Page 55 of Unburied

Knox tossed a look her way. “Her second husband?”

“Yeah.” She explained a little bit of what had happened recently, and why Tyler was looking for Russ. For the time being, she didn’t mention her dreams or the situation with Russ.

Her brother shook his head. “I was overseas at the time. She emailed me, let me know that they’d split. She said she wanted you to speak with a child psychologist after everything you’d been through, and I encouraged it. When I next saw you, you seemed fine, so I never brought it up again.”

Vivi wasn’t entirely sure what she’d expected, but it made sense. Ellen had convinced him everything was fine, so there was no reason to think anything was wrong.

Mason was standing next to his bike when they pulled into Vivi's driveway, and a smile automatically lifted her mouth.

“Should've known he'd be here,” Knox murmured from the driver’s seat. “Guy’s totally whipped.”

Her brother’s words made Vivi laugh, and she leaned over the console to kiss his cheek. “Love you. Even if you are a pain in the butt.”

“Love you too, squirt.”

Mason lifted a hand to Knox as he held the door for Vivi and helped her down, then tugged her to his side. “Knox.”

Her brother glanced between the two of them, a smirk gracing his face. “Kane.”

The second Knox’s SUV turned out of Vivi's driveway, Mason scooped her into his arms. She wrapped her legs around his waist and her arms went around his shoulders for support as he kissed her. A moment later, he pulled back. “I missed you.”

Vivi was going to joke that it’d only been a few hours since she’d last seen him, but the expression on his face stopped her cold. For once he was being completely open and honest, and she didn’t want to belittle his feelings. Something was shifting between them, and she loved it.

She hugged him tighter to her. “I missed you, too.”

CHAPTER

THIRTY

Mason sat down for dinner and asked, “So where’d you guys go today?”

“To our old house,” Vivi replied. At Mason’s lifted eyebrow, Vivi elaborated, “It’s in a tiny little town called Cypress Point.”

“Do you guys still own the house?” Mason remembered Vivi telling him about her parents, but he didn’t recall much else.

“It was put up for sale after my parents passed, but Knox actually just bought it. You know Bennett Kingsley?”

“Yeah.” An ex-police lieutenant, he’d taken over his father’s business and now owned a significant amount of real estate in the area. He’d actually assisted on a recent case Mason and Jaxon were working, and he seemed like a decent guy.

“Apparently, he snatched up the land a couple of years back when the market tanked. When he found out Knox was looking to buy it back, he sold it to him. Knox wants to build a place out there.”

“Good for him.”

“I guess.” Vivi hesitated as she swirled her fork through her noodles. “I’m worried about him.”

To hear her say she worried about Knox was surprising, to say the least. Mason expected Knox to be protective of her, but he never imagined that she would waste time worrying over him. He was one of the most self-assured men Mason knew, and there were few people, if any, he’d rather have at his back. “Why?”

“There’s a lot of history there.” She explained the way they’d grown up and Knox’s attachment to the daughter of one of the richest men in the city.

It shocked Mason to hear he’d been so crazy about the girl. Knox may as well have been a statue for all the emotion Mason had ever seen him exhibit outside of Vivi. Though he’d known and worked with him for over a decade, he still didn’t know much about him. Some guys kept their love life quiet. Others bragged. Knox was locked down tighter than Fort Knox. On the other hand…

A memory from several years ago flickered to life in the back of Mason’s brain. They’d been stationed in Iraq at the time, and it was a day like any other—hot, dry, exhausting physically and mentally. They had some downtime that night, and Knox had gotten piss drunk.

It was the only time Mason ever remembered seeing him like that. Knox was always so reserved, so in control of himself and everything around him. But that night, he’d been beside himself.

After countless drinks, Mason had taken Knox’s service pistol and helped Knox to his bed. He’d been physically ravaged, at the end of his rope, and the way he’d cried out for Everleigh had nearly gutted Mason.

God, he couldn’t imagine. If he ever lost Vivi… Christ, he couldn’t bear it.