A knowing smirk spreads across Uncle Cutter’s face, and my stomach drops. Suddenly I feel like a kid who's been caught with her hand in the cookie jar.
My uncle locks the door behind him and has a seat at the massive mahogany desk in the center of the room.
“So…what’s going on with you two?”
“Nothing,” I answer defensively.
“Nothing, huh?”
“Why’d you lock the door behind you?” Knox asks him.
“Because if anyone else had entered this room and saw what I just saw, there would be a very different conversation happening in here. So, I’m going to ask you both again, what’s going on with you two?”
I am my Uncle's favorite niece (and his only niece), and I'm banking on the fact that he still looks at me as his little peanut will get me over so I deny it again.
“Nothing is going on, Uncle Cutter. All you saw was me and Knox play fighting like we always have since we were kids.”
“Yeah, but you two aren’t kids anymore and play fighting at this age is called fucking.”
My eyes widen at my uncle’s use of explicit language. He’s an uninhibited type of man, so I’m not truly surprised by the words he’s using, but the thing is that he’s never used them with me. I’m his little Gigi, his favorite niece.
Knox finally gives me some distance, and I take a few more steps away from him completely. I need to convince Uncle Cutter that he didn’t see what he thought he saw because whatever me and Knox are doing, I’m not ready to discuss it with the entire family in this house tonight.
“I can see you two weren’t really prepared to explain this, so let me just offer a few words of wisdom. Knox, you have always been like a nephew to me. I have thought of you as my blood relative because your father is like a brother to me, but let’s be clear — we are not blood related and you and Gigi have no familial connection.
“Having said that, we’ve raised you both as if you were family. So if this is a casual thing you tried because you’re living in close quarters, then stop that shit right now. But if you two are doing something serious, then tell the family and tell them soon. A romantic relationship between you may complicate things for some people in this family, but it isn’t the end of the world.”
Knox and I remain quiet throughout my Uncle’s entire speech and when he’s finished, we still don’t say a word. He’s right. This wasn’t something we expected to have to explain or answer to — at least I didn’t.
“Your father will be here in about fifteen minutes, Gigi. In the meantime, lock this door after I leave or keep your distance from each other until you decide how you’re going to handle this.”
After Uncle Cutter walks out of the library, there are a million things running through my mind to say to Knox, but I’m stuck on which to say first. I can feel the fury rolling off of him like gamma rays and I know why he's angry.
“Knox.”
“Don’t say a fucking word, Gigi.”
“My Uncle just walked in on us. What did you want me to say?”
“You just lied to your favorite uncle straight to his face.”
“Now who’s being dramatic.”
“Don’t do that.”
“Don’t do what?”
“Don’t dismiss what’s going on between us like it’s just some casual bullshit. I didn’t just fuck you, Gigi. You’re not just some casual lay for me.”
“Shhh!” I try quieting him as he raises his voice.
“I don’t fucking understand you.”
“He took me by surprise, Knox. I didn’t know what to say.”
“The other day you said I was your boyfriend, but when backed into a corner, your first reaction is to deny that there is anything between us, as if I mean absolutely fucking nothing to you? That was a shitty thing to do.”
Knox heads for the door, and I grab him from behind wrapping my arms around his waist and leaning my head into the wall of muscles in his back.
