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ANNALISE
Poppy leans forward,her narrowed eyes levelled on my face in a deep, speculating stare. It’s a bit intimidating, to be honest, but I continue to sit across the couch from her, my legs tucked beneath my butt, unflinching.
“Walk around for me a little bit,” she orders.
I blink. “What? Why?”
“She wants to see if you’re bow-legged,” Bryce answers from her knee-slung-over-knee sitting position on the soft ottoman facing us.
“We didn’t have sex!” I shriek, face suddenly on fire.
“I don’t believe you, Miss Liar Liar,” Poppy sings.
“I didn’t lie to you.”
Bryce cocks her head at me. “Lying by omission is still lying.”
When both women appeared at my house earlier this evening with pizza and wine in hand, I let them inside without a second thought. My exhaustion from flying home on an early flight this morning after a long night at the wedding was quickly forgotten when it came to spending time with them.
I sure as hell wasn’t expecting to get hit with the fifth degree the moment the door shut behind us. While I didn’t go to the wedding knowing that Brody was going to be there, I didn’texactly tell them once I did. The photos of Brody and me last night that Poppy showed me a breath after setting the two bottles of wine down in the kitchen came as a shock. Only to them, however.
I knew they were coming, and just like when Brody warned me after we finished dancing and he was set to go back onstage, I refused to let them ruin the night.
Guilt lashes through me. They still don’t know the truth about Bo either.
“Okay, that’s fair enough. But in my defense, I didn’t know that he was going to be at the wedding before I got there. My sister told me before we left,” I defend myself.
“You could have texted us at some point after learning about it. Clearly, you needed some confidence boosting or peer pressure since you’re claiming you didn’t sleep with that hunk of a man,” Poppy chuffs.
“Just because we didn’t have sex doesn’t mean we didn’t doanythingelse. There wasn’t a chance for us to so much as even spend the night together anyway. He was performing for the rest of the night after those pictures were taken, and then I went home with my sister and her husband.”
Much to Brody’s displeasure. If he had had it his way, he would have cut out early and danced with me all night before taking me back to his hotel room. We wouldn’t have had sex even if I had gone with him, but a night just lying in his arms would have been incredible. I couldn’t miss out on that extra morning with my sister and nephew, though. Not when I hardly see them as it is. The small breakfast we shared before I left was perfect. Enough to last me until I see them after Christmas.
I felt silly worrying about Brody’s reaction to my wanting to stay with my sister, but for the millionth time, he proved just how out of Stewart’s league he is. After kissing me breathless, Brody walked me to Maddox’s SUV and went as far as to evenbuckle me in before telling me good night. He stood waving until we got too far to see him.
“Okay, don’t tease me, then. Tell me what youdiddo. Let me live vicariously through you. It’s been forever since I’ve been with a real man,” Poppy begs.
Bryce’s expression is exasperated. “Your collection of sex toys keeps you occupied.”
“Well,excuse me.Sorry I like to have a man’s helpful, steady touch with my orgasms sometimes,” Poppy retorts.
I untuck my legs before they fall asleep, stretching them out over Poppy’s lap. “I had Brody’s helpful, steady touch last night, and it was fucking amazing. So stop arguing with each other and fawn over that with me.”
It’s Bryce who gasps, gripping her knees. “Where? How? More than one O?”
“Before we get into that, I have to tell you something else. If I don’t, the reason for why we wound up in the bathroom won’t make as much sense,” I start. Poppy scrunches her face at the mention of the bathroom, but I hold up a finger for her to wait. “He was very gentlemanly despite the location, so don’t even start.”
She raises her hands and shrinks back into the couch as if I brutally scolded her. The CEO of dramatic, this one.
“You remember that guy that I accidentally texted for dress approval?”
“The one that was a douche to you afterward?” Bryce asks.
“Yeah, that one. Well, he actually turned out to be really nice, and we kind of kept talking . . . and before you say anything, Poppy, I already know that it was dangerous. But it was worth it. Really, really worth it,” I rush to explain.
Poppy looks about close to bursting from keeping silent, so I pause, gesturing for her to speak.
“You sent a picture of yourself to a guy—a stranger, might I add—and then proceeded to continue texting him . . . Did you want to wind up the victim on one of your weirdo crime podcasts, Anna?”
