Mission Impossible

“For fuck's sake Adam!”

I shouted over the phone before he could even say anything. We'd finally made it back to the city and I'd waited until I was in my apartment before I let a rip on him.

“I'm in so much trouble” Adam's voice was low and defeated. “Have you talked to Kadie yet?”

“Not yet. I wanted to find out what the hell was going on before she asked.” I sighed as I sat down on my couch.

“Are you at home? Can I stop by?” Adam asked. I would've thought twice about Connor's feelings before answering, but this was urgent.

I started unpacking my things as I waited for him to come over. I could have been done much sooner, but I kept spacing out. One minute I was thinking about how amazing my weekend with Connor had been, and the next I was infuriated that things with Poppy had escalated. Almost half an hour had passed before Adam knocked on my door.

I let him inside and we both sat down at the dinner table. Adam covered his face, not knowing where to start.

“How did you end up with Poppy's tongue down your throat? I thought we were trying to fix the problem without Kadie getting hurt.”

“I know, I know...” Adam sighed. “I thought I figured out a way to get her back without her knowing it was me. But it back fired.” He rubbed his temples before he continued. “Jebrone found out through some connections where Poppy goes to get her drugs. So, we found her dealer and bribed him to call Poppy and tell her he had some stuff waiting for her. After he did that I made an anonymous call to the paparazzi and told them where Poppy would be. They were suppose to get pictures of her doing drugs. It would ruin her career and get her in trouble with her family. Since it would be a legal issue, she'd have to go back to Paris.”

“Oh, Adam” I gasped and covered my mouth, “There's SO much wrong with that plan.”

He grunted as he shook his head, “What actually ended up happening was that the paparazzi got there before the dealer did. So she fled the scene. She manipulated him into telling her who set her up, and he told her it was someone from my law firm. Of course, she knew it was me. So, she told the paparazzi she was on her way to see her 'new boyfriend', knowing they would follow her to my office. She completely blindsided me. She knew all the gossip sites would post it. So before my legal team could remove it from the internet she'd already anonymously sent it to Kadie.”

“Oh my God.” I held my head in my hands. There wasn't a single part of me that didn't want to shred Poppy to a million pieces. “We need to call Kadie.”

“She's not answering my calls.” Adam's face slumped into a frown. “She didn't even give me a chance to explain.”

I leaned over and rubbed Adam's shoulder to comfort him. “I'll try to do some damage control.” I picked up my phone and called Kadie. Luckily she answered.

“Why haven't you been responding to my texts?!” Her voice shouted over the phone.

“K, you know I was out of town. I didn't have much reception until I got back.” I tried to explain before I heard Kadie's voice crack into a quiet sob.

“Adam is cheating on me, Lynn. With Poppy fucking Leroux” Her cry grew louder with each word.

“No he's not, Kadie. Trust me.” I said in hopes to calm her down. “There's something you need to know...” I looked over at Adam, who was now pinching the bridge of his nose.

I continued to tell Kadie the whole story. Every last detail from the night Adam and I had talked up until that moment. She was surprisingly quiet throughout the whole story.

She cleared her throat before she spoke again. “Wait, so you knew?” I wasn't sensing the happiest tone.

“Well, yeah...” I didn't know how to retaliate. Everything seemed logical before, until now. “I thought we could take care of it before the issue escalated. We didn't want to jeopardize your career.”

“Great! The two closest people in my life don't think I can handle a simple issue? If I'd known about this from the beginning Poppy wouldn't have an incentive. She played you two!” Kadie's voice boomed through the phone so loud I had to move it away from my ear. “You two better be happy it was taken out of the presses before Eva could see it”

“K, I'm sorry! I was just trying to look out for you! You know you would've done the same thing for me.” I tried pleading.

Suddenly Kadie got quiet. So quiet that I almost thought she'd hung up on me. I was reassured when I heard a deep sigh. “I get that, Lynn. But I can't get over the fact that Adam tried to hide this from me.” He opened his mouth to say something, but I stopped him. “I know he's sitting next to you.” I raised my eyebrows in shock that she'd known without me telling her. “You can let him know that I need some space. I'll reach out to him when I'm ready.”

“Kadie, he didn't want you to get hurt. His intentions are pure, I promise.” Before I could finish she cut me off.

“Lynn, I really don't want to hear it right now.” There was another short moment of silence on the phone. “I've got an early morning tomorrow. I have to go.”

I shut off my phone and put it down on the table. Adam and I sat staring at each other, confused. He stood up from his chair and slowly paced back and forth in the living room. He wrapped his hands around his head as he tried to think.

“I say, fuck it.” Adam turned around when he heard my voice. He looked at me not knowing where I was going with my idea. “Fuck it!” I stood up with confidence “Let's just tell Poppy's family everything.”

Adam stopped walking as he thought about my idea. “That isn't going to work. We have nothing for them to believe us.”

I folded my arms and leaned back on the table as we both began brainstorming again.

“Wait!” I shouted. “I got it!” I walked over to the living room where Adam was. I gestured for him to sit down and then did the same. “Remember when you told me about all the celebrities that have drugs on them. How do y'all know when they have it?”

“Because...” Adam began explaining, “we can't meet with the clients until they've gone through a security check.”

“So, then what happens to all the drugs y'all confiscate?” I asked hoping that his answer would put my plan into action.

Adam, still confused, went on “We collect it anonymously so our clients stay out of trouble. Someone from the DA's office makes weekly visits to pick it up.” A spark went off in Adam's eye as he started piecing the puzzle together. “Oh my God, Lynn! You're a fucking genius!”

“If Poppy isn't a client you don't have to protect her.” The smile on both of our faces grew.

“Shit!” Adam excitedly shouted.

We spent the next hour plotting out exactly how everything would go down. We'd be able to get Poppy into enough legal trouble that she'd have to go back to Paris. And her family would finally see her true colors.

The next morning I saw Sarah and Henry in class. Neither one of them had mentioned the incident with Poppy and Adam, so I figured they hadn't seen it. I tried beating around the bush to make sure. “How's Poppy doing?” I whispered to Sarah.

“She's great” Sarah looked over at me concerned. “She's gone to LA”

“What?” I spoke loudly. My classmates sitting around me turned around to give me a deathly stare. I whispered “Sorry” and turned back towards Sarah.

She continued in a quiet whisper, “She went to go visit my mum.”

I grabbed my head as I felt a rush of blood pumping. I knew this wasn't going to end well.

Immediately after class I pulled out my phone to call Adam. Before I could find his name in my call log, my phone began ringing. It was Kadie.

“Hello?” I answered.

Kadie's voice cracked as she spoke “Lynn, Eva just fucking fired me."