“I figured you were busy, so I brought you dinner…” A fast-forming lump grows in my throat. Who cares about food at a time like this? What I’d like to do is open up the smaller Styrofoam container in the bag and mash the orangey pumpkin goo in his cheating face.
I turn for the door, ready to run full speed the instant I’m through it. I’m not a drama girl, not me. The scammy player is all hers.
It’s only been a matter of weeks. One night of kisses. I can move on. Pretend Knox never happened. I can recover.
But he snags my elbow, halting my mad dash. With the other hand, he lifts the bag of containers from me and raises it to his nose. “Mmm. Chicken fried steak?”
I nod, silent, because my voice isn’t playing on my team right now. He’s trying to act normal, but his fleeting first reaction held all I needed to see.
The woman’s cat eyes both swoop and linger over me, envious, I’m guessing, of my ugly shoes and the ketchup blob smeared into my t-shirt since breakfast. “I better go.”
“Everly, wait.”
Shoot. Knox’s voice holds magical powers. I turn mid reach for the door, stuck, like I’m knee deep in slimy mud. Awareness of my outsider status registers clear to my bones.
The air in the trailer is as thick as the gunk on my shoes. I’ve never felt so out of place in my life. When I should be running, my feet are failing me. Can’t leave, can’t stay.Pathetic.
Wheels thump and rattle against a warped plastic chair mat. Lifting a full-length coat that’s been stretched across the desk, the blonde stands. She’s as petite, fit, and pretty much as AI perfect as I imagined when she was seated.
She smiles at Knox. “I’m going to find Rand.” Her nod as she passes me is polite, and, I dare say, amused.
I’ll show her amused…
A whoosh of cold air rushes around my legs before the door thuds closed.
Ironically, the chill thaws me. I fold my arms. “Nice of you to string a girl along, Knox. All you had to do was say you didn’t want to see me anymore.”Ugh. Here I am chasing the man with bad diner food. “A simple text and I’d have been out of your hair.”
“No, Everly—”
“She’s very pretty, by the way. I’m sure you’ll be super happy with her—for the five minutes you stick around.” I say it with a tipped-up chin lest he think any of this hurts me more than it does.
Knox backs onto the corner of the desk, palming one muscled thigh. A single side of his mouth—his stupid kissing mouth—rocks up in a maddening grin. “Are you jealous, Everly Wilkes?”
How. Dare. He. Laugh!
“Because I’m seeing a little green around...” He circles his fingers about his face. “You know.”
“Wouldn’t you like that?” My chin continues its ascent as if it’s helium filled.
He crosses his arms, matching my posture. The khaki work shirt, splattered with grime and ripped at the hem, stretches across his chest. “Oh, I do like it. I like it very much.”
“Wow.”
“Wow?”
“I completely misread you. I thought you were a guy with...” What’s the right word? “Integrity.”
His look reads smug, not the least chastised or humiliated. “I tend to think I am.”
“Standing me up so you can hook up with someone else is not my definition of integrity.”
He frowns. “Whoa, there. I hooked up with exactly no one.” He draws his brow down hard. While he doesn’t appear angry, the flash of humor has gone silent. “I am sorry about dinner. I’ve been meaning to text for the last hour to say I’d be really late, but between phone calls and surprise visitors…” Massaging his jaw, he shakes his head. “It’s been wild around here.”
I chew the corner of my lip. “You were still going to come by?”
“Oh yeah.”
A gust of wind rattles the door that seems not to have a tight seal.
