I can bury whatever feelings I thought I was beginning to have, bury them deep underneath the shame I feel for letting Poppy talk me into doing something so stupid in the first place. I will follow his rules, attend his events, speak when spoken to; hell, I'll even eat food off the list he provides me. I won't let him beat me; I will walk out the other side of this experience, and I will never speak of it ever again. It will be one of the many blips of my life that will pass me by as I get older, perhaps a funny anecdote to tell my adult children in my nursing home. They'll probably call me an idiot for letting a guy with that much money get away, but I'll know that I'm better off actually finding love, than having to pay for it.
"Thank you, Ambrose," I say to Ambrose as I climb out of the car, him having opened my door after pulling up in front of my building. I hear him tell me to have a good rest of the day, so I turn my head and give him a wave before I unlock the door to the lobby, heading towards the stairwell and beginning the climb up to my apartment.
It's only when I unlock the door and enter my apartment that I remember just how much has happened to me today. Rhodes has given me a lot of money, and it's all just sitting there waiting to be used. I'll have to be smart about it if I'm going to save up enough to survive on my own once I'm cut off, but that doesn't mean that I can't have a little bit of fun along the way. I place my bag down onto the kitchen counter and take out my phone, calling Poppy.
"Hey, what are you doing right now?" I ask her as I open my fridge. Absolutely nothing, will need to do a food shop as soon as possible.
"Terrible; I'm trying to be a good student and start studying a little ahead of time for my exams, but it's just not working. Please tell me you can come and hang out with meee?" I grin at her desperate plea.
"I won't come and hang out, but I have just been given my first payment from Daddy Whitlock, and I'm in the mood to have a bit of fun. Want to shop for food and furnishings with me?"
"I'll be there in 20 minutes, be ready downstairs." Her serious tone makes me laugh; there is nothing that Poppy loves more than a little bit of retail therapy, whatever the kind. If there were things to be bought, she would find a way to make it fun.
"So you guys kissed, then he just brushed you off? Are you a bad kisser?" Poppy asks as she walks beside me through the department store, swinging her shopping bags. I shrug my shoulders softly.