Chapter Ten
Poppy woke up before Victor, blinking away the shock of bright foggy sun and holding her body up by its forearms. Looking left she smiled when she saw him, Creed was laying on his side, the sheet covers ignoring the skin from his hip up. Light flickered over the planes of his back, illuminating the few scattered beauty spots on the surface before embracing strong, globed shoulders.
Poppy reached out her hand and caressed the surface, tracing shapes with sharp, but still sheathed nails. Moving closer to him, Poppy made her plump lips kiss the line of muscle from Victor's arm to chin then up over the jaw line. A small, chuckle came breathily from Poppy as the fur of his cheeks bristled against her soft skin.
Victor moaned in his sleep and rolled onto his back lazily,
"I was having a good dream" He groused and lifted a paw to rub sleep from both eyes before flicking them open and raising his eyebrows when he saw Poppy smiling at him, leaning on Creed's chest.
"About what?" She asked, sitting up more and running a hand through the curls in Poppy's hair that endured throughout the night. Her smile returned when Victor aimlessly twirled the bottom strands between his nails.
Victor smirked with a breath but snapped his head to the side when a loud, grumbling exhale came from the far corner of the room. The dog was awake as well now.
Poppy wriggled, moving to lay down at Victor's side again and brush her index nail of the stubble of his cheek, enjoying the faint bristling noise that came. As the dog moved towards them Victor growled lightly and the creature obediently sat, cocking its head to the side inquisitively.
"Remind me why that thing is here again?" Said Creed.
"He followed me" Poppy said with a smile, she paused for a moment before adding, "What are we going to name him?"
"You're gonna' keep it?" asked Victor incredulously turning his head to look at Poppy who was staring at the mutt captivatedly.
"Yeah…seems I've acquired the skill of finding animals these days" she said with raised eyebrow and suggestive look back at Victor. He frowned deeply before saying,
"You didn't really though, both animals found you"
Poppy made a thoughtful noise and latched onto Victor's lips, her mind turning over the way her life had been snapped and turned on its head, yet Poppy deepened the kiss and allowed herself to be consumed by him.
As finished dressing, Poppy went over to the Rottweiler and scratched its ears vigorously; puckering her lips and laughing when the beast collapsed so she would continue the fussing over its belly.
"Names, names, names" Poppy repeated as she cooed at the slobbering dog, trying to think of a suitable title for him.
"Make it something good" Victor said as he pulled a vest over his head, watching her. "Not Baby or Tulip or some flowery girl's name that'll make him sound more like a Care-Bear than a Rottweiler"
"Bear!" Poppy exclaimed with confirmation, as she stood up sharply Bear followed and barked at the sudden halt of affection. "That's perfect" She added, petting her hand from the start of the dog's head and down the length of its back.
"Not bad" Victor said as he shook his head after looking at Poppy, delicate and fragile at the side of the huge dog that panted deeply, showing its rows of teeth and pooling slobber onto the floor, but smiling widely at him like the happiest person in the world.
"I feel like some bad behaviour is in order today" Poppy said, smirking maliciously and grabbing her hair tightly so she could wrangle it into a pony tail.
Victor rolled his eyes at her and walked from the room.
In the section of camp dedicated to holding the jeep vehicles soldiers rode around in, Poppy crept along the fencing and crouched at the driver's door of the largest machine. The four by four's roof was down and she easily launched herself into the seat. Quickly her index nail elongated and she placed it where the machine's key should have been inserted, despite that the engine roared to life.
Quickly she slammed it into reverse and circled the steering wheel circle so the vehicle swerved around and ploughed forward as she changed the gears firmly. Noise began to erupt at the disturbance but Poppy was laughing, the button to the radio made an unhealthy noise as she hit it.
'I am driving back in black, just got my license back, I got this feeling in my face this train is coming off the track-'
Poppy was singing now, ignoring the ant like soldiers who swarmed around to try and get control of the situation. The security guard on the outer gate was frantically moving about the small cabin he was housed in, relief crossing over his face when he found the button that started the slowly closure of the fence.
Rather than slamming on the brakes, Poppy gently put her foot further down on the accelerator, laughing and singing with the music as the truck jostled her over the uneven ground. Easily the vehicle passed the fence, not even scratching its surface and Poppy began to recklessly drive through the surrounding forest.
Avoiding trees whenever they popped up unexpectedly she screamed briefly when a figure dropped into the passenger seat of the car.
Victor raised his finger and mockingly waved it side to side, tutting at the way she chose to employ the need to behave badly that day. Swiftly, Creed dislodged Poppy from the driver's seat – the jeep swerving out of hand as he did so, making Poppy laugh uncontrollably.
'-I got the car door opened up so you can jump in on the run, your mam don't know that you were missing she'd be pissed if she could see the parts of you that I been kissing screaming oh!'
Poppy continued her singing and made an exaggerated face of disappointment when Victor hit the radio so hard the already fragile power button fell to the floor weakly. The loud music was silenced and Victor put his free hand firmly a' top Poppy's thigh.
"The dream I had this morning-" Victor turned to her and smirked wickedly, "I've got a way for you to compensate me for interrupting"
His meaty hand moved to the back of her dainty neck and pulled Poppy's face forward to crash onto his lips.
"Bad behaviour indeed"