Page 13

”Yes!” Adam grunts.

Colter gets up, and he’s not even breathing hard. He starts to walk away, but then Adam, like the dumbass he is, says, “You can have the fat bitch. I was done with her anyway.”

Colter walks over to him, lifts his leg and stomps his boot down into Adam’s ribs. I swear I can hear the crunch from where I’m standing.

I rush over to them. “Colter.”

He has his boot up, ready to stomp again, but I move closer. “Colter, stop. He’s not worth it.”

He lowers his boot to the ground and squats next to Adam. “She just saved your ass. You won’t be so lucky next time.”

Colter stands up, puts a hand at my waist, and leads me away from the man bleeding on the ground. Still behind the building, I stop and turn to look at him. “You’re bleeding. Oh Colter, I’m so sorry. This is all my fault.”

He shakes his head, wiping the blood from his lip. “This is not your fault. I wanted him to have the first punch. I’m okay.”

All I can see is the blood pouring from his lip. “You’re not okay, you’re bleeding.”

He laughs. “I’m fine. Go back to work. I’m going to wait until the sheriff gets here.”

I put a hand to my chest. “I’m not going back to work while you go to jail. I’ll stay and tell them you were defending me.”

He shakes his head. “I’m not going to jail, Poppy. I’m the one that called the police.”

”But… but how did you know?” I put a hand to my head. “I’m so confused.”

Before he can explain, a cop car pulls in, and he nods at me, full of confidence. “Go on, I got this.”

I squeeze his arm. “This is my mess, Colter, I can’t just?—“

He puts his hand on my chin and lifts it so I have to look at him. His brown eyes are pleading with me. “Please, go. I don’t want you involved.”

”Involved? I’m the reason you’re involved.”

He tilts his head to the side. “Trust me?”

I nod, and he gestures toward where the food truck is parked. “Go on. I’ll take care of this.”

Reluctantly, I walk away.

I try to focus on my job, but I keep waiting for Colter to come and tell me it’s over. When I see the cop car pull out and no Colter in sight, I know exactly where he is. He’s leaving, and he’s not even going to tell me bye.

Thankfully, business has slowed, and I leave Teresa again. As soon as I get around the side of the building, I see Colter climbing into his truck. I call his name and take off running to reach him before he pulls out.

I knock on his window and gesture to the door. He opens it and steps out. “Poppy, you okay?”

I point to his parked truck. “You were just going to leave?”

He nods. “Yeah, I figured I’d already disrupted your work enough today.”

I point to where Colter and Adam fought. “You going to tell me what that was all about?”

He just stares back at me.

I lift my shoulders. “Colter?”

He crosses his arms over his chest. “You’re not going to like it.”

I jut my chin at him. “Try me.”