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There’s a reason people are afraid of Knox. Some concealed, grim hopelessness hides beneath a mask he usually wears. It rarely slips.
I hate to see it slip.
Just like it is right now.
What would he do this time? Break something? Break someone? Would it be Dee that ended up crumpling in his path?
It seems likely since I keep catching him walk up the stairs, hovering by the bedroom, then coming back down and circling the couch in the living room where I sit. When he strides back toward his path, I lift my leg to stop him before he continues on his route.
Knox looks straight ahead, jaw lined so hard he looks like he might rip right into me with just his teeth. “Move,” he growls out.
But I can’t take it.
I can’t.
“What’s the fucking point?” I nearly scream. “Destroy her fucking life, is that the goal? Because we’re almost there, asshole.”
Knox slaps my leg down with bruising force. Anger rallies inside of me as I stand abruptly. Our chests collide. Fuming aggression radiates around us as we glare at one another.
“Sit. Down.” A classic Knox stare. A level stare, a deadly stare.
“I’m not doing it anymore.” I’m mad but I keep my voice steady this time. I don’t want Dee’s attention. I don’t want her in Knox’s sight when he’s like this. Those bad things that go bump in the night, demons, and other frights people tell stories about, none of it compares to Knox. He is what people should be warned about.
“I thought you were my brother, Landon. We had a deal.”
I am his brother. In every way but blood.
But guilt is a hell of a feeling. It began to eat me away, especially after Dee kissed me in the kitchen. I didn’t feel guilty breaking our deal to drive Dee away though. Knox couldn’t use that feeling as leverage on me.
Not any more.
“I agreed to help teach her a lesson. To find a way to drive her away. She clearly isn’t going anywhere and I’m not about to ruin her future for some stupid reason you won’t even tell us.”
Knox laughs. His finger jams into my chest poking me harshly as he talks. “You’re not done. We’re not done until she’s out of this house.”
With one quick move I grab the hand pushing against me, bending his finger back. I don’t care if I break it. My head snaps to the side though as Knox’s fist meets my cheek.
I stumble back with pain searing through me.
“You’re done when I say,” he repeats again.
Everything I see becomes red. I don’t hear anything but ringing and it’s like I have blinders on that only focus me on Knox and resentment that builds in me now. A roar rips out of my throat and I dive at him.
My shoulder connects with his waist, the air hissing out of him as we barrel toward the coffee table. We become a blur of limbs taking jabs at each other. Glass shatters across the old wooden floor boards before we collapse onto the table, the wood groaning then splintering beneath us.
Knox doesn’t seem to register pain. Nothing stops him as he flings me away from him, my body wanting to crumple inward from the impact of the wall. I see the beast that lurks behind his deadly eyes as he turns me, straddles me, and lets his fists rain down on my face.
My glasses shatter. With each blink, the red I see dims. It becomes flashes of black as my body threatens to betray me and send me unconscious just to ease the cracking pain. I feel nothing and everything all at once. Every cell is aware of the agony that is likely to leave permanent marks but none of it registers.
But then it all stops.
“Knox! Stop!” a voice growls out.
When my lashes peel open, Reed has Knox by the collar, shaking him gently. Knox’s wild gaze is still on me, his body a tight chord ready to snap. Reed pushes him away from me, standing between us.
“Go for a walk. Get yourself together.”
Knox’s lip curls but he walks away in striding, pounding steps. I loose a breath, letting myself sag against the ground finally. Reed kicks away the leg of the broken table and sits next to me on the ground.
