Chapter 8

It was just after dusk and Adam left the house to run some errands . Earning my keep became an important role, so after polishing the floor to a solid shine, I tucked the mop back into its corner in the hall closet and looked up. There were three rows of high shelves. Adam put the stupid cleaners on the top shelf. Because I wanted to scrub out some of the grime that dripped to the bottom of the fridge, I dragged one of the small kitchen chairs over and climbed up.

Just as my fingers reached for the lemon-scented cleaner, the metal legs slid across the wet floor and away from my feet.

I grabbed one of the shelves and it snapped away from the wall, sending all the contents spilling to the floor. Luckily, the metal toolkit broke my fall and I cringed as the top-shelf items of batteries, nails, and screws showered over me like shrapnel.

When the last screw rolled to a stop, I looked around. What a mess.

There was an unexpected knock at the front door.

“Hold on!” I called out, thinking Adam forgot the keys to the house. I flicked a few nails that had stuck to my arm and cursed at the board on the floor that used to be a shelf. He’s going to kill me .

More impatient knocking.

“Okay, I’m coming,” I said in annoyance. I winced when I stood up—my shoulder cried out and I kicked a few of the screws in the closet.

When I swung the door open to apologize to Adam—before he even saw the catastrophe—my jaw hung silent.

The gun show was in town and I was getting the private tour. Two giant biceps were swallowed up a sleeveless white shirt. I looked up at a steel expression, as if his skin had been pulled taut over a thick jaw and broad cheekbones. Knox gave his greeting with a thin-lipped grin. He wore the same black cap snug to his head, and black hair peeked out around the edges.

“I don’t think we were properly introduced,” he said without moving those folded arms. There was no attempt to shake my hand.

Blocking the doorway with my body, I blew out an agitated, “Can I help you?”

He dropped his arms but his smile remained fixed. “I’m Knox. I’m an old friend of Raz—Adam. And you are?”

My eyes arrowed to the shadow of a weapon beneath his shirt. “Is he expecting you?”

“Is he around? I need to talk to him.”

“He’s busy,” I lied. When I shouldered the door closed, his oversized boot wedged inside of the open space.

Knox shook his head. “Adam isn’t here.”

“How do you know? Because the only balls I see on you aren’t crystal.”

Knox snorted and actually shifted his balls. I averted my eyes at the gesture. “Adam would never let anyone else answer his own door. I didn’t get your name.

“Then wait outside; he didn’t tell me you were coming, so you’re not invited.”

“He’s not expecting me, true. I know I’m intimidating, but fuck, I’m as harmless as—” Knox quieted as he leaned over my shoulder, craning his head around the door to look behind me. “What the fff —”

I was brushed to the side and stumbled over my feet when the door swung open. Knox signed, sealed, and delivered his own invitation as he marched into the kitchen and loomed in front of the closet. His combat-style boots stopped short of the fallen chair, broken shelf, and scattered tools. Knox twisted his large body around, gripping something beneath his shirt.

“Are you alone?” Not waiting for an answer, his eyes scoped the house.

“Not anymore.”

Well, the invitation situation was now a moot point. I closed the door behind me and walked into the kitchen, glaring at the new visitor.

“The chair slid out from under me when I was rehearsing for my strip routine.”

Knox wasn’t listening; he slanted his eyes, staring out the back window. “You sure about that?”

The legs of the chair slammed on the floor as my best fake smile played across my face. “Can I offer you some tasty refreshments?”

That broke the tension. Knox huffed out a laugh and strolled back into the kitchen, pulling his shirt down. “You aren’t exactly the kind of woman I pictured Adam falling for.”

I laughed back and pulled a couple of beers out of the fridge. “I’m not his woman.”

“Damn shame to hear that,” he said as he slid his wide frame into the tiny chair. It quivered beneath his weight and looked about as frightened as an inanimate object could.

“Let’s go into the living room before you give that chair a heart attack.”

I set his beer down on the coffee table, easing back against the sofa while picking at the label on my bottle. “So how do you two know each other?”

The beer let out a sigh of relief, as did the chair he collapsed in—Adam’s black leather, ass-pampering seductress of comfort. Knox didn’t just sit in the chair, he eclipsed it.

I waited while he knocked back half the bottle. “We served together.”

“Military?” That would explain a lot about Adam’s behavior .

“He didn’t tell you, huh? How long you guys been… not dating ?” He smirked. Yet it was not a casual question.

I could see why Adam would click with Knox; he was an extremely likable guy once you got past all of the bulk and attitude. What particularly interested me is that most people automatically assume a guy of his size is all brawn and no brain, but there was intellect behind his eyes, and he was analyzing every answer I gave, making me more self-conscious. With the mention of military I might have assumed front lines—Marine. But intelligence was more like it.

“He’s just helping me out. I’m between jobs right now and he’s letting me stay here for a while.” I tried to twist off my cap but a sharp pain sliced through my shoulder. I grimaced as my muscles gave a silent warning not to try that again.

Knox leaned over and snatched my beer, popping off the lid as easily as a six-hundred-pound gorilla would crack a peanut. “If you don’t have a home, what were you doing at those apartments?”

“You first.”

“Visiting a friend.”

“Likewise.”

That answer didn’t satisfy him, but he looked as if he were expecting it.

“Where did you meet?” He pressed on.

I shrugged and considered a little rephrasing. “I was out for a run.”

“From who?”

I leaned back to take a long, very long, slow sip of that beer.

Knox leaned forward. “I think we’re both bullshitting here—you ever play that card game?”

“With my grandma, every Sunday after church.”

He laughed and that’s when Adam burst through the front door. If he had just seen us sitting in the living room there might not have been such concern on his face. But his features were marred by the state of disarray the kitchen closet was in.

“In here. Ignore the mess, everything’s fine.”

Adam came in, not surprised to see Knox, as his Jeep would have tipped him off. The keys were tossed on the bar and Knox stood up to give him a handshake when Adam shoved his hand against his chest. “Did you touch her?”

“As if ,” Knox choked out.

I interrupted the birth of a fight. “I’m sorry I broke your closet shelf, but you don’t put cleaners out of reach unless you have kids. They go under the sink.”

“You should listen to the woman,” Knox said as he patted Adam on the back. “Or should I say… your woman?”

“Sit the fuck down.” Adam laughed.

“Quite the little smut-mouth, isn’t he?” Knox winked and I smiled, scooting over to make room for Adam. Beer splashed on my legs when he pushed me forward.

“What are you doing?” I protested.

“Jesus, what the hell did you do to yourself?”

He was staring at my back. Oh yeah, that.

“I fell out of my chair.” I could almost hear the snare of a drum at the poor choice of words that sounded like a bad joke. My curtain closed and I took another swig of beer.

“Wanna kiss it and make it better, or can I sit back now?”

“You’re bleeding.”

Shit, all over his sofa . I turned around and saw the smear on the black leather. I cursed under my breath. Adam loved his leather and even hated the fact that I ate on it. “I’m sorry… I didn’t realize. I’ll get something to clean it.”

“Fuck the sofa, woman—stay here.”

He disappeared in the bedroom and I watched Knox’s eyebrows slowly rise up as he polished off his beer. “Friends, huh?” He examined the last drops swirling at the bottom.

Knox shared my sense of humor, or sarcasm. I rolled my eyes and paced into the kitchen to retrieve a case of beer. I was glad Adam was here as a buffer, since I didn’t know what questions I could and couldn’t answer.

The beer disappeared from my hand when Adam set it on the cabinet and pressed a cold, wet cloth to my shoulder. “You’re a pocketful of trouble.”

I felt a sting and jumped. “You could eat off this floor, you should thank me.”

The second sting made me shut up.

“Tomorrow I’m going to show you how to build a shelf. Hold still, almost done.”

“Nice place you got here, brother,” Knox said as he strolled to the sunroom. “If you like woods and shit.”

I smiled as Adam pressed an adhesive patch on my shoulder. His fingers ran along the edges and I involuntarily shivered. Knox was beginning to grow on me, but Adam didn’t seem too thrilled he was here.

“All done.”

The mammoth was standing quietly in the sunroom with an unreadable expression that reflected on the glass. “Sorry to have barged in on Annie; I thought you would be here.”

“It’s Zoë,” I called out.

“Is that so?” he mumbled.

“Do me a favor and wait outside, I need to talk to him alone. It won’t be long.” Adam sounded upset. Now if that wasn’t the disappointment of the evening. I was really looking forward to getting tipsy and arm wrestling with our guest. But this was Adam’s turf and it was hardly my place to complain.

I snuck around the side of the house near the back door to listen in.

“Don’t fucking lie to me, your prints are all over that goddamn apartment. You’ve gotten sloppy, Razor.”

“What game are you playing?”

“Where’s the girl?” I heard Knox ask.

There was a short silence and Adam sounded off, “What the hell are you up to, Knox? Speak truth.”

“Her name came up in a database. I thought you were out but now I’m not so sure; this thing reeks. That isn’t Zoë Merrick, not from the pictures I’ve seen, but it’s too much of a coincidence you were at her complex. Quid pro quo, brother.”

“I don’t know how much I can tell you, Knox. I don’t know much myself.”

Adam’s voice cut off when my dumb ass stepped on a twig. The door creaked open and I strolled off into the yard, glaring at Adam, who was frowning. When the door shut I continued my pace, there was no point in trying to figure out what they were arguing about. But what piqued my interest was the fact that my name was in some kind of a database. I didn’t think to ask if Knox was still in the military—if that were the case it brought a whole new spin on things. I didn’t know a thing about the man who attacked me or what he might be a part of.

I had never felt more isolated. Not just because we were out in the middle of nowhere, but there was this emptiness I carried, a longing I couldn’t explain. Even the welcomed visit with Knox made that knot in my stomach even more pronounced.

The house vanished from sight, and I hugged the chill off my arms as I strolled down the trail.

That’s when it hit me. It was too quiet—I didn’t hear a single cricket chirping. Someone whispered, and while I couldn’t make out the words, it made my blood run cold. The sound wasn’t in my head, wasn’t part of the dreams, but it was right here, just beyond the thick of trees. Shaking like a leaf in winter, I strained to look at all the shadows in the deep woods that surrounded me. My breath thinned out into a sheet of frosty panic and I sucked in a sharp breath when a slow crunch of leaves sounded on my right.

A macabre laugh rolled through the darkness and wrapped itself around me like a vise.

It was him—I knew that laugh.

Without a moment to reason, Adam’s name poured from my lungs in a scream as I ran up the trail toward the house.

The back door crashed open and within seconds, Knox and Adam were eating up the distance between us in a desperate run. Knox looked more like a bull that couldn’t be stopped as he charged past me with his gun in hand. I flew into Adam’s arms, pulling him tight.

“What’s wrong?”

“He’s out there, Adam,” I said, out of breath. I looked back and Knox was gone, but I could hear his heavy footsteps as he continued to move.

“Are you sure?”

“I’m sure, please don’t let him—”

“Don’t worry, Knox will secure the area. Let’s get you inside.”