Incinerate Read online

  Taking a moment to look down at Charlie, I realize she’s watching me instead of him. Her mouth is slightly open and her eyes are wide with surprise, as if my words were shocking to her. Hell, they kind of are to me, but I guess I need to start getting used to the idea that this girl is slowing working her way into my heart, even if I want to fight it with everything I have. This Drew guy clears his throat, causing her to turn back to him.

  “It was nice to see you, Drew, but we’re going to get out of here. Have a fantastic evening,” she tells him, grabbing my hand and hauling me towards the door.

  When we get outside, she tries to drag me to the car, but I have different plans. Grasping her waist, I push her back up against the building. She gasps at the force of it. I grab both of her wrists and hold them over her head. Looking down into her eyes, I bring my lips to her ear.

  “What did he mean, am I the one you told him about?” I ask, resisting the urge to take a taste of her. Feeling her shiver beneath me, it’s all I can do not to press my erection against her, to let her feel how she’s affecting me, how she’s been affecting me.

  Pulling back, I look into her eyes, searching them, and wait for her answer. She clears her throat. “Oh, that was nothing. I saw him at the store the day we got into that argument, and he tried to sweet talk me. I may have pretended that I was dating someone, and I guess he just assumed that was you tonight.”

  Shaking my head, I grin down at her. “So what you’re telling me is that I’m your fake boyfriend? At least as far as your ex-fiancé knows?”

  Grinning at me sheepishly, she nods. “In my defense, I didn’t think of anyone at the time. I just told him I was seeing someone. There was no elaboration.”

  I look down in to her eyes, and I notice that in this light they’re lighter than chocolate—the color of whiskey. “So it was all a ruse?” I whisper, leaning in closer so my lips are almost grazing her throat. Feeling her swallow hard and knowing that I’m pushing it, I decide to pull back and release her hands.

  She stares at me for a moment before shaking her head, and I’m wondering what she’s thinking right now. “I’m sorry, Knox. When I told him I was seeing someone, I didn’t actually expect to see him out. Thanks for covering for me.”

  Knowing I need to pull away from her, I back up and head towards the car. She follows, not making eye contact with me. When we get in the car, she plays around with the radio before stopping on a local station playing ‘hot, new country.’ She grins at me when Luke Bryan comes on the radio, and she sings along as I drive us to the McGregor Park Amphitheater on the Riverwalk where the city puts on events all throughout the summer. The whole time I’m replaying that scene over and over in my mind, wishing I’d found my balls and actually moved in for the kiss. I’m at war with myself, wanting to take this to the next level but hesitant to put myself out there again. The cage my heart’s been locked up in feels like it’s being infiltrated, and it no longer seems so indestructible.

  “We’re celebrating at the river?” she asks, turning in her seat to look at me.

  “Well, you said you like classic cars and classic rock, right?”

  She nods, and I’m happy as shit that my plan is working out.

  “I saw earlier on the news that there was going to be a Journey tribute band playing at the Pavilion and figured we could grab a few brews and enjoy the music.”

  A huge smile crosses her face, and I think she’s surprised I actually had a plan. Don’t judge me while I give myself a mental high-five, but I’m getting more and more addicted to that smile. Knowing I put it on her face is a definite win.

  “There’s no substitute for Steve Perry, but since he had to go solo, I’m all for it.”

  Getting out of the car, we grab a couple of beers from one of the street vendors the city hires for these events. Even though it’s packed, we’re lucky enough to find a couple of open seats far enough away from the stage we can watch the band but not so loud that we have to shout when talking. We listen in silence for a few minutes, and I’m more drawn to watching Charlie singing along to Separate Ways than I am watching the band. When the piano begins to play the notes for Stay Awhile, she squeals, grabbing my arm.

  “I love this song. Dad was always playing it when I was a kid because he said it reminded him of my mom.” A soft smile spreads over her face, but for a split second there’s a sadness in her eyes. I’m not sure what she’s thinking, but something about the look on her face has me placing my arm around her shoulders, pulling her in close. She leans into me, her head resting on my shoulder as she closes her eyes. We sit in silence as the song continues, before the band switches gears and gets the crowd amped up by playing Don’t Stop Believing.

  After a few songs, I can tell they’re pretty good. I’m surprised at how relaxed I am, but I know I shouldn’t be. I’m beginning to always feel this way around her, and I need to get used to it.

  Not able to contain my curiosity any longer, I decide to bite the bullet and ask about that guy. “So back at the pub, was that who you were talking about before when you mentioned you hated cheaters?”

  Sighing, she pulls away from me as she finishes her beer. “Yeah. I figured you’d picked up on that before when you guessed he was the ex.”

  “Well, I assumed, but I wanted to make sure. Pretty ballsy for him to still approach you after being a cheating prick. Then again, he cheated on you, which already proves he’s a fucking idiot.”

  “Yeah, well, he’s delusional if he thinks he’s ever going to get a chance again.”

  Shaking my head, I can’t help but be happy knowing that she’s not planning on getting back with him. “So what the hell happened? How’d you find out about it?”

  Standing up, she reaches her hand out and I place mine in hers. She pulls me up before dropping it, and I immediately miss the skin-on-skin contact. “Mind if we walk for a bit? It’s a little loud, and if I’m going to spill, I’d rather not talk about it around all these other people.”

  Nodding, we move away from the amphitheater and start to walk along the Cumberland River, leaving the crowd behind. She immediately draws me into the story when she tells me that she walked in on the fucker banging another chick. Once she’s finished, I’m trying not to let my jaw hit the pavement. We’re a fucking pair, and she doesn’t even know it yet. I don’t know what’s worse—that my ex cheated with my brother or the fact that she walked in on hers screwing a maid. I know this is going to sound incredibly selfish and it probably makes me an asshole, but even though I feel bad that she had to go through it, she wouldn’t be here with me if Drew hadn’t been a royal fuckbag. Don’t get me wrong. Given the chance, I’d love to kick his ass. But then I’d probably stand over him and ask to shake his hand for getting out of the picture.

  “Anyways, so that’s my sob story. How about you?” she asks, her shoulder playfully bumping into mine.

  For the first time in so long, I find myself wanting to open up to a woman. She just laid it all out for me, and it only feels right that I do the same, but there’s a damn lump in my throat. I’m not sure I can get the words out just yet. We walk in a comfortable silence for the next few minutes. Grabbing my hand, she pulls me over to a picnic table and she sits on top of it, facing the water. I sit next to her, our hands still linked.

  “You know, Knox, you don’t have to tell me anything about it, but I’m here to listen if you ever want to talk.”

  For some reason, I want to open up to her, and the feel of her hand in mine makes it so much easier. But after eleven years of avoiding this very thing, I have no idea how to even begin and the thought that I even want to confuses the shit out of me. But there’s something about the way she’s looking up at me that makes me want to open my heart to the possibility of letting someone in. Even if it is just for a sneak peek before I shut it away again.

  PART OF me is still reeling from seeing Drew while out with Knox, but if I’m honest with myself, I know that’s not why I’ve been feeling so out of sorts sin
ce we left the pub. When Knox drew me into his body and pretended I was his, it took everything in me not to melt into his embrace. I truly thought he was going to kiss me outside the pub, and I’ve been disappointed ever since that he didn’t. Thank God I didn’t close my eyes and lean in for it. Now that we’re sitting here side by side, I’m praying that he finally opens up to me. There’s something in there. Something he’s obviously been holding in for a very long time. And as I sit here with his hand in mine, I want to be the person he trusts enough to vent to. I’m hoping that by opening up to him, he’ll feel like he can reciprocate.

  The only people who know the full story about what happened with Drew and me are Lucy and Dad. Everyone else has made their own assumptions of what he did for me to end the engagement, and I’d rather be a part of the rumor mill than be subjected to sympathetic looks from my coworkers because they know my fiancé stepped out on me.

  After seeing Drew in the pub, I was a little humiliated having to be rescued by Knox, but the worst part is that, for a split second, I imagined that what he was saying was true. That he really can’t get enough of me. So when we were listening to the band and he asked, it just felt natural to tell him the whole truth about it. And I’m glad I did, especially if it helps him open up to me. I won’t lie. The way his jaw clenched as a pissed-off look crossed his face when I shared about Drew cheating sent a fluttering in my stomach. I don’t know if he’s feeling protective because he’s becoming a friend or if it’s something more than that.

  Rubbing his face with his opposite hand, he lets out a long sigh. He’s staring out at the water when he begins to speak.

  “It’s a long fucking story,” he starts. “And I’ve never told anyone the entire thing.”

  Squeezing his hand, I watch as his jaw clenches, his cheekbones tightening. Without thinking, I follow his lead from earlier and lean in, pressing my lips against his cheek. My lips find his ear and I have to stop myself from taking the lobe in between my teeth.

  “First time for everything, Knox,” I whisper, taking a page out of his book, getting up close and personal. If he can put his lips on me, I can do the same, and you bet your ass I will. This is a dangerous game we’re both playing, and I have no doubt that we’re bound to get burned.

  Pulling away, I gaze out into the water, the same as him. He lets out a long breath, and I brace myself for his confession. Lexi warned me that there was something in his past, and I’m still somewhat shocked that he’s actually opening up.

  “Well, you met Evelyn. I guess I’ll start there. Long story short, she was my sixteenth birthday present. Both my parents come from old money, and Dad owns a consulting firm in Nashville. My entire life they’ve been all about flash. Dad gave me the car more to show up his friends rather than to give me what I wanted. Even though Mom was all about the next society function, we’d always been close when I was growing up, but it devastated her when I enlisted. Long story short, when I joined the Army, I was pretty much cut off from my family, and Evelyn was all I had. I could’ve traded her in for cash to get by on, but I couldn’t bring myself to do it.”

  After growing up with Dad, I have no idea how a family wouldn’t support one of their own, and I wonder if anyone besides Cohen even came to visit him when he was in the hospital. It isn’t until now that I realize that we’ve never talked about our families. He only knows about Dad and I only know about Cohen.

  “I never intended on joining the military. Growing up, the plan was always to attend a top notch school and then join my dad’s business. That was what was in the cards for me, no matter what. That’s what he wanted for all his boys. Until it all blew up in smoke.”

  He pauses, and I try my hardest to remain impassive. I can’t imagine him as a businessman, although I can picture how sexy he’d look in a three-piece suit.

  “I met Megan freshman year of high school. Since I went to private school, our classes were pretty small. She’d moved to Belle Meade halfway through the school year, and when she walked into my Lit class, I knew I wanted her, as much as a fourteen-year-old boy can.” He pauses, smiling, I’m guessing, at the memory. “There was just something about her. She was beautiful, but she had a shy sweetness that made me want to get to know her. Naturally I took it upon myself to become her tour guide, both at school and in town. It wasn’t long before we were inseparable, and we stayed that way until we graduated, with plans of going away to school together. She’d gotten into UT, but I was on the waitlist. I’d slacked off a bit my last two years of school. I spent a little too much time partying and not enough time studying because I didn’t care. I already knew I had a job lined up, so I didn’t take school seriously. And it was a huge mistake. The biggest mistake of my life.”

  Letting go of my hand, he wipes both of his on his jeans before he scoots down from the table top to the bench. Still staring out at the water, he places his arm on my thigh, his index finger tapping my knee.

  “The day after graduation, I was dropping by my older brother Branson’s place in the city. He was in his third year at UT. His last semester had just ended and he was interning at Dad’s firm. I thought it was kind of odd when I got a text from him asking me to come over because we were never really close, but I went anyway.” Sighing, he stops tapping, his hand now just resting on my knee.

  “When I got there, he opened the door like everything was fine. And it was—until sixty seconds later when Megan walked out of his bedroom, wearing nothing but his shirt.”

  Unable to stop the gasp the escapes me, I slide down and straddle the bench, facing him.

  “She was sleeping with your brother?” I ask, wondering what kind of girl—and brother for that matter—would do something like that.

  He doesn’t turn to face me when he continues, and I watch as his eyes close for a split second before he shakes his head, as if he’s trying to shake the memory away. I’m trying to figure out what he’s feeling as he’s recalling the memory, but looking at him from the side, I can’t read him.

  “Yep, and he wanted me to know it. At first I was in shock, trying to find some reason, some excuse, but it was right in front of me. And the shock turned to devastation, which then turned to anger.”

  “I can’t even imagine how you felt. I mean, walking in on Drew was awful, but your own brother?”

  “Honestly, I don’t even know that it surprised me that he’d do it, but her? I don’t know. I guess I’d put her so high on a pedestal that I never imagined a scenario where she’d completely destroy my heart, but I guess I was wrong.”

  Finishing the story, he tells me about how she wanted someone goal-oriented and career-minded, and that was his brother, not him. Growing up, I always wanted siblings, and I thought I was missing out on a special bond. I can’t even begin to imagine how that betrayal must’ve hurt, not only from the woman you love but your own flesh and blood, too. My heart’s breaking for him, even though this happened so long ago. The fact that everyone in his family except for Cohen turned their backs on him when he left breaks it even more.

  “So that’s it. I guess we’re two peas in a really shitty pod. Damn, it kinda felt good to get all that out for once,” he says, standing up from the bench.

  Joining him, I loop my elbow through his arm and we begin walking back towards the parking lot. “I guess we are. But there’s nothing that says it has to stay that way, you know? Not everyone’s a cheater.”

  “I haven’t bothered to find out. I haven’t dated anyone since her,” he tells me. While I shouldn’t be surprised, I can’t help the feeling.

  “You haven’t dated anyone since you graduated high school? Not a single person, not even casually?”

  We’ve made it to the car, and he holds my door open for me. When he goes around to his side and slides in, he looks over at me. “Nope, no one. I had a long time to stew on what happened during boot camp and my EOD training. The more I thought about it, the more I decided that love wasn’t for me. I don’t see how you could say you love someone for f
our years and then all the sudden decide to sleep with someone else. If that’s love, I don’t want any part of it. And the casual bullshit is just that. Bullshit. It may start that way, but it just gets complicated later on.”

  I knew he was jaded, but I didn’t realize he was that much against relationships. “Knox, you guys were kids. Love means something totally different when you’re that age. You can’t swear it off based on one experience.”

  “Oh yeah? How’d the whole love thing work out for you and the professor?” Ouch. He’s got me there, but damn that was a low blow.

  I tell myself he’s just feeling a bit of bitterness after recounting what happened between him and Megan, but the conversation has been officially killed with that comment. Leaning back against the seat, I stare out the window for the rest of the ride home.

  NOT WANTING to listen to her tell me why I shouldn’t give up on love, my inner asshole came out, effectively shutting her up until I pull into the garage. This is definitely not how I planned on the night going, but I wasn’t lying when I said it had actually felt good to talk to someone about Megan. Turning the car off, I grab her arm when she goes to get out.

  “Sorry, sweetheart. I meant what I said, but it came out harsher than I expected.”

  I’m relieved when she smiles at me. “Don’t worry about it, Knox. Message received, loud and clear. You don’t do love. I get it,” she says, pulling away from me.

  When we get in the house, she throws her purse on the table beside the door, something that drives me nuts. For the past eleven years, I’ve been used to order, and I hate when things are out of place. It’s irrational, but I figure the Army’s drilled it into me so much that I can’t help it. I’m still trying to get used to living with someone, especially a chick.

  She heads straight back to her bedroom, before reappearing in an oversized t-shirt and a pair of comfortable shorts. I’ve learned that she hates lounging around the house in regular clothes, so she’s always changing the moment she walks in the door. She lives in t-shirts and those hot little yoga pants that show off her ass. I’m all about a girl that dresses up, but the comfortable look on Charlie is sexier than anything else, and even though I try not to, I always notice when she changes.