Page 57

“If this isn’t stalking, I don’t know what is.”

“Knox—”

The sound of boots hitting metal comes closer, and I freeze. Knox shifts the fireplace over just enough to open the door and sling our bags in there.

“The closet, Felicity. Now.”

Oh. Well, with that tone…

I slip past the fireplace and make my way into the closet with Knox. If I thought the room itself was tiny, this closet is practically nonexistent. Just having the two of us in here with our bags makes it feel like the air is disappearing between us as the seconds pass.

I’m not really claustrophobic, but then again, I’ve never been stuck in a closet for who knows how long with exactly zero moving space.

“You’re okay.” Knox’s arm that’s plastered next to mine shifts just slightly, and then his thumb is there, on my wrist, rubbing slow, sweet circles. “It won’t be long, I promise.”

My eyes haven’t adjusted to the full darkness yet with only a crack of light above us, dust swirling in it like snow.

“What if it’s not?”

“Then we get to stay here together. Just us.”

“Just us.” I exhale a harsh sigh. “Just us.”

“Just me and you. Like all those times we played Sardines with everyone and you and I were always the hardest to find.”

I sniffle at the thought as his fingers keep giving me those soft, reassuring touches. “Remember when we were in the Bloom Barn loft for like two hours straight?”

His laugh is a hearty thing, rough and raspy in my ear. “I kept having to pull you back because you wouldn’t stop poking your head out to see if they were looking at us.”

“I felt bad.”

“I had to hold my hand over your mouth for nearly thirty minutes.”

“Lottie started crying.”

His quiet laugh warms the tiny space. “Because she knew you would give in.”

Well, that’s true. We bite down our smiles, and—

Creak.

Every muscle in my body freezes.

Even the bags at our feet seem to lock up as we wait for every moment to come next. This closet, like the feeling in my chest, coils around us like a knot of Halloween pumpkin lights getting tighter and tighter.

Knox speaks again in a voice so low, so quiet, I would have thought I made it up if it wasn’t for his warm breath against the back of my ear. “Shh, shh, shh. I’ve got you, okay?” I glance up and our eyes lock in the darkness, his hand trailing from my wrist to my hips. “Just us.”

Just us.

Except it’s not just us, there is another entire being in this extremely small room, and if he gets curious and starts looking around, I don’t know what we’ll say.

Sorry, I promise we’re not creeps. We just love to find the smallest and highest closets in town and see how long we can stay quiet in them? That doesn’t sound good.

Oh God. What if he gets naked? What if he…

“Hey.” The man coughs a bit, still out of breath. “Yeah, I’m here. I’m planning on grabbing a couple shots and heading back down, it’s freezing this morning. Yeah.” A pause. “Nah, I’m leaving tonight for Georgia. We’ve got five more states before I can officially make my America the Beautiful pass worth it, so I don’t want to stay here any longer than I need to. This town is not made for tourism, trust me.”

Well that’s that, I guess. Not local and never been here before. Not our guy.