Heart-On: Turf Wars #2 Bella Jewel (books for 10th graders .txt) 📖

“Well, he owed me.”

“How much did you take?” Beckett asks, his voice gruff and tight.

“Ah, a lot. I used it to buy the equipment I’d need to make fake money. Then, I took your money so I could learn to do it better.”

Beckett looks like he’s going to blow a fuse. “So that shit we’ve got out there, that we’re makin’ money with, was purchased from the money you stole from your psycho husband? Is that right? Have I fucking missed anything?”

“Look, I didn’t ask to stay here,” Poppy growls. “You could have taken your money back and sent me on my way, but instead, you decided you wanted to know how I was making it. You kept me to benefit you. I never said I didn’t come with baggage. You just never asked.”

I mean, she has a point.

“You’re fuckin’ loopy,” Beckett yells.

“Enough,” Riggs puts his hand up. “That’s enough. We’re goin’ to go and figure out what the fuck we’re dealin’ with here, so we can make a choice.”

“I already know what we need to do,” Beckett snaps. “We need to get her the fuck out of here, so we don’t end up with a war on our hands. We don’t have time for that shit, nor do we need it.”

“He has a point,” Remy nods from the corner, hand on his bandaged leg.

“Gotta agree, boss.” Adan nods.

I look at him.

They can’t send her out there, on the streets, with nothing. She’ll be killed.

“She’ll die if you send her out there,” Eve says, her words exactly what was just running through my mind.

“She made that choice,” Riggs says calmly.

“What about she makes money somewhere else,” I throw in, “somewhere that she hasn’t been seen with us. You can tell that dick of a husband that you threw her out after she stole from you. He’ll believe it, and it gets her away from the club. She can have somewhere to stay and a place to make money.”

It’s not a bad idea, right?

“We do have an old warehouse we store shit in,” Hank adds. “It’s dingy as fuck, but it’s safe, out of town, and nobody knows it belongs to us. Would be a good place to run this shit from.”

Riggs thinks about it. “Let’s go and discuss it further. Eve, you girls stay in here. Keep the doors locked, do no go outside until we’re certain it’s safe. I’ve got men doing a perimeter check now.”

Eve nods.

The guys all disappear.

Poppy exhales and puts her face in her hands.

“How bad is this guy you’re married to?” I ask her.

She looks at me and for the first time, she looks drained. “He’s not a good man. At the time, he offered me an escape, and so I took it. I thought I was making the right choice, but the second I stepped into his world, I realized it was not the right choice. It was a very, very bad choice. I knew I had to get away from him. I didn’t have to steal his money, of course, but it is what it is.”

“Do you think he’ll back off if they tell him they gave you the flick?” Eve asks.

Poppy shakes her head. “No, he’ll back off the club, but he’ll keep looking for me. He thinks I’m his property. It’s not just about the money. He’s a god damned prick. But, let me tell you, he’s the best-looking prick you’ll ever see in your life. Very deceiving.”

“Oh, one of those,” I say. “Was he ever good to you?”

Poppy rolls her eyes. “It depends on what you define as good. The man could fuck like a warrior, and he made my body do things that I didn’t know it could do, but when it came to being a jealous, overbearing prick? No, he wasn’t good to me. He runs a pretty tight ship and he’s a very dangerous man, but I never fit into that world, and I defied him every chance I could.”

“That doesn’t sound like you?” I laugh.

She laughs, too. “I know, right? I wasn’t the sort of wife he needed. As time went on, things got worse, and I just needed to get out of there.”

“Did he ever hurt you?” I ask.

Poppy shakes her head. “I mean, not in a violent way. He was rough, dominant, and overpowering, but he didn’t hurt me as such. We got into some pretty hectic fights, and he has pinned me against the wall a few times, but mostly that led to wild sex and...yeah. It wasn’t healthy.”

“Did you love him?” Eve asks.

Poppy shakes her head. “No, I didn’t. I thought maybe I could when he offered a way out, but I was wrong.”

“Well, I’m glad you’re out of it now. Hopefully, we can get to the bottom of it,” Eve smiles.

I hope she’s right.

It seems like a messy situation.

“YOU CAN’T PLAY HOT and cold like that, Doris,” I scoff. “That’s not nice.”

Doris waves her phone at me. “I’ve had five missed calls this morning already. You absolutely can play hot and cold, dear. Don’t let anyone tell you that you can’t.”

Jesus, Doris.

“You said he was a nice man!”

She smiles. “He’s a lovely man, but he can’t see that I think that. You’ve got to pull on the strings a bit, get them working. It’s the only way you’ll get what you want.”

God.

Savage.

She’s a savage.

“You’re terrible,” I say, shaking my head. “Terrible, Doris.”

A little laugh comes from her evil mouth.

But I love her.

“Tell me about your love life, dear? Is that man following you around like a lost puppy? If he’s not, then you’re not doing it right.”

“He is,” I nod happily. “He can’t get enough of me.”

“You know,” she says, narrowing her eyes, “you need to make sure you have a headache sometimes. You can’t always be throwing the muffin around because eventually, he’ll get bored of it. Mark my words, if they can’t have it,