Page 7

Poppy

I wake up realizing I fell asleep with Corbin. We had sex. Oh my god, what did I do? I'd like to blame it on having too much to drink, but that would be an outright lie.

Immediately, my mind starts to race. I lost sight of the goal and slept with someone while on a quest to get vengeance for my dead fiancé. I let lust pull me and willingly succumbed to it. I feel like a cliche, a disappointment.

Slowly, I move his hand off of my waist and carefully lower it before gently pulling back the covers. I need to think things through to decide what my plan is from here because today is Valentine's Day, and I'm supposed to fucking kill someone.

Part of me wants to kill Corbin for being so much of a temptation. He isn’t a bad guy, even though he is the embodiment of lust in every way, shape, and form. I don't kill good people. No matter how my mind tries to justify things, Corbin will never be my Lust kill.

I need to get out of here and get my priorities straight. Letting these feelings for a man I barely know get in the way of what's really important isn't something I'm going to entertain any longer.

A throbbing pain radiates from the middle of my forehead, and I have to close my eyes to center myself. My body feels shaky, most likely from the massive amount of alcohol I drank last night. Great. To top everything off, I get to do all of this with a hangover.

Glancing around the room, I try to find my things. The little black dress lies in the corner, and when I pick it up, a brief flash of his mouth on my center fills my thoughts. He was so good at that.

Trying to be quiet when you're on the verge of a full-blown mental breakdown is easier said than done. I tiptoe across the room, pulling the zipper of the dress up as a sound comes from the bed.

I glance over to see Corbin has rolled over and is now lying on his back. My eyes study his face for a moment, taking in the sharpness of his jawline and the slight curve over the bridge of his nose. His hair is a tousled mess now, only adding to his overall attractiveness.

Guilt floods me as I tear my gaze from him, and sneak into his living room. The only other person I've felt this kind of instant attraction toward was Drew, and he was taken from me. Allowing myself to feel like this for someone else could leave them open to the same fate. Who's to say I wouldn’t freeze up again in the face of danger?

My destiny is to fulfill this promise to Drew, and that's it. Fuck Valentine's Day and all the stupid things that come with it. A tear rolls down my cheek as I try to picture my life with Drew, but all I can see is him bloodied in that alley. It hits me like a punch to the gut.

My knees give out, and I crumble to the floor, letting sorrow consume me as quietly as I possibly can. I shake my head and tuck the feelings inside because I have shit to do. I can't afford to let myself fall apart here. Getting out of this apartment before Corbin wakes up is best for everyone. Him being awake will only make leaving harder.

I stand and take a step toward the door, but I freeze when my eyes catch sight of a picture frame on his television stand. My face pales, and shivers course through me as I change direction and walk toward it.

A bright, smiling face stands out, pulling me to the photo like there’s an invisible string connecting us. With a shaky hand, I reach down to grasp it. What stares back at me is a group of men with their arms around each other's shoulders and my very dead fiancé smiling like it's the best day of his life.

What the actual fuck?

My chest heaves as sorrow consumes me once again, but now it’s mixed with anger. I'm not quiet and controlled with it this time. How is there a picture of Drew here? It looks like it was taken right around the time he and I met because he has the same haircut with the lines in it.

I glance at each of the faces in the picture and notice another that looks familiar. Is that Drew's douche friend from the club? I’m not positive because I didn’t get that good of a look at him that night. He looks like someone else too, but I can't place it right now. I'm too angry. A total of six guys stand there, three of them familiar to me, and it makes me lose the last morsel of sanity I have left.

"WHAT IS THIS?!" I scream as I march back to the bedroom.

Corbin jolts awake just as I make it to the bed. His face is full of confusion as his wide eyes study me, trying to figure out what set me off. He looks at the photo that I shove toward his face, and he grimaces.

"Why do you have that? What's wrong with you?" he tosses out groggily.

"What the hell is this?" I ask again, demanding some sort of explanation that makes even the smallest bit of sense.

"Cupid, I'm going to need you to calm down," he says while running a hand up his face and back his hair.

"Stop calling me that!" I yell. "Why do you have a picture of my dead fiancé in your apartment?"

"Listen, it's the middle of the night, and I have no idea what you're going on about. That photo is of me and some of my brothers from college."

A fraternity? That doesn't make any sense. Drew never told me he was in a fraternity. "Drew wasn't in a fraternity," I state plainly, tossing the photo onto the bed and marching out of the room.

I stomp into the kitchen, pulling open drawers until I find what I'm looking for. My hand wraps around the base of the knife before I go back to where a very confused Corbin lies in bed.

"Poppy, you need to calm down," he tries, but I only see red.

Did he know who I was the entire time? Did he know Drew was my fiancé, and is that why he wanted to sleep with me? The dots finally connect. I think Corbin's friend from last night is the same douche that Drew tried to introduce me to the night he died. That's why he looked familiar.

Rage fills me, and I place the knife to Corbin's throat. "Tell me how you knew Drew for real, or I'll kill you."

He tries to push himself up, but I dig in deeper, holding my stance and not allowing him any space to sit up further without cutting himself.

"I mean it. You wouldn't be the first lying piece of shit I've held a knife to." I let it slip out. FUCK! I didn't mean to say that. My mind is in too many places right now.

"Poppy," Corbin states calmly. "Drew was one of my brothers in college. The six men in that picture were all inducted into The Collection at the same time. That's me, Drew, Trent, Devlin, Raiden, and Ghost. Well, his real name is Casper, but he goes by Ghost."

"No, Drew wasn't part of a fraternity. Why do you keep saying that? He would have told me."

"He didn't tell you because it's not the kind of brotherhood that people know about."

"You better talk faster because it's becoming more and more tempting to just slit your throat and just be done with it."

"Can you move that? I'll tell you what you want to know, but I'm not going to do it like this."

"You'll do it however I tell you to!" I assert and dig the knife into his skin, making blood drip down his neck.

It's not a deep cut, but it was enough to draw blood and make a point. I won't let him talk me down so he can get the upper hand and then call the cops on me or something. I'm sure I look like a crazy bitch, but that's how I feel, so whatever. I need to know how Drew is connected to this supposedly random man that just happened to be the first man I've had sex with in six years.

"Cupid, if you’re thinking I knew you were Drew’s girl, I swear to you I didn't. I knew he met someone, but I had no idea it was you."

"I said stop calling me that!" I sneer while digging the knife into his skin again. "Talk before I take away your ability to do it permanently."

"I already told you it's a brotherhood. Well, more of a society. They'll kill both of us if they find out you know anything, but I swear I'll explain."

His eyes are full of remorse. I can tell he is being sincere, so I pull back slightly to give him the chance to say whatever the fuck he’s talking about. Maybe this means I can kill him after all.

“Then do it,” I say, narrowing my eyes.

"We were inducted our freshman year of college. It's an elite group of men who take orders from those above them, and it's all extremely complicated. Essentially, we are assigned a woman to win over so we can pull their fortune into our control. We marry who they tell us to. It's a legacy that most of us are born into."

"That doesn't make any sense. I don't have any money or fortune, so why would Drew be with me if that were the case?"

"That's what you don't understand. He wasn't supposed to be with you. He went against The Collection. They had him killed."

No, I can't let myself believe that's true. I step away from Corbin and press my hands to my head, with the knife safely pointed away from my face. That would mean Drew died because of me. That makes this all so much worse than I originally thought.

"Lust was supposed to be easy!" I scream, letting the tears flood down my face.

"What are you talking about?" Corbin asks gently.

I'm tired of hearing him, feeling him, being near him. He messed all of this up. I wasn't supposed to catch feelings for the person I was meant to kill, and he most certainly wasn't supposed to be connected to Drew.

"I don't want to hear any more!" I yell, backing away and dropping the knife.

"Poppy!" he calls out, but I keep moving.

Just as I get to the door and lean down to grab my boots, his hand reaches out to grab my wrist. "Just talk to me," he pleads, and I notice he's still naked from last night.

"I don't want to!" I say, yanking my hand away. "Drew died because of me. I made him a promise, and I fully intend to follow through with it. Whatever stupid society you're talking about makes no difference. He's dead, and it's my job to get vengeance."

"That doesn't make any sense."

"It doesn't have to make sense to YOU," I sneer, opening the door. My head turns to give him one last glance. "Thank you for helping me remember what my priorities are. Do not follow me or try to find me." With that, I walk out of the door, stumbling as I pull my boots on.

"Poppy, stop!" he tries, but I don't care to hear what he has to say. It doesn't matter, and he can't exactly follow me while he's naked.

I rush out of the building with a fury building inside me. Is that how he was able to get such a nice apartment in the city? Surely owning a fucking sandwich shop isn't going to bring in the amount of money it would take to pay rent at this kind of place.

All of the red flags begin to fall into place as I step out to the street. It's nearly sunrise, and I have no clue where I am, but I pull out my phone and find I'm not that far from my hotel.

Without another thought, I hail a cab, give them the address, and get the fuck out of here before Corbin has a chance to try and come after me. I need my morning ritual of reflection before I can piece together what my next steps are going to be because this shit just got a hell of a lot more complicated.