Opening the car door, I slipped inside. “It’s about fucking time. You act like you’re not going to see him the moment you set foot in your house.”
“Maybe you’d understand if you had a girlfriend.”
His jaw ticked as he gripped the steering wheel until his knuckles turned white. “I don’t have time for a girlfriend. I’m never even home.”
“And whose fault is that?”
“I go where the job takes me. I’m the new guy, so I have to pay my dues. The other guys have girlfriends, wives, and kids. I’ve got nothing.”
“You’ve got me,” I answered back softly. “I’m always here if you need me, even now that I’m married. I know you don’t like the fact that Jenner didn’t ask you for permission, or that we didn’t invite you to the wedding. It was spur of the moment, and I know that’s no excuse, but we were caught up in the moment. Maybe one day we’ll renew our vows or have a wedding reception. Something to make our friends and family feel a part of it.” As each word came out of my mouth the more, I liked the idea.
“You’d do that?”
“I’d do anything for you and for you to accept Jenner as part of our family. He only has his dad, and he’s . . . well, saying he’s the worst is putting it lightly. Jenner doesn’t know he needs family because he’s never had it, and I want to give that to him. I hope you’ll help me do that.”
Paul slammed his head back on the headrest and gritted his teeth. “You had to say the one thing you knew would get to me. Family.”
“I’m only telling you the truth. You might as well accept him now because he’s going to continue to be in my life no matter how much you hate him.”
“Hate is a strong word. I don’t hate him, and I’m going to lay off. I promise. Now let’s hit this grocery store. It doesn’t look that busy.”
I eyed the store he’d pulled into and spotted only a few cars in the parking lot. It was crazy that I was giddy to be able to go buy groceries, but I was. I felt like I could do laps around the store.
“You look like a kid in a candy store. Maybe save some of that excitement for when your friends come over tonight.” Paul laughed as he pushed the cart behind me.
I picked out vegetables to grill, and fruit to eat, and then moved onto the rest of the store.
“You didn’t tell me we’d be here forever,” Paul moaned. “Do we really need to go down every single aisle?”
“We do indeed need to go down every aisle because I’ve never been here before and have no clue where anything is.”
“Why not? Aren’t all grocery stores the same?”
Stopping in the middle of the aisle, I looked at him with disbelief. “Do you only eat out?”
“No, but I eat simple and shop at one store.” He looked around our surroundings. “It doesn’t look like this, though, so I guess I shouldn’t expect you to know where anything is.”
Slapping him on the arm, I turned to take control of the cart this time. “It’s nice going to a store where there’s hardly any other shoppers. Maybe I’ll start coming here.” When Paul didn’t follow, I looked over my shoulder to find him staring at the other end of the aisle. His body was taut with tension.
“Paul?”
I took one step in his direction but stopped when he clipped out. “Stay where you are, Abbi.”
“What’s going on?” I asked, my voice shaky from his body language.
“Do you have what you need?” he gritted out.
“Mostly. Why?” I asked as I slowly stepped toward him.
Paul’s head swiveled in my direction. His jaw was tense, and his eyes were filled with a harsh glint. “If you want what’s in your cart, we need to check out and go. Now,” he ordered.
“Okay,” I drew out the word as I followed him to checkout. The entire time we walked, he was constantly on high alert, his eyes on our surroundings as he made sure I was within his reach.
By the time I slipped my card through the card reader, I was a paranoid mess. I kept looking over my shoulder, expecting someone to jump out at me, but I never saw anything suspicious. Maybe Paul hooked up with a girl, saw her, and was trying to make a getaway before she saw him.
“What the hell is going on?” I whisper-yelled as I tried to keep up with him on the way to his car. “I know I said I wanted to go for a hike, but I didn’t say I wanted to break any speed records while doing it.”
Paul turned to look at me, and his face was as hard as granite. When he saw how difficult it was for me to keep up, he immediately slowed down, “Sorry, I—”
“Did you already dump him for this beefcake?” a voice from behind called out.
I knew that voice. In fact, I hated the person it belonged to because she’d damaged Jenner and ruined his life for a short time. Turning on my heel, I wasn’t surprised to find Poppy striding toward us, but I was shocked to find an evil glint in her eyes. What the hell was she doing here?
“Not that it’s any of your business, but this is my brother. In fact, Jenner and I couldn’t be happier.” I smiled wide and fake at her.
A look of annoyance came over her face before she shut it down. “If you’re so happy and in love, why are you here with your brother and not him?”
Placing my hands on my hips, I narrowed my gaze on her. “Why are you here?”
“It’s a free country,” she shot back.
I noticed she didn’t say she was there to buy groceries. It seemed Paul had the same thought as me. His hand wrapped around my bicep and started to pull me toward the car.
For every step we took away from Poppy, she took two toward us.
“You need to stop right there,” Paul growled out as he stepped in front of me, blocking me from Poppy’s view.
“Ah, how sweet. He’s like a little bulldog trying to protect his master.”
“Get in the car, Abbi,” Paul said through the side of his mouth only loud enough for me to hear.
I stepped toward the car, but when I did, I heard a woman gasp and then Paul’s deep voice. It was low and soothing, but deadly at the same time. “You don’t have to do this. If you decide to leave now, nothing bad will happen to you.”
“Nothing bad is going to happen to me, but I can’t say the same thing about you or your sister,” she said in an all too serious voice before she laughed maniacally.
What the hell was going on?
As if sensing I wasn’t moving toward the car and instead to him, Paul turned his head and our gazes locked. The only thing I could see was fear etched all over his face.
“I think it’s best if you look at me, big boy,” Poppy laughed again.
Placing my hand on Paul’s back, I peeked around his arm to find Poppy pointing a gun at him.
When did she get a gun?
I knew the second she spotted me. Her smile grew until she resembled the Joker, and when she aimed the gun at me, my heart stopped.
I wasn’t sure when it happened, but Poppy had become unhinged. It probably didn’t help the situation that she was surely on some drug that was fueling her craziness.
“Someone call 9-1-1,” a man shouted from the next row of cars over.