“Because I can’t help it.” He grits his teeth and speaks like every syllable is being dragged out of him against his will.“Because your family destroyed mine and no one else seems to fucking care anymore. I should hate you, and I want to hate you, but I…”
He pulls a hand through his hair, closing his lips tight. There’s a few feet between us and I swear if I reached out I’d feel a buzz on my skin.
I wish he’d just hate me. I wish I’d hate him. But I just…fuck. I swallow down the lump in my throat. “Knox?”
“He has a ring.”
My breath catches and every single thing around me freezes in time. The music blaring from speakers, the squeals from excited children, the bells and whistles from carnival games. It’s all drowned out by the thumping of my heart.
“What?”
“An engagement ring. He showed me earlier.” He sounds so uninterested…so flat, meanwhile I’m about to lose my damn mind.
“You’re lying. He’d tell me. He’d?—”
“He’d what? Give you a heads up?” Knox lets out a harsh laugh. “That’s not how proposals work, Thorne.”
My hands are shaking. I ball them into fists at my sides hoping it’ll help. “Why would he tell you?”
“Because I’m his brother.” His throat bobs and he curls his free hand. “Of course he’d tell me. He’s all excited about it, going on and on about how he’s going to do it tonight at dinner.”
Tonight. Dinner.
Those two words echo in my mind like they’re not real.
“He wanted my blessing or some shit. Like I’m supposed to smile and congratulate him while he?—”
He cuts himself off with a sigh, turning away.
“While he what?”
“Nothing. Forget it.”
“No.” I step closer as my chest heaves. “You don’t get to drop that on me and then just shut down. While he what, Knox?”
He whips back to face me, and the look in his eyes steals whatever air I have left in my lungs. “While he gets everything I—” He stops again, shaking his head like he’s disgusted with himself. “Fuck. Just forget it.”
But I can’t forget it. How can I unhear what he almost said?
My phone chimes in his hand again. He glances at the screen and shakes his head.
“He’s looking for you.” Knox holds it out, and when I reach for it, his fingers brush mine. The contact is electric, and we both freeze for a moment. “Better run back before he thinks you got abducted by Giggles.”
Neither of us laughs at his joke. How could we?
I stare at my phone screen. Three new messages from Owen, each one more concerned than the last.
Owen:Where’d you go?
Owen:Sunny?
Owen:Getting worried. Text me back please.
“Do you love him?”
The question has me looking up from my phone before typing a response. The way Knox is looking at me…it’s so intense, so raw, it takes me a moment to catch my breath.
“Yes, I?—”
