CHAPTER TWO
FELICITY
I wanted to drool over the salty fries plated up on the diner’s scarred table, but my saliva glands refused to work.
The man who sat across the table opposite me took precedence at a historic level, but I couldn’t let him see me that way, either.
Not tonight. Not after the way Garrett and I argued and Knox saw.
He wasn’t supposed to see me at all. That was the whole point of hiding in the crowd. In retrospect picking seats right behind the goal was a bad idea, but then my hindsight always had been twenty-twenty when it came to Knox Vandevere. It was the foresight part I struggled with. Like now.
He leaned back in the booth of the simple diner I would never have picked but that was open late a few blocks from the stadium where he played. Rain still poured outside, sheets cascading down the glass front, giving the restaurant’s front its first clean in forever.
The change from pro hockey player to casual Knox stunned me.
The well worn gray t-shirt stretched easily across the hard slope of his shoulders, belying the tension I knew he held beneath, disguised as always.
Blue sweats and joggers looked just as good on him as anything else.
All of it was a spare set of clothing hauled from the backseat of his truck to replace what wasn’t drenched from his jog across the carpark to save me.
The thought that Knox had saved me left me with butterflies and in a low level state of panic at the same time.
This man was my ex, albeit from a long time ago.
Sure, he played nice now, but what the hell did I owe him for the favor of a meal, a dry shirt, and a ride?
And now there was the problem of my current ex…
ugh. The favors were adding up to the sort of bill I couldn’t afford to pay.
And with a Vandevere, I was always outclassed.
“Eat, Flick,” Knox murmured. He picked up his own burger and took a large bite in demonstration. Determination glittered behind his dark eyes, the sort that got him what he wanted…
Whatever he wanted.
Right now, apparently, that was for me to eat. Once, that caveat had been something else. Something sweeter between us. After that, it was to play pro hockey. Then to be a Chimera. Then…
The list grew and grew and grew, like an addiction that never ended.
Yup, I had no choice. Knox watched me until I picked up a fry and took a bite. I chewed deliberately, unsure if I was trying to brat it out on him for pushing me, or appease the demon who never stopped watching.
And, as always, I submitted.
“Fine,” I muttered, my last objections collapsing.
Tears would be next, but I didn’t want to cry in front of him again.
I’d hidden the last waterworks behind a curtain of rain.
We’d had enough water works tonight, from both the elements and my emotions.
My ego took enough of a battering in the storm outside the stadium when Garrett drove off and just… left me.
At least if Knox heard my sobs, he couldn't see my tears. I chewed another fry when the first one tasted good, then another. Salt on the inside, not the outside.
“Good girl,” Knox said softly.
My hand clenching my remaining fry jerked so hard that I nearly upended my entire plate off the table. You don’t get to do that. Not here.
I raised pleading eyes to meet his darker ones, expecting to find him wearing a shit eating grin like Garrett did whenever he pulled something over me. Instead, Knox watched me with a careful eye. Like what I did now mattered to him. And that was twice as dangerous.
I think I wanted the asshole version who was stored deep in my imagination. Part of me knew how to deal with a man like that. Not this sort. I walked away from Knox nearly a decade ago. Back then we were nothing but kids, and I don’t think my heart ever quite recovered.
Or maybe I never gave up hope. From the way he looked at me, neither did the Chimeras seated across the old diner table.
His eyes stay fixed on me. “I tried to look you up a few times, after school. But you moved away, or changed your name or… Something.” He took another enormous mouthful of his hamburger. That thing had two more bites, and it was done.
“Stalker.” There wasn’t any heat in my accusation. Glass houses, and all.
Across the table, Knox snorted. “‘Isn’t that his car?’” he mimicked Garrett’s voice almost perfectly, adding in a little side serve of whine that wasn’t entirely out of place. His hamburger compressed between strong fingers, squeezing the life out of the remains, and not without reason.
A reason I couldn't explain right now but was entirely apt.
Wordlessly, I pushed my fries remnants across to his plate.
The peace offering earned me a pair of raised eyebrows, but I just shrugged.
It wasn’t like I had an appetite after everything that happened tonight.
Knox could bitch me out all he wanted. I’d eat fries for him, but that was my limit. That, and some hot coffee, maybe.
Reading my mind, he swapped my burger for his cup. I gave him a wan smile in return.
“I went to college,” I told the coffee mug, unable to meet his eyes.
“Yeah?” Something akin to delight lit his voice. “What did you study?”
I shrugged. “It doesn’t matter. I didn’t graduate.”
Silence fell between us, along with a plethora of unasked questions that weighed maybe a solid twenty-one grams. My heart clenched at the thought of the unethical soul-weighing study, but it came to mind right about now.
I could sense the tension radiating from Knox’s oversized body.
Even though he didn’t lean forward, his presence intensified.
The burger lowered, and I knew I’d have to come up with some pithy excuse.
A lie he’d see right through then interrogate me until he dug through to the truth.
Gripping my coffee tight, I slugged the scalding liquid and burned my throat. Tears welled right on cue. Hell, maybe that was my comeuppance in advance. The coffee-karma fairy got me before I told a fib to the man who once made me promise never to lie to him.
Yeah, he could call bullshit any day and he’d probably be right.
“English major. Classical lit.” Knox’s intense gaze pinned me.
I opened my mouth and closed it again, then gave up. Why fight him? “Yep. That was it. A degree that would have gotten me nothing and nowhere.”
Knox’s expression darkened. “Those are someone else’s words coming out of your mouth, Flick. Just reframed in your voice.”
I shrugged, though movement just beyond his shoulder saved me. Dark hair, styled in a mimicry of Knox’s faux hawk, appeared over the booth’s seat behind him sporting the same haircut.
A smirk of my own settled over my lips. Good timing on the distraction awards. “I think you have a new stalker.”
“Huh?” Knox's surprise was both cute and comical as he twisted to peer over his shoulder and met his mini me head on. “Hey, little man. Isn’t it past your bed time?”
I glanced at my watch. Nearly eleven. Knox nailed it, though the thought hadn’t even crossed my mind.
I peered past the two boys, one oversized and one mini-Knox, already deep in conversation about hockey.
What else would they talk about? I spotted a woman with long, straight hair that looked like it needed a good brush who was seated on the opposite side of the table to the kid that Knox engaged.
She stared vacantly at a spot on the wall over my head, her hands clasped around a cup of coffee that I suspected remained untouched.
I scooted forward and caught the boy’s attention. “Is that your mom?”
He nodded, lowering his voice. “Yeah. My dad’s other girlfriend is over, so we had to leave for a few hours. I don’t like her. She’s loud.” He grimaced, and pressed his hands over his ears to emphasize the point.
Knox frowned, his mouth opening. I pressed a hand to his arm gently. “I wonder if there’s a teddy here who might need a new home?”
Knox’s nose twitched like he might object, but he gave in with good grace, picking up the teddy that sat on the table with us.
He tugged on the Chimera’s scarf that pooled around it, the too-long dangling comically beyond teddy’s feet.
“Do you know what this is?” he said in a serious tone, holding the bear out.
The boy’s eyes grew wide. “That’s a Basilisk’s bear!” he nearly shouted, then covered his mouth with a grubby hand. “But should you have it? You’re a Chimera.”
I suppressed a snort. Of course the kid knew who Knox was. We’d be hard pressed to go anywhere he or the rest of his team mates wouldn’t be known in this town.
Knox nodded. “Yeah, it’s a Basilisk bear. Did you know we played them tonight?”
The kid’s eyes grew even wider, and he shook his head, mouthing, ‘no’.
“Right? We did. We won, too. That’s why he’s wearing a Chimeras’ scarf right now. But the Basilisks are great competitors, and they deserve respect.” Knox held out the bear. “You want to take him? I think he needs a good home tonight. The crowd was pretty noisy, so he might be frightened, too.”
My smirk from earlier faded into a smile as the bear acquired a new owner. Knox watched the transfer happen with something akin to sadness reflected in his eyes, his profile taut, lips soft.
And all heart.
There’s the boy I fell in love with back in high school.
Some part of me was pleased to see that the version of Knox, the one with all the thoughtful gestures and heartstrings that no one else ever could match up to, was still hidden away in there.
That he hadn’t been lost beneath all the layers of hockey jerseys and trophies and personas he donned when he became a Chimera.
“Knox!” The woman at the boy’s table jerked out of her stupor.
She fumbled her coffee that splashed her wrists, though she ignored whatever temperature the dark liquid currently sat at.
“Don’t bother the nice people.” She mopped at her coffee, her hair swinging forward, hiding the fresh shadows that only highlighted deep circles that hung beneath her eyes. “I’m so sorry. He talks to anyone.”
Knox shrugged and gave her an easy smile. “It’s okay. Sounds like it’s a pretty cruddy night for most of us.” He gestured outside at the rain that refused to let up. “He’s not harming anyone.”
The woman didn’t seem to hear him, tugging at the bear. “Give that back. We should go.” She glanced at her watch. “Knox, I said give it back.”
“Hey, we share a name. Nice, buddy.” Knox—the bigger version in front of me—held out his hand for a fist bump. Little Knox provided one, completing the bonding moment. My guy turned to the frazzled mom. “Seriously, it’s his. He understands what the bear is about.”
It took a moment for the face, the bear, the name and the branding to click. The woman looked up into Knox’s face, horrified. “I’m so sorry,” she whispered. “Knox, you really shouldn’t have bothered the man and his girlfriend.”
Little Knox waved the bear. “They’re nice.”
“We’re not dating,” I protested.
“We did once.” Knox shot me a look that told me we weren’t done. Not even close.
But we were. I wasn’t that girl anymore. If only the damn rain would stop and I could get a ride home.
Home.
Oh, shit.
Knox’s attention shifted. A warm hand wrapped around mine.
The sort of comfort I’d craved for the past months—years—and never actually received but stayed hoping that one day it would happen, knowing it would never actually arrive.
My scars itched on cue, and I pressed a hand to my lower belly where my fries threatened to make an untimely reappearance.
“It’s okay, Flick.” The scent of coffee, warm and invigorating, twisted between us as the waitress refilled my cup then moved onto the table beyond ours.
Knox leaned back, speaking quietly. I studied the tiny bubbles that swirled in my topped up cup, watching them float round and round. Trapped, but going nowhere.
A fresh order of fries arrived, but not for us.
Little Knox yelped and dived in with gusto.
I smiled, breaking out of my reverie, and sipped my coffee.
After a time, I let Knox tuck my hand in his.
His grip was warm and firm. Familiar, though new callouses decorated the inside of his palm since he last held me like that.
There was nothing soft about his touch. My heart pattered a little faster in my chest. That hold promised me he wouldn’t let go easily.
He rose when I finished my cup, ignoring the mom’s protests about getting the bill.
“I got it,” he said quietly, in the sort of tone that brooked no argument, but that also wasn’t a power move. He was just…there.
I remembered that voice, because once he was there for me. That had been a long, long time ago, though.
“No so long, Flick. We’re here.” Knox displayed those mind reading skills all over again as he tucked a wayward curl behind my ear where my hair had dried. He nodded to the deluge outside. “Are you ready to risk it all again?”
I bit my lip, knowing he wasn’t only talking about the blustery night. “For what?”
Will you catch me if I run from you again?
His hand tightened around mine. “I’m not leaving a pretty girl out on her own because her asshole boyfriend deserted her.
Not even on game night when his team lost.” Knox pushed the door open.
The first frantic raindrops splattered our feet.
The sort of crazy I remembered him possessing welled from somewhere deep inside as he gave me a grin and pulled me in close. “You ready?”
“To go where?” I whispered. I couldn’t even see his truck and I didn’t correct him about who Garrett’s chosen team was. Not when I couldn’t see five feet in front of my face. There was nothing in my future beyond the chimera who stood right in front of me.
“I’m taking you home. My home.” Knox pulled me into the rain before I had a chance to argue. The rain smothered any protest I had, if I made any at all.
I couldn’t remember if I did.