My stomach tightened. “Why?”
“Just curious.”
Was it written all over my face? My unprofessional, forbidden non-hatred of Knox? “What are you getting at?”
She sighed. “Knox Blackwood. Have you met him?”
The name hit me like a splash of cold water. How the hell would she know about that? I hadn’t told anyone. Hell, there was nothing to tell. These feelings for him weren’t real. Refer to my inner meltdown prior to finding that note on my car. “How do you know Knox Blackwood?”
“Ryker. Knox is one of his best friends.” Holy. Shit. “Ryker’s his criminal defense attorney, trying to help him get parole.”
I set my wineglass down. “And you’re just now telling me this?”
“When was I supposed to tell you?”
“How about when you found out I was going to work at the penitentiary?”
“I’m sorry. At the time, I was a little fixated on the fact that I was about to go to prison myself.”
Okay. Fair point.
“So, you actually met him?” Faith asked, her voice climbing higher. “Knox Blackwood? In person?”
“I did.”
“Wow.” She blinked. “I honestly thought it was a long shot. That place is huge. What are the odds you’d even cross paths?”
I shrugged, but something in my chest tightened. “I’ve seen him more than once actually.”
Faith set her wineglass down slowly, like a detective who’d just spotted a clue. “Okay, hold on. Why did you say it like that?”
“Like what?”
“Like that. All weird and dodgy.” She pointed at me. “Something happened.”
I rubbed the inside of my thumb with my fingernail. “He sort of … stuck up for me. Protected me against some nasty inmates who were giving me trouble.”
Faith’s jaw dropped. “Seriously?”
“It was nothing,” I lied because I wasn’t ready to explore those feelings out loud with anyone yet.
“It was clearly not nothing because your face is doing a thing right now.”
“My face is not doing a thing.”
“It’s doing a whole thing. A very specific thing.” She leaned forward. “Harper, do youlikehim?”
“What? No.” I grabbed my wineglass like a shield. “There’s no way I can like Knox. He killed a man. In cold blood.”
Faith raised an eyebrow. “You said that to your new bestie, who was found covered in blood in the woods.”
“That was different.”
“Was it?”
“You did that in self-defense,” I said.
“You didn’t know that when you invited yourself over, got drunk, and attacked Ryker with a lamp.”
