me. I’m so sorry. I thought…I thought you knew.”

“Nope,” I say quickly. “Sure didn’t.”

I walk around her, but her hand catches mine, and I spin around.

“Look, I don’t know what the hell your deal is. Coming in here with your fancy clothes, hair extensions, and fake lashes, but back. The. Fuck. Up.”

I swear I hear Hudson chuckle, but I don’t take my eyes off Gia long enough to find out.

“I’m sorry,” she whispers. “If it’s any consolation, he had his eyes shut the entire time. And when it was over…” She pauses when she sees me squeeze my eyes shut, not wanting to imagine Walker and her together that way. In any way actually. “He couldn’t get away from me fast enough. And when I found him after, he was alone, looking at a picture of you.” She smiles sadly. “You were dancing in your ballet attire. It was…a beautiful photo.”

“Do you want to marry Walker?” I mutter, keeping my face like stone.

“No,” she says, quickly shaking her head. “I’m in love with someone else. But my father and his uncle only see what they want and what can give them an advantage.” She sighs. “Trust me, even if I didn’t have a boyfriend, I’d never want a man who is in love with another person the way he’s in love with you.”

I stare at her for a long beat, searching for any signs of bullshit. But much to my surprise, my bullshit alarm never goes off.

“I need to go to Walker,” I whisper, looking behind her at the clock. Luckily, that boy is always extremely early to practice, leaving me over fifteen minutes to talk to him. “Apparently, Beckett has blocked my number. Walker’s probably still getting changed. Can you call him and ask him to go to the film room?”

Quickly pulling her phone out, she puts it to her ear. After a few words, she looks at me and nods. “He’s on his way.”

“Thank you,” I utter and look at Hudson. “I’ll be right back.”

He bobs his head up and down once. “I’ll be right here.”

And then I bolt toward the film room. Because, as always, the clock is ticking, and I can’t waste another second.

Walker

I have no clue why Gia needs me to come see her, but given how fucking weird this day has been, I hurry to get there.

I push the door open, and my breath dies in my lungs when I spot Poppy standing in the center of the dim room. Her eyes are filled with sadness, excitement, and even some anger.

“Hi,” I say, closing the door and locking it behind me.

“I need to say some things.” She fiddles with her hands. “What I want to say is, how the hell did you sleep with Gia and God knows who else while we were apart?” She looks mad, shaking her head. “I waited for you. I didn’t even kiss another man because I was waiting for you.” Pulling in a deep breath, she slowly lets it out, closing her eyes.

“Poppyseed—”

Opening her eyes, she stops me. “We don’t have time for that. So, just listen, and later, once this shitstorm blows over, you can bow at my feet and tell me how fucking sorry you are,” she hisses. “From this moment until the ceremony, you need to be calm. You need to go with the flow and get along with Beckett and Gia’s parents.”

“What?” I scowl. “Why would I do that?”

Walking toward me, she angles her chin up, exposing her neck, begging me to run my tongue down it.

“Because Hudson and I have a plan. And I promise, if you can play it cool until tomorrow, we will take care of the rest. Okay?” Her eyes soften. “Do you trust me?”

“Fuck yes, I do,” I whisper. “You’re the only person I trust.”

“Good.” She nods.

My eyes roam her face, working down her body. She’s so unbelievably fucking pretty. Even right now, when she’s just come from work, she takes the breath right from my lungs.

Reaching down, I graze my thumb along her cheek, swiping it over her bottom lip. “I’ll bow at your feet right now, Poppyseed.” I swallow thickly when her breath hitches. “I can’t take back the times I’ve fucked up, but let me try to make it up to you.”

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