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“Fuck your coexisting.” I looked at Charlie and thrust my thumb in Andrew’s direction. “Can you get rid of him?”
“We’d love it if you came to the wedding.” Kaitlyn cut off whatever Charlie was going to say. “Only if you can act like a decent human being, though. Don’t make me disinvite you, Poppy.”
I shook my head, knowing that I was going to hear about our little interaction for weeks from my family. “Ask your future ex-husband, Kaitlyn. I’m not a decent human being. I’m a loud, crass, beer-drinking embarrassment. And in honor of that person, I’ll just say fuck you both and head out.”
Charlie tipped his head back to the sky and groaned. “Poppy, if you leave, you know Mom is going to activate the phone tree and you’ll have everyone up your ass by breakfast.”
I pulled my keys out of my pocket and smiled up at my big brother. “Lucky for me, my new boyfriend has a big dick and we’ve been practicing anal. My ass is ready.”
Groaning even louder, he trailed behind me as we left the happy couple staring after me in shocked silence. Charlie held my door open after I climbed into my truck so I couldn’t close it on him. “You’re lucky I know you’re not dating anyone. Don’t ever say something like that in front of me again. Jesus. I’m going to have to go inside and drive a couple of corncobs into my ears.”
The old truck started right up and I turned a frustrated glare on my brother. “Get out of the way, Charlie. You’re keeping me from my dramatic exit.”
“Aunt Bonnie’s already made it clear that she’s excited about the wedding. It’s wedding planning central in that house. You’re going to have to get on board, Poppy. No amount of drama is derailing this fuckery train.”
I ground my teeth together. “Not helping.”
“Too bad. Get it together, Pop. This is happening.” He ruffled my hair and moved back. “Before you get home and start overthinking, none of us knew. Don’t start your plotting to get even with us.”
Charlie and my four other brothers had been the victim of many of my revenge plots, and they knew that if I thought they’d known about Andrew showing up and hadn’t told me, they’d be dead meat. “Fine.”
“And don’t go Fearsome Foursome on anyone, either. You four are too old to not be jailed for the shit you pull now.”
I planted my hand on his chest and shoved him away so I could slam the truck door closed. Unfortunately, I’d left the window down, so he was still right there in my face. “Charlie, I’m seconds from running you over and backing up to do it again. Get out of my way.”
He sighed and stepped back. “I love you, Poppy. It won’t be so bad. This might be the push you needed to get past that asshole.”
I grabbed his shirt and tugged him closer. “I am past him. If you ever utter that bullshit again, I’ll tell Mom and Dad that you were the one who stole the car when you were sixteen.”
He held up his hands. “Forget I ever opened my mouth.”
I grabbed my phone after pushing him away and sent a quick SOS text to my best friends. Looking back at Charlie once more, I shook my head. “If you let one single person think I left here sad over this crap, I’ll make you suffer.”
“I’m going to arrest you for terroristic threats one of these days.”
“Get the wedding date and do it then. Do me the favor.” I dropped my phone on the seat next to me and tightened my ponytail. “Love you too, by the way.”
2
***Poppy***
WhenIpulledintomy driveway, my three best friends were already sitting on my porch. Jude Allen was holding a bottle of whiskey that I knew cost more than my truck, while Sam Clark leaned against my porch railing with a bottle of beer dangling from his fingertips. Cyrus Collins wore a scowl, but it wasn’t a special occasion. That was just how his face looked most of the time. They took one look at me as I slammed my truck into park and stood up straight away.
“You won’t believe what just happened to me.” I wasn’t even fully out of the truck before I was losing my cool. “Idon’t even believe what just happened to me.”
I weaved my way around the guys to get to my front door and opened it, forgetting the normal dog and pony show I put on to convince everyone I was responsible and remembered to lock my doors when I left. My giant mutt, Bogie, came running full force out of the house, past me and straight to the guys.
“You didn’t lock your door again, Poppy.” Jude sighed and stalked in behind me, going straight to my tiny kitchen to grab glasses. He stuck his head back into the living room and frowned. “Do you have anything other than mouthwash cups?”
I waved him off. “I get to Aunt Bonnie’s house and guess who ambushed me in the front yard. Take a wild guess. You’ll never guess, so I’ll just tell you. Andrew. Andrew freaking Gaines.”
Sam settled on the arm of my couch and scratched Bogie with his free hand. “Your ex?”
I nodded and paced in front of the TV I’d left on ESPN. I was breaking all the rules by talking about men with them. If I wanted to rant about a guy, I usually went to my female best friend, Sara, but she was out of town. Despite being close with the guys since we were practically toddlers, the moment we’d gone through puberty we’d understood that discussing crushes and dates was a little weird. Andrew hadn’t left me with much choice. I was about to explode with the need to spit everything out.
Jude appeared again with four tiny plastic cups filled with whiskey. “Does your mom know that you don’t have a single glass in your kitchen that isn’t plastic?”
I took my cup from him and threw it back, choosing to ignore his comment about the state of my kitchen. “Andrew, my ex, ambushed me at my own family reunion. Then, my cousin Kaitlyn comes out—”
