Chapter 11
Eleven
Hallie
The restaurant door swung shut behind me with a soft thud, cutting off the sounds of the noisy restaurant behind me.
The streetlights overhead hummed, and the sky above the arena nearby began to turn a deep shade of purple.
I’d parked around the corner, opposite the direction everyone else had gone, so the sidewalk was quiet.
I glanced at the time on my phone. I could still get in a couple of hours of deliveries, but I didn’t really feel up for it.
I couldn’t decide if it was the Mexican food sitting heavy in my stomach or the anxiety of that server recognizing me in front of my family.
Either way, I just wanted to go home and curl up in a ball with my Kindle.
As I neared my car, I had the sinking feeling I was being watched.
I glanced over my right shoulder at a single passing car, still unable to shake the feeling.
Just as I crossed a narrow alley, pulling my keys out of my purse, a hand clasped around my left wrist and yanked me behind the building.
My stomach flipped, first due to the fear and then again when I recognized the blur of Knox’s face as he shoved me down the alley.
My back hit the brick wall in that narrow cut between buildings where the light from the street lamp didn’t quite reach.
The smell of kitchen grease and old, soggy cardboard wafted up to my nose, soon replaced by the after-dinner mint on Knox’s breath as he caged me in with his arms. With one hand planted beside my head, the other caught my wrist, pinning it to the wall.
“What are you doing?” I gasped out.
“I should be asking you the same thing. When are you going to stop lying to them?” His voice was low, rough, almost amused. His thumb stroked once over the inside of my wrist, right over my pulse, like he could feel how fast it raced.
I blinked. “What do you mean?”
He tilted his head, studying me as he turned the mint over in his mouth with his tongue.
It clicked against his teeth when he grinned.
“You know exactly what I mean.” He lifted one hand to brush the hair back from my face.
I wanted to flinch, but I didn’t. “Your, uh… ‘remote’ job.” He leaned in closer, bringing his lips close to my ear.
“You’re keeping so many secrets these days, Hallie. You’re a liar and a slut.”
The words landed like a humiliating slap. My cheeks burned. My thighs clenched. I tried to twist my wrist free, but his grip only tightened.
“You quit your job in Milwaukee,” he continued, voice dropping even lower. My breath caught in my throat. “And you’ve been doing food deliveries ever since. You thought you were being sneaky, but you can’t hide the truth. Not from me.”
I furrowed my brows. “How did you–?”
He didn’t let me finish. His mouth hovered over mine, close enough that I could feel the heat of his exhale. “I know everything about you, baby girl. Everything.”
He said it slowly like each syllable was its own word, sending a chill down my spine. At the same time, my nipples tightened beneath my shirt. God, why did he always have that affect on me? Part of me wanted to push him away, but another part of me wanted to pull him even closer.
I couldn’t be sure which side was winning.
“There’s a lot about me you don’t know,” I said, keeping my eyes locked on his. I lifted my chin in confidence like I didn't already know he could prove me wrong. He had a key to my apartment and was able to break into my car unnoticed. He even–
I stiffened beneath his grasp, remembering the morning I broke up with Brody in Milwaukee.
Someone had gotten past the main doors of my apartment building and slipped screenshots of all his disgusting Reddit comments beneath my door.
All this time, I’d just assumed it was a mutual friend looking out for me or perhaps my weird, elusive neighbor.
But now everything was starting to fall into place.
Knox had always had a dark side.
It was only recently that he let me see it.
His warm brown eyes bounced from one of mine to the other, a crease forming between my brows like he could see the gears turning in my mind. He noticed the shift in my posture and tightened his grip on my wrist.. “Something wrong, Hallie? Are you starting to regret getting involved with me?”
I sucked in a breath, deciding to ignore his question. “Are… are you the one who slipped those Reddit printouts under my door?”
He didn’t flinch, but I saw a flicker of surprise in his eyes as they widened, still focused on mine like he was afraid to look away. Like breaking eye contact might reveal the truth. But I was finally seeing him clearly, and there was no hiding his obsession with me now.
His Adam’s apple bobbed. “Yes.”
“Why?”
“You needed to know,” he answered, finally letting go of my wrist. He took a step back, glanced over his shoulder toward a group of people passing by on the sidewalk at the end of the alley, and stuck his hands in his pockets.
And, returning his gaze to me, he said, “I couldn’t let you marry a man like that. ”
I blinked. “But how did you find it? And… why? Why were you looking into him in the first place?”
“Just had a feeling.” He shrugged.
“How’d you get into my building? And…” My head swirled with questions, and the alley began to narrow around us. I opened my mouth, closed it, and then tried again. “How long have you been watching me?”
His eyes somehow seemed to darken, but he didn’t look away.
He was quiet for a moment, like he needed time to think of a lie.
Something to explain the papers slipped under my door, him still possessing a key to my apartment, the way he’d gotten into my locked car undetected, and how he knew more about me than any normal person ever should.
“A while,” he finally answered. He shifted on his feet, his arms pressed against his sides and his hands still firmly in his pockets. “Still think I’m a ‘good man’? Or are you going to accept that I’m a monster?”
Neither of us looked away. All the noise in the background faded away until I could only hear the sound of our breathing. I looked straight into his dark eyes and waited for the fear to hit, but it never came.
Because the eyes staring into mine didn’t belong to a monster. They belonged to someone who decided I was worth claiming and protecting. I trusted he’d never actually harm me in any way. All those merciless and torturous things he did to me in my apartment were exactly what I’d asked for.
“You’re not a monster,” I whispered, my back pressed flat against the bricks.
Knox’s brows pulled together with a look of concern, or maybe even pity. Like I was broken. He wanted me to be scared of him, and maybe there was a small part of me that was–but that fear was buried beneath an ache I didn’t quite understand.
“I’m fucked in the head.” Knox licked his lips, blinking down at me. “I’ve fantasized about raping you, Hallie.”
I sucked in a shaky breath and replied without hesitation. “That makes both of us.”
Finally, he broke eye contact, looking down with a sigh. He covered his eyes with one hand and shook his head. “Somewhere out there is a psychotherapist who’d make a fortune trying to fix whatever’s wrong with the two of us.”
He was right. I’d probably need years of therapy to unpack my fucked-up fantasies. But if “fixing” it meant giving this up, I didn’t want it.
“Sounds boring,” I muttered.
Knox’s hand dropped from his face, and he found my eyes again. “You’re supposed to be scared of me for this to work.”
“I guess–” I paused to swallow, my palms pressed against the rough brick behind my back. “I guess I trust you too much.”
He shook his head, either in disbelief or disappointment. Trusting him was irrational. We both understood that. He exhaled, running a hand through his hair before sliding it down his jaw, rubbing at his beard.
And then, with an exhale, he leaned closer, placing a hand on either side of my body on the brick wall so that I was caged in. “You shouldn’t,” he said quietly. “Because everything I’ve done to you only scratches the surface of what I’m capable of.”
“I don’t believe you,” I blurted, daring him to prove it. I couldn’t fight the reckless urge to poke the bear.
The corners of Knox’s mouth lifted in a subtle, amused grin, and he brought one hand to my cheek.
“Oh, Hallie,” he whispered, lowering his mouth close to mine.
It wasn’t until that very second that I realized that we’d never once kissed.
He’d had his tongue in places no one else had ever been and had made me come so hard I’d sobbed, but he’d never put his lips on mine.
Now I could feel the heat from his breath on my chin as his thumb stroked my cheekbone.
“You’re acting so brave now. Telling me I’m not a monster. Talking about what sounds ‘boring.’”
His thumb drifted down to stroke my lips, and then he lowered his hand to my neck. He kept his touch light, almost tickling my skin with his fingers.
“You’re going to beg for boring,” he said, applying more pressure.
My stomach flipped.
“Next time, you’ll beg for the life you had before you got involved with me,” he said, his thumb pressing harder against my windpipe. “You’re going to wish you’d given me more restrictions. You left so much on the table, didn’t you?”
The smoothness of his voice as his rough beard brushed against my jaw made my clit throb. His hand clamped harder around my neck, and my breath hitched in response. “What are you going to do?”
Knox’s grin turned absolutely wicked. With his forehead grazing mine, he let out a quiet, sinister chuckle. “Whatever I want,” he answered. His grip didn’t loosen. “If I told you, it’d ruin the fun, wouldn’t it?”
He held me there for a few seconds, long enough for my vision to blur at the edges. The pulsing in my clit matched my racing heartbeat. God, if my panties weren’t already wet from his wandering hand beneath the table, they were now.
Finally, Knox’s hand pulled away from my neck, and I feared my knees might buckle.
I sucked in a big breath of night air as he took a step backward.
A group of loud, rambunctious men walked past at the end of the alley, and he innocently shoved his hands back in his pockets.
His brows furrowed as he watched them pass, and then he glanced up at the darkening sky.
“Get to your car,” he said, looking at me. “It’s not safe out here.”
I remained still, wanting to laugh at the absurdity of him warning me about my safety after having his hand around my throat seconds ago. I rubbed the side of my neck, opening my mouth to give him another bratty retort, but I didn’t get the chance.
“Go,” he urged. Something about his tone snapped me into action.
I turned and hurried down the alley, feeling his eyes on my back until I turned the corner.
I should’ve been afraid, but as I walked to my car alone, all I felt was the strange certainty that nothing would touch me while Knox was nearby.