His Three-Day Girlfriend novel · Chapter 14 of 24

Chapter 14: Poppy

"Dead," I said.

Poppy nodded, hiccuping, her ponytail half out of its tie.

"He came home at four and said you'd run into the river. He said Dane panicked and Elliot panicked, and if the police asked, I was never at the loft."

Elliot started to close the door.

"Wait," I said.

I stepped into the gap, in a hotel robe, barefoot, and looked at the girl who had called me a little deer.

"How did you find us?"

"Colin's at the ER with Dane. His phone was charging, and the clinic's car tracker is on it." She wiped her nose with her sleeve. "I thought if you were dead, I'd see a morgue. I saw a hotel."

"So you came to check."

"I came because he lied to me!" Her voice cracked. "He lies about everything, and I thought I was the one he didn't lie to."

I let that sit between us.

"Poppy," I said. "On Friday you toasted to me never remembering a thing."

Her face went through three expressions.

"That was a joke."

"You told me to say thank you."

"Everyone does that," she whispered. "It's just the game."

"It's not a game. It's my life."

She started to cry again, and I felt nothing at all, which was a relief.

"What do you want from us?" Elliot asked.

"I want you to tell Colin I didn't know," Poppy said. "I want you to say I thought it was a charity thing. I can't be in trouble. I have a sponsor deal."

I almost laughed.

"What time is the unveiling?"

She blinked. "Noon. At the collectors' hall downtown. It's number one hundred, the last one in the set. Forty thousand people are watching live."

"Then go," I said. "Smile. Do your whole speech."

"Why?"

"Because if you don't show up, Colin will know you came here."

She gripped her phone, thinking it through, and I watched her decide that the safe thing was the stupid thing.

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