CHAPTERTHIRTEEN
POPPY
“Come on, don’t be like that, sweetheart. You want to win, don’t you?”
I pull away from the man. My tummy feels sick. I don’t like this. I don’t think we should be doing it, but Momma told me that I had to sit with him for a while.
“My teachers told me not to let anyone touch me there. That it’s a bad touch,” I whisper so I don’t get in trouble.
“Bad touch? Me? Oh no, pretty girl, I just want to see what kind of competition we have this year for the pageant. This is okay. Trust me. This is all okay. Come, let me help you with your dress...”
“No!” I wake with a start, and my eyes dart around as I look for the threat I’m sure is there.
“It’s only a dream. Just a dream. Nothing to worry about.” I close my eyes and will my heart to stop trying to beat its way out of my chest. After a minute, when the speed of my heart rate doesn’t subside, I rub my sternum and try to massage away the anxiety. It’s been such a long time since I’ve had any type of nightmares like that. I thought I was finally over what happened all those years ago, but I guess not.
I swing my gaze over to the clock on my nightstand and groan when I read the number three fifty-six. There’s no way that I’m going to be able to get to sleep, not after that.
Pulling my knees up to my chest, I sit on my bed and try to put those horrible memories out of my mind. Every shadow and every click of the clock seems to wind me up more. The longer I sit there, the more memories flash in my mind, and the worst the feeling min my chest is. It was so long ago, but it feels so real.
I don’t want to be alone right now, but I don’t have anywhere to go. I could call Clover or Corentina, but by the time I get to them, it’ll be well into the morning. I don’t want to wake them up anyway.
There is one person I don’t mind disturbing, but I don’t even know if he’d open up the door for me.
With the risk of getting embarrassed again, I throw on a pair of pajama pants and my slippers before I walk over to Tristan’s house.
I knock on the door and wait for a second. When I don’t hear anything, I knock again.
“Yeah, hold on,” he barks.
Shoot, this is a really bad idea.
Before I have the chance to change my mind and run back home, Tristan swings his door open. I’m surprised at how different he looks. He’s naked from the waist up, and his hair is mussed up from being asleep, but he looks a bit better than he did before.
“Poppy? What’s the matter? Are you okay?” He looks around the corner of his doorway toward my house. Obviously, thinking someone was there to hurt me.
“No, yeah. I’m okay. Nothing’s wrong,” I say, stumbling over my words.
“Yeah? So, you just decided that four in the morning was a good time to visit?” He smirks at me, but I don’t have the strength to smile back.
“Yeah. Can I just sit in here? You can go back to sleep. I just don’t want to be alone right now. “ My eyes drop as I admit to him in not so many words that I’m scared.
“Yeah, of course. Come in,” Tristan says and moves back so I can come into his house.
“You want some tea or something?” He asks me as I walk over and sit on his couch.
“No, it’s okay. You can go back to sleep, Tristan. I’ll just be sitting here.” I pull my legs back up, so my knees are touching my chest, but he doesn’t move.
“You’re not okay, Poppy, and no matter what you say right now, I’m not going to leave you. Do you want some tea?”
My eyes jerk up to his, and I’m surprised that he doesn’t remember me saying something very similar to him in the moments before he kicked me out of his hospital room. My how the tables have turned. I’m happy that he wants to help me even though I don’t really want to be thinking about all this now.
“Yeah, sure. Thank you.” I get up from the couch and walk over with him to the kitchen.
“I have chamomile. “ He pulls out a small box of tea and shows it to me.
I scrunch my nose, “Hmm, I don’t know. I’ve never been a big fan.”
“You have to taste it the way I make it. It’s delicious.” he raises an eyebrow and waits for me to answer.