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“Good point.” He opened his mouth to say more, but an enraged shout from Garrett’s room told us my brother had discovered his newest diaper present.
I grabbed the boy’s hand and jerked him away from the door, taking him by surprise so that he had to stumble after me. “This way.”
I debated where to stash him. The closet? The chest? Under the bed?
Footsteps rushed from Garrett’s room; I didn’t have much time to decide. I dragged him into my private bathroom with me. Just as I shut the door and locked it, Garrett stormed into my room roaring, “Felicity!” A second later, his fist pounded on the door in front of me.
I yelped quietly and jerked back, stumbling into the Parker boy who caught me against him, making me notice I was still holding his hand.
Glancing up into his golden brown eyes, I found a measure of comfort. So I kept peering into them as I called back to my brother. “What? I’m in the bathroom.”
“Did you see anyone come through here? Some fucking dead boy?”
“Yeah, Garrett. I have a boy in here with me while I shave my legs.” Parker’s eyes widened before I added, “What do you think? Geez, no, I have not seen a boy in here.”
A thump reverberated through my door as if my brother had just hit it with his fist in frustration. I jumped and then...I didn’t mean to, but I sank closer to the boy beside me. His fingers tightened reassuringly around mine. When Garrett didn’t try to slam his way into my bathroom, I slumped against the boy, and he seemed to sha
re my relief because he leaned against me in return.
“Not a good time to be a smart-ass, Felicity,” Garrett growled. “If you see him, let me know immediately.”
“Okay,” I called and rolled my eyes.
And that was that. Releasing a breath as my brother’s footsteps charged from my room, I smiled at my bathroom companion.
But his confusion was obvious; he didn’t smile back. “You just lied for me.”
Yeah, I didn’t quite understand why I’d gone to so much trouble for him either. If Garrett ever found out what I’d done, he’d show me the same lack of mercy he’d show his diaper vandal. Except I knew I’d do it the same way again if given a second chance.
“Well, I...I didn’t want to become an accomplice to murder, I guess. And he would kill you.”
But we both knew that wasn’t the reason at all. As his attention fell to my lips and then dragged down my body, my cheeks flushed and my nerve endings crackled with electricity. By the time he made his way back up to my eyes, he was swiping the top of his teeth over his bottom lip.
“What’s your first name?” I blurted the question, though by now I already knew the answer.
I’d pulled out every school album I owned after our first encounter, and I’d spent an entire evening—or three—pouring over each picture I found of him. But I’d die before I let him know that.
“Knox,” he said with a slight rasp in his quiet voice.
Wow, I liked how he said his name. It sounded so much better than me reading it in my head, or me doodling it on a scrap of paper, or me sighing it while I daydreamed impossible scenarios.
I nodded stupidly at Knox. Knox Parker. Knox Arrow Parker. “I’m Felicity.”
He didn’t answer, and I blushed hard. Even if he hadn’t already known my name, he’d just heard Garrett yell it through the doorway.
I was such a moron.
Growing warm from an embarrassed heat, I brushed my hair out of my eyes with one hand and glanced at the locked bathroom door. As I did, pressure on my other hand drew my attention down to where my fingers were, yes, still clinging to Knox Parker’s calloused boy fingers.
But I didn’t let go of him, and he didn’t let go of me.
“How’s your head?” he whispered.
I tore my gaze from our hands to frown at him, confused. “My...what?”
Amused, he grinned. “Did I push you against the tree so hard you forgot you hurt your head the other day?”
“Oh.” I touched the back of my hair where the goose egg was long gone. “Oh...that. Yeah, it’s fine. I’m as good as new again. Or...you know, as good as I was before, which...really isn’t saying much, but...yeah, I’m okay.”
