“Oh, damn. I totally forgot to tell you. When I went to Emory’s earlier,” I audibly groaned and Cole paused to wink at me, “she wasn’t alone.”
“What?” Hannah and Lottie both asked, looking at me.
“Yeah, she was with a guy. Scared the shit out of me actually. I walked in and the guy was holding a knife. I thought I was going to have to use some karate shit on him.”
“What the hell?” Lottie asked, wide-eyed.
“He’s being dramatic.Yougave him the passcode to the door downstairs without my permission. And then he comes pounding on my front door unannounced, of course I freaked out. I grabbed the kitchen knife to defend myself as I peered through the peep hole. Enoch just grabbed the knife from me when I opened the door.”
Lottie narrowed her eyes at me. “Enoch? That’s that guy from the gym? Your ex?”
“I thought his name was Nox?” Cole asked with confusion.
I winced, ready for her to dig into me about him once again. “Yeah. Same person. His full name is Enoch. He just goes by Nox.”
“Wait, who? Your ex works at the gym?” Hannah asked.
“The guy who freaked out on her a couple weeks back,” Lottie said to her sister. “And he doesn’t work there; he was a patron.”
“Oh,” Hannah drawled. “Actually, no. I’m even more confused.”
Cole raised his hand, “Hi, yeah. Please explain. What happened at the gym?”
Mason turned in his seat behind the wheel. “This guy, Nox, he was part of the military group who came in together, had a complete mental breakdown. Was crying, grabbing onto Emory and wouldn’t let her go. Brett came out with his taser and had to threaten to call the police if they didn’t leave.”
“And that’s when she had her accident,” Lottie added, like I wasn’t sitting in on the conversation. “And then I find him in her office a couple of days later acting all cozy.”
Hannah slapped my leg. “What?! You didn’t tell us you were even dating anyone.”
I groaned again, putting the cold water bottle to my forehead. “I met him back in high school.”
“Oh, like, before you moved here.”
I pursed my lips into a thin line. “Yeah. I haven’t seen him since then. Well, until two weeks ago.”
“And you’re, what? Dating again?” Cole asked.
“No,” I mumbled, removing the bottle from my head. I swiped away the condensation from my forehead with my sleeve. “I don’t know.”
“So, what was the big deal at the gym?” Cole asked. “Why did he freak out?”
I sighed, absently staring at Cole’s inked arms that were resting on his knees as he leaned forward to hear our conversation.
“It’s complicated. We both had a lot of trauma surrounding the time that we broke up, and I guess he just got overwhelmed. It was a shock seeing each other again so unexpectedly.”
They all shared a look, and I could tell they were suspicious.
“Well, I don’t want you to get hurt,” Mason said after a moment of awkward silence filled with some country songplaying on the speakers. “You’ve been really withdrawn since he showed up.”
Lottie reached over, squeezing my free hand. “Is this guy safe?”
I nodded earnestly. “Yes. One hundred percent. He’d never hurt me.Ever.”
Lottie’s mouth twisted in contemplation before she pulled away. “I want you to be happy, and I’m not saying don’t be with this guy, but it screams sketchy.”
“I dunno,” Cole shrugged. “I thought he seemed pretty chill. Han, come here,” he stood, holding out his hand for Hannah to grab.
Hannah raised a brow but listened. He spun Hannah until her back hit his chest and clamped a hand across her stomach. He puffed up his chest dramatically, his hand clutching an imaginary knife. He gave Mason a menacing glare.
