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Thadeus looked oddly deflated by how easily she’d deflected his blatant trap. He turned his attention back to Knox. “I assume you’ll be staying for a bit? I had Melanie make up the guest suite for you and your lovely…fiancée.”
“Melanie?” Knox asked. “Where’s Natty?”
Thadeus’s lip turned up like he’d just sniffed a stale fart. “I let Natty go years ago. She had a terrible attitude.”
No, Natty had a great attitude. She was the closest thing Knox had to real family after his mom’s death. His dad had never wanted too much to do with him because he was such a fuck up, but Natty was always there to help and support him. The fact that Thadeus would let someone as loyal as Natty go just proved how much of an asshole he really was.
And there was no way Knox was staying in this house, sharing a roof with Thadeus.
“I thought we’d stay in the pool house if it’s all the same to you,” he said.
Thadeus’s nose wrinkled up like he’d just suggested they sleep in a jungle cave. “It’s fine with me. But I can’t guarantee you’d be alone out there.” He chuckled. “Any manner of vermin might’ve taken up residence since you were there last.”
You’ve let the pool house—which was mine—fall into disrepair. Because it’s yours now and you don’t give a shit about it. Got it.
But he didn’t have to say any of that because Tenley blinked up at Thadeus with a smile so sharp it could eviscerate a man and said, “Oh, don’t you worry about little ‘ole me. I know exactly how to deal with vermin.”
Thadeus’s answering smile was a little confused. Clearly, he wasn’t sure if he’d just been insulted. Knox had to clear his throat to stifle a laugh, because it was clear as fuck to him that Thadeus had just been insulted.
With Tenley on his side, maybe this little trip home wouldn’t be as torturous as he’d thought.
CHAPTER 10
“That man for sure framed you.”
Knox set their bags down on the bed in the pool house and side-eyed her. “You talked to him for all of five minutes. What makes you so sure?”
Takes a crook to know a crook.
She thought it, but she didn’t say it. Because even though he was the one with a prison record, Knox was no crook.
Plus, for some reason, she didn’t want him to think of her in the same light as Thadeus. Sure, she’d done some shady shit. But she’d never framed anyone else for her crimes. And she tended to steal from people who deserved it, not innocents like Knox.
“I just know,” she mumbled.
“Speaking of knowing,” he began, “how did you know where I went to school?”
“My friend, Ren, did some research for me. Then he created a new paper trail for Tenley Snow. If Thadeus has an investigator look into me, he’ll find information to back up my story.”
Knox’s lips flatlined. “Ren? Is he your…partner?”
She snorted. “Kinda, I guess. He helps me out when I need it and keeps an eye on me to make sure I don’t get in any trouble.”
If anything, he looked even more distressed by this information. “What does ‘keeps an eye’ on you mean? Is that like, stalking?”
Tenley winced a little at the terminology. “Stalking is an ugly word. Look, you have to understand that a criminal’s way of showing love and respect to another criminal isn’t going to be…traditional. I show my love and respect by always paying Ren for his work. He shows his love and respect by…watching over me.”
He raised a brow. “Sounds like he’s stalking you.”
She shrugged. “Po-tay-toe, po-tah-toe.”
“But there’s nothing…romantic there?”
Tenley felt her lip curl up involuntarily. “Gross! No. He’s like my brother.”
Was that relief she saw in Knox’s face? Did the thought of her having a boyfriend make him jealous?
The giddy little flip her stomach did at the thought of Knox being jealous of her relationship with Ren was completely unacceptable, so she shut that shit down with ruthless efficiency.
