Poppy: Behind the Words

Books by Savannah Stewart:

Moments of Reckoning

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Behind the Words Series

(Can be read as standalones)

Arianna

Jayde

Poppy

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Find the author at:

http://www.authorsavannahs.com

http://www.facebook.com/AuthorSavannahS

http://www.goodreads.comAuthorSavannahS

http://www.twitter.com/Savvy2287

Love recognizes no barriers. It jumps hurdles, leaps fences, penetrates walls to arrive at its destination full of hope.

-Maya Angelou

Prologue

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I absolutely loved everything about being a stylist! Watching From Yesterday and The Daughters of Darkness own that stage at the last stop of the tour was magical. They killed it, absolutely owned the crowd! Not to mention they did it while dressed to a T in lovely outfits of my choosing. After loading up the last bit of my stuff I wanted to catch everyone before they headed out. The guards at the back exit knew who I was, so I didn’t have to bother with showing my ID badge. Entering the building I was hit with the sound of Riley’s deep baritone voice arguing with someone. Riley wasn’t one to get angry very often but when he did, you knew something wasn’t good.

"Don’t give me that shit, Alexis! Every fucking time...you leave me hanging every fucking time! How are we supposed to think about getting married when you can’t even stick to your word and show up?" I felt like an intruder, standing there listening to his conversation with Alexis, his fiancée, but I couldn’t help myself. A long pause made me think he had ended the call, but looking over at him I could see he still had the phone up to his ear and was pulling at the ends of his freshly washed hair.

Can you just tell me why you always leave me hanging? Do I deserve that? He sounded so defeated and it caused me to want to run over and hug his large body. What I knew about Riley was all good. He never screwed around with groupie sluts and he always took care of pretty much everyone. That’s not good enough, Alexis. I can’t do this shit anymore. I understand that your career is going where you want it to, but you have to understand that I need to know that you will be there when you say you will, that you want to be in this relationship too. Because it sure as hell doesn’t seem like it anymore. I stood there holding my breath, Riley hadn’t turned around and found me yet but I knew if I made the slightest noise he would.

If you hang up on me Alexis, I swear it will be the last time. He paused again, allowing her to talk. An angry growl rumbled through his body causing me to jump out of my skin. "Tell your manager to go fuck himself! I’m not fucking kidding this time, Alexis. Fuck this bullshit...I’m DONE!" He launched his phone into the wall that I was standing against. I let out a small yelp before I clamped my hand down on my mouth, praying he didn’t hear me, but I wasn’t so lucky. He turned around so fast I didn’t even have time to run back out the door I had come in.

I—I’m sorry...I didn’t mean to intrude, I stuttered horribly on my words. Riley looked beyond pissed and he had every right to be. I didn’t bother giving him the chance to respond; I turned quickly and headed towards where I had last seen everyone.

Poppy, wait! Riley’s voice boomed through the hall, stopping me dead in my tracks. I turned back around to face him. He was standing closer than I had expected, but the look in his eyes wasn’t ‘pissed off,’ it was sad...heart-breakingly sad. Riley was an extremely tall and broad man. I wasn’t short by any means and he towered over me. Being five foot eleven wasn’t as great as some would say, but in the case of being face-to-face with Riley I had a better view than other girls. If you looked up masculine in the dictionary, you would find a picture of sexy-ass Riley beside it. His thin nose, strong scruffy jawline, and luscious lips made any girl fall over herself at the sight of him. His hair was barely visible on the sides of his head, but the top was a couple inches long and usually stood in a fauxhawk; but in that moment it looked like a nice case of after-sex hair. A small silver ring wrapped around the center of his bottom lip and just begged for someone to lick it. I was actually thinking about giving it a try when I heard him clear his throat.

Did you hear anything I just said? He gave me a confused look.

Sorry, I was too busy staring at your lip ring. He smiled at the comment as I mentally smacked myself numerous times. The lack of filter on my brain never helped me out. How come you don’t always wear it?

It’s more of an image thing. Most of the time it gets in my way and annoys the hell out of me so I try to only wear it when its band related. Pretty cliché, huh? His laugh came out dry and lacking in humor.

It’s no different than all that makeup Arianna and Jayde wear onstage. They don’t run around in their everyday lives with mass amounts of makeup on—hell, they hardly ever wear it. I knew exactly what he meant about it being an image, but it was far from cliché. Then I did a little curtsey for him, Me, on the other hand, I like to be vibrant! It’s not only my job, it’s my life, I smiled at him as he shook his head and smiled back at me.

You are definitely vibrant. He flipped a piece of blonde hair off my bare shoulder. The contact of his hand caused my heart rate to pick up. Are you going to Jake’s party tonight? Arianna and Bryden bailed, they wanted alone time. Which really means they wanted to fuck all night without interruptions.

I laughed because I knew that what he was saying was true. Anytime Arianna and Bryden were together, they were hands-on. Very hands-on at that. Sometimes to the point that I got a little flustered being around them; I could only imagine how it was being around them all the time like Riley was. They really are perfect for one another, aren’t they? I stated the question more than asked it; I already knew the answer.

Yeah, they found each other at the perfect time. Bryden needed someone to take care of and Arianna needed someone to help her deal with all the shit from her past. Riley ran one of his large hands through his hair, leaving pieces of the at-rest fauxhawk standing in crazy directions. Only a man like him could pull off that outrageous hair style.

That’s so true.

You never answered me, he stated and I watched as the side of his lip pulled up in a sexy-as-hell grin.

About what? I looked over at him as we walked side-by-side towards where the rest of the crew had been.

Jake’s party.

I ran the idea over and over again in my head. I had a very early flight the next day to Los Angeles and I didn’t know if staying up all night partying was the brightest of ideas. But the hopeful look on Riley’s face as he waited for my response pushed me in the opposite direction.

Sure, why not! I threw my hand up in the air and let it fall down to my side.

Good, he continued to smile as a spark of happiness seemed to ignite within his electric blue eyes again, and I found myself smiling wider than I had in a long time.

I had always heard how crazy Jake’s parties got, but I had never attended one. I didn’t bother changing before we left the venue so I was left rocking my black leather pants with holes ripped throughout them, an off-the-shoulder grey belly shirt with studs on the front and black writing that read ‘Rock n Roll Heals my Soul’ and black bootie heels that had silver studs all over them. My outlandish outfits always drew attention, but I didn’t mind. My long blonde hair was curled on the ends and hung halfway down by back, so I didn’t bother doing anything with it. I wasn’t going to the party to find someone, I was going to have a good time with all the lovely people from the tour before I had to head out to Los Angeles for God only knew how long.

I ended up driving myself over to Jake’s so my car would be there the next morning. Jake lived in the same building that his company was in and two of the floors above it were designated as a guest floor and his own personal floor. Apparently the guy was loaded and didn’t mind having people live on the guest floor.

Care for some company? Riley’s voice came from behind me, causing me to smile to myself. I was bent over into the back hatch of my Ford Edge SUV looking for my purse. I had thrown it in there with all the other stuff when I was loading up without even thinking.

I don’t mind at all, I called back as I continued to dig through all my stuff. I might be a minute, I can’t find my damn purse.

Want some help? He placed a hand on my back and leaned over beside me. A couple of his fingers brushed the exposed skin above the waist of my pants, shooting tingles straight to my core.

What the hell is wrong with me? Smiling like a jackass when he talks, getting sensations when our skin touched?

I cleared my throat and squeezed my legs a little closer, hoping he wouldn’t notice, as I answered him, Wait! Here it is! I jerked the thing from underneath one of my suitcases, almost smacking both of us with it in the process.

Riley stepped away, dropping his hand away from my lower back. The warm tingling feeling vanished just as quickly as his hand had. He rounded the vehicle and got in the passenger’s side without saying another word and I sighed heavily. I closed the hatch and made my way to the driver’s side when I heard Jayde call out from across the parking lot.

Anything in particular you want to drink tonight?

Surprise me! I called back. I wasn’t picky when it came to alcohol, I could drink pretty much anything. Jayde gave me a thumbs-up as I opened the driver’s door and got in the vehicle. A few moments later and we were turning onto the freeway, headed towards downtown Atlanta.

We weren’t on the freeway very long before Riley started talking. I had honestly thought it was going to be a silent trip, but boy was I wrong. Are you dating anyone? He rolled his head across the headrest of his seat to look at me. His question caught me off guard a bit and I wasn’t quite sure why he had asked it.

Nope, I kept my eyes on the road and safely shielded by my sunglasses. I haven’t dated anyone in a really long time, I admitted freely. I had slept with a few people here and there since my last breakup, because a girl has needs just as much as a man does, but I decided to leave that part out.

That’s surprising. I glanced quickly at him to see his reaction. He was staring straight ahead with his eyebrows furrowed together, as if he was concentrating on the car in front of us.

I laughed, Why is that surprising? I travel all over the place and end up working for all kinds of events and people with hardly any notice. Any guy I have ever dated couldn’t keep up, they got burnt out on my career and things always ended up becoming a massive shit storm. I shrugged my shoulders as I took our exit off of the freeway. It’s not a situation I want to be in again. So until I can find someone who can keep up with my hectic life, I’ll stay single.

Riley was staring at me, watching my every move, and when I fell silent again he sighed and looked out the passenger’s side window. I know that all too well, he said softly.

I gripped the steering wheel a little tighter in embarrassment at my unfiltered mouth. The thought of all the crap Riley was going through with Alexis hadn’t even crossed my mind when I had started on my rant. I’m sorry... I sucked my bottom lip into my mouth and bit down. I know you’re going through a lot with your fiancée—

Ex, he interrupted me and I looked over at him while we sat at the stop light. Riley must have read the confusion on my face so he went on to elaborate, She’s no longer my fiancée, she’s my ex.

I knew they had broken up earlier, but I also knew their past. Breakups never lasted between them.

You know as much as I do that you all will work things out.

Nah, I don’t think it’s an option this time. We haven’t been engaged since the breakup before this one. When we had decided to try things again, we both thought it would be best to not put the label of being engaged on it. So we didn’t.

My mouth almost hit the center console between us. I had no idea they weren’t still engaged, and the defeated way Riley was talking about them made it sound like there wasn’t ever going to be a ‘them’ again. Was it sinful that my inner self was fist-pumping the air?

Everything on the guest floor was rattling from the bass of the music blaring throughout the rooms. I was sure that I had drunk close to my weight in tequila alone, not to mention the large number of whiskey shots I had thrown back, but I was still standing and I was feeling good; no, better than good: I was feeling fan-fucking-tastic as I moved my body along with the beat of the rap song that was playing.  I threw my hands in the air above my head before bringing them back down, trailing across my body as they went. Sweat was beading across my collarbone as a few drops trailed their way down the valley between my breasts. The melody was enchanting me, making me move provocatively with every beat and I loved it.

Grinding my hips from side-to-side, I felt a large body step up to my swaying backside. Most guys were my height or only slightly taller, but whomever was behind me was taller than the average Joe. I continued to rock my hips back and forth as I spun around to face my dancing partner and smiled widely when I took in Riley’s large frame behind me. He looked as sexy as ever: black jeans hanging loosely on his hips with a plain forest-green shirt stretched tightly across his broad chest. He gripped my hips as I snaked my arms around his neck. When we had first arrived at the party he had disappeared. I had assumed it was just to get ready for the party but when he never returned I had quickly turned to liquor to dull the sting of disappointment I’d felt.

I looked up at him through my lashes as I rubbed my body along his to the beat of the song. Riley’s hands were still gripping my hips as he rolled his large self along with my rhythm. My liquor-induced bravery was taking control, and I had to struggle to try and tame it. Riley’s hands pulled me gently until I was completely flush against him and I felt him straining against the zipper of his pants. I drew in a long heavy breath as he moved his hands around my waist and splayed one of them across my ass while resting the other on my back underneath my shirt. His skin was warm against mine. I closed my eyes and took in the feel of his hand moving gently up and down my spine as we continued to sway against one another, and I felt his breath tickle the side of my neck.

Your dancing is as passionate as sin, his words crawled slowly across my neck causing the skin to rise with goose bumps. I shivered and leaned forward to reply when I heard Jayde yelling for me to do a body shot from across the room.

Come on, Poppy!!!!!! Body shots!!! her slurring voice called out before the next song started up and Riley took a couple steps back.

I watched his electric-blue eyes darken just a little as I called back to Jayde and made my way through the crowd to the long bar that separated the kitchen from the living room. I stumbled a little as I tried to maintain my balance in the shoes I was wearing, but surprisingly I wasn’t falling all over the place from the amount of alcohol I had consumed.

Hop on up on the bar, it’s your turn! Jayde spun around and pointed her index finger at my chest. She was so care-free and unbelievably funny when she was sober, but when she was drinking those same attributes about her seemed to grow even more. Jayde was a knockout! I envied her different colored eyes: one green and one blue. It was hard not to look back and forth between them whenever I spoke with her.

Are you crazy? I placed my hands on my hips and laughed. I’m almost as long as the bar, Jayde, and all of those alcohol bottles at the end will be in jeopardy if I jump up there, I laughed again as I twirled my hand around in the air when I felt big hands latch around my waist.

Up you go, Riley’s baritone voice was at my ear, sending chills across my skin. I gasped from the unexpected contact as my bottom was placed against the cool wood of the bar.

Keep your legs bent and you won’t knock anything off, Cash suggested as he grabbed the bottle of tequila, the salt shaker, and a few lime slices. Who’s up first?! He held them up in the air.

Me! Jayde snatched the items from Cash’s hands. His eyes seemed to darken when she said it. I wasn’t sure if it was due to the fact that she was going to be taking a shot off of my body or the fact that he was head-over-heels in love with her and wouldn’t admit it.

Where you taking it from? I asked as I laid my body across the wood bar.

Navel I suppose. It’ll hold the tequila the best, Jayde shrugged as she plucked the top from the bottle. I grabbed the hem of my belly shirt and pulled it off. Apparently they weren’t expecting that because Cash let out a cat call that had me blushing and Jayde cracking up. Most girls would have been ready to scratch my eyes out if their man whistled at me like Cash had, but not Jayde. It was just another reason why I loved having her as a friend.

I was wearing a black lace bra that had studs running across some of the lace on the front of the cups. It was a pretty bra, one of my favs...and apparently a new focal point for Riley’s eyes. When he realized I was watching him staring at the rise and fall of my chest, a wicked grin spread across his face. Yes, I had a good-sized chest. No, I wasn’t born that way. I was the girl that was overly tall but lacking in the boob department. Did I go overboard and get gigantic tits when I got implants? Nope. I went with a full C-cup and you couldn’t really tell that they were implants at all unless I had on a massive push-up bra or you felt them.

Jayde poured the cool tequila into my navel and I felt my stomach contract from the feel of it. I took a lime slice and placed it in my mouth as she trailed a line of salt up my stomach and between my breasts. Here goes nothing! She called out just before she dropped her mouth to my body, licking the salt from between my breast to my navel before she sucked the tequila from my navel swiftly. Her lips were on mine as she sucked the tart juice from the slice of lime resting between my lips. Jayde pulled the lime from my mouth and I sat up enough to brace myself with my elbows against the bar. We definitely had a crowd of observers around us then.

I looked over at Riley and felt my heart pick up the pace from its normal steady beat. His electric-blue eyes looked like tiny lightning bolts were going off throughout them. I had never seen him look so intense. It was like something inside of him was ignited and I was hoping I would find out just what that something was.

My turn! Cash stepped up but was quickly pushed back by Riley.

I don’t think so, lover boy. Cash’s face fell. She’s all mine.

Those three words bounced around inside my head.

She’s all mine.

I knew he meant he was up next for the body shot, but