Page 10 of Unmask (Crew of Elmwood Public #2)

I sat in Poppy’s car, my fingers raking through my already messy hair.

Slumping against the passenger seat, I squinted against the morning light stabbing through the windshield.

My head throbbed, drums slamming against the inside of my skull, and the bitterness of last night’s booze still coated the back of my tongue.

The engine idled, and the windows were cracked just enough to let in the piercing brink of winter air.

Two days had passed before Kaylor finally responded to Poppy, and in those forty- eight hours, I’d been wasted for most of them.

I’d stopped long enough to sober up once I got the text from Poppy, and when she pulled up to the house, I almost didn’t smell like a brewery.

Maybe. It could also be that I’d become immune to my own stank.

Poppy crinkled her nose as she steered the car down my driveway. “Jesus, Corvo. You look like shit. And you smell like you spent the night passed out on a bar floor.”

I grunted, rubbing a hand over my face. “You’re not far off.”

“I was joking, but…wow.” She shook her head and adjusted the volume on the radio, low enough not to aggravate my hangover but loud enough to kill the silence. “You seriously got wasted?”

“I needed to think,” I muttered even though thinking was the last thing I managed to do with a bottle in my hand. “I didn’t exactly sleep.”

“Things are worse than I feared.” She shot me a side glance, brows arching like she wanted to see if I’d flinch.

“I kept my end of the deal. I know where she’s staying.

Now you owe me answers, Corvo. I’m betraying my best friend right now for you .

So don’t insult me by pretending this is no big deal. ”

I didn’t respond right away. The truth was heavier than my hangover. She wasn’t wrong. She deserved to know what she was walking into. I adjusted the sunglasses shielding my bloodshot eyes from the morning light. “Kaylor’s dad…” I started hoarsely. “He was the head of the Vipers Nest.”

Poppy’s gaze widened, her head whipping toward me, taking her eyes off the road for a few seconds. “The crew? Like—crew, crew?”

I nodded.

“Holy shit,” she whispered, then blinked at me, the many bangle bracelets on her arms chiming together as she turned the wheel. “Wait, so, why was she even living with you? Aren’t the Vipers and Ravens like rivals?”

“My father blackmailed a judge to alter her parents’ will and get guardianship. It was all part of his plan.” I stared out the window. “She didn’t know. None of us told her the truth. She found out Friday night. That’s why she ran.”

Poppy’s nose scrunched. “Well, no wonder she hates you.”

I deserved that. “There’s more,” I added, stretching my legs out as far as I could in the compact car. “There’s a traitor in the Vipers. Someone gave my father inside information that led to her parents being killed. I don’t know who it is, but it means she’s not safe under their protection.”

Poppy gave a laugh, more disbelief than humor. “And you think she’s safer with you?”

Her words punched a hole in my chest. “I can keep her alive.”

“Who will protect her from you ? I should kick your ass out of my car.” When I didn’t say anything, Poppy glanced over again. Her expression softened, just a fraction. “You fell for her, didn’t you? That’s what’s got you so twisted up inside.”

I didn’t answer. I didn’t have to.

“Goddamn,” she whispered, frowning. “Kreed Corvo, the untouchable king of Public, caught feelings.”

“I never said I had feelings for her,” I grumbled as I stared out the passenger window at the blur of suburban houses passing by.

“You don’t have to. Have you ever been in love before?”

I leveled her a look.

“I’m going to take that as a no.” She turned back to the road, a small smile playing at the corners of her mouth. “You were falling for her. Why is that so wrong?”

My chest tightened, and emotion clawed its way up my throat.

“It’s not supposed to be like this,” I said, the words grinding out like broken glass.

I stared ahead through the windshield. The leather of the seat creaked as I shifted, trying to escape the snare of her scrutiny.

“You’re right, though. She will be safer as far from Elmwood as she can get and far from me. ”

“Could you let her go?”

I sighed and rubbed my hand down my face, wishing I could scrape the guilt off with it. “If it was the only way, yes.”

The car slowed as we approached a familiar intersection, and Poppy drummed her fingers against the steering wheel, a nervous habit I’d noticed she had when she was thinking too hard. “What are we going to do if she refuses to come back with us?”

“It’s not an option.”

Poppy rolled her eyes. “Wonderful. You could have told me before we left that there was a chance we’d be committing a felony. I’d never kidnapped anyone before.”

My lips twitched. “Then you’re in for the biggest rush of your life, Pops.”

Poppy pulled up to a guardhouse and rolled down her window to give her name to the man screening the cars coming in.

I shouldn’t have been surprised to see Kaylor was tucked behind a gated community with security.

This part of Elmwood was her comfort zone, where she would feel secure, but if I could get inside, it would only show just how vulnerable she was.

The guard let us through without pause once Poppy gave her name. She chewed on her lower lip, her nerves growing as we approached the house, and what a fucking house. I lived in a pretty elaborate home, but this…

The house was too perfect, pristine, screaming old money and power. This wasn’t some temporary safe house. This was a home, and it sure as hell wasn’t the one we had forced her to leave behind.

I swallowed hard, forcing down the raw edge that curled beneath my ribs. She was here. Breathing. That had to be enough. Even if I shattered whatever fragile thing still existed between us, it would be worth it, because this was the only way I knew how to keep her alive.

“We’re really doing this?” Poppy muttered as she stared up at the house like it might bite.

I didn’t look at her. Just kept my gaze fixed ahead. “All you need to do is go up to the door and ring the bell. I’ll take care of the rest.”

She didn’t move. Didn’t breathe either. “She’s never going to forgive me.” Her voice cracked just slightly. “I don’t know if I can forgive myself.”

I turned in the seat. “Poppy, get your shit together.” The words weren’t gentle. They weren’t meant to be.

Her jaw dropped, eyes narrowing in a flash of wounded disbelief. “You’re an ass,” she snapped, but her voice wobbled.

Scanning the house, I took mental notes of the numerous cameras. They were well hidden, and there were probably a few more I didn’t see. This place wouldn’t have been easy to get to without Poppy being on the approved guest list.

Just who the fuck lives here? And how does she know them?

This definitely wasn’t Rusty’s. Someone else from the crew?

“That’s been established,” I replied.

“Don’t be surprised when she slams the door in our faces,” Poppy said, getting out of the car and closing the door hard.

My eyes tracked her angry steps as she walked up to the house, my lips twitching.

It made sense that the two of them gravitated to each other and became friends.

I waited a beat, giving Kaylor a moment to come to the door before I got out of the car.

I didn’t want her to catch a glimpse of me on the camera.

The only way this worked was if I caught her unawares.

From ahead, I heard their voices. Poppy’s was soft and careful, but Kaylor’s voice hit me like a fist to the ribs, knocking the breath from my lungs. I hadn’t realized how much I needed to hear it until now.

My sneakers scuffed over the concrete. The place was too quiet, too fucking elegant, and it made me itch. The Corvo estate was a fucking fortress, but this? This was different. It wasn’t a prison.

It was a sanctuary.

A sanctuary that didn’t include me.

As I rounded the corner to the front door, Poppy was stepping over the threshold, giving me a slightly obscure view of Kaylor.

Damp strands of platinum hair waterfalled down her as if she’d just gotten out of the shower, and she was wearing sweatpants and an oversized sweatshirt, one that wasn’t mine.

Whose damn hoodie is it?

I gritted my teeth, shoving the possessive thought away.

Not mine. Not anymore.

Before Kaylor could see me and slam the door in my face, I moved, coming up behind Poppy. Poppy must have sensed me, her body instantly tensing. She shifted uncomfortably as if suddenly regretting everything about this plan.

My palm flattened on the door as it started to close.

Kaylor’s gaze pulled away from her friend, speckles of fear widening those light-blue eyes before they landed on me.

I didn’t stop moving, knowing I had to fully commit and push my way inside.

It was the only way I could get her to listen without influence or interruption.

Confusion flashed across her face.

And then?

Fucking ice.

Her entire body went rigid, her face locking down so fast it made my stomach drop.

And what a freaking face. I knew I had very little time, so my eyes drank up the unobstructed view of her, greedier than I wanted to admit. Where there had once been heat and something dangerously close to love, there was now only frost in her eyes. No trace of warmth.

Her full pink lips turned down, and I wanted to kiss them like a starving man, like I dreamed about every goddamn night since.

Regret burned through me like acid—regret, need, something deeper I didn’t want to name yet.

It all surged up so fast I froze. Forgot what I was doing there.

Forgot the plan, the lies, the betrayal.

All I saw was her, and all she saw was the one person she never wanted to see again.

It had been days since she walked away from me, but it felt like months, like someone had toyed with the hands on the clock, stretching time just to fuck with me. Standing here and seeing her again… It hit me like a sucker punch to the chest.

Get a fucking grip, man.

I closed the door behind me, bolting the lock. “Hey, little raven.”