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“Just one more hour? I want to see their first dance, and then we can go. I know you don’t like dancing, so I won’t ask you to stay and dance.” Poppy looked up from her chair with a worried expression. She was being too damn sweet. They’d only been there an hour, but she was already trying to appease his discomfort. The truth was, he didn’t really mind.
“Ok,” he said, and put his arm around her as they waited for the rest of the guests to finish their dinner. Tora couldn’t help but feel sorry for the happy couple. They were trying to eat their dinner but had been continuously delayed by the crowd tapping loudly on their glasses and making the couple kiss. It was fucking nuts.
Tora checked behind him again, his instincts to spot danger before it happened in the middle of a banquet room in ‘clan neutral’ territory with a bunch of half-drunk civilians.
“You’re really uncomfortable, aren’t you?” Poppy asked the second time he looked over his shoulder towards the main entrance.
“Don’t really like having my back exposed, ya know?” He shrugged it off like it was no big deal. He didn’t want her to feel pressured into leaving. Especially now that she had asked to stay longer. He’d feel like an asshole. She wanted to be here and he was gonna shut up and nut up.
“Would you be more comfortable if you had your back to the wall?”
“What? Just get up and move? To where?”
“Over there,” she pointed towards the back cover that at a table with three of the eight seats empty, probably because you wouldn’t be able to see the bride and groom from there. “My friend Ashley is at that table. I don’t know her super well, but we follow each other on Instagram, and I don’t know these people at all.” She whispered so the 3 middle-aged couples at their table wouldn’t hear over their own conversation.
“Ok.”
“Here’s the plan. The next time they do the—” suddenly someone behind him started to clink his fork against a water glass and a ripple of people followed making Poppy’s eyes go wide in shock and grabbed her purse and hissed, “let’s go!”
Tora chuckled, grabbing his jacket off the back of the seat as he stood, following in her footsteps in a slightly winding route to the table. Her swift little brain forging the past of least resistance through the maze of crowded seating.
Approaching the table Poppy smiled widely and waved to her friend. “Mind if we sit here? I saw these seats were open.” Just like that, they were welcomed into the table. Jenny’s boyfriend, Jason, was a decent dude for a civilian and didn’t seem intimidated by Tora at all. They didn’t have much to talk about so of course, the conversation went to work.
“What do you do for work, Tora?”
“Private Security.”
“What kind of thing do you do?” Jason asked.
Tora shrugged. What could he tell this guy that wasn’t a complete lie? “I keep my client alive. I follow him around pretty much everywhere he goes. Mostly I’m just a gloried chauffeur because he can’t drive for shit, but it pays good and it’s better than what I did before. What about you?”
Just like that, they moved on to talking about everyone else at the table. They sat through the speeches, the cake, and finally the first dance. They had already said goodbye to the table and were on their way out of the banquet hall when someone called out to their backs making Poppy stop in her tracks and Tora nearly run into her.
“You better not be leaving my wedding without saying hi, Poppylan Abagail Wilkes!”
Poppy turned with a brilliant blush at getting caught red-handed by the bride. The women hugged squealing their excited greeting. “Oh my god, Becky, I’m so happy for you! You look so beautiful!”
“I’m so happy you came! Are you really leaving already?” Becky, the bride asked, she was pretty in that normal kind of way, and looked very happy and flushed from the excitement of the day. Poppy nodded and Becky grabbed her arm. “Fine, but I need your help first, I need to pee and it takes four people to hold up my dress and I just volunteered you.”
Poppy laughed. “Ok, I can’t refuse the bride,” she turned back to Tora with a placating smile. “I’m sorry, you can stay and talk to Jason more?”
“Don’t worry about me, I’ll be at the bar.” The thought of going back and sitting his Poppy’s other friends didn’t sound like a good time. Jason was already getting annoying close to asking questions Tora couldn’t talk his way out of. He was really bad at this socializing shit, especially with civilians. Is he supposed to say something to the bride? He decided to go with Quincey’s advice. “Congratulations on your wedding.”
“Ohh! I haven’t introduced you guys. I’m so rude. Beck this is my boyfriend, Tora. Tora, this is Becky.” Poppy seemed a little flustered, but Tora couldn’t ignore the way his heart did a summersault when she called him her boyfriend. It didn’t matter how many times she’s introduced him that way today, but it felt good every time.
“It’s nice to meet you, Tora. Now if you will excuse us, I’m about to burst and I’ve got five petty coats and a hoop shirt to navigate,” Beck laughed and pulled Poppy away with her towards the restroom.
The open bar was pretty crowded and had a limited selection of drinks, so Tora decided on just a beer. He didn’t drink often, but that didn’t mean he was a complete lightweight. Besides, it wouldn’t hurt to loosen up a little around these people who seemed harmless enough. Without fail, another large-built guy started up a conversation about fitness training and protein replacement shakes. This was exactly why he avoided going to gyms, all the assholes looking to advise or trying to sell you shit. He didn’t give a fuck about how much this douche could bench, and couldn’t understand why anyone would care. The best investment Tora ever made was purchasing part of an underground parking structure to keep his cars, most of his arsenal, and converting part of it into a private gym. Still, he couldn’t be upset with Poppy for leaving him stranded in the middle of a crowd. She’d been so excited for her friend and he’d do anything to see her happy.
“What would I have to do to convince you to try the Bull Milk Protein Shakes?” Douche asked. Unable to extricate himself politely from the sales pitch after a solid 10 minutes, Tora finally lost his patience.
“Look, man, I’m tryin’ not to be an asshole for my girlfriend’s sake, but I’m not interested in yer shit,” Tora said, attempting to stay calm as his shoulders began to ache from nicotine withdrawal.
“Fuck off, Chad, no one wants your protein shakes.” Tora turned around to see who had spoken behind him to be faced with the groom. “Hey, I’m Kyle. Sorry about my brother, he’s an idiot.”
“Congratulations, man. I’m Tora,” he said, shaking the guy’s hand and turning his back to protein shake Chad.
“Thanks, Bro. You’re here with Poppy, right?”
“Yeah. Last I saw her she ran off with yer wife.”
“They’ll be gone for ages. Becky needs a breather.” They continued to shoot the shit while Kyle shook hands and accepted congratulations from other people.
After a few minutes, Tora watched as Poppy huddled into a group of similarly aged women and a few young girls in front of them as they watched the bride’s back. Suddenly Becky threw her flowers over her shoulder at the group. The bouquet soared through the air and bounced off Poppy’s tits. Pandemonium among the women broke out and Poppy clutched the bouquet against her chest and ducked into a protective position as half the women swarmed her like angry wasps.
Tora stood watching open-mouthed at the debacle wondering if he should intervene. Suddenly there was a cry of pain and Poppy popped up, holding the flowers high in the air as the others grumbled and the crowd applauded. A blonde in a skimpy dress limped away from the fray and more than a few women looked rumpled. Poppy looked around, flushed as a tomato, and found him standing at the bar and waving the flowers at him with a big smile. It was the strangest shit he’d ever seen. Weddings are weird as fuck.
“Uh oh, man, looks like your next,” Kyle said, patting Tora on the shoulder in playful sympathy. Tora looked at him, confused as fuck. What the fuck just happened here? Kyle walked away, saying hi to Poppy as they passed.
“Oh my god, Tora! Did you see that?” She said, loudly as she skipped over to him a huge smile on her face.
“I did. What the fuck is that about?”
Poppy blinked, apparently forgetting he’d never been to a wedding before, and explained. “It’s a tradition. All the unmarried women stand in a group and the bride throws her bouquet and whoever catches it is supposed to be the next to get married.”
Weird as fuck, but Tora felt pleasantly warm at the idea. “No shit? You fought well for a hamster.”
“Oh shut up,” she laughed, hitting him with the flowers. “I didn’t really fight. It hit me, I just defended myself. I did take the opportunity to kick Mimi,” she whispered the last bit making Tora laugh.
“What’d she do to ya?” Tora asked curiously, flashing his dimples at her. He liked her feisty.
“A favor. That doesn’t mean I have to like her. Oh, does this mean your gonna do the garter toss?”
“The what?”
”The garter toss.”
As if on cue, the DJ started playing ‘Foxy Lady’ by Jimi Hendrix and announced the Garter Toss would begin. Tora watched as Kyle walked Becky to a chair set in the middle of the dance floor and started dancing around her to the cheers and wolf whistles of the crowd. Becky looked mortified, covering her face with her hands as Kyle performed some weird mating dance to the crowd’s delight. Tora looked down at Poppy in utter confusion and she laughed at him.
“Well, Kyle is a little extra, but he’ll take off her garter and then all the single men gather behind him to see who catches it. Usually, it’s a lot less porny.”
“What does the guy get?”
“To put it on me,”
“The fuck?” Tora asked in disbelief.
“I caught the bouquet,” she laughed with a shrug, as if that made any sense at all.
Tora looked over at the men beginning to gather while Kyle had his head buried beneath the skirts of his wife’s dress. Of course, Julri was proving he had a death wish after all and was standing next to protein shake Chad and half a dozen other dipshits hoping to grope his girl.
“Fuck that noise. I’m winning my girlfriend a lap dance,” Tora said and made his way through the crowd with Poppy hot on his heels giggling.
To his delight, Julri started to slink away as Tora approached. He wasn’t having any of that. Tora clamped his hand on Julri’s shoulder pulling the man back to the crowd with a menacing smile. “Leaving so soon, Joffrey?”
“It’s Julri,” he said attempted to push Tora’s hand off his shoulder. Tora squeezed a little tighter making Julri blanch and begin to sweat.
“I don’t really fuckin care. You’re gonna stand here with a smile and your hands where I can see them. After I catch this thing, you’re gonna leave before I do, because if you don’t you’ll find that paybacks are a bitch.” Tora let go of Julri’s shoulder and he winced in pain, rubbing the spot and looking around to see if anyone else had seen what happened. No one had. Tora wasn’t an amateur.
“Don’t look so worried, I’m gonna let you live this time. Kyle and Becky seem like good people and I hate to have your death ruin their special day.”
Kyle was done making a fool of himself and turned around to cheer at the men assembled. After a little more showmanship that would make Quincey fall in love, Kyle closed his eyes and stretched the garter back from his finger like he was shooting a rubber band and let it fly. It wasn’t even hard to catch, and the men didn’t tackle him. He wasn’t sure if that was because of his size or if women at weddings were just more bloodthirsty. Either way, he was successful at keeping a corpse from groping his girl.
Grinning widely, he twirled the garter around his finger while waggling his eyebrows at Poppy who was looking a tantalizing combination of bashful and horny. Good. Now he just had to keep her that way until they got home.
The dipshits scattered and Kyle slapped him on the shoulder in a friendly way. “Go get her, Tiger.”
Either Tora fell into a trap or had slipped into a different dimension, because at that moment ‘Eye of the Tiger’ began to play. It was an old joke, his boys enjoyed pulling his leg with this song. He wasn’t supposed to know that all of his crew’s ringtone was the song. These people were new though, and he didn’t mind being used for a laugh amongst Poppy’s people. She was in trouble though, he was definitely going to embarrass her now.
He swaggered over to Poppy, holding out his hand to her as she covered her face and shook her head and shouted, “I hate you, Becky!”
“No, you don’t!” Becky laughed, pushing Poppy towards him.
Poppy laughed and pretended to resist as he took her hand and pulled her over to the chair. She went to sit down, but he stopped her and made a show of wiping off the seat. Not to be outdone by Kyle, Tora wiped his face and winked at her making the crowd erupt in hoots and hollers. Poppy was pink from her ears to her neckline.
“Take a seat, sweetheart.”
“I hate you too,” she hissed, sitting down gracefully, attempting to retain the appearance of innocence.
“No, ya don’t. ‘Sides, you started it.” He knelt on the floor at her feet, sitting back on his heels. Placing his hands on her knees he pulled her legs apart a little. Not much, he didn’t want to give anyone a show. Well, that’s a lie, he’d give ‘em a show, but it wouldn’t be with Poppy’s panties. Another whistle and the first chorus of ‘Eye of the Tiger’ was just beginning.
“Left or Right?” he asked, slowly sliding his hands down the back of her calves making her toes tap in embarrassed impatience. “What’s wrong? Cat got your tongue?” He was talking low enough that no one could hear him. As far as the crowd, all they saw was a beautiful woman being teased by her boyfriend. It was quite chaste compared to Kyle’s display of virility. “Eeny, meeny, miny, moe. Catch a tiger by his…” he trailed off suggestively selecting her right leg, which was closest to the crowd and thus would be the better choice to her modesty. The second chorus began and he placed her foot on his thigh and made a slow climb up her leg so that he’d end with the lyrics of the third verse when he says ‘rising up to the top’. He wiggled his fingers making Poppy shriek and use her feet to push herself and the chair away from him. He laughed and the crowd cheered as he got to his feet and helped her up.
“I’m gonna get you for that,” she hissed through her teeth.
“Looking forward to it.”
“Give it up for Tora and Poppy, everyone! Looks like we got another happy couple here tonight. Let’s get all the happy couples to join them for the first open dance of the night,” The DJ echoed and transitioned into ‘Wonderful Tonight’ by Eric Clapton.
“We don’t have to dance,” Poppy whispered nervously as couples began to move towards the dance floor. Tora placed her hands and his shoulder, his own hands on her waist, and swayed back and forth with her.
“’ Course I do. Can’t leave lookin’ like a chump. ‘Sides, you look wonderful tonight.”
“You know this song?”
“Everyone knows this song. Even thugs, Poppylan,” he teased. “Naw, this was the kind of music Joe listened to. So if he was at the restaurant, there would be classic rock playin’.”
Poppy rested her head against his chest and took one of his hands moving closer so that they were holding hands as they swayed in each other’s arms. It felt nice. “How’d I do tonight?”
“Apart from being a perv with the garter? Really good, everyone who’s talked to me has said nice things,”
“Ya bullshitting me?”
She shook her head smiling up at him. “Nope. All nice things. The ladies in the restroom were trying to guess what you do for a living.”
“Oh yeah? What were their guesses?”
“A model, a personal trainer, a professor.”
“Anyone get close?”
“Well, Sarah said, ‘I don’t know, but it looks like he could kill you with his bare hands.’” Tora stopped dead in his tracks, his stomach sinking. Poppy tugged him and laughed. “It was a joke and everyone laughed before they delved into the gutter. She’s been flirting with the DJ all night, so she’s probably to blame for ‘Eye of the Tiger’.”
“You civilians are fucking weird. Ya know that right?” They finished dancing talking about weird shit Poppy has done growing up in the woods. There was a story about a rival team’s mascot and a homemade potato cannon. Civilians were more hardcore than he knew, or at least the ones from boonies were.
The song ended and they made their goodbyes before heading down to the parking garage. It was chilly down here so Tora gave Poppy his blazer to keep her warm and lit up a smoke on their way to the car. He didn’t smoke in the car with her in the car, but he needed one after so many hours. Tora opened her door for her when someone shouted.
“Hey! I know it was you—you asshole!”
Poppy froze as Julri came storming towards them, the blond in a skimpy dress limped behind him. It was the same chick Poppy had nailed when she caught the bouquet and Tora couldn’t help but laugh. What had she said the woman had done? A favor? He laughed again, feeling prouder and more possessive than he had before.
“Donno what yer talk’ ‘bout, we just left.”
“Then explain why my tires are slashed!”
Tora had no intention of denying his involvement, but he didn’t honestly give a fuck if he beat him bloody here or not. The weird-ass night got weirder when Protein Shake Chad showed up with his own thoughts.
“What the fuck is your problem, Julri? You’re such a fucking downer. Fuck off, man,” Chad said, puffing his chest while Tora wondered if all this had been a giant fever dream. Why’d it have to be Protein Shake Chad? Julri stormed back to the elevator followed by his disgruntled girlfriend. “Don’t worry about him. Everyone knows he’s a whiny bitch.”
“No sweat,” Tora answered still stunned.
“You good, Pops?”
“Just confused, so nothing new,” she said cheerfully.
“Just Julri being a dick. He’s spent most of the night trying to convince everyone that Tora is a thug from the city. No one believes him, obviously. Seriously? What a fucking idiot. He probably thinks everyone from the city is a thug. Asshole.” Chad ranted on and Tora was stunned. Fucking civilians.
“Thanks again, man. Tell ya what, gimme yer card and I’ll give it to someone gullible.” Tora said and Chad laughed.
“Fuck man. I like you. Poppy, you did good,” he continued to laugh and handed Tora a card.
Tora was still shaking his head. Who the fuck were these people? The whole night has been pretty twilight zone. Stopping at the gate, he handed his slip over to the attendant who looked down into the car. “Hey, man, if you don’t mind me asking, what’s your secret on getting so buff?”
Tora smiled to himself and handed him the Bull Milk Protein Shakes card he just got. “Call Chad. Tell him Tora sent ya and he’ll hook you up.”
“Thanks!” He said and lifted the gate.
Tora burst out laughing as soon as they pulled into the street, Poppy giggled along with him.
“Shit, Bobby, this is the weirdest night of my life.”
“Good-weird or bad-weird?”
“Good,” he said and held her hand as he drove towards his apartment. It was closer to the Hotel and they’d already decided to stay there tonight.
“Damien?” Poppy asked after a short silence. Tora knew she was asking who slashed Julri’s tires and shook his head still smiling.
“Brian.”
“That’s so mean,” she said, but she was laughing so he wasn’t worried.
“Naw, that’s payback. The fucker stuck a potato in my tailpipe. Who fucking does that?”
“You punched him first.”
“I slapped him. ‘Sides, he earned that by the way he was talkin’ ‘bout ya. The potato was a separate issue.”
***
Later that night, Tora was feeling very content with life. True to her word, Poppy made him ‘pay’ for his stunt with the garter. If this was her idea of punishment, he had no desire to behave himself. She was scrappy and bossy when she wanted to be, and Tora enjoyed submitting to her when she was all worked up.
“Ya forgive me yet?” He murmured against her bare shoulder as he held her from behind.
“Hmm?” She was half asleep and floating in her post-orgasm bliss. Tora chuckled softly and squeezed her tighter.
“Thought ya were supposed to be mad at me,”
“Oh yeah,” she said and rolled onto her other side so they were face to face. “I was never really mad. Just embarrassed.”
“I know,” he kissed her scrunched-up forehead. “Ya forgive me though?”
“Yeah. Everyone had fun with it. It’s just, I’ve known most of those people my whole life. I can’t believe Becky had them play that song. Was that embarrassing for you?”
Tora shrugged. “Don’t really know any of those people. I was more interested in making you squirm for starting the whole thing.”
“I did not start it!” She protested, lightly smacking his chest. “Becky made join the bouquet toss, and I’m pretty sure she aimed for me. She played volleyball in college, so I know she’s a dirty little cheat.”
“But you fought for it,”
“Nooooo, I was surprised.”
“Naw, admit it. Ya wanted those flowers. If I knew ya liked flowers that much, I’d have been buyin’ ya some. Nope, instead, you got into a catfight at a wedding.”
“It was not a catfight!”
“People were limping away and your arms are covered in scratches. I didn’t know weddings were so scrappy. Or fucking nuts. What kind of tradition is that anyway? A woman catches the bouquet is the next to get married and then whatever fucker catches the thingy keeps it and then gets to feel up a woman? That makes no sense. What if a kid catches the flowers? That’s nasty. The whole thing is just whacked.”
Poppy was giggling at his rant, her eyes sparkling with humor. “If a little girl catches it, they either skip the garter thing or whoever catches it just flings it off into the crowd. Sometimes if it’s a little kid, they’ll toss the bouquet again with just the adults. It just depends on the couple or family. Not everyone does it. You didn’t have to catch it though.”
“The fuck I didn’t. Let yer ex or Protein Shake Chad get handsy on ya? Not a chance, sweetheart.”
“Protein Shake Chad?” She laughed uncontrollably. “Oh god, that’s so bad. He’s a nice guy, you shouldn’t call him that.”
“Why not? ‘Sides, I did him a solid for his help with numbnuts.”
“Well, you did slash his tires.”
“No. Brian did. I was with you the whole time.”
Poppy narrowed her eyes. “What did you say to him?”
“Ya heard me.”
“No. I mean earlier. I know you said something during the toss.”
“Ohh. That.” Tora shrugged, debating for a second how much to tell her. He wondered if she’d believe the truth. “Told him I’d pay him back for the potato.”
“So you were starting shit. Were you planning on him coming after you?”
“Just seeing what kind of man he is. See if he had any sense; he doesn’t. Told him I wouldn’t kill him for coming near ya today outta respect.”
She didn’t look amused.
“What? I told him I’d kill him if he came near ya and he stood up there tryin ta piss me off. Wasn’t gonna let him pull that shit with me. What if he’d caught it? I’m just supposed to let him grope ya over a weird-ass game?”
“I would have refused.” She said plainly.
“What, you’d just walk away?”
“Yeah. Or toss the bouquet at Mimi. I don’t know. I would have come up with something. I was pretty upset when I saw he was up there, but you were already on your way, so it didn’t last long. I’m really glad you went up there, but I’m sorry if you felt embarrassed.”
She was too sweet. She always did this. Worried more about his comfort than her own. She had been nervous about asking him to go to the wedding in the first place. He hadn’t even found out about the wedding until last weekend when she casually mentioned she’d be busy on Saturday. At first, he’d been hurt she didn’t want him to go. When he found out she hadn’t asked him because she thought he wouldn’t want to go, he knew he had to. He’d been nervous and did his best to look like the kind of guy who deserved a woman like Poppy. Even did his best to sound like a civilian.
“Naw, Sweetheart, I had a good time. Weird as fuck, but I like seein’ ya happy,” he soothed her worried frown and kissed her softly. “Did I do ok?”
Her lips twitched as she swept his hair away from his face. “You did wonderful tonight.”
She snorted and giggled as Tora tried and failed not to laugh with her. “Yer such a fuckin’ dork,” he said, tickling her sides to make her laugh harder.
“Hey, you walked into that all on your own,” she said, pulling his hand away from her side and holding it in both of hers to stop him from tickling her more. It’d be all too easy to capture her hands in his and use the other to tickle her, but he didn’t want to risk pissing her off and ruining the moment.
“Is that the kind of wedding you want?” His heart thumped loudly with the question. Dangerous territory. With anyone else, he’d avoid the question, but the idea of marrying Poppy wasn’t uncomfortable. Not at all.
Poppy shrugged. “Haven’t really thought about it. Probably not. I don’t really have a big family or a lot of close friends. I think if I get married, I want something small with only the people who matter.” She was tracing the lines of his tattoos with her fingernail with her head tucked under his chin. It felt nice, always did. A small, casual touch, but one that made his body relax into hers every time. “How about you? Ever think about it?”
“Naw, never been in love before I knew ya.” It wasn’t how he’d thought of telling her, but it was the truth and he had no reason to hide it. Didn’t really have a reason for not telling her sooner. He showed her he loved her every day, and not being good with words, that always seemed like enough to him. But the way she looked up at him with a quivering smile and tears threatening to overflow, maybe it wasn’t for her.
“You love me?” She sounded so surprised that it made his heart clench. He’d been an idiot.
“Hell yeah! I show ya every day.”
“Say it again,”
“I love you, Poppylan,”
“I love you too,”
“Good.” He kissed her fiercely. Overwhelmed by how good it felt to hear her say it and cursing himself for not telling her sooner. His body trembled with the rush of it. Fucking hell, he’d never let another opportunity like this pass him by. An idea occurred to him as if it was right there in front of him the whole time. “Wanna do something crazy?”
“Hmmm,” she hummed seductively, nipping at his lips with her shape little teeth. She was a bite-y hamster, but he liked her that way. All giggles or mild violence; it was one of the other with her. “Probably, whatcha got in mind Tiger?”
“Let’s get married.”
She drew back, her eyes wide with shock and her mouth hanging open. “Tora, that’s crazy! We can’t do that!”
“Why not? Besides it being crazy, what’s stopping us?”
She looked mildly skeptical. “I don’t know. We’ve only known each other a few months.”
“Everyone starts somewhere. I know I wanna spend the rest of my life with ya. Vini, vidi, vici, and shit.”
She snorted. “I think you mean carpe diem. Vini, vidi, vici means ‘I came, I saw, I concurred.”
He grinned smugly and waggled his eyebrows at her. “I did that too.”
She swatted him, rolling her eyes as she pushed away. “Perv.”
“You like it,” he said, pulling her back into his arms and kissing her again, proving to both of them that she did like it. “So whaddya say? Let’s fly to Lunar Beach and get married, just the two of us.”
“Tonight!?”
“What’s stopping us?”
“What about our friends? And family?”
“I ain’t got family, and ya said ya wanted only the people who matter. We’re the only ones who really matter.”
“…”
Monday Afternoon
Poppy had just finished replying to an email from Mr. Lam when Quincey walked through the door followed closely behind by Tora. She smiled when she saw him. She’d been smiling all day, but she felt her cheeks burn when he came up to her and kissed her chastely in front of everyone. It was only Erdene, Jacob, and Quincey; still, he’d never done it out in the open like this before.
“Did ya tell ‘em?” He asked, a sly grin making his dimples appear.
She shook her head. “I wanted to get some work done before the inquisition showed up.”
“Tell us what?” Erdene asked, her hands on her hips looking rather affronted at being kept in the dark about something. Especially when it came to the two of them.
“Should we tell them?” He asked. He was being extra playful and it was so nice to see him happy. Quincey was staring at them with deep suspicion, Erdene was still glaring them down, and Jacob just looked eager to be included. Poppy nodded and poked him in the chest. This was his idea and he’d be the one to say.
Tora turned around, to face them and put his arm around Poppy’s shoulder. “We got married.”
The looks on their faces were priceless. Jacob stared blankly between them. Erdene’s hands dropped from her hips and she leaned against her desk with her mouth hanging open. Quincey looked dumbfounded.
“No!” Quincey said loudly and looked between them. “No!” He repeated louder. “NO! HOW COULD YOU?” He cried as he covered his face with his hands. “You said you were going to a wedding. Not getting married! You didn’t invite me? I’m your brother!”
“We did go to a wedding!” Poppy defended herself. “We just went to more than one.”
“Three actually.”
“Three?!” Quincey shrieked.
“Well, we had to get married twice.”
“TWICE!” Quincey was hysterical. “You got married twice and you’re telling me days later? Do you have no compassion for my poor nerves?”
Tora rolled his eyes and shook his head like he’d lost his patience. “20 years of babysittin’ yer ass and I do one thing that really fucking matters without thinking how it will make you feel. Deal with it.”
“Ok. I’m calling Damien. All of us are going out to celebrate,” Erdene said, already in the process of sending a text.
-the end-