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I crawled into bed next to him and placed the pizza box between us. “If you don’t get off the phone I’m going to eat this whole thing by myself.”
He reached over and pulled my hair lightly before finishing up his conversation. “Yeah, just make sure you lock up before you leave. And turn the light off! I don’t need my electric bill to skyrocket because I was dumb enough to leave you in charge for two weeks.”
“Could be longer,” I sang.
Knox shot me a glare. “Yeah, I gotta go kill my girlfriend. I’ll talk to you later.”
I laughed and opened the box as he hung up and moved in closer, groaning. “I’m getting a headache.”
I arched a brow at him and responded, “Maybe because you should be resting and not calling Alex every five minutes asking how the gym’s going.”
He made a face and bit into a slice of what was possibly the yummiest, cheesiest pizza I’d ever eaten. “Maybe. Maybe it’s because I’m not getting laid.”
I laughed and shook my head. There’d been a contentedness between us since last week. I sat in the hospital with him and held his hand, I cried with Amy as we eagerly awaited the results from all the tests they’d done and I spent so much time wrapped up in the warm embraces of my family. Love surrounded me and I felt protected. Safe.
After dinner we lay down in the dark with Knox on his back and me on my side with my head on his chest. I felt bad knowing his head was killing him and there was nothing we could do but lay in the dark and wait for the ibuprofen to take effect. He smoothed a hand up my back and I trailed my fingers over his chest completely blissed out at where we were.
“What if we moved in together?” he asked softly. “Would you want to like… stay here permanently? You know, your clothes would be in the closet and all your makeup shit would be all over the bathroom. But it would be ours.”
I didn’t respond and found myself smiling at the way he was rambling, clearly nervous about my answer. “Um, honestly? That might be a little fast,” I said and tried my best to sound hesitant.
“Oh. Well… yeah… no big deal, Abbs. I just figured I’d ask in case you were wanting to because I-”
I laughed into his chest and shook my head before looking up at him. “Of course I want to move in. Take a deep breath.”
Knox’s eyes narrowed. “Were you playing a joke on me?”
“Did that concussion kill your sense of humor?”
He dug his fingers into my ribs and I arched against him, laughing and smacking his chest. “Stop,” I gasped and then shrieked as he made a grab for my breast, catching my nipple between his fingers. “Knox!”
He pulled me against him and then rolled us so that I was underneath him. He stared down at me and I wrapped my legs around his waist. “This is going to be your bed now, too.”
“Our bed,” I said with a smile. “I like that.”
“You’re sure you want to do this?” Knox asked and ducked his head down to kiss the spot under my jaw. “Because once you move in you’re not moving out.”
“Oh yeah?”
He regarded me seriously. “I almost lost you. Twice. I’m not letting that happen again, you’ll be lucky if I let you out of my sight.”
I kissed him and playfully tugged at his lip with my teeth. “You aren’t losing me. I promise. I’m here for the long haul, baby. Me and you against the world.”
I prided myself on being honest about things. Honest about my actions as well as my thoughts and opinions. I hated liars and I hated lying. But…
I lied.
I lied to Knox when I told him the only reason I was going to Plymouth was for a job interview. I was going to the job interview, which I was going to nail because it was for a position at an up and coming party planning company that was picking up steam fast. But the interview wasn’t my only reason for going.
The truth was that I’d been in touch with Detective Kendrick all week and he knew a guy who worked at Plymouth County jail. I decided, for my own piece of mind, that I needed to see Van Sant one last time. I had questions that I needed answers to. I needed that closure.
But I couldn’t tell Knox, at least not right away. He was still grumpy about being so restricted that if I dropped the “I’m going to visit my stalker in jail” bomb he’d surely explode. I wanted him to focus on getting better and we were in such a good place. I couldn’t risk ruining our peace with a fight.
“Okay,” Kendrick said as I met him at the front doors. He wore his signature suit and frown as I approached him, clearing my throat. “Your name is on the list, but I want to make this very clear, Abbigail. This is a one time thing. You will be doing this visit once and that’s it, so say whatever you need to say to him and move on with your life. Please.”
I nodded my head, my heart beating faster. I was about to come face to face with Henry for the first time since the attack and, even though there would be a thick sheet of glass between us, I was still on edge. He spent months hurting me and torturing me.
But not anymore, I told myself and walked through the front doors with my head held high, going through the process of getting checked in and signing a few papers and going through a metal detector. I kept my head down and only spoke when spoken to. I may have been on edge about being there, but it seemed that my anxiety was nowhere to be found. He couldn’t hurt me anymore and I knew that, held that thought close as I made my way down the room, passing by chair after chair until I stopped at one, turning and meeting the eyes of Henry Van Sant.
