Coming into the living room, grabbing his keys, Luca saw Poppy folding laundry as he had asked her to.
"You gonna be good?" Luca asked Poppy, his tone as condescending as ever, as he ran his hand over his gelled hair one last time.
Poppy nodded. "Who are you going out with?"
Luca chuckled and winked at her. "Nobody you know."
"Who?" She asked again.
Luca looked at her with displeasure. "Why are you so bold all of a sudden?"
"I'm not."
"You are."
Pursing her lips, Poppy just nodded. "Have a good night."
"You too," he clicked his tongue.
Poppy listened to the door lock then counted the thirty seconds it took Luca to get down to the exit. Ten seconds after that she heard his car start and speed away. She waited a full three minutes, counting each second herself, before she could relax. It was always within three minutes that he'd return if he forgot something.
Ten minutes after he'd left, a car pulled up out front and less than a minute later, a knock at the door. Panic set in, cementing her feet to the floor, while the knocking continued.
"Po, I mean, Alice? It's Angel," he spoke softly.
The door swung open suddenly and Angel felt himself yanked roughly into the apartment. He kicked the door shut behind them and grabbed her shoulders.
"You okay?"
"You scared me," she whimpered. "You shouldn't be here. He could come back and he would kill me."
Angel cocked his head to the side. "Somehow I don't think you're kidding. He won't though, I got someone keeping an eye."
"God, Angel," she chided.
"What? Besides, the best way to get him is keeping myself far as fuck from the action so he can't hit back."
Poppy sighed heavily. "What are you doing?"
"Got my boy following him, gonna lift his car and strip it," he says with a devilish grin.
"He loves that car," she said.
"That car is about to make me a lot of money," he chuckled. "I was thinking, we could split it, be a nice chunk saved for your own place."
Poppy's brows furrowed as he said it, showing Angel how incredibly absurd the idea was. "Uh. No, thank you."
"What?" He asked, following her as she turned and headed down the hall.
"Money is the least of my problems, Angel," she sighed, only meeting his eyes once they were in the living room.
"What's the most?" He asked, standing over her as she sat on the sofa.
Poppy's lips twitched, her jaw moving as if she were about to speak, but she didn't say a word.
"What? Come on."
"I don't know," she shrugged.
"Yes, you do," Angel scoffed.
"I don't," she said more adamantly. "I was going to order Chinese and watch TV. You can stay if you quit questioning me. I get that enough with Luca."
Angel exhaled loudly, feeling guilty for pushing, and nodded. "What are we watching?"
"I've been binging Parks and Rec," she told him. "We can watch something else if you want."
"Whatever you want," Angel told her. "You can pick."
