Give You A Kid? No Way!

Chapter 8

Aria

Poppie seemed unusually quiet again on the drive. Knowing that she probably didn't sleep well and was stressed about the blood, Aria didn't question her. About thirty minutes into it, they stopped at a small diner for breakfast.

“So, what’s wrong?” Aria asked, after they ordered their food. Poppie had still seemed so far away and she was worried about her friend. “Is it your brother? Was he really that upset with you?”

"Yeah, at first," she shrugged and looked away. “He’s going to call the motel and straighten things out.”

“Hopefully they don’t make him pay for the blood stain. I mean, it’s seriously their fault for not vacuuming before we got there. You’re lucky we didn't have to go to the E.R. for stitches.”

Poppie smiled. “True.”

“You know, I always wished for an older brother, but now I don’t feel like I’ve missed out on anything,” Aria murmured.

“I know he’s bossy but Mick means well. He just has so much on his plate, especially since Dad died. So many people depend on him and he’s always so damn busy. I certainly don’t envy him.”

From what Aria knew, their father hadn’t been around much nor had he been the nicest guy in the world. From what Poppie had hinted at, he might have even been physically abusive. As for their mother, she’d died when Poppie was a small child.

Since Poppie was opening up a little, she asked her about Dante.

She sighed and began playing with her straw. “There's really not much to say. He’s a d**k and we’ve never gotten along.”

“What about his parents?” she asked, wondering if Poppie at least got along with her aunt and uncle.

“Honestly, I never really got to know them. There was a falling out, a long time ago between Dad and his sister, Dante’s mom. I think it might have to do with his father."

"Are they still around?"

"No. They died."

"Wait, so your parents are deceased and so are his?"

She nodded.

"Damn, I'm sorry to hear that."

Poppie smiled sadly. "It's fine. I mean, it is what it is."

"Why don't you guys try and work things out?"

"Between us and Dante?" She snorted. "Hell, no. Dante’s a criminal. He heads this motorcycle club and they're not nice people."

“It’s funny how he told you not to make trouble when he’s the dangerous one.”

“Exactly! Anyway, he just knows that I won’t put up with his bullshit and feels threatened by it.”

“Ah.”

“Anyway, you’ll probably never see him again but just be warned, there’s still an ongoing feud between him and Mick, so you might hear him complain about him.”

“Okay.”

The waitress brought them a heaping tray of food, mostly for Poppie who’d ordered pancakes, an omelet, hashbrowns, sausages, bacon, and three pieces of toast.

“You have a hearty appetite for someone so skinny,” the server said when she returned later to give them their bill and noticed that Poppie had eaten everything. “I wish I had your genes.”

Poppie smiled. “I’m sure it will catch up to me someday. “

“Once you hit thirty, your metabolism goes down hill,” she replied, winking. “Something tells me you won’t be hit as hard as the rest of us.”

“Why is that?” Poppie asked, almost defensively.

The waitress blushed. “Sorry, I just meant that as a compliment. You’re very pretty.”

Poppie relaxed. She smiled apologetically. “Sorry. I didn't mean to snap at you. I just didn’t sleep well last night. Thanks for the compliment.”

“No problem.”

The waitress left and Poppie grabbed the bill before Aria could look at it.

“Remember, it’s on me,” she said, scooting to the end of the booth. “Let’s go.”

“Thanks.”

After paying for the food, they headed to the car only to see Dante and another biker pull into the parking lot on their bikes. They stopped next to the Prius and shut off their engines.

Poppie swore under her breath.

“Well, well, well. Fancy meeting you here,” Dante said with a smirk. “You’re just the person we wanted to see. We couldn’t plan this out better if we'd tried, huh Jax?”

The other biker nodded.

“What do you want?” she asked in an irritated tone.

Dante got off the motorcycle and Aria's throat went dry as he swaggered toward them. He had on a black concert T-shirt that hugged his muscles and light blue low-riding jeans that emphasized his narrow waist and sexy butt.

He stopped in front of them and stood about a foot taller than Aria.

“We've got some questions for you," Dante replied.

"What do you know? I've got answers." She flipped them off.

Jax, who reminded Aria of the actor, Vin Diesel, chuckled.

Dante rolled his eyes. "Very mature." He looked at Aria. “You don’t mind if we have a little privacy, do you Sweetheart?”

Aria still thought he was hot as hell, but nobody called her sweetheart. It bordered on condescending. Instead of answering, she looked at Poppie. “I’ll wait in the car.”

“Okay. It won’t be long.” She handed Aria the keys.

Dante

Dante noticed the cold look from Aria when she got in the car and bit back a smile.

Maybe she did have a little moxy going for her.

Jax, got off of his bike and joined them. “Weren't you headed home yesterday? Thought you’d be there by now."

She shrugged. “We’re enjoying our road trip and wanted to stay at a motel before reaching Shore Lake. What’s it to you?”

He didn't reply.

“Where’d you stay?” Dante asked.

Glaring at him, she told him the name of the motel.

“You check out Moody's?” Dante asked.

She looked a little uncomfortable. “The bar? Why?”

"Apparently, one of the customers met up with a pretty blonde and then some folly," Jax said.

She snorted. "Some folly, what's that supposed to mean?"

"He was found dead in a nearby lake," Dante said flatly.

Something flashed across her face for a second.

Panic?

"Poppie, we know you were there and there's even evidence that he was with you," Dante lied, trying to get her to confess. "And look, no judgments here, okay? I mean maybe he tried something and things got out of hand. Nobody would blame you for trying to defend yourself."

"Exactly," Jax added. "And we can help you. Just tell us what happened and we'll figure things out."

She stared at both of them for a second and then started heading toward her car. "I have no idea what you're talking about. I didn't go to Moody's or meet some guy last night. I stayed in the motel with Aria. Ask her.."

"Sounds like a good idea," Dante said. He was about to motion for Aria to roll down the window when Poppie got angry. She stomped back over to him and poked Dante in the chest hard.

"Look, I don't know anything about a dead guy, so leave me the f**k alone and go sniff up someone else's ass." She lowered her voice. "And for your information, Aria has no idea about our kind... and if you start asking questions that have nothing to do with me, you're going to scare the f**k out of her. So, just get on your little bikes and go look for who really killed this guy if you're so interested in finding out."

"There was also vampire scent on the victim," Dante said, ignoring her. "You run into any?"

"No, because I wasn't there!" she insisted.

"But you were outside at one point or another. You didn't happen to smell them in the area?"

She let out an exasperated sigh and then shrugged. "Honestly, I don't know. I didn't pay any attention."

Dante looked at Jax. "I know who would probably pay attention - some of the bartenders at Moody's."

"Damn right. In fact," Jax pulled out his camera and quickly took a photo of Poppie, "chances are if she was in the bar, they'd remember."

Her face turned red with rage.

"Let's go," Dante said, heading back to his Harley with a satisfied grin. He looked over his shoulder. "Oh, and Poppie, I'll be in touch if we have more questions. The Council might want to talk to you too."

She glared at them as they got on their motorcycles. "f**k you. Both of you!"

Dante smiled at Jax. "I think we hit a nerve."

"I think so."

They both chuckled and started their engines.