27. Elton
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
Elton
I spend way too much time at the club.
As I waltz in, I smooth my hand down my new polo—pink with a little flamingo on the breast—and smile. Tonight’s my night off, but Cassius is debuting a new set, and Skylar begged me to come listen. I, of course, said yes, because what kind of friend would I be to miss out on this?
I texted Knox and asked him if he wanted to come with me, and he gave me a rather curt and rude response. Something was definitely off about the way he told me he’d rather eat shattered glass than listen to Cassius’s shit excuse for music. Either way, I wasn’t going to miss it, so here I am, ready to stand through an hour of techno beats.
I spot Skylar by the front of the stage, cheering his best friend on as he gets ready for his show. Cassius eats it all up, unable to stop a smile from forming on his usually apathetic face. Damn, the guy is head-over-heels, madly in love, completely gone for Skylar. How Skylar doesn’t notice is beyond me, but that’s their own story to live through, so I keep my nose out of it.
“Hey!” I yell at Skylar, bringing him in for a side hug. “You excited?”
Nodding, he claps and bounces on his toes. “Cassius is a god . He’s so talented and incredible and amazing, and I can’t wait to see him kill it.”
I chuckle, nodding along, even though I’m probably going to wish I had earplugs. “Awesome. Is anybody else here?”
With a pout, he shakes his head. “Everest has to study for his finals, Rhys has to man the bar, and Butch is being a buzzkill.”
“Their loss,” I say with a shrug. I take out my phone to see what Cassius’s feed looks like, my own background in marketing making me curious about how he promoted the event. When I take a quick look, I come up with an idea. “You know, Cassius would gather a bigger following if he posted more personal pictures on here.”
Skylar’s eyes widen. “Really?”
“Yeah,” I tell him, confident in my assessment. “It doesn’t have to be insanely personal, but just something to let his followers in on his life.” Immediately, Skylar whips out his phone, and… “You have access to his account?”
He nods, busy fiddling away. “Absolutely. We know each other’s passwords for everything. Oh! Do you think this would be a good one?”
He shows me a photo of the two of them at the rave we went to a few weeks ago. Skylar is sitting on Cassius’s shoulders, looking entirely adorable, and Cassius is glancing up at him like he’s his moon and stars.
Seriously, how does this guy not know?
Again, not my problem. “That one’s great. Are you going to post it without asking him first?”
“He won’t mind,” he says with a dismissive wave.
I shrug, checking my own phone so I can share the picture on my story. It’s only when I go to close out of the app that something catches my attention.
It’s a picture of Knox at the yacht party, his arm thrown around the Prague girl’s shoulder. I followed her after the party, promising to keep up to date on her life and whether her mom was going to get a Louis Vuitton purse for Christmas if her father couldn’t stop cheating. It’s a cute picture, and even though there’s a sliver of jealousy curling in my gut, it’s the caption that catches my attention.
“Happy Birthday, Knox! You’re the greatest friend ever!”
I have to snort, because Knox doesn’t even know her name, but it’s the birthday part that shocks me. He didn’t mention that it was today. If he had, I would have hung out with him instead. When I called earlier, he told me he was just going to stay home and eat takeout, and my heart grows heavy at the thought that he’s spending this day alone.
I know I said I’d be here for Cassius’s set, but I can’t leave someone by themselves on their birthday. That’s just cruel. I turn to Skylar, already predicting how he’s going to react. “Hey, I have to bounce.”
“What!” he shouts, pouting as he shakes his head. “But he hasn’t even started yet!”
“I know, I’m sorry, but something important just came up.”
And I realize it truly is important to me to be with Knox right now. Especially after he was nice enough to take me somewhere he knew I’d love just so I could relax. The least I owe him is to spend this night with him.
Skylar looks at me for a beat, then sighs. “Fine. But will you listen to the clip I upload later to my feed?”
“Absolutely,” I nod, not wanting to, but going to because I said I would. “Again, I’m sorry.”
He waves my apology away. “No, it’s really alright. You do what you have to do.”
I give him another hug before I leave, up-nodding at Rhys as I pass him, and make my way out to the back parking lot where my car is.
I just have one quick stop to make.
It takes about ten knocks to get Knox to answer the door.
When he does, it’s obvious I woke him up. He’s shirtless, all of his sexy tattoos on display, his hair rumpled with sleep, and his eyes still halfway shut.
“It’s ten o’clock,” is the first thing I say, dumbfounded. “You were already asleep?”
He peeks one eye open and scoffs. “I thought you had plans tonight.”
“I did, but…” I bring my hands out in front of me, holding the pink-frosted cupcake I bought him on the way here. “Happy Birthday, Knox.”
Now fully awake, his eyes widen, and he scowls. “Goodnight, Elton.”
“Wait!” I shout, pressing my hand against the door as he tries to shut it in my face. “You at least have to blow out the candle. It’s a birthday tradition.”
It looks like he’s ready to throttle me as he lets me in. “You’re lucky the party shop was closed already, or I would have brought balloons,” I joke as I look around his living room table for a lighter.
“Thank fuck you didn’t.” With a scoff, he plops down on the couch as he rubs leftover sleep from his face.
“Why didn’t you tell me it was your birthday?” I ask as I find what I’m looking for and light the candle.
He shrugs. “They’re not really a big deal.”
“Not a big deal?” I gasp, setting down the cupcake as I sit behside him. “They’re the biggest deal! It’s a celebration of another year on Earth! It’s a time to spend with you friends and family and?—”
“Not like me, who’s spending it alone like a fucking loser?”
I flinch at his cruel tone. “That’s not what I meant.”
“But that’s what you said,” he barks, standing and marching toward the kitchen. “Fucking pathetic Knox, right? Has no one to spend his birthday with? How goddamn sad.”
I rear my head back at that. Standing quickly, I scramble to follow him. I find his hands braced against the kitchen counter, the wolf on his back angrier with the flexing of his muscles as he drops his head and sighs.
Slowly, I close the distance between us and wrap my arms around him. I lay my head on his back, briefly kissing the skin there, and sigh. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean it that way.”
“I don’t like birthdays.”
“I know.”
“Why do you always have to fucking push so hard, Elton?”
I can admit that it’s one of my less desirable traits. I just get too excited about things and can’t help myself. My relentless need to make sure everyone is happy and having a good time is too overwhelming sometimes. Just like the idea of picturing Knox all alone was too much for me to deal with. I wouldn’t call it a savior-complex, but I don’t like the idea of people suffering when I can do something about it.
“You’re right, and I’m sorry. I’ll just go,” I tell him, kissing his back once more before unwrapping myself from him.
I go to walk away, but I’m pulled back. Knox cups my face in his hands, brow furrowed as he frowns, before kissing me quickly. “Let’s at least blow out the candle.”
I smile eagerly. “And you’ll try the cupcake?”
He rolls his eyes, patting my ass to get me to start walking. “Sure.”
We return to the couch and sit next to each other. I take the cupcake and hold it between us, nibbling on my lip as too many questions sprout in my mind. “So? Not a fan of birthdays, then?”
Sighing, he runs a tattooed hand through his disheveled hair. “I guess they just weren’t a big deal growing up. When I got older, I threw a couple of parties, but…”
He trails off, his gray eyes wide like he almost admitted something he’d rather keep to himself. But he’s dangled the carrot in front of my face now, and I have to know. “Knox, you know what you tell me stays between the two of us.”
It takes him a few silent seconds, indecision in his features as he mulls it over. Finally, he relents. “Fuck, fine. I tried to make them a big deal, but found myself surrounded by people who truly just didn’t give a shit. No one gives a shit about anybody else, Elton, and you’re dumb if you think that’s not the case.”
Offensive comments aside, I refuse to believe that. Holding the cupcake in one hand, I reach for his hand with the other. I squeeze his fingers, smiling softly. “You took me to see the flamingos when you didn’t have to. What would you call that?”
He grunts, shifting uncomfortably on the couch. “I guess I give a shit about you.”
My heart warms at that. Friends who fuck is all I ever wanted from Knox. I’m not under the false impression that I’m his favorite person, but I wanted to be someone he could consider a friend. Everyone needs at least one person they trust, who they share things with, who they lean on.
“Make a wish, Knoxy.” I hold the cupcake up to our faces.
He shakes his head. “My wish is for you to never call me that again.”
“Oops, do you not know the rules?” I nudge him with my shoulder, teasing. “Now it’s definitely not going to come true.”
“You’re twelve,” he snorts. When I shake the cupcake in his face, nearly burning off an eyebrow, he chuckles. “Fine, fine. I’ll blow out the damn candle.”
He closes his eyes and blows, snuffs out the candle, and makes a wish.
And I wonder if he knows he was smiling the entire time.