Chapter 5 – Knox
five
Knox
The alarm rings from my bedside table, but I’ve been up for the past thirty minutes, lying on my back in the middle of my bed.
I have a hand on my chest, and I’ve been thinking about Kirby’s sister the whole time.
I reach out and turn halfway, grabbing it and shutting it off before going back to the same position I was in before it rang.
“You done fucked up this time.” I look at the ceiling, closing my eyes and then finally getting out of bed.
I walk down to the kitchen and open the fridge, grabbing the carton of eggs, then placing a pack of spinach on top of it and then mushrooms. Turning, I drop the items on the countertop right next to the six-burner stove.
I’m opening the dishwasher to grab the bowl I need when my phone pings from the other side of the island.
I walk over to see Kirby has just texted.
Kirby:
My turn to drive, I’ll get you guys on the way. I’ll pick up Jaxon first and then Knox.
Jaxon:
I’ll be ready in an hour.
Jaxon:
Roger that.
Me:
Roger two squared.
Kirby:
That sounds so stupid.
Me:
Why? It means me too.
Jaxon:
Then say me too and not two squared.
Me:
Okay, fine, me too.
Kirby:
That’s better, I almost cancelled my offer to drive you.
Me:
I’m making breakfast, do you guys want omelets?
Kirby:
I just had that.
Jaxon:
I have been up since five with my child, I’m ready for lunch.
Me:
It gets better.
I put the phone back, crack six eggs and whisk them to start making my omelet.
I spray cooking spray into the pan and sauté the mushrooms, adding in a handful of spinach and then the eggs.
I’m plating it up when my phone rings and I see it’s Josephine.
The only reason I answer is because the kids are with her, and I know it’s the kids because she’s trying to FaceTime me.
I press the button, and the circle goes around before Nora’s face fills the screen. “Daddy!” she squeals happily. “Hi, Daddy.”
“Hey, princess.” I sit on the stool and prop the phone up. “How we doing this morning?” I ask her, taking a bite of my food.
“Good,” she says. “We have to go shopping today for back to school.”
“Oh fun,” I tell her, and she looks over her shoulder.
“Westley, Daddy is on the phone.” She moves away from the phone, and I see him walking into the frame.
“Hey, Dad,” he says. “Are you going to be at my hockey practice tonight?”
“Yeah,” I confirm, “I’ll be there. You and your brother are on at the same time.”
“Vincent,” he yells for his brother, “we’re on at the same time tonight!
” The two of them have been on skates since they were both two years old.
So has Nora, but unlike her brothers, she is not interested in playing hockey.
She’s good to go skating, but it stops there.
Now the boys are playing on competitive hockey teams, which makes it fun.
Westley is good and I see him getting as good as Vincent is, but he needs a little bit more work.
Vincent, on the other hand, doesn’t even have to try, it’s like he was born to play hockey.
“Let me talk to him.” I hear Josephine say and I bite my tongue to tell her to fuck off.
“Hi,” she says, coming into the screen and she is wearing her hair piled on her head, “I was thinking we could talk when the kids are on the ice.”
“I’d rather not,” I mumble. “We’ll see, I might have to do something else while I’m there.”
“Like what?” I hear her huff out in annoyance.
“Like not talk to you. Do the kids need to talk to me?”
“No, they are going to have breakfast right now,” she replies, “then we have to go back-to-school shopping. Do you want to come?” I shake my head. “Do you want me to buy extra clothes for your house?”
“I got it,” I tell her. “I’ll take them out with me next week when they are here.”
“You’re ridiculous,” she almost hisses.
“Great, thanks.” I hang up on her before she is about to say something else that will irritate me.
I finish eating and clean up the kitchen before walking back upstairs to my bedroom.
After I left her, I stayed in a hotel for two weeks.
I knew I needed to find a place to settle for the kids.
I must have looked at twenty-five houses before settling on this one.
It has five bedrooms and the thing I liked most about it was the front entrance and the family room had open ceilings that were all the way until the roof, making it seem even bigger than it was.
I loved that there were three bathrooms upstairs.
I also loved the big family room and the kitchen, and the fact there was a guest room downstairs, which was a computer room for the kids.
The house made sense for us, and I’m trying my best to make it a home.
I get dressed in shorts and a T-shirt when I hear the horn honking from outside.
“I’m coming!” I shout, even though I know they can’t hear me.
I grab a bottle of water before I walk out of the house.
Kirby sees me and still honks his horn, making me laugh.
I open the back door and get in. “Hey,” I say, shutting the door and putting on my seat belt.
“Yo,” Jaxon throws over his shoulder.
I buckle my seat belt and I’m about to say something when Kirby looks over at me. “So, you met my sister last night,” he starts, and the back of my neck begins to get hot. I wonder if he’s going to kick my ass once he stops the SUV.
“Yeah,” I reply and I’m about to tell him how sorry I am for being an asshole, “listen, I’m--”
“She’s usually always with us, but she spent the summer in Phoenix,” he tosses over his shoulder at me, “so you’ll get to know her more now, since you hang with us more.”
“She’s the best,” Jaxon adds.
“She just moved here?” I ask, even though I shouldn’t because it really doesn’t matter. I do owe her a thank you for not telling her brother what I said to her, so I will do that. When I see her again.
“Yeah, she was living in Arizona, and I’ve been asking her to move here for years,” he explains, and I nod at him. “She finally caved and moved here when we started the foundation last year.”
“Well, you better make sure the rookies know she’s off-limits,” I say, and I immediately close my eyes when it leaves my mouth.
My mind immediately goes to Kylie and the jeans she was wearing yesterday.
She has one of the nicest asses I’ve ever seen in my life.
She is sexy, and she has no fucking clue the number of heads that she turned as she walked out.
I saw a couple of the new guys tap each other and motion with their chins toward her, which is why I said what I said, and not because of the fact I was one of the ones totally checking her out.
“Everyone knows that she’s off-limits,” he remarks, parking the car at the gym. “Besides, I’m not worried about her, I’m worried about them.”
“I can see that,” Jaxon agrees. “Smiles in your face while literally having you castrated, and you don’t even know it’s happening.”
“Good to know,” I deadpan, walking into the gym after Kirby, who holds the door open for me. The trainer is there waiting for us and for four hours we do four different courses from the bike, to the Stairmaster, to the treadmill, to weight training.
We walk out of the gym, the three of us not saying a thing to each other, completely wiped from the workout.
We stop for protein shakes on the way home and when I get in, I toss my sweaty clothes into the laundry basket.
I have a housekeeper who comes once a week when the kids are not here, and then twice a week when they are.
She also does my laundry and changes the sheets, along with grocery shopping.
I quickly shower and get into my SUV and make it to the rink in time to tie the boys’ laces and get them onto the ice.
“Hey, Dad,” Vincent says to me when I walk into the locker room, and I see some of the other dads there smile and acknowledge me with a chin lift.
“I need my skates tied,” Westley states and I go to him first. He grabs his helmet and looks up at me so I can snap it closed on his cage.
I do the same to Vincent and they head to the ice.
I walk with them and make sure they get on the ice before walking up to the stands and sitting down on the top as I watch them do their drills.
“I didn’t see you come in,” Josephine remarks, walking up the steps to sit next to me. She’s wearing jeans and a sweater.
I don’t bother answering her, instead I put my hands into the front pocket of my sweater, “Where is Nora?” I ask her after a couple of seconds.
“She went to Presley’s house,” she tells me of her friend, “they are having a sleepover.” I still don’t look at her. “Besides, I thought it would be a good time to talk.”
“About what now?” I groan, knowing she isn’t going to leave me alone.
“Well, about how things went at the mediator’s.” I look at her, her brown eyes looking at me, and I have to wonder if she’s for real.
“About having an open marriage?” I ask her and she shrugs.
“It doesn’t have to be all the time, but wouldn’t you like to see what else is out there?”
I laugh now. “I do now,” I tell her. “I basically want whatever it is you don’t have.”
“Come on, Knox. It got a little boring, you have to admit.”
“It got boring?” I question her. “So do you think you might have maybe communicated with me before you fucked my brother-in-law?”
“I said it was a mistake.” She throws her hands up in the air. “You need to move past it.”
“You still fucking him?” I ask her and I wonder if they are, even though my father told me my sister and him are getting back together.
“No,” she shakes her head, “he went back to your sister.”
“Well, I’m sure there are more dicks out there for you to fuck.” I look at the ice. “You might have to go outside of my family and your circle of friends, unless you want to fuck one of your friends’ husbands next?” I say to her.
“I’m not a whore,” she hisses at me. “I cheated on you with one man.”
“You know, that is one more man than you should have cheated on me with.” I hold up my finger. “Anyway, if you want to leave, I can drive the boys home after I take them out to eat.”
“I thought we could go together.”
“You thought wrong,” I retort, and she gets up. “I can also keep them tonight so you can do whatever it is you do.”
“No,” she snaps, “it’s my week.”
“Suit yourself,” I tell her, and she walks down the steps and I shake my head. She has done lost her mind if she thinks I would be okay with an open marriage.
I watch the kids on the ice for an hour and get up to grab them some Gatorade before they skate off the ice, handing Vincent a yellow one and Westley an orange one. They get undressed and they both carry their hockey bags out to my car. “What do you guys want to eat for dinner?”
“Can we have burgers?” Vincent asks when he opens the truck door, and I picture Kylie in my head biting her burger from last night.
Then I hear her voice in my head, “Don’t worry though, I watch what I put into my mouth.”
She said it with a smile on her face and I shake my head because Kirby was right, she is a viper.
“Hello,” Westley says, “Dad.” I shake my head to stop thinking about it.
“Yeah, sorry, buddy, what did you say?”
“Can we have burgers?”
“Yeah,” I say, watching them get into the SUV before getting in myself. “Let’s get some burgers.” I back out of my spot.
We eat dinner together and I drive them to Josephine’s.
I get out of the SUV at the same time as them.
Every single time I come here my heart hurts a bit, not because of Josephine, but because I hate not having the kids with me full time.
“Okay,” I say, standing behind them near the trunk.
“Give me a hug,” I urge Westley, who grabs his bag first. He comes over and hugs my waist and I bend to kiss his head.
“Love you, buddy,” I say, and he walks to the door, walking up the steps and going right in.
Vincent is next as he hugs me and I crouch.
“Dude, you need a shower,” I tell him and he laughs.
“Bye, Dad,” he says, walking into the house and turning to hold up his hand to me. I hold up my hand as he closes the door and then rub my hands over my face.
“This is life,” I tell myself as I get in my SUV and head home to my empty house.