“For simply not believing me in the first place, you’ll be required to grovel,” I tell him. “But it’s okay, I know exactly how you can make it up to me.”
“Oh yeah? And how’s that?”
“Come to dinner with me.”
“Fuck no. Anything but that,” he laughs, looking at me as though I’ve actually gone insane. “I’ll be right here waiting when you get home, though.”
I shake my head. “It’s sweet that you think you have a say in any of this, especially if you intend to get those delicious lips between my thighs ever again.”
“I’m not going, doll. I’m not sitting through another one of your mother’s dinners, only for us to have to leave early and get shitty takeout on the way home.”
I tsk at him, shaking my head. “All that shit about being in love with me and you won’t even let me throw you to the wolves to save myself,” I say with a heavy sigh as I glance up at him, batting my eyelashes, knowing he can’t possibly resist. “Not to mention, right after telling me how much you hate me.”
“Whoa. Hold up. You said that shit first, and you know damn well I didn’t mean it.”
I arch a brow and give him a heavy, expectant stare. “And?”
Knight watches me for a long, drawn-out moment, and I see the exact second his resolve begins to crumble. “But—”
I shake my head. “Uh-uh.”
After another pause, his face begins to fall, his shoulders sagging with defeat. “Well, fuck,” he finally says. “But if we’re going to be late, then we better make it count.” And with that, he grabs me by the waist and presses me up against the shower wall, and he shows me all over again just how animalistic he can be.
17
HARPER-RAYN
Knight and I walk up the long driveway to Mom and Elias’s mansion after parking out on the curb to avoid them realizing we came together, though they’ve got to be pretty daft if they can’t figure it out. I mean, how many times can you use the excuse We bumped into each other at the door? Besides, Knight wasn’t even invited, so surely they’ll be wondering why the hell he’s here. One would think, at least.
His hand rests on my lower back, and despite our afternoon of wild, animalistic fucking, I know he’s still thinking about just how fragile I am. But I’m not. I don’t think fragile is a word I would ever use to describe myself. You know, except that one particular moment where I had a mental breakdown at work and had to be shot up with sedatives, but I do what I can to forget that moment even existed.
Reaching the front door, I let out a long breath.
I should have figured out a way to get out of this. Maybe a disease? The mumps, the plague, maybe I could claim that I contracted herpes from one of the bodies in the morgue. Mom would love that one. In fact, I doubt she’ll ever want to come near me ever again.
Knight lifts his hand to knock when I start pinching my cheeks. “What are you doing?” he asks, his hand pausing over the door.
“Making myself look sick,” I tell him, having no shame. “If she thinks I’m contagious she won’t come anywhere near me, and then I can use it as an excuse to get out of here early.”
“Good thinking,” he says, putting his hands to my cheeks and vigorously rubbing as I try to keep a straight face. “There. That should do it.”
I grin up at him, feeling smugger than I’ve ever been in my life, and the way his eyes sparkle with adoration has my chest swelling with love. “Alright. Just knock already,” I finally say. “The sooner we get in, the sooner we get out.”
Knight knocks on the massive door, and not a moment later, I hear someone on the inside. The door swings open, and before I know it, Elias is standing before me, a welcoming smile on his face, only it quickly fades when his eyes fall to his brother.
“Knight?” he asks, glancing between us. “What are you doing here?”
Knight shrugs. “Had the night off so figured I’d come to watch the game with my big brother,” he says. “But I ran into Harper at the door. She says you’re hosting dinner.”
“Uhh, yeah,” Elias says. “Nothing too fancy. Mae just wanted to put something together for young Harper, here. You know she’s been in the hospital.”
Knight’s gaze whips to me, his brow raised, surprise in his dark eyes. “No shit. You good, Morticia?”
“Fine,” I tell him, trying to hide a smirk. “Nothing but a scratch.”
“A scratch?” Elias scoffs, almost seeming irritated by the way I shrug it off. “I believe it was more than a mere scratch. Your brother said you’d been stabbed in the hospital parking garage. Almost died.”
“I’d barely go that far,” I say. “You know how Jonah likes to exaggerate the little things.”
