CHAPTER TEN
KNOX
The two women Kenley warned me about aren’t nearly the overzealous fans she depicted, though they definitely recognized me even if they have yet to say so. Judging by the way they keep whispering and checking their phones before staring at me, they’re working their way up to it though.
“Are you famous?” Devin comes up beside me unexpectedly after we’ve been out on the open water, fishing for the last hour. Maybe Brianna and Jess aren’t working their way up to it after all. Maybe they’ve just recruited Devin to get confirmation for them.
“That’s a weird question to ask someone,” Sloan remarks from my left.
“Also, kind of a rude one when you think about it. Because the answer is either no, and now you’re sort of rubbing in that he’s a nobody.
Or, the answer is yes, but apparently not famous enough because you don’t know who he is.
” She shrugs. “A bit of a lose-lose, if you ask me.”
“No one asked.” He gestures for her to go back to focusing on her line instead of this conversation.
The he shakes his head at me, grinning. “I don’t know how you’re going to cope getting this shit double all the time.
I only had to deal with one version of Kenley growing up and that was plenty.
Now you’ve got the knockoff version to deal with too.
” His gaze casts back in her direction at the end, and it’s pretty obvious from the way he’s smirking, he’s just trying to egg her on.
“Hey!” Naturally, she falls for it.
“I like to think I’m twice as lucky,” I try to smooth things over again.
“You totally are,” Sloan agrees, then she rolls her eyes.
“But that was a bit heavy on the cheese for my liking.” She reels in her line.
“I’m going to go try my luck over with Krissy and Owen.
I’m not catching anything over here with you two chatting it up and scaring away all the fish.
” She starts to make her way down the side of the boat, then turns back.
“Oh, but I’m gonna wanna hear how the ‘is he or isn’t he famous’ chat plays out, so make sure I’m there when you tell mom. ”
“Uh-huh.” I chuckle and watch her mosey off.
“You are, aren’t you.” Devin’s not really asking anymore. “I just spent ten minutes trying to talk Brianna and Jess out of this insane idea that you’re a famous rock star and now it’s going to wind up being true.”
“I wanna tell you no,” I start in a way that makes it pretty obvious it’s not going to end with that answer.
“Because honestly, I think it would make both our lives easier. But I plan on being around a long while to come and I don’t want to start our relationship off with a lie. ” I pat his shoulder. “Sorry.”
“I’m the one that’s sorry.” He looks over his shoulder, scowling slightly.
“I’m going to have to go back there and tell them they were right.
And once they hear that, there’s really no counting on any kind of good judgement anymore.
” He sighs. “Sila brought a shit load of those frozen daiquiri pouches and they’ve been sucking them down since we left the dock. ”
“Nothing I haven’t dealt with before,” I assure him.
He twitches his mouth back and forth, eyeing the water and then looking back the way he came. “I don’t have to tell them right away.” Next thing I know, he’s picking up a spare rod and settling in.
“So,” he starts up again when the silence doesn’t seem to be a gamechanger in our fishing efforts. “You and my sister.”
I nod but I’m not sure where this is going. “Me and your sister.”
“And Sloan.”
I nod again. “And Sloan.”
“How long has this thing with you two been going on? It’s obviously pretty serious if you’ve had a chance to get so close with my niece.” Clearly, he knows about Kenley’s required security clearance where Sloan’s concerned.
“Going on twenty-four hours,” I say as casually as I can, as if I can somehow slide this major detail in without it being of much notice, all the while keeping my eyes out on the ocean.
“You’re joking.”
Kind of figured it wasn’t going to work.
Plan B. I put the rod down and face him.
“I’m completely serious.” I have a feeling he’s going to need more to believe me.
So, I give it to him. “She came to my show last night. Her friend Arizona arranged for us to meet. Best damn meet and greet of my entire career.” I start smiling just thinking about it.
First Arizona’s antics in line. Then winding up on a video call with Kenley.
“I knew the second I saw her; I was done looking.” Not that I was searching for love.
Mostly, I was actively working on accepting that I’d found the closest thing I was ever going to have in making music.
That I’d missed my window of opportunity to have that something extra with another person.
But that didn’t mean I didn’t still have one eye open in case she showed up, that I wasn’t still hoping she was out there, waiting for me to find her.
“So, this isn’t something you do regularly?
Go home with a fan after the show, spend a few days with her, then hit the road again?
” His tone has changed pretty drastically.
Not that I blame him. I’d probably be saying the same shit if it was my sister who turned up with some dude she only just met the night before, and one with a tendency for taking off at that.
“Before I met your sister, the last woman I was involved with was a girl I’ve known since high school,” I tell him.
“We were off and on and for a long while, but in the end, it just wasn’t right.
” I clear my throat. Talking about Emmery still gets to me.
Maybe it always will. A mess like that, it’s hard to walk away with clean feelings you can just tidy up and be done with.
“My point is, I love music. I do what I do, because that’s my passion, playing for people, feeling the way it lights people up to hear a song they love, hearing them sing along, dancing all their problems away.
I don’t do any of it because I enjoy the lifestyle or particularly care for the extra attention that comes with it.
Most nights, I leave the venue, get on the bus, and go straight to bed.
Alone. Or I sit around and bullshit with my bandmates.
It’s truly not the exiting sex, drugs and rock and roll party people wanna make it out to be. ”
Devin’s expression shifts again. He’s even starting to smile.
“I didn’t really need all that, but I appreciate you telling me.
” He plays with his line, slowly reeling it in a few feet at a time.
“I saw you through the windows of my truck out in the parking lot while I was letting Sloan pick a rod. No one’s ever looked at my sister the way you were looking at her.
Not even the asshole who married her.” He turns to face me.
“Never seen her be so much of herself, so openly, with someone else either. Definitely not the asshole who married her.”
KENLEY
“Come on, you have to tell me how you found this one,” Sila hounds me while I help her make sandwiches for lunch out of the cooler of groceries they brought.
“More importantly, I want to know how he busted through your rusted-ass armor and wound up walking around with your fragile, fucked up heart just beating away freely in the palm of his hand.”
“He does not have my heart in the palm of his hand,” I hiss. Only as soon as I hear myself say it, I can hear that I’m lying. “Fuck me.”
“Is he doing that too?” She wiggles her brows suggestively, a wicked smile on her face while she waits with eager anticipation for me to answer.
“Sila,” I say as calmly as I can, “I only just met the man yesterday. No, we’re not...doing that .”
“Yet.” She laughs. “But seriously. I’m not crazy. That man is Knox Marley. Right?”
“I kind of try not to call him that,” I admit, squirting mustard onto a new slice of bread. “Freaks me out a little bit.”
“Why?”
“Um, because the whole thing is surreal enough as it is. Adding the whole Knox Marley, Rock God label just makes something already hard to believe, downright impossible.” I grab one of the premade tomato, lettuce, and onion stacks from the Tupperware before I make my way to the meat and cheese selections.
I don’t even know how many of these we’re meant to be making, I just keep picking up a new slice of bread every time I finish.