Bad Boy's Protection (Protector #1)

Chapter 22

Chapter 22

Grayson

I felt so stupid. Poppy was nearly assaulted last night and if Belle didn't see it, who knows what could have happened? And I felt guilty. I broke up with Poppy to protect her, but now I realized that the best way to protect her was by being with her. If we were still together last night, I wouldn't have let Poppy be alone so in a way, it was my fault. I was trying to protect her from Dedrick but the real threat to her was Ben.

"Grayson," Mom said. Our family was having an early dinner together, something I didn't want. Mom and Ginny were still at our house, even though it had been a week. "You barely touched your food. Are you okay?"

"Why should you care?" I asked. "You left, remember?"

"Grayson," Dad snapped.

Mom sighed. "I get that you're mad........"

"Mad?" I repeated. "Being mad is understating it. Really understating it."

The phone in the kitchen rang, giving Dad an excuse to stand up from the table and mutter something about me being a brat.

"Hello?" Dad answered from the kitchen. "Oh, hi Gene. How are things?.........Yeah, we need to have another soon.......Grayson? You want to talk to him?.......Alright." Dad walked back in the dining room and handed the phone to me. "Gene McCormick wants to talk to you."

Poppy's dad? What did he want? "Hello?"

"Grayson, I was hoping you could help us," Gene said. "It's about Poppy."

"What about her?" I asked.

"Ever since she came home last night, she's been acting different," Gene explained. "And we're worried about her." Poppy didn't tell her parents about what happened. It must be worse than I though if she couldn't talk about it. "I know you two aren't dating anymore, but you're the last person that can help. Any chance you can come over?"

"Yeah," I said. "I'll be there shortly." We both hung up and I stood up from the table.

"Where are you going?" Dad asked.

"Out," I replied, leaving before anybody could stop me. I was not going to abandon Poppy when she needed me. Not again.

I got to her house and knocked on the door. Both of her parents looked relieved to see me. "She's been in her room all day," Gene said. "She hasn't eaten at all and she refuses to talk to us."

"I'll try talking to her," I said.

"Thank you," Gene said. "She's in her bedroom."

I nodded and walked up the stairs. I didn't know what room was Poppy's but luckily, I heard a movie playing in the one closest to the stairs.

I knocked on the bedroom door and heard the movie pause. Shortly after, the door slowly opened. "What are you doing here?" she asked quietly.

"To talk," I replied. "You're parents called. They're worried about you. So why haven't you told them what happened?"

"I can't talk about it," Poppy muttered. "I don't want to talk about it."

"Can you talk about it with me at least?" I asked.

"I just said that I don't want to talk about it," Poppy said. "I don't want talk about how scared I was or how he hurt me." She wiped a tear away and shook her head. "I'm fine."

"You're not fine," I objected. "You need to talk about it."

"With who?" Poppy asked. "My ex-boyfriend who broke my heart?"