Page 21 of Twisted Knight

I was grating him the wrong way, but I knew it was the best way to get at least a genuine reaction.

He tried to bypass me, but I moved in his way again.

“What?”

“I want to help. Please let me help.”

He grunted. “You won’t let it go, will you?”

I shook my head. “I’m just as stubborn as Cassie when she wants donuts.”

I could see him fighting his smile. “Nonsense. Nobody is that stubborn.”

I nudged his arm softly. “Come on, give me a chance. I’m not that bad.”

“Fine,” he let out on a sigh, looking heavenward. “Let’s go.”

I followed him silently to the greenhouse and was taken aback by how big and full it was. There were so many colors; it barely looked real.

“It’s… wow,” I said for lack of better words.

He smiled. “Yes, Cassie has a gift.” He pointed at the long, narrow wooden table. “We need to switch the flowers from this table to the shaded area.” He pointed to an area covered with a dark-green plastic tarpaulin.

“Why do we need to do that?” I frowned, looking at the little purple flowers in the pots.

He shrugged. “I don’t know and I don’t ask. I just do what the woman wants me to do. The hormones make her downright scary.”

“And horny.” I winced at the memory of where Cassie’s hands were on Luca yesterday when I walked unannounced in the library… a mistake I would never make again.

“Yeah, I don’t think we can entirely blame the hormones for whatever you witnessed. Just be grateful you didn’t get here when she was small enough to get freaky. I’ve seen part of her and him I wished I'd never seen,” he added, faking a shiver.

“Lord help us all.”

He looked at me with a small smile, and it was nice to be the recipient of one of those.

“You see, I’m not a terrible person,” I offered as I picked up one of the flowerpots and started toward the shaded area.

“I never said you were. It’s just that I’m not keen for strangers to invade our space. I want to keep the family safe. It’s not personal.”

“It feels personal.” I turned toward him, holding the pot close to my chest. “You know I’m not completely clueless.”

He stood straighter, his jaw taut, his fingers tightening around the terracotta pot he was holding. “What do you mean?”

Now was the time to come clean. Maybe it would ease his weariness about me.

I sighed, resting the pot I was holding back on the table.

“As we both know Cassie is quite chatty, and after she announced to me she got married, she actually got quite… quiet about her husband.” I shrugged. “I first thought he might be abusive and it scared me,” I admitted. “But then I found this amazing thing called Google and it explained a lot.”

“Did it?”

I wiggled my fingers in the air. “It was all rumored of course; the word ‘alleged’ was used a lot, so you know,” I cocked my head to the side, causing my fringe to get into my eyes. I huffed it off. “I gave it the benefit of the doubt, and then I came here and it all became clear. The rumors were much more than mere allegations.”

He slowly put the potted plant back on the table, keeping his eyes trained on my face. His face was a mask of coldness, but he looked more wary than hostile at that moment.

“What are you going to do about it?” His voice was eerily calm and composed, making it a little terrifying.

“Nothing.” I shrugged. “Cassie is extremely happy, so much more than I could have hoped, and Luca is clearly a good man, at least by my standards, and on top of it… I don’t want to die.”

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