Page 18 of Puck Me Twice Over

“Will you?” Garrett sounded disinterested, though I couldn’t look at him anymore.

Warm hands cupped my face as I shook. “I promised I’d take you home. Let’s make good on that, beautiful girl.” Knox guided me away from the house, not answering. His hold remained steady, his steps just long enough to carry us away from my old home. But the way he murmured to me oh so softly raised alarms.

“You’re mad,” I said numbly when he opened the pick up door and tucked me inside, shielding me from Garrett who never shut the door or turned off the light.

No sound came from the house but his creepy presence overwhelmed everything and I knew he was still watching. Just as he had watched me all our relationship. I shivered, and Knox grazed my cheek with his knuckles.

“I’m fucking furious, Flick. But not at you,” he promised me. “We’re gonna leave these boys behind. Take some time for ourselves.”

“Don’t you have training, a job to do in the morning? I don’t want to be a– a burden on you.” I stared down at my hands that knotted in my lap. This isn’t what I wanted to be for you at all.

“Sweetness.” The faintest hint of a smile curved his lips when he waited for me to glance up at him, then it was gone. “I took some time. Want to spend the night with my girl. A day, too.”

Mine. His claim was everything from the lingering touch on my knee to the dark promise in his eyes as he closed the door, shutting me safely in the passenger seat of his truck.

I swallowed hard, my heart beating double time each breath. And still, Garrett stood on the stoop under the bright lantern shaped light I picked out two years ago, saying how warm and inviting the glow made the house look.

Now, it only served to spotlight the man who stared at us as we left.

“Creepy fuck,” Valentine muttered as we pulled away.

Knox left his window down to wave. I wiggled my fingers uselessly in my lap where no one else could see. Knox noticed and slid his hand around my knee. “Forget him. He’s not important.”

I nodded. “Not important,” I parroted on automatic.

My phone chose that moment to buzz in the center console and I knew it would be him. I knew. Because Garrett wouldn’t let me go without having the final say. It was why his silence over the last day had been so strange.

I reached for it, my eyes trained on the house. Checking my messages was a mistake. I knew that, too, before I read them, but I did it anyway.

You’ll never be more than a sidepiece to a man like him.

You’re not a Chimera bunny, Felicity. Just a passing interest he’ll toss aside. When you come back, this door will be closed.

My chest tightened, and my phone creaked in my hand. Knox swore, tugging the device free as he read the messages, one hand anchored to the steering wheel.

“Asshole.” He tapped at my phone and tossed it in the back seat, his hand finding my knee again.

Warmth spread over me at his touch. “What did you do?” I forced my teeth not to chatter, clamping my jaw shut.

He glanced at me sideways, and his hard expression softened. “Blocked his number. You don’t need that shit in your life. Is anything in your name?”

I shook my head. “No,” I whispered.

His brow furrowed. “Accounts, a car?”

“Everything is either joint or in his.”

“Okay, joint is…okay. I’ll get a lawyer on it. Until then—” He squeezed my knee when I began to protest. “Until then, I want you to treat my home like yours, Flick. I promise you, you’ll have a life. You’ll never not have a home.”

“You can’t promise me that. You only just met me.” Again.

Knox smiled into the darkness, watching the road ahead. “No, pretty girl. You’ve been with me for years. Close your eyes. Forget him.”

I leaned against his arm, letting my head drop onto his shoulder, unable to deny the tremors that rippled through me after the conflict.

If only it were that easy.

I didn’t watch as Knox headed toward our new destination, needing to put trust in something, something, because my head just couldn’t any longer. If I’d hit rock bottom, then this Chimera would see the worst of me.