Page 27 of Knox's Mission

“Are you going to answer it?” Donnie asked, sounding perturbed. Entitled much? The man needed to learn how to chill, especially when someone else held his life in his hands.

“How did you get into exploring?” Knox asked, figuring he might be able to get Donnie to open up if he gave him space to talk about himself. Based on what Knox had seen so far, Donnie was his own favorite topic. Plus, he had no intention of answering the man’s question.

“Climbed trees when I was a kid,” Donnie said. “Mom and Dad noticed, bought me my first National Geographic magazine when I was nine years old. The rest is history.”

From nine to grown-ass man is leaving out a whole lot of said history.

“You knew you wanted to explore from the age of nine?” Knox asked, uncomfortable at being separated from Amy for too long. He tried to tell himself that she was his responsibility, but the truth was thatshe had a calming presence like he’d never known before. A growing piece of him wanted to hold tight to it, to the feeling, to her.

“Not then,” Donnie said. “Climbing trees led to walking through creeks. I was fascinated by all the insects there. Growing up in Austin, I was around plenty of spiders and frogs but nothing like what I found when I started branching out.” He shrugged but his voice took on a less annoyed tone when he talked about exploring. Good to know the man wasn’t a total waste. There was something else inside him, a desire that Knox hadn’t seen yet. “I signed up for nature classes, volunteered summers at a local nature preserve. Guess you could say I became more and more obsessed as time went on. Plus, you know, people haven’t been my strong suit.”

Really?Knox had to hold back his sarcasm.

“I was bullied in middle school,” Donnie confided. His face turned red at the admission. Embarrassment or anger? Knox wasn’t certain which one, but it made a difference. Kids who grew up to be bullies often times were bullied themselves. The loss of power they felt when they were younger sometimes shows up in later life as an abuser.

It wasn’t a good reason so much as an explanation.

“I bet you never had to worry about beingpushed into a locker or being ‘pants’d’ in school,” Donnie continued with resentment in his voice.

“No, my dad made sure I kept welts on the backs of my thighs so I had to wear basketball shorts in PE, and ‘fell’ a lot at home as explanations for bruises and black eyes,” Knox supplied matter-of-fact.

Donnie’s gaze widened in shock.

“What?” Knox asked, not bothering to hide his sarcasm. “Do you think you cornered the market when it comes to hard-knock lives? Because if you talked to most of the men in my unit, they had reasons to be angry at the world.”

Donnie cast his gaze down to the blanket-covered ground. If he was five years old, he’d stick his hands in his pocket and kick at dirt. “I guess I just thought someone like you didn’t have problems.”

Well, Knox really laughed at that. He wasn’t meaning to add insult to injury by laughing but couldn’t help himself. Donnie lived in a dream world.

“I wasn’t always this big,” Knox supplied. “In fact, I was a late bloomer. I looked like a skeleton for much of high school.”

“Strange,” Donnie said. “I can’t imagine it.”

“It’s true,” Knox confirmed. But he wanted to change the subject now that Donnie’s guard had lowered. “So, I didn’t get a chance to ask you before about the men who’d been chasing you and Amy.”

“What’s there to tell?” Donnie asked. His shoulders hunched forward, indicating he wasn’t too cool with the shift in conversation.

“Have you ever seen anyone who looked like these men before?”

Donnie’s defenses flared. “No. Why would I?”

“Just asking, man.”

“I just answered,” Donnie said, his voice curt as he crossed the small room, folding his arms over his chest to create a physical barrier. In reading his body language, the man had just closed himself off. He didn’t want to keep the conversation going. “I better go check on Lorna.”

As he passed by Knox, he caught the man by the arm. “Word of caution.”

Donnie’s body tensed and he refused to make eye contact.

“Go easy on Lorna,” Knox warned. “Or the way you treat her could come back to haunt you.”

“What? How?” Donnie stammered. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Let’s pretend that’s true,” Knox said. “I’d like to remind you that all abuse isn’t physical. The mental kind is just as bad if not worse in some ways. You berate her in front of me again or I so much as hear that it’s happening in private, you and I are going to have a little chat.”

“Are you saying you plan to beat me up like yourfather did you?” Donnie asked, jerking his arm away. “Like father, like son.”

Knox laughed. “Dude, you’re gonna have to try harder than that to piss me off.”

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