Page 73 of A Smile Full of Lies
My chest tightened.
“You already gave me the haunted house ticket,” I said quietly.
He shrugged one bare shoulder, completely unbothered.
“That was for the thrill.”
I hesitated, nodding at the box on the counter.
“And this?”
His voice dropped.
“This is for you… because you never ask for anything.”
My throat worked as I pulled the ribbon loose. The paper inside was thick, slightly textured, and wrapped in a black satin cord.I undid the knot, and the roll of sketches unfolded like a secret spilling open.
My face stared back at me.
Me laughing on my porch. Me reading by the window. Me brushing my hair into a messy bun while talking to Gran on the phone.
There were dozens of them.
My breath caught.
“Knox…”
His jaw flexed. His voice was low and rough when he spoke.
“I started sketching you the week I moved into this house.”
My heart skipped several beats.
“Why?”
He didn’t look away.
“Because you were dating my best friend, and I wanted you so bad I couldn’t stand myself. I never crossed a line, no matter how badly I wanted to, but I couldn’t stop looking at you. Sketching you made it easier for me to breathe.”
My vision blurred with unshed tears. I traced one of the lines with a trembling fingertip, and he just watched me like he was still memorizing me, even now.
Chapter
Nineteen
OCTOBER 31, 11:00 PM
KNOX
She touchedmy drawings like they were something sacred.
Her finger trembled when it brushed across a laugh I’d captured in graphite. She didn’t notice the smudge it left behind, but I did. I noticed every twitch of her mouth, every uneven breath. I’d seen her body betray her earlier tonight — straddling my thigh against the door of my bedroom back at Stonewood Manor — and now it was happening again, here, in my kitchen.
I stayed quiet. Silence had always been my best weapon with Ros. If I gave her room, she tended to reveal herself.
I waited, and she did. Not with tears or thanks. No, that wasn’t her way. She steadied her breathing, squared her shoulders, and said the last thing I expected to hear from her mouth tonight.
“I’ll do the true crime book about your family’s unsolved murder, and I’ll do it your way.”
