Page 19 of Unmask
I didn’t understand why her safety mattered more than anything else, but it did. It did in a way that scared the shit out of me. I thought maybe…that was what love was.
Or maybe it was just guilt dressed up in softer colors.
Either way, I was in too deep.
I satin Poppy’s car, my fingers raking through my already messy hair. Slumping against the passenger seat, I squinted against the morning light stabbing through the windshield. My head throbbed, drums slamming against the inside of my skull, and the bitterness of last night’s booze still coated the back of my tongue.
The engine idled, and the windows were cracked just enough to let in the piercing brink of winter air. Two days had passed before Kaylor finally responded to Poppy, and in those forty-eight hours, I’d been wasted for most of them. I’d stopped long enough to sober up once I got the text from Poppy, and when she pulled up to the house, I almost didn’t smell like a brewery. Maybe. It could also be that I’d become immune to my own stank.
Poppy crinkled her nose as she steered the car down my driveway. “Jesus, Corvo. You look like shit. And you smell like you spent the night passed out on a bar floor.”
I grunted, rubbing a hand over my face. “You’re not far off.”
“I was joking, but…wow.” She shook her head and adjusted the volume on the radio, low enough not to aggravate my hangover but loud enough to kill the silence. “You seriously got wasted?”
“I needed to think,” I muttered even though thinking was the last thing I managed to do with a bottle in my hand. “I didn’t exactly sleep.”
“Things are worse than I feared.” She shot me a side glance, brows arching like she wanted to see if I’d flinch. “I kept my end of the deal. I know where she’s staying. Now you owe me answers, Corvo. I’m betraying my best friend right nowfor you. So don’t insult me by pretending this is no big deal.”
I didn’t respond right away. The truth was heavier than my hangover. She wasn’t wrong. She deserved to know what she was walking into. I adjusted the sunglasses shielding my bloodshot eyes from the morning light. “Kaylor’s dad…” I started hoarsely. “He was the head of the Vipers Nest.”
Poppy’s gaze widened, her head whipping toward me, taking her eyes off the road for a few seconds. “The crew? Like—crew, crew?”
I nodded.
“Holy shit,” she whispered, then blinked at me, the many bangle bracelets on her arms chiming together as she turned thewheel. “Wait, so, why was she even living with you? Aren’t the Vipers and Ravens like rivals?”
“My father blackmailed a judge to alter her parents’ will and get guardianship. It was all part of his plan.” I stared out the window. “She didn’t know. None of us told her the truth. She found out Friday night. That’s why she ran.”
Poppy’s nose scrunched. “Well, no wonder she hates you.”
I deserved that. “There’s more,” I added, stretching my legs out as far as I could in the compact car. “There’s a traitor in the Vipers. Someone gave my father inside information that led to her parents being killed. I don’t know who it is, but it means she’s not safe under their protection.”
Poppy gave a laugh, more disbelief than humor. “And you think she’s safer with you?”
Her words punched a hole in my chest. “I can keep her alive.”
“Who will protect her fromyou? I should kick your ass out of my car.” When I didn’t say anything, Poppy glanced over again. Her expression softened, just a fraction. “You fell for her, didn’t you? That’s what’s got you so twisted up inside.”
I didn’t answer. I didn’t have to.
“Goddamn,” she whispered, frowning. “Kreed Corvo, the untouchable king of Public, caught feelings.”
“I never said I had feelings for her,” I grumbled as I stared out the passenger window at the blur of suburban houses passing by.
“You don’t have to. Have you ever been in love before?”
I leveled her a look.
“I’m going to take that as a no.” She turned back to the road, a small smile playing at the corners of her mouth. “You were falling for her. Why is that so wrong?”
My chest tightened, and emotion clawed its way up my throat. “It’s not supposed to be like this,” I said, the words grinding out like broken glass. I stared ahead through thewindshield. The leather of the seat creaked as I shifted, trying to escape the snare of her scrutiny. “You’re right, though. She will be safer as far from Elmwood as she can get and far from me.”
“Could you let her go?”
I sighed and rubbed my hand down my face, wishing I could scrape the guilt off with it. “If it was the only way, yes.”
The car slowed as we approached a familiar intersection, and Poppy drummed her fingers against the steering wheel, a nervous habit I’d noticed she had when she was thinking too hard. “What are we going to do if she refuses to come back with us?”
