Chapter Chapter Five
Knox
Wednesday went the same way as Monday and Tuesday. It felt bizarre not being able to work normally. What was I supposed to do with all this time? I couldn’t even take Jeremy out and about because he was in school, and technically, I wasn’t supposed to drive.
But on Thursday morning, I woke up feeling normal. I realized that I could dive back into work when I managed to read four long emails without even the hint of a headache.
I drove straight to the office in my Range Rover while my Lexus was being repaired.
Halle-fucking-lujah. Yeah, my house was great, but I couldn’t stay home another day.
I was going stir-crazy. My office was in the Gaslamp Quarter, but not in the same building as Sterling Investments.
I’d debated setting up shop there, too, but decided I wanted a different space.
My team of thirty employees filled a two-story building, and we ran several digital projects at once.
Some were simple software security things; others involved sophisticated coding, similar to what I did for Sterling Investments in the early days.
Each day, I spent one hour reviewing code for the most difficult projects.
I’d hired the very best software programmers, but no one had my expertise.
I wasn’t bragging—it was just a fact I’d come to accept after so many years in the business.
My assistant, John, had already prepared my agenda and handed it to me when I came in. “Boss, we need you for two hours of code today.”
“Excellent,” I said, glancing at the schedule. Yeah, it was going to be a busy day. “What better way to start?”
John was, hands down, one of the best assistants I’d ever had. Not the best, though—that had been his sister, Marie. She’d worked with me for two years before moving to Michigan. She asked me if I’d be interested in interviewing her brother. I figured, why not? I hadn’t regretted the decision once.
I spent two hours coding, and it was such an adrenaline rush—finding mistakes in the code and then coming up with a solution.
I spent the rest of the day on phone calls and in appointments with my team, then just catching up on work in general, since I’d missed three full days.
In the early afternoon, I sent my brothers a group message.
Knox: Anyone up for a second brainstorming session this week?
Chase: You’re back at work?
Knox: Yes. Fully recovered.
It was great too. No headaches at all, thank God.
Duncan: I can’t today, a lot of meetings. Let’s regroup tomorrow.
Wyatt, Finn, and Griffin all agreed before I even managed to type my reply.
Knox: See you tomorrow.
I was so looking forward to it that I didn’t want to wait, so I called Wyatt.
“Hey,” I greeted him the second he picked up.
“I’m good for tomorrow—didn’t you see my message in the group chat?”
“I did, but I wanted to catch up with you beforehand. It’s about the wine and hotel business.”
“Don’t have that much time now. We can discuss everything tomorrow at the brainstorming session.” He sounded stressed.
In our sessions, we never managed to go into detail as much as I wanted, and this was something I wanted to discuss at length. “Want to go to lunch after?”
“Sure.”
I had an inkling that my brother had too much on his plate.
He ran multiple businesses and had just finalized the purchase of a small hotel chain.
But he was still in the thick of expanding the wine business.
His fiancée, Kinley, was his right hand, but I knew it was too much for the two of them right now.
“I want to be more active in the management of the hotels,” I told him.
“I won’t say no to that. Kinley does have her hands full with the wine business.”
I grinned. “Obviously. She made it a success, and now people want more of it.”
“Good problem to have, but still requires a lot of time.”
“Cool. Then how about the three of us talk more about it tomorrow?”
“I’m in. You’re at the office today?”
“Yeah.”
“Dude, the doctor told you to take it easy,” he admonished me.
“I did take it easy. And I talked to the doctor this morning. She gave me the green light to drive and do things as usual. Honestly, I was bored as shit. I haven’t seen anyone except you guys and Amy since I got home.”
“You saw Amy?” His voice brightened.
“Yeah, she came to visit me. We made pie.”
There was a pause, and then Wyatt asked, “You baked?”
“I helped her.”
“Right. You two always had your own thing going. Is she well?”
“Yes, she is.”
Then I remembered she was going on a fucking date today. Why did that bother me so much? I didn’t want to examine it too closely.
“All right, I’ll see you tomorrow,” Wyatt said.
“Fantastic.”
After I hung up, I checked in with two of my project managers and ended up staying at the office until the evening. At seven o’clock, my phone lit up. It was Amy.
“Hey, Knox, can you call me in, like, three seconds so I can pretend you’ve got an emergency?” she said when I answered.
“Sure.”
After the call disconnected, I immediately got up from behind my desk. Three seconds later, I called her.
“Hey, Amy!”
“Oh my God, what happened? What kind of emergency?” she asked in a theatrical tone—so very unlike her. Anyone who knew her would realize it was fake. Only, her date didn’t know her at all.
“Your mom needs medical attention.” There, that sounded good.
“Oh, right, right. Yeah. Just give me the address, and I’ll come there, okay?”
“All right, I’ll text you the address. How fast can you be here?” I spoke loudly so the guy could hear me.
“No clue, but I’ll leave right away.”
I heard someone audibly groan, and I felt oddly relieved that she hated the date.
You’re not good enough for her, dude. No one would be.
“See you soon!”
I didn’t want to just leave it like that, though. I wanted to take her to a bar. The one I had in mind wasn’t far away, and she could Uber straight there.
After she hung up, I sent her the link to the bar.
Knox: Let’s meet here now.
I didn’t hear from her until I left the building. My phone rang, and I picked up right away. Before I could say anything, she began talking.
“Oh my God, I got rid of him. Thank you so much, Knox. God, this was... I can’t even... Let’s just say, I want to forget about this day altogether. I owe you one.”
“Sure. You can buy me a drink.”
“Wait, you were serious? Meet you at The Sun?”
“Obviously. That’s why I sent you the link.”
“I didn’t even bother looking at it because I thought it was part of the ruse.”
“Where are you?”
When she rattled off the address, I realized where she was, did a small calculation, and said, “You’ll need about ten minutes. You’re closer than I thought. I can pick you up.”
“No, that makes no sense. I’ll just Uber there. I need a drink.”
“The date was that bad, huh?” Was I a jackass for feeling happy about this? Wait, not just happy—I was damn ecstatic.
“Yeah, it was just... Never mind. Let’s get off the phone so I can order the Uber. I hope they have kick-ass margaritas there.”
“I bet they do.”
I arrived before Amy, since I was much closer, but it took me a few solid minutes to find a parking spot.
I was going to leave my car here and Uber home as well because I wanted to have a drink, too, since I was finally off the pain meds.
I’d just Uber to the office tomorrow morning as well and pick up the Ranger Rover later in the day.
The bar was on the ground floor of a hotel, with an outdoor stand where you could order. After buying drinks, I found a table and decided to wait for Amy there so we weren’t standing around awkwardly with our drinks.
Knox: I’m already inside. You’ll see me when you come. It’s crowded, but I was lucky and got us a table.
She replied right away.
Amy: According to Uber, I’ll be there in a minute, and... you’re always lucky.
That much was true. Even as a kid, I’d always felt lucky—even through all my parents’ ordeals.
I never felt like fate dealt us a bad hand or anything.
Frankly, I hadn’t even realized something went awry in our family life until someone pointed it out.
I brought friends home from school, and they were shocked that I bunked with two brothers.
“Like, you don’t have your own room? That’s sad. I have my own playroom too.”
“I like sharing with my brothers,” I pointed out, truly not understanding what the issue was. Then again, we hadn’t had our own rooms even when my parents were together. But the place Mom got after the divorce was even smaller.
The bigger shock came when one of them said, “Wait, your dad doesn’t live with you? Oh, that sucks.”
“I see my dad every weekend,” I countered, “and we play soccer.”
“Sure, but he doesn’t live with you.”
I shrugged. It was only years later that I realized how bizarre I must have seemed to them.
But I’d mostly seen the bright side of the situation.
I got to sleep in the same room, not just with Finn, but with Wyatt too.
Which was cool because he was older. I got two sets of birthday and Christmas presents.
Best of all, my parents weren’t fighting anymore, though I hadn’t realized why until much later on: From the moment they separated, they rarely saw each other, except for the few minutes when my dad picked us up and dropped us off.
They managed to be civil for that, at least.
Which was why, for the life of me, I couldn’t understand how they were back together now. How did they overcome all those difficult years? Maybe one day I would get it, but clearly not today.
While I was reminiscing, Amy stepped inside and looked around.
She was incredibly sexy tonight, wearing a very short dress that was tight around her body.
There was no cleavage showing because the upper part went up to her neck.
Her hair was once again styled with curls.
Big hoops glittered at her ears. She looked hot.