Page 10 of Knox

“Mom?” Aneshya sounded confused and scared. I knew Luke was angry. Me? I didn’t know what to do. What to think.

“She’s in shock.” Knox reached over and took my hand, gripping it tightly. He’d put me in the front seat with him. Even fastened my seat belt for me.

“Just get us home,” Grover ordered. “She needs to clean up and then rest. She’ll feel much better then.”

“Who’s gonna try to take us from Mommy?”

“No one, Aneshya. I won’t let anyone take us from Mom. Don’t worry.” Luke sounded confident and determined.

I needed to pull myself together. I was scaring my children. Hell, I was scaring myself.

“I will never let anyone take you away from your mother, Aneshya.” I thought that came from Knox. When I looked over at him, his free hand gripped the wheel. His jaw was clenched. He still had my hand firmly in his. For some reason, even though he was talking to my daughter, I believed Knox. It settled me when I had no reason to believe him. I didn’t know this man.

But he’d saved us. He’d saved us, then took care of us.

“Just relax. You’ll feel better when you’ve rested and had time to process.”

I snorted a laugh. “Yeah. Process. This is all… too damned much!”

“I know.” Grover muttered. “We’re almost home, honey.”

“How could he do this? How could I not know he had another woman?”

“Not your fault, honey. I’m his father and I didn’t know either.”

“I knew.” Luke’s muttered confession startled me. I looked back at him, my mouth open in shock.

“What?”

“I saw him. With her. She lives in the penthouse.” Luke turned to face the window. “A month ago.”

That made sense. That was about the time Luke started calling his father Danny. It was also when he became super protective of both me and his sister. He’d been leaning that way, but something pushed him over the top.

Knox pulled into the driveway of a ranch-style home. It had an upstairs, but Grover said that was mostly attic space. It was surprisingly well-kept considering no one had lived here for several years, if I’d understood Grover right. It didn’t exactly look lived in, at least from the outside, but the yard was well-kept as was the outside of the house. There were no special touches, though. No flowers in the yard. No outside furniture on the porch. No trash bins.

“I haven’t been here in years,” Grover murmured. “Still looks like the last day I saw it.” He took in a shuddering breath. “I paid someone to keep the place up because I just couldn’t. Funny. Until this moment, I hadn’t realized I haven’t gotten a bill from the guy I hired. I… tried to push the place out of my mind. Too damned many memories.”

“I made sure your guy kept the place up.” Knox turned off the engine. “Kept the yard mowed and made sure the place wasn’t looted or had squatters living there, but the inside is pretty bare.” About that time, a moving van pulled up along with another big F-150 like Knox’s, only this one was white where Knox’s was black. “Which we’re fixing to remedy now.”

He opened the door and everyone else followed. I fumbled with my seat belt, finally getting it undone when Knox opened my door.

“Out you get, little one.”

When he pulled me into his arms to carry me, I tried to protest. “I’m OK to walk.” It was more a reflex than something I truly thought I was capable of doing. I was used to shrugging off my weaknesses and simply powering through.

“Yeah? Maybe I’m not ready to let you walk.” Knox cradled me against him. God, it felt good! This man, someone I didn’t know, made me feel safe and more cared for than Danny had the entire thirteen years we’d been together. Tears were very, very close. Though not for the reasons I expected. They were more for the tenderness being shown to me by everyone involved than Danny’s betrayal. Which told me everything I needed to know about my relationship with Danny.

“Don’t do this.” I whispered my plea, half hoping he hadn’t heard me. The other half knew letting him care for me was a really bad idea.

“Don’t do what?” Knox carried me inside the house like I weighed nothing. It was like something out of a fairy tale. Except that his face was an emotionless mask and he didn’t look at me.

“Take care of me. I’ll get used to it and…”

He just grunted and carried me to the bathroom. “Your room and the kids’ both attach to this bathroom.” He pointed out two doors on either side. “Go ahead and get in the shower. I’ll bring you a change of clothes and some towels.”

“I don’t have any clothes.” I whispered. “The fire…”

“I’ve got that taken care of. If you can give me a couple minutes, I’ll bring in your toiletries. Then you can get the soot and smoke off you. By that time, I should have a bed set up for you and you can lie down.”

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