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“Monroe? Dude?” He gave me a hard, cop-special stare. “Nothing to say here?”
Knox stepped slightly in front of me, protective in a way that made my chest ache. “We’re seeing each other.”
“No shit. You’re roommates. You see each other all the time.” Rob’s tone went from snappish to a sharp, angry inhale. “Wait. You mean sex? You guys are sleeping together?”
“It’s more than that.” Knox kept his voice firm and steady, and I was so damn proud of him that I had to work to not smile.
“No, it’s not,” Rob shot back.
“How would you know?” So much for steady, Knox was full-on angry now.
“Knox.” I made a warning noise, but not surprisingly, he entirely ignored me.
“Seriously. How would you know?” Knox demanded of Rob. “You just got done admitting you’re having a hard time seeing me as an adult, and now you want to tell me you know better than me what my relationship is?”
“It’s not a relationship.” Rob groaned like Knox was hopelessly naive, and I didn’t need to glance over at Knox to know he was spitting mad.
“The hell it’s not.”
“I love him.” I spoke up finally, playing my trump card like all those old late-night card games my senior year with Rob, Holden, and Worth.
“What. The. Absolute. Fuck?” Rob was unimpressed by my admission, if anything getting more pissed, hands fisting. “I get it. I watch enough of those dramas Jessica is addicted to. Old dudes love…what do they call kids…twinks? Yeah. That. But this is my kid. You can’t go screwing my kid and then deluding him into thinking it’s something real.”
“I’m not deluded.” Knox’s glare was fiery. It was a wonder Rob wasn’t already smoldering.
“Knox, I’m talking to Monroe here.” Rob’s tone was just this side of patronizing. “Monroe, who should have known the hell better than to screw his best friend’s kid. Knox is barely legal, and you’re over forty. You don’t think that’s taking advantage?”
“He’s twenty-three. Not eighteen,” I said through gritted teeth. “And it’s not just sex. I love him, and I want to build something here with him.”
“You’re staying?” Rob’s eyes went wide. Hell, maybe I’d revealed too much too soon, but it was too late, and he was already whirling on Knox. “That. That’s why you turned down graduate school? Because Monroe made you think you could have a future together? Knox, he’s twice your age.”
“Not exactly.” Knox’s surly response didn’t do a damn thing to dial back the tension in the room. “And you’re talking like I was some innocent virgin who needed protecting. I was the one who talked Monroe into—”
I cut him off with a sharp noise before he could give Rob a rundown of our history. “You didn’t talk me into anything.”
“That’s right. He didn’t have to.” Rob scoffed. “Hot twink under your roof? Jesus, why didn’t I see this coming?”
“All right now.” I stepped out from behind Knox, truly mad at Rob for the first time. “You’re upset, and you’re feeling protective of Knox. But watch your mouth. You don’t get to talk to me like that, and you for sure don’t get to talk to your kid like that. Knox is so much more than his age.”
“Of course you’d say that.” Rob’s eyes went interrogation-room hard, twin daggers. “Have you always been into younger guys?”
“Stop.” Knox threw up a hand. “You’re acting like Monroe is a predator.”
“And he’s not? Taking advantage of someone younger and more vulnerable?”
I had no appropriate response to that, the accusation hitting me in the softest of spots, the place I kept my last few doubts and guilt. Mouth slamming shut, I tensed, but Knox wrapped both arms around me, holding me tight.
“You didn’t. I promise.” He kissed my neck before turning his attention back to Rob. “He didn’t. We fell in love.”
“Love? What do you two even have in common?”
“Club music. Potato dishes. Weird pizza combinations. Long talks. A love of small balconies and hot showers.” Continuing to hold me close, Knox rattled off a quick list, and if I hadn’t already been head over heels for the guy, his fast-talking would have done it. “I don’t know how to describe it. We just click.”
“I give it six weeks, tops.” Rob didn’t sound at all impressed, and my fingers flexed. Shaking sense into him wasn’t an option, but hell, I was tempted, especially as he added, “Knox, you’re throwing your life away for this?”
“That’s not fair. I’d throw a hell of a lot more than stupid graduate school away for Monroe. He’s a good person. And just so we’re one hundred percent clear, I was always going to stay. Monroe gave me the space to figure that out, though, unlike you.”
Rob made a singular, pained noise right as his phone started jangling, a high, urgent tone, and he ripped it from his pocket to bark into it.
