Jade’s laughter dies out and she looks out into the far distance. “I knew Wicked when he was younger too. I heard your little spew to your dad inside, and I feel like it may be the same place I met him.” I shift around to face her while running my fingers through my hair. It’s dark, but not as dark as Jade’s. Her black strands offset her light eyes, though, a little similar to mine. Maybe he has a fucking type.

“You knew him?” I flex my fingers, watching as the sun hits the diamond rock on my finger. It was a gift from me to me.

“Well, I knew him to an extent. I guess you could put it that way.”

I leave the words between us. I’m familiar with old skeletons and not wanting to resurrect them.

“What’s happening?” Poppy comes in with the other girl in tow. She has silver blonde hair and tattoos all over her skin. They both drop down on the sofa opposite us.

My cheeks sting as my smile widens on Poppy, watching as the sun sets in the background behind her. “I can’t believe you are alive.”

“Ditto! I thought for sure you and Wicked would have killed each other.”

“Oh…” I chuckle, taking a sip of my drink and moving my hair to the side. “Trust me, we almost did.”

Poppy’s smile widens. “You look amazing. I loved you as a blonde, but I’m digging the brunette vixen.”

Sighing, I swirl the drink around in my glass.

“That bad, huh?” Poppy adds, and my eyes slowly meet hers. It’s the first time I feel sadness creep into my bones and chill me to the core. I spent years keeping a wall in front of my emotions whenever I left my house. It was a ritual.

I nod slowly. “Yeah.”

Poppy shuffles her body forward, resting her hand on my knee. “We can talk about this later.” She leans back on her elbows, wiggling her brows. “But update me! You married?” I drift off into the distance, tracing the outlines of the high peaked mountains behind the trees where the barn is. Little do they know, the kind of ugliness that lies deep inside.

“No!” I whisper. “Not married.”

“Ahhh, but she does other things!” Val kneels down beside me.

“You’re interrupting the first kind of girl talk I have had in years.” I search his eyes. “This better be important.”

He leans into my ear. “It’s Wolf.”

I look down at the gold Rolex strapped around my wrist, pushing up from my chair. “I’ll be back!”