CHAPTER SIX
FELICITY
In the end the drama I feared at home—my previous home—didn’t happen. Because when one Chimera went on a road trip, apparently half the team came along for the ride, too.
The convoy of sleek black vehicles, plus one pick up, traveled the familiar path to the house I knew well.
Knox pulled up out front of where I’d lived in for the past six years, but when he looked over at me, as though expecting me to move or head for the door, my feet refused to shift from their place on the freshly cleaned cement.
Everything about this house was perfect, from the cleaned stoop to the white washed walls.
And everything about it locked me out.
I never fitted in here, not with Garrett or his family. Not in the perfect house with its perfect walls and perfect pictures.
Not with his ideals of the woman I should be for him or the wife I was supposed to become. One day. If he asked.
And no job that I ever held was the ‘right sort’. No matter what I did, I never really fit. But because I didn’t want to be alone, I kept trying. And because I was the girlfriend of the man who Garrett idolized above all others, he kept me.
The whole situation that I’d been so blind to slammed into me as I stood on the other side of a locked door that my key no longer fit.
Who locks his girlfriend out of their own life?
But it never was mine. It was his. Suddenly my inaccessible life opened up in ways that was never visible to me when I lived there in the pristine house with all its locks and rules.
“Come on.” Knox held out a hand. “You don’t have to do this alone. None of us are going anywhere.”
The drive beyond the manicured lawn was crowded with his truck and flanked by three black sports cars. Shannon, Huxley and Valentine all stood with their arms folded across their chests. Visible, and unmoving. Not engaging or crossing any lines, but they were present and intimidating as hell.
I knew every face from the media, and from pictures hung all over the inside of the house. It was like a Chimeras’ shrine. I had to avoid Knox’s face from the moment I woke up to the time I closed my eyes each night.
But not anymore.
“All right,” I whispered. “Let’s poke the bear.”
Knox flashed teeth at me. “Oh, pretty girl.” He hummed my name under his breath. “You have no idea what sort of bear lives in this cave.”
I took the hand he offered me, unsure if he meant him or the one I used to date.
But I used to date both of them. Though not at the same time.
Mind spinner, because I wasn’t quite sure who would have been more obsessed with Knox.
Garrett might have bitched about me wanting to attend a Chimeras game but there was no denying he sat firmly in the Knox Vandevere fanboy section twice over.
“Come on.” Knox’s soft voice cut through my brain fog. His hand folded around my colder one.
I hung back, the air’s chill wrapping around me. “I don’t want to go in.”
His eyes darkened. “Stay here, then. I’ll be back soon.”
Somehow that was so much worse. I could visualize the mess of the next minutes unfold in my mind’s eye: Knox fighting with Garrett, storming in to collect my things, ending up punching the man I used to date.
But never loved.
A yawning pit opened in my stomach, ready for me to spiral endlessly right on into.
“Felicity. Flick.” Warm hands released mine, cupping my cheeks. “Damnit. This is why I wanted to do this without you.”
“And why I should go in, too.” I tapped his fingers lightly. “You’re going to fight. He’s a narcissist and you’re arrogant enough to think that you can just walk all over him.”
The Chimera regarded me with something like humor in his eyes. “Who said anything about walking?”
Another car pulled up and when Knox glided his hands along my arms to squeeze my waist, I took the opportunity to check out the newcomer.
A man with gray hair climbed out of his car and stood with the door open, regarding the team.
His face was hard, almost expressionless, but if I found the Chimera muscle wall intimidating, the ice hockey players had nothing on this man.
“Is that—”
“Coach,” Knox said ruefully, pressing a kiss to my cheek. That one word said so much. “You gonna stay here, outside, or help me pick your up things? I don’t think we will be allowed back in after this.” His head tipped to one side. “Legally, at least.”
I blinked at him. “I thought you were a good boy, Vandevere.”
His lips quirked. “I can show you things, Flick,” he murmured. “But only if you let me help for now." He shrugged. “Or if you can skip this I’ll get you new things.”
I shivered as the old Knox resurfaced just like that. “I need my things please,” I whispered as my throat tightened and breath became a precious commodity. “You’ve already done so much.”
Knox blew out a long breath. “I did it again, huh?”
“Yep.”
He kissed my temple and drew me forward. “Do you want to go first?”
“Nope. Otherwise, what are you for, if not muscle?” I gave him a playful push to show him we were okay.
He knocked, not answering me. A moment later, the door opened and Garrett stood there dressed in a white t-shirt and jeans.
Everything about him was neat and tidy but that was where the similarities between the two men ended.
His skin was pasty and soft, as though he never spent a hard day working.
Which was true. I knew he didn't. If Garrett needed yard work or anything around the house done, either I did it or he paid someone else for the job, claiming he never had time. He didn’t work out—same argument—and he rarely saw the sun, see first clause.
The Chimera beside me, on the other hand, stood half a foot taller than him, though it wasn’t just height.
Knox held himself with the sort of confidence that couldn’t be bought.
And he’d always been that way, ever since we were in school together.
He had a predatory look about him, as though the world should bend to his will.
Where Garrett was neat and tidy and soft, the man who gripped my hand firmly in his was all sharp lines and firm muscle brewed on pure determination.
The difference between Garret and Knox couldn't be greater.
I shivered and tried to take a step backward. Knox let me, observing Garret.
“We’re here for Felicity’s things. Have you packed them up or do we need to come in?” He left no space for argument, either in voice or space as he stepped forward into the cavity where the door had taken up a moment before.
Garrett stood frozen, his mouth agape. His eyes flicked between Knox, then around him to me. “Felicity? I wondered where you’d been,” he lied smoothly, ignoring the hulking ice hockey player standing between us.
Utter bullshit. Rage brewed deep in my belly. My nails dug into the back of Knox’s hand but before I could say a word, he shook his head.
“No. You didn’t,” he said pleasantly. His voice deepened the slightest amount, the only indicator he gave of his utter displeasure at my ex’s ability to misrepresent the truth.
“Her phone hasn’t gone off once. After you left Flick in the rain without a ride, you didn’t come back.
You didn’t call, and you didn’t message. Where are her things?”
My heart pounded too hard and fast against my ribs, the additional blood flow stealing my breath. “It’s fine,” I managed to push out. “I’ll buy new things.”
“With what?” Garrett uttered a hollow laugh. “What bank account is in your name, darlin’?” His voice turned mocking, the sharpness of it slicing through the fast falling night.
My world tilted. “That’s not—”
“Mine?” He snorted. “You haven’t worked for years. Not since—” He waved a hand toward my midsection.
My scar itched, and I pressed a hand to it.
The scent of chicken soup, the same stuff that there was an excess delivery of the week I was in hospital years ago, drifted through my mind.
It’s only memory. But the trauma was strong enough that I looked around to check if he’d cooked.
Huh. What a joke. Garrett never cooked for himself, the same way he never did hard labor for himself. Those ideals went hand in hand.
Then reality hit me. He’d taken me off the accounts. Our joint accounts. Everything I had saved was in there. Everything I owned was in this house. Garrett’s house. I was sure I had rights, but I had nothing to fight him with. No income. No bank account.
Nothing.
And it wasn’t just my clothes and my jewelry inside those walls between me and him, but everything. All my old study materials, my jewelry, my photos. My life before Garrett.
Part of me knew Garrett was cold inside. But there were also moments where he showed affection. Or at least, I thought he had. Apparently those moments were fewer than I’d ever believed. Never had I expected that he would lock me out of the home we shared.
I shook my head, blind to the world around me. “It’s fine.” My words came from a great distance, echoing weirdly in my ears.
“Felicity,” Knox spoke with a warning undercurrent, turning back to me, but the warning wasn’t aimed at me.
I knew that even as he reached for me but gravity wasn't the same any more. Knox drew me in close, the warmth of his arms, the safety of him mere inches away but I didn't want to share that space under Garrett's watchful, greedy eyes. He’d taken so much. I wouldn’t let him have this moment too.
“I want to go,” I gasped, taking a step backward. My toe hit my other foot, and I stumbled. “I can’t stay here.”
My pulse thrummed too fast. Garret would never let me in.
This was a stupid idea. If he hadn’t called in the last day, why would he care what I did now?
Coming here had been a mistake. I’d have to start from the beginning.
Of everything. Money, thoughts of a family.
What a home meant… I’d let him shut me off from family and friends in the last years.
I had literally nothing. Starting fresh meant exactly that, including somewhere to sleep.
How did one go about finding a hostel for the night?
I had no idea. Sleeping on the street would be easier. Just…somewhere. Anywhere.
Garrett’s chin rose when I made the mistake of looking back at the house, right before a broad shoulder blocked the white washed building, too clean and too pristine, from my view.
“It’s okay. Come on.” Knox gripped my arms and drew me against his chest. One hand closed on the back of my head, and he spoke gently. “I’ll be back to see you, Garry boy.”
“Will you?” Garrett sounded disinterested, though I couldn’t look at him anymore.
Warm hands cupped my face as I shook. “I promised I’d take you home.
Let’s make good on that, beautiful girl.
” Knox guided me away from the house, not answering.
His hold remained steady, his steps just long enough to carry us away from my old home.
But the way he murmured to me oh so softly raised alarms.
“You’re mad,” I said numbly when he opened the pick up door and tucked me inside, shielding me from Garrett who never shut the door or turned off the light.
No sound came from the house but his creepy presence overwhelmed everything and I knew he was still watching. Just as he had watched me all our relationship. I shivered, and Knox grazed my cheek with his knuckles.
“I’m fucking furious, Flick. But not at you,” he promised me. “We’re gonna leave these boys behind. Take some time for ourselves.”
“Don’t you have training, a job to do in the morning? I don’t want to be a– a burden on you.” I stared down at my hands that knotted in my lap. This isn’t what I wanted to be for you at all.
“Sweetness.” The faintest hint of a smile curved his lips when he waited for me to glance up at him, then it was gone. “I took some time. Want to spend the night with my girl. A day, too.”
Mine. His claim was everything from the lingering touch on my knee to the dark promise in his eyes as he closed the door, shutting me safely in the passenger seat of his truck.
I swallowed hard, my heart beating double time each breath. And still, Garrett stood on the stoop under the bright lantern shaped light I picked out two years ago, saying how warm and inviting the glow made the house look.
Now, it only served to spotlight the man who stared at us as we left.
“Creepy fuck,” Valentine muttered as we pulled away.
Knox left his window down to wave. I wiggled my fingers uselessly in my lap where no one else could see. Knox noticed and slid his hand around my knee. “Forget him. He’s not important.”
I nodded. “Not important,” I parroted on automatic.
My phone chose that moment to buzz in the center console and I knew it would be him. I knew. Because Garrett wouldn’t let me go without having the final say. It was why his silence over the last day had been so strange.
I reached for it, my eyes trained on the house. Checking my messages was a mistake. I knew that, too, before I read them, but I did it anyway.
You’ll never be more than a sidepiece to a man like him.
You’re not a Chimera bunny, Felicity. Just a passing interest he’ll toss aside. When you come back, this door will be closed.
My chest tightened, and my phone creaked in my hand. Knox swore, tugging the device free as he read the messages, one hand anchored to the steering wheel.
“Asshole.” He tapped at my phone and tossed it in the back seat, his hand finding my knee again.
Warmth spread over me at his touch. “What did you do?” I forced my teeth not to chatter, clamping my jaw shut.
He glanced at me sideways, and his hard expression softened. “Blocked his number. You don’t need that shit in your life. Is anything in your name?”
I shook my head. “No,” I whispered.
His brow furrowed. “Accounts, a car?”
“Everything is either joint or in his.”
“Okay, joint is…okay. I’ll get a lawyer on it. Until then—” He squeezed my knee when I began to protest. “Until then, I want you to treat my home like yours, Flick. I promise you, you’ll have a life. You’ll never not have a home.”
“You can’t promise me that. You only just met me.” Again.
Knox smiled into the darkness, watching the road ahead. “No, pretty girl. You’ve been with me for years. Close your eyes. Forget him.”
I leaned against his arm, letting my head drop onto his shoulder, unable to deny the tremors that rippled through me after the conflict.
If only it were that easy.
I didn’t watch as Knox headed toward our new destination, needing to put trust in something, something, because my head just couldn’t any longer. If I’d hit rock bottom, then this Chimera would see the worst of me.
Knox Vandevere couldn’t promise me anything, and we both knew it.