Page 64 of Spotlight on Poppy

Poppy woke up that morning on Hannah’s floor feeling secure in her choice. Here, with Josh's arms wrapped around her while she slept, she knew she had made the right choice. She knew he would make her happy and she would spend her life trying to do the same for him.

They were getting ready to get a jump on the day and Poppy offered to walk down to the donut shop a few blocks and get breakfast for everyone. While she was walking, she took in city life. It was seven AM in this little Brooklyn neighborhood. The city was just waking up. She passed commuters making their way to the subway and a deli that was already busy with people getting bagels. It was nice and maybe she could have been happy here, but she was happy to be getting back to her own life, now that she knew what she wanted.

She returned to the building after procuring the donuts as Josh was on his way out of the building carrying a box. He stopped and gave her a sweet kiss that warmed her heart.

She was lost in thought as she headed upstairs and wasn't watching where she was going and bumped right into someone. After steadying the coffee, she turned to apologize and then she saw Damien St. Cloud giving her a peculiar smile.

"Sorry," she said as she quickly continued upstairs.

"Why don't you come in for a while," he said and grabbed her by the arm. He smelled like he had been showered in booze.

"Are you still drunk?" she asked, still trying to maneuver out of his grasp.

Before she knew what had happened, he grabbed her by her waist and planted a sloppiest boozy kiss on her. The four cups of coffee in the carrier fell from her hand and landed, somehow upright on the floor. She pulled back and slapped him right across the face and said, "Get off me."

Before Poppy knew what was happening Josh came flying past her slamming Damien against the wall.

"Josh! Stop!" she cried. He wasn't even listening to her.

Damien sneered at him. "What are you going to do? Hit me again? I'll be ready for it this time."

Hit him again? When had he hit him the first time? This was getting out of hand. This needed to stop. She put her hand on Josh's arm. "Come on Josh, it's okay, he’s not worth it. Please don't do this."

That seemed to snap him out of it. Then out of nowhere Damien sucker punched him and he flew back, pushing Poppy into the railing and then onto the floor. Her back throbbed where she hit the railing, but the horror unfolded in front of her as Josh swung back at him. She had never seen him like this before. He was usually so calm and mild mannered, but his face was filled with such rage.

Graham swooped in and split up the fight and she finally took a breath. Hannah was quickly down the stairs after Graham and was on the floor checking on her. The men were still shouting, and Poppy was fighting tears. Hannah bent down next to her.

"Are you okay?" she asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine."

Poppy watched as Hannah stood up and put the grown men in their place and Damien slinked back into his apartment.

Hannah turned and helped her up. "Come on, let's get you upstairs." Poppy’s eyes blurred with tears as she watched Hannah get the Donuts and the coffees.

Once up and in the apartment, Hannah got Poppy situated on the couch and brought her some water.

"What the hell happened down there?" Hannah asked as she sat down next to Poppy with her arm around her.

"I don't know, I ran into him in the hallway, he was still drunk and tried to kiss me. The next thing I know Josh had him slammed up against the wall and it was all kind of a blur." Hannah rubbed her arm up and down trying to comfort her.

Graham came back in looking a little ruffled. Poppy waited to see Josh follow behind him, but he just closed the door behind him. No Josh.

"Where's Josh?" she asked.

"He needed to clear his head and took a walk."

Poppy nodded. She tried to understand, but right now she wanted him here with her. She had never seen him like that, and it scared her. And what did Damien mean when he said, 'Are you going to hit meagain?' When did he hit him the first time? Poppy buried her face in her hands and let the tears flow. Getting all the stress out in a good cry can be cleansing, and she definitely needed a cleanse of some kind after all of that.

Graham continued to move the boxes down and Hannah sat with her. Poppy sat on the couch a few more minutes pulling herself together. She finally decided she was going to go into the bathroom, wash her face, and help Hannah clean the apartment a little more so they could get this over with. She was ready to head home.

Since she was in the bathroom anyway, she set to cleaning it while Hannah handled the rest of the apartment. They were making pretty good time and would probably be able to hit the road pretty quickly. After she finished giving the bathroom a final scrub she left and caught sight of Josh and Graham carrying a bookshelf downstairs. Hannah joined them soon after with a couple boxes.

The bathroom, kitchen and bedroom were good to go. There were still a handful of boxes piled up in the little dining nook, some small boxes that had all of Hannah's romance novels and her TV that still needed to get loaded up.

Poppy made her way over to Josh to see if he was okay. She looked at the redness and swelling at his jaw where Damien's punch had landed. She gently lifted her hand to caress it, but Josh brushed her hand away and made his way to the other boxes. Poppy followed behind him. She wasn't one to let things fester and she wanted to make sure he was okay.

"Josh," she said in a hushed tone. "Are you okay?"

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