CHAPTER 030: She’s A Part Of Me
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~~KNOX~~
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I have spent years building a habit of not getting involved in people’s business.
Especially Finn’s.
Especially anything remotely connected to the circus that is Finn and Delilah.
It’s not that I don’t care–I just learned the hard way that sticking your nose into other people’s messes has a way of turning you into the villain, even when you were trying to mop up their blood. So I stopped trying. Stopped caring. Let people make their own choices and eat the consequences. It’s cleaner that way. Simpler. But the truth is, Hunter’s going to find out eventually–about Delilah, about me, about all of it. And it’s better if the truth comes from me than from someone with an agenda or an axe to grind. I’m not exactly known for being friendly. I’m not the kind of guy Hunter usually surrounds himself with–he’s the suit, the smile, the shining damn example of a man people want to follow. But somehow, despite all our differences, we’ve managed to build something that goes beyond friendship. Real, solid, inconvenient brotherhood. And once in a while, you meet someone so unlike you that it clicks in a way nothing else ever has. You find yourself wanting to protect it, keep it untarnished. You don’t want to be the reason it falls apart.
A perfect example is the naked woman in front of me. So unlike anything I’ve ever desired and yet so irresistible.
I watch her, studying her flushed cheeks, parted lips, transparent glasses, and the sparkling necklace nestled between her breasts. It’s difficult to focus on the question she asked.
What did I decide?
Hell if I know.
I’ve been up here “thinking,” or so I told her, but that wasn’t entirely true. I came up here because I saw my brother kiss her -and something in me snapped. Something I didn’t want to name. And when she called, asking for a favor, I invited her up here without thinking.
I didn’t want to help her. I wanted to fuck her.
I needed to erase that image of her kissing Finn–needed to remind her and myself who she really wanted. Only then would I be normal again.
Only problem?
I’m not sure it worked.
Because now, looking at her in the aftermath, skin glowing, lips kiss–swollen, body marked up with the ghosts of my mouth and hands… I don’t feel normal. I feel more possessed. I want to touch her again. I want to do all sorts of dangerous and wild things to her.
My eyes linger too long on the slope of her waist, the dip of her navel, the glint of that necklace. She’s a vision of sin. Of softness. Of trouble.
I must’ve been staring too long, because she says, “Knox?”
I drag my gaze–reluctantly–away from her breasts and up to her eyes.
“Did you get my question?” she asks.
“I did.”
“And?”
I smirk. “Well, I didn’t get much time to ponder on it. I’d barely lit my cigarette when I got distracted.”
She narrows her eyes. “Are you accusing me?”
“Am I?” I say, taking two steps back. “See you in less than an hour, Sloane.”
I don’t give her time to answer. I walk away, letting the drizzle bead on my skin. I can feel her gaze on my back like a second
skin.
When I reach the bouncer at the rooftop entrance he’s now seated Croping through something on his phone.
“You done, sir?” he asks.
“Not quite.”
Successfully unlocked!
I pull out a wad of cash–not bothering to count–and press it into his hand.
The guy doesn’t blink. “More tips? Or are you about to ask for another favor?”
1/3
CHAPTER 030 She’s A Part Of Me
“She’s going to stay here until I come back.”
“Like… relaxing?” he asks, tilting his head. “Or do you want me to imprison her?”
I grin. “Just make sure she stays.”
“You got it.”
As I walk to the elevator, it dawns on me that it’s probably crazy to indirectly consent to caging her on that rooftop while! go play best man downstairs. And I know it. I know exactly how it looks. But then there’s a ninety–nine percent chance Sloane won’t move an inch anyway, will sit right where I left her.
It’s the one percent I can’t risk.
The one percent with Finn Hartley’s name written all over it.
I’m not delusional enough to think one argument is enough to sever a decade of friendship between them. Hell, the last time Sloane and I had sex, she ran from the restroom in guilt. The only reason she slept with me tonight–let me touch her again–is because she’s still mad at Finn. It wasn’t just me she wanted–it was escape. Rebellion. Punishment for the boy who still owns too many pieces of her.
Which means, if I’m going to have her–to fully explore this side of me that’s attracted to this woman–Finn needs to be removed from the picture. I don’t care if they’ve been friends for a hundred years or if he once saved her from a house fire. I can’t fight for space in a woman’s life when another man already has his claws in her heart. And Finn, for all his obliviousness, still has a grip.
She was ready to cancel our plans, pack a bag, and get on a goddamn plane just to spite him.
That tells me everything.
I’m not ready to let go either. And I’m not going to do the noble thing and step aside. I don’t get fascinated easily. It’s rare. Inconvenient. And when it does happen–I get selfish.
Selfish enough to want to steal her.
Selfish enough to make her mine.
And I sure as hell don’t like to share.
The elevator opens on the first floor, and the noise from the hall where the party is being held greets me immediately. Laughter. Music. The occasional clink of glass. But what draws my attention is a different noise–raised voices echoing from a side corridor.
Familiar voices.
Finn and our mother.
I round the corner.
They’re standing face–to–face, tension thick between them.
“You can’t tell me you didn’t say something to annoy her,” Finn is saying. “Something set her off tonight, and I’m very sure it‘ s not just that kiss.”
“I’m not going to stand here and listen to you accuse me of provoking your friend,” Mom snaps.
“Sloane has never reacted like that before. It’s too much of a coincidence that I watched you leave her room earlier and now . she’s suddenly snapping at little things. What did you say to her, Mom?”
“Nothing you should concern yourself with.”
“She’s not at the house. I called the security. She’s not picking up my calls. I asked her to wait out here until she’s calm, and now I can’t find her. I need to know what you said to her, Mom.”
“She’ll be back. She hasn’t picked up her things. Just… breathe, Finn.”
“She’s… she’s a part of me, Mom.”
“I know.”
“If anything were to happen to her…”
“You need to calm down.”
But he can’t. He’s unraveling.
Watching Finn now, I see it. Clear as day.
The thing Mom and Hunter tried to spell out before–the thing I shrugged off, rolled my eyes at, pretended not to notice.
Finn has feelings for Sloane.
