Knox chuckles lightly as if I’m some little kid who amuses him.
“Is that a fake ponytail on the back of your head?”
“Be quiet.”
“I don’t know why you’re even bothering with that. Are you still obsessed with your hair?”
He leans in and purposefully twirls some of my disobedient strands around his finger. It takes me aback for a moment. Knox has never touched me before. I mean, we don’t touch each other. We don’t hug. We don’t shake hands. That’s not what we do. So I quickly jerk my head back because it makes me unsettled.
“I was never obsessed with my hair.”
Knox tosses a dark designer duffle bag over his shoulder.
“Can we go inside and argue? I’ve had a long night.”
“You’re not staying in my house, Knox. I have nothing to do with whatever craziness you and those people who raised us agreed to.”
“This is not a negotiation, Queenie.”
“Stop calling me that.”
“Stop calling me jackass.”
My front door cracks open and Matthew’s curious face peeps out.
“Is everything okay out here, Gigi?”
Knox’s back straightens, and his obsidian-colored eyes darken like the sky before a thunderstorm. He looks at me and then glares back at Matthew.
“Who the fuck are you?”
Matthew opens the door wider and extends his palm out for Knox to shake.
“I’m Matthew Anderson, Gigi’s boyfriend.”
I cringe a bit because Matthew just jumped the gun with the whole girlfriend reference, but what’s worse is that Knox is probably going to believe it…and run with it.
“Boyfriend?”
Knox gives me a sickening look, like the cat who swallowed the canary. He knows how my parents feel about me bringing strangers into my life, especially men. If this was a hundred years ago, they would no doubt have arranged a marriage of their choosing for me by now.
I offer Knox a look in return that wordlessly begs him to “play nice”. One thing we were always good at since we were kids was being able to communicate with each other without words. Too bad we never liked each other enough for it to matter.
Matthew’s arm is still extended in midair. He isn’t used to this type of rudeness and has no idea of the world that Knox and I come from. He thinks I’m some interesting girl who attended a prep school on scholarship and works for Temple. He doesn’t have a clue how wrong he is and I never want him to know.
“My friend was just leaving. We were saying goodbye.” I grab Matthew’s arm and push him back inside the door. “I’ll be right there, Matt.”
Matthew’s face drops, perhaps because he’s disappointed that I haven’t introduced him to the stranger at my door or maybe because I’ve embarrassed him, but I can’t let his possible hurt feelings sway me. The faster I get Knox away from my apartment, the better.
“Actually, Matt, I’m moving in tonight, so you’re going to need to leave. You two can pick up whatever this is at another place and time.”
“Seriously?!” I grit my teeth. “You can’t just ask my guest to leave.”
“I just did.”
“You haven’t changed a bit,” I huff.
“Not one fucking bit.”
