AllFreeNovel
Share Us
26
Knox rolledover and outstretched his arm, expecting to find Laura in his bed. Instead, all he felt were cold sheets. He opened his eyes and saw that she wasn’t in bed.
"Laura," he called out, wanting her to come back to bed.
When he was met with silence, he knew that the apartment was empty. She must have already left. He checked the time and saw that it was so much later than he’d thought it was. He felt like he’d barely shut his eyes, but it was already nine thirty a.m.
Of course, Laura was gone. She had to open up the shop at ten.
He ran his hands over his face, and when he lowered his arms, he saw the remnants of the night they’d shared together. The black tie was hanging from the bed frame. The memory of her hands above her head, bound, as he went down on her and fucked her had him growing harder by the second.
Not wanting the erection to go to waste, he figured he’d pop down to the shop and get in a quickie before she turned on the open sign. She normally showed up thirty minutes before opening.
He grabbed a pair of jeans off the chair and pulled them on. After brushing his teeth, he snatched a T-shirt, put it on, slid his feet into a pair of tennis shoes, and was out the door. He took the steps two by two, and when he reached the back entrance, he knocked, but there was no answer.
Lifting his hand to cover the light shining above on the gorgeous summer morning, he peered into the glass and saw that Laura was not in the back.
He wondered if she’d overslept and was at home rushing to get ready. If that was the case, he knew the best thing he could do was leave her alone. But even as he thought it, he knew he wasn’t going to do that.
If they couldn’t have a quickie here, they could have one at her house. He jumped in his SUV. Normally, he walked the mile and a half to her place so no one would see his vehicle parked out in front of her house. But he didn’t have time for that. He’d just park on a side street and hope that no one put two and two together. For Laura’s sake, not for his.
He wanted the entire world to know that they were trying to make a baby. Which made zero sense considering he was not going to be around to raise it if they were successful.
An ache filled his chest. He’d watched his brother raise the twins, and as much as he loved Ivy and Iris, he’d always been more than happy and fulfilled being their favorite uncle.
So why wasn’t he anymore?
Had this town rubbed off on him like it had on his brother? It had made Ford gossipy and wanting things he’d never wanted before.
No. That was ridiculous. Knox was just getting too much in his own head.
The drive over was quick, and before he knew it, he was walking up to Laura’s back door. He knocked on it and waited. Normally, he just walked inside, but that was because he’d never come over unannounced. He would have texted but was scared that if he did that, she would say she was too busy to see him.
When there was no answer, he walked to her bedroom window and was going to knock on it when he heard the water in the shower running. Visions of joining her in the shower for a quickie filled his head when he heard something crash inside.
"Laura!" he called out, but didn’t hear anything.
He went back to the door and tried it, but it was locked. Panic began to fill him, and he crossed back to Laura’s back bedroom window. He moved to the center, where there was a tiny slit between the curtains, and squinted his eyes as he looked inside and saw feet and legs lying on the floor in the entrance to the bathroom.
"Laura!" He knocked on the window and yelled. "Laura!"
When there was no response from her, he ran back to the deck, and using all his might, he pushed through the back door. The lock broke a little too easily for his liking, and he made a mental note that the new lock he’d installed was not nearly strong enough.
He raced through the house and found Sofie and Jello in their favorite morning sunning area in the front room. As he rounded the corner and rushed down the hall, he thought that was the difference between cats and dogs. A dog would have been alerted that something was wrong with their owner; cats were indifferent to anything that didn’t directly affect them.
It felt like it took him a year to make it back to her bedroom, but it was probably only ten seconds or so. It probably took a year off his life, though.
"Laura!" he called out again as he ran into her room and knelt down beside her.
She was blinking, or trying to blink, and it was clear to him that she must have passed out.
"Laura," he said, lifting her head and cradling it in his hands as her lids opened.
"Knox… What are you? Why am I?"
"You passed out. You’re in the bathroom. I’m calling the ambulance." He pulled his phone from his pocket.
"No," she said, reaching out and weakly grabbing his hands. "I’m just sick. I got that bug my family had. Lori and Leti passed out when they had it, too."
