“Y-yeah.”
I’m so angry I’m shaking with it. I try to stop so I can stay calm for Poppy. “Did he injure you while he was doing it?”
She shakes her head.
“And I assume he didn’t use a condom?”
Her face twists. “No. No, he didn’t. Oh shit. Oh shit.”
“It’s okay.” I give her messy hair a light stroke, and when she doesn’t pull away, I do it again. “Danny, can you go tell Nell and get the pills? And we need Rick and Trevor.”
As Danny jumps up, I say, “Nell has all kinds of stuff stashed. You’re not going to get pregnant.”
“O…kay. What will—what will happen?”
“Rick and Trevor will find him. They’ll make him hurt, and then he’ll be banished forever from here. You’ll never have to see him again.”
“You’re… you’re sure?”
“I’m sure. I promise. This doesn’t happen often, but it has happened before, and Nell never gives anyone a second chance.”
I sense something—vibes or tension—from the door to the kitchen, so I glance up to see if it’s still Pete.
It’s not.
It’s Cade. Standing there, filling the doorway, staring at me and Poppy on the bench.
I gulp and open my mouth to try to explain.
I don’t have to.
“Was it him?” Cade asks with an edge to his tone I’ve never heard before.
I nod. “Mustache man.”
Poppy makes a sobbing sound, and I wrap both arms around her, pulling her against me so I can hold her as she cries.
I would never in my life want to be the target of the look on Cade’s face right now. Without a word, he disappears from the doorway.
I know what he’s going to do, and I’m not a bit sorry.
Shifting back to what’s most important, I focus on Poppy again. “I’m so sorry this happened to you.”
“It’s okay,” she gurgles. “It could have been worse.”
“I don’t care if it could have been worse. It’s still not okay. It’s not even close to okay. But we’re all with you. And one day it will be okay again.”
Cade returns a half hour later, finding me still in the kitchen with Poppy and Nell, who came to sit on the bench and now has Poppy’s head in her lap.
“Did you find him?” I ask Cade when Pete lets him in.
He nods.
“Is he dead?”
He nods again.
“Good,” Nell says. “That’s what I’d do every time if I was allowed, but the militia is always cramping my style. You might get some of his buddies after you now, so be careful.”
