Page 22 of Puck Me Twice Over

“Should I be?” I twisted in his arms, ignoring the thirteen paintings of myself, each of whom seem to be watching our intimate moment with differing expressions of despondency, or hope.

“The house is filled with pictures of you. Everything I’ve taken or had done every month since I lost you. But then, I never lost you, did I, Flick?” He kissed the corner of my mouth.

My heart slammed hard into my chest at his admission as his hand dropped to my waist. Light fingers traced over exactly where my scar sat. “It was you,” I breathed. “You sent the flowers. And the chicken soup. There was no excess order that the nurses told me, was there?”

His eyes darkened. “No, pretty girl. I knew he’d deny anything I sent to you. The nurses were very helpful. For favors, of course.”

My heart restarted its usual course. “What favors?” I demanded.

“Possessive, huh?” That voice I loved dropped an octave. He laughed a little. “How did you think I felt, watching you undress for him at night through those flimsy curtains? You really should have had better ones," he mused.

“Nurses, Knox. Focus,” I reminded him, trying not to react to the thought that someone who cared watched those mechanical sex scenes that played out between me and Garrett. Not to mention how debauched the whole scenario was. But I loved it all the same.

My God, how horrible a human did that make me? I squeezed my eyes shut and twisted away from him. When I opened my eyes, Knox had moved us forward. I found myself staring at a much younger version of me. Her eyes were bright and she stared forward with the sort of determination I no longer saw in myself.

“This isn’t fair,” I whispered. “This isn’t me. Not anymore.”

“I love every version of you.” Knox licked the shell of my ear while I wriggled. “And you’re still not screaming.”

Because it’s you. And I only ever wanted one man. Probably just like those…

“Signed merch, Flick. That’s all it took. And a few bottles of wine for when they were off duty. The nurses. That’s where that pretty head went, right?”

I stiffened. “It’s not pretty, and I don’t vague out,” I said sharply.

Knox pulled me tight against his chest. “He said that to you. Didn’t he?”

“No bugs planted in my house to listen to me moan with another man? You are slipping,” I taunted him in retort, unwilling to go there. I had no idea where this person came from, this version of me who poked the literal bear in the woods who took me away from the man who I let steal years of my life, but she was here to stay. For the moment at least.

“I respected your privacy more than that,” Knox said roughly.

“What, you could look but not listen? Yeah, that rings true.” I laughed softly, unable to stop this flow now that I’d started.

“There had to be a line. Otherwise, I might as well have walked in and taken you back by force.”

That idea appealed to me quite a lot for the moment, so I stayed still and said nothing.

Large, warm hands slid up and down my arms, his grip softening. “Is that what I should have done all these years, Flick? Found you after a game, brought you out here and showed you my collection?”

I swallowed, staring at my portrait, at the girl who had life in her eyes. Unwilling to see the versions of myself who died without him years later. Who looked as lifeless in paint as I had in the rain when he found me nights ago.

“It’s a nice collection,” I said softly.

Knox hummed, his lips pressed to my hair. He squeezed my arms then dropped his hands. “One. Two.” He paused when I didn’t move. “I’m only going to count to three, Flick,” he warned me. “Run.”

My feet shifted on the lush carpet, and I tore away from him in the direction of the back stairs, my memory of this place as fresh as the last time I was invited into the house. Back when it was alive with chatter and people.

The only difference was that tonight, even though the lights were all on, we were the only people here.

And Knox had locked the front door.

I leaped the first three stairs and let my boots—those damn boots—take the brunt of the fall. Not that the carpet was hard, even on the steps. My knees didn’t work against me for once. I reached the bottom before Knox started at the top and I knew he’d given me a head start. It wasn’t much, but I took the brief reprieve and launched for the back door, slamming my shoulder against it.

The hardwood shook and I prayed he’d take the bait. I ricocheted off the unyielding surface and darted back to the front of the house, a plan forming in my mind. It wasn’t much of one, but something with Knox was better than nothing. I never made it more than a dozen steps into the forest before he caught me. That had been years ago, back when I could actually run, and we hadn’t played this game in an age. Plus, he was impossibly fitter now.

Adrenaline screamed through my system as I sprinted along corridors, twisting and turning through the labyrinthine hallways. The pantry came into view. I remembered the hidden butler’s door in the back. I yanked that open and dived through⁠—

Avoiding his sweeping arm over my head.