“Tell me more.” His curiosity is almost naïve. Fathomless. He needs that information so badly that he shakes my head when I don’t answer fast enough. “Now.”
Guess we do have a few minutes to spare. If Knox allows it, it must be safe.
“Our parents spend endless hours in the hospital.” I slide my hands over his wrists, soaking in his warmth. “Some weeks, some months, they barely have an hour for us. Until I met you, those were the best hours of my life. Eating together and just spending time with them, it was everything.”
“That sounds fun.” His head tilts, lips quirking to the side. “I saw online that it can be greasy, but if you like it, if it makes you feel like home, I’ll have that all the time.”
His eagerness to learn about me, and to do what makes me happy, is intoxicating.
I can’t help it. I open my legs wider, encouraging him to step closer.
“What I’m trying to say is why I like the memories that come with it.” My heart swells when he leans into me. “Well, most of them. Bronwyn, she…”
I’ve made peace with her death. Put it behind me. Thoughts of my parents are what sting me.
Next time I talk to them, I’ll have to lie for Knox. For myself. I’ll have to tell them she disappeared and hope it won’t break their hearts irreparably.
The alternative—that she was slaughtered, and that Knox’s family did it—would haunt them every time they looked at him.
“Bronwyn, what? Did she ruin it for you?” he demands.
“I—Yes.” Unease makes me shift on the bed.
Knox holds me down, the power vibrating from him settling me.
“What’d she do?” He tips my face up higher, leaning in so he’s everything I see. “Your parents let her hurt you?”
“No. They had no idea,” I sigh. “She’d fake a smile, but the second they turned their backs or rushed off to work, she’d call me names. Call them names too. She always said she hated celebrating with me because they played favorites. In a way, they did. But I never really had them to myself. Their hearts belong mostly to the hospital and their patients.”
“So they didn’t hurt you.” Knox’s voice is rough, but the hatred on his face eases into something else, acceptance. “Only her.”
“Yeah, I guess.” I remind myself to breathe. With my arms looped around his neck, I find solace with him. “You’re smart like your sister, they’d say to her.Why don’t you put your abilities to good use? Why won’t you help people?I hated it. It wasn’t fair to her. But they wouldn’t listen. And…I wasn’t about to give up my dream just so Bronwyn and I would be treated the same.”
“Good.” Knox exhales, slow and heavy, like another weight slid off his chest. “That you didn’t give up. That you chose this path for yourself.”
“I did that. But now…” I swallow.
“Now what?”
The stench of what’s left of Jett and Bronwyn grows heavier in the air.
We need to get going. Still, I feel like I have to tell him, “Maybe I see another future for me. One you and I can build together.”
“We can do that.” His eyes glimmer, then he kisses me briefly. “Something with meat. Not people’s. Livestock like we used to have. And chickens. Maybe even…” His eyes widen, almost boyish, his growl full of awe. “Fish. I’ve never had fish. Even the butcher in town never stocks those.”
“We’ll get you fish,” I whisper, my heart aching with the promise. “We’ll get you anything you want.”
My parents wouldn’t be thrilled about me choosing a different career path, sure. So what? This is my life.
“I can’t wait.” I hug Knox hard, harder, then the hardest.
“Trouble’s Cuts,” he announces when he pulls back, a small smile playing on his lips.
Hope vibrates in our chests, echoing across his bedroom. I bask in it while Knox packs up the last of our stuff into his duffel.
“Come on.” He offers me his hand, and I take it.
“To new beginnings.”
