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CHAPTER EIGHT
Poppy had hoped to be on her way home before John David arrived at the bar.
She’d seen the speculative looks from several of his friends after Jack left and knew it wouldn’t be long before he showed up.
And she had almost made it. She was sliding into the driver’s seat of her vehicle when he pulled in beside her and jumped from the latest version of the Jeep he was so fond of.
She rolled her window down, knowing there was no way out of talking to him now.
“I’m on my way home,” she told him, noting his dark expression with resignation.
“I heard Bridger was here with Ian Richards,” he stated, his jaw tight as he stepped to her car door. “While he was with Richards, someone slipped a package into the saddlebag on his Harley. Money or drugs, I’m not sure which. Still think he’s so innocent?”
Innocent? Perhaps not. Guilty of a crime? Possibly. Of dealing with drugs? That was a definitive no. She couldn’t believe it. The man she had known, the one willing to take the blame for killing Trencher to save her, would never put her in danger with drug dealers.
“I don’t know, John David,” she snapped, gripping the steering wheel tightly as she stared back at him. “It looked like two men who knew each other just visiting for a minute. Nothing more. I didn’t see anything else, and evidently neither did you.”
No, she wasn’t nearly that naïve, but she needed her brother to let this alone. Whatever Jack was doing, she would never believe he was involved with a drug cartel. He hated drugs. His father had murdered his mother and tried to kill Jack while high on drugs. Jack would never become involved with them, nor would he sell them.
“You’d defend him no matter what he did, wouldn’t you?” he growled back at her. “You’ve never seen him for what he is, Poppy.”
“John David, stop…” She clutched the steering wheel, forcing back an unfamiliar surge of anger. “I’m trying to be objective here, but I can’t do that while you’re harping at me.”
“Are you sleeping with him, Poppy?” he demanded. “He lives right behind you. Who would know if he was sneaking over like he did last night before I arrived.”
Poppy stared back at her brother in disbelief, though she knew she shouldn’t be surprised.
“Jack’s a friend if nothing else,” she told him, desperate to end the confrontation before it went further. “What do you want me to do, John David? I’m not encouraging anything…”
“Why did he slip out of your house last night like a thief?” he demanded. “There were no lights on and you lied to me, Poppy. You said you’d just come in the back door. I know you’d been home quite awhile, with Bridger following you in when you arrived.”
“Are you spying on me?” She glared back at him.
This was crazy. It was outrageous that he would do that.
“Every time he touches you, he stains you with the blood on his hands,” he suddenly bit out, his tone angry. “Is that what you want? You’re smarter than this.”
She jerked as if his words had slapped her and stared at him, almost shocked.
“Any blood he spilled he did as a SEAL,” she reminded him as she punched the push start on her small crossover SUV and glared at him. “He spilled blood he was ordered to spill.”
“He killed at fourteen,” he snarled. “Do you really believe it’s the only time he killed outside of his orders? Ask him about his discharge. Ask him about the missing drugs in Germany. The agents trying to question that terrorist cell were murdered. Ask him about that.”
Poppy fought her harsh breathing, and the furious words trembling on her lips.
“Poppy, he’s trash—”
“Enough!” Her voice rose, so demanding and angry that her brother stepped back from the vehicle. “Jack has never been trash, John David. How dare you! God, how dare you say something like that when that man would give his life to protect me.”
She was yelling at him, Poppy realized, her voice loud enough that anyone outside the bar could hear her. And she was only seconds from crying.
She took a deep breath. “Get off my back!” she ordered him. “And leave me alone about Jack before I stop talking to you entirely. Jack is my business from here on out. Period.”
She reversed from out of her parking spot, leaving John David standing silently, watching her leave.
Jack had protected her, cared for her, and made certain she didn’t suffer anyone’s knowing what had happened that summer. No matter how humiliating it would be, she’d protect Jack from her brother now, even if it meant exposing her own secret to him to make him understand just why she trusted him.
Poppy was still furious when she pulled in behind her house. She was still shaking and almost crying, she was so damned mad.
