Page 133 of Running from Drac

Cipher knocks again, and the door swings wide.

“What? What the fuck do you want, Eddie? Haven’t you ruined enough?”

Cipher clears his throat. “Ma’am, I’m Officer Johnston with the Reno Police Department. May I come in?”

“Sure,” she says curtly, “but that motherfucker can stay outside.”

“Unfortunately, ma’am, I feel as though it’s best if he comes inside. He’s having a bit of an anxiety attack, and I’d like to keep an eye on him. Would that be okay?”

Poppy’s voice is oozing with hatred. “Do I really have a choice?”

Cipher nods his head. “Everyone has a choice, but in his current condition, I can’t leave him alone.”

“This is so stupid. But fine. By all means, come on in.” She waves an angry hand toward the couch that’s in the middle of the room.

Cipher helps me to my feet and guides me into the living room, motioning for her to sit on the couch first. She chooses a hard chair facing it, refusing to sit beside me.

“It’s probably best you have a seat.”

She eyes me curiously as Cipher sits me down on the cushion facing her, then carefully sits down next to me.

“What’s this about?”

“Eddie tells me that your parents are out of town on business?”

“They’re always out of town… why? What’s going on?” she questions, obviously reading our uncomfortable body language.

My head drops in shame, my breathing calming to something manageable. My heart no longer races like it’s in a spinning room. If that’s what an anxiety attack feels like, I’d hate to feel a panic attack if it were ever to happen.

Slowly, I lift my head, meeting her eyes for only a few seconds before I see Pippa staring back at me, her ghosthaunting me from beyond the grave. Shaking my head, I try to remind myself that this is Poppy not Pippa.

It doesn’t work.

“I’m not sure how to tell you this…” Cipher starts, adjusting the way he sits as she shifts awkwardly on the hard wooden seat. “But there was an accident…”

“An accident? Are my parents okay?”

“Your parents are fine,” he reveals, “It’s not them I’m here about.”

Poppy’s eyes widen before narrowing in on me. “What did you do to my sister?” There goes my heart again, racing inside my chest, a cold sweat pooling on my forehead as pressure builds in my chest to the point of combustion.

Cipher speaks before I have a chance. “I’m not sure how to tell you this—”

“Is that all you know how to say?” she yells, blowing up at him before turning her rage on me. “I know you have something to do with this or you wouldn’t be here. What the fuck did you do?”

“First off, don’t take out your anger on the officer. He’s just doing his job. Second, what makes you think I have something to do with it?”

“Because you have no other reason to be here, Eddie. Amber fucking kicked your stupid ass to the curb, and my sister… well, you fucked up your chance with her too. So why the fuck are you sitting here ruining my day even further with your presence?”

I fucking hate how she always talks down to me like I’m nothing more than gum stuck to her shoe, and like she’s better than everyone. It’s why the words fly out of my mouth cold and uncaring.

“Because she’s dead, Poppy. Pippa is dead.”

The words freeze in the air between us, each one stagnant and final. She wasn’t expecting them, not with the way her jaw quivers, eyes widening with shock. She stands there for far too long before her face twists into one of fury, her grief taking over.

She launches forward, shoving me so hard I fall off the couch. “You lying son of a bitch!” Her fist connects with my jaw before Cipher can react. It catches me off guard, the pain more than I ever expected to come from someone her size.

I deserved that hit, and anymore she wants to throw at me. I’ll take them all if it will help us both heal from this.