“You okay, darlin’?” he asks, like his voice alone can hold me upright.
My throat closes.
I nod anyway. Once. Quick. I’m not okay, but I’m alive, and he’s here, and that’s enough to make my knees weak.
Knox’s jaw flexes. “Good.”
Then he moves.
Fast. Controlled. Like every part of him was built for this moment.
Suddenly, he pulls me into him like he’s been holding his breath for hours, like his body finally believes I’m real.
I press my face into his chest, and the scent of him hits me and I almost sob.
Warm. Solid. Here.
His mouth drops to my hair. “I’ve got you,” he murmurs, and his voice shakes at the edges, restraint fraying.
I clutch his shirt with both fists.
“You came for me,” I whisper, wrecked, unable to tell if it’s gratitude or disbelief.
Knox’s arms tighten. “Always.”
Gray’s voice is somewhere behind us. Commands. Movement. Boots scraping. The snap of cuffs.
I don’t look.
I can’t.
Knox tips my chin up with two fingers, forcing my eyes to his.
His stare is fierce enough to make me tremble.
“I thought I lost you,” he says. No swagger. No teasing. Just truth.
My chest caves.
“I thought you weren’t coming,” I confess. “I thought I… thought I was stupid.”
Knox’s eyes darken. “You were not stupid.”
“I believed him,” I whisper. “I believed my uncle.”
His thumb brushes my cheek, catching tears I didn’t realize were falling. “That wasn’t weakness,” he says softly. “That was affection.”
The word makes me flinch and soften all at once.
He leans in like the distance itself is an insult.
His mouth finds mine.
A kiss that tastes like relief and rage and promises he hasn’t said yet. I make a sound into his mouth I don’t recognize, small and broken and needy.
He pulls back just enough to breathe against my lips. “You’re safe.”
I shake my head, barely. “I wouldn’t be if not for you.”
