Page 156 of Hard Bargain

He shoved the phone back into his pocket and leaned into the refrigerated case, pressing his arms against the cold glass, letting it steady him.

Four weeks.

The silence meant—what? That Dominic had accepted it? That he’d moved on? That the person Knox had been so terrified of losing had let go of him first?

At least Dominic was still taking care of his mother. Knox talked to her a few times a week now. The nurse was still coming and the psychologist appointments hadn’t stopped. Maybe Dominic had already moved on, forgotten him completely. But he was keeping his word about her, and Knox tried to let that be enough.

He grabbed a bottle of water just so his hands had something to hold and headed for the checkout. The cashier with the purple hair smiled at him. “You’re back again?”

“Yeah.”

“Must like our selection,” she said with a wink.

“Something like that.”

He paid in cash, pocketed the change, and stepped into the heat.

* * *

Jacob and Liam’s place was modern—glass walls, pale wood floors, and the kind of architecture that made everything look deliberate. But it wasn’t cold, which was entirely Liam’s doing. There were plants crowding the windowsills, books stacked unevenly on the coffee table, and photos everywhere.

Every flat surface seemed to hold a frame. Jacob and Liam on a red carpet, both laughing at something off-camera. Liam mid-spin with Jacob’s son over his shoulder. Birthday cake smeared across small cheeks. Beach days. There were dozens of them.

Proof that this life had weight.

They hadn’t run from each other.

Knox moved toward the kitchen, the thought stuck under his skin like a splinter.

The house was quiet today. The kids wouldn’t be here until the weekend, the difference noticeable in the absence of scattered voices and sudden movement. There was only the low murmur of voices coming from the kitchen. Knox followed it without thinking.

Then he froze in the doorway.

Jacob had Liam backed against the counter, one hand around his throat in a possessive hold that was somehow more intimate for how natural it looked. Jacob dipped his head and pressed a kiss to Liam’s temple, then along his cheek.

Liam tipped his head back automatically, giving Jacob better access. There wasn’t a trace of hesitation in him. Not the slightest flicker of wariness.

Knox’s chest constricted. For one disorienting second, his mind betrayed him and supplied a different body in that space. A different mouth at his ear. A different hand settled heavy at his throat.

Heat climbed his neck so fast it made him unsteady. He should have stepped back, made a noise, given them warning. Instead he stood rooted in place, watching an unguarded moment between two people who loved each other.

Knox felt something ugly and raw uncoil low in his stomach. He was happy for them. He was. They’d torn their lives apart and built something better out of it, solid enough to stand in daylight without apology.

His throat started to close.

He swallowed, but it didn’t ease anything. The tightness felt all wrong—constricted and swollen, like words were caught there that would choke him if he let them surface.

He missed him.

God, he missed him.

He watched Jacob claim Liam’s mouth with a hunger that looked almost predatory. Liam made a needy sound that dragged Jacob deeper, his hand tightening at Liam’s throat in answer. The intimacy of it pressed against a wound inside Knox that hadn’t healed—that hadn’t even begun to.

Knox couldn’t get enough air.

He missed Dominic so fiercely it felt like taking a blow to the chest. He missed the weight of his attention, the way danger and safety blurred around him until they were the same thing.

He’d left to survive. That was the story he’d told himself. Leave before it owns you. Leave before it becomes the thing that can destroy you.