Page 98 of A Smile Full of Lies
My hands were shaking, but I kept typing.
Midnight Rose
You win, okay? You win. I came for you. I wanted it. I got off on it. But it’s over and done.
I stared at the screen for a long moment. My thumbs hovered. Then I hit send and kept going.
Midnight Rose
I have feelings for Knox. Real ones. And if you want to be a petty piece of shit and tell him everything you pulled out of me during your little game yesterday, go ahead. I’m done living in fear of what it might cost me to admit what I really want.
My chest ached.
Midnight Rose
I choose him, come what may. If there are consequences… if you’re going to punish me for it, then so be it.
And I meant it. God help me, I fucking meant it.
The moment I hit send, I dropped the phone back on the counter like it had burned me. Like maybe if I put it down fast enough, I could pretend I hadn’t just handed over every piece of my heart to the worst possible person to hold it hostage.
But the truth had been clawing at the inside of my ribs since last night. I couldn’t bury it anymore. I didn’t want to.
I’d told myself it would be casual, that Knox and I could slip into something temporary, physical, and neighborly. No strings, no damage, no risk.
But there was nothing casual about the way he’d kissed me. Nothing simple about the way he’d held me after, one big hand splayed protectively across my ribs like he was anchoring me to the moment. There was no mistaking the way he looked at me like I was something sacred, something chosen.
And that scared the shit out of me.
Because I’d loved someone before. I’d given my whole heart to Thayer once, when I was young and stupid enough to think forever was a guarantee. And he’d burned me for it. He ended things publicly and worse, cruelly.
So even now, with Knox’s scent still clinging to my skin and his hoodie swallowing me whole, I could feel the ghost of that betrayal lurking under the surface.
But Knox wasn’t Thayer. He never had been. He was darker. Quieter. More dangerous in every possible way.
And last night? He’d touched me like I was his. Fucked me like it mattered.
Whatever we were doing, it wasn’t neighbors-with-benefits. I knew it, deep down in my bones. And I suspected Knox did, too. Which meant nothing was ever going to be simple again. I went and got myself a cup of that coffee, and sat down again, staring into the distance, my mind full of Knox, of last night, of the terrifying unknown that faced me.
I was still sitting at the kitchen island, staring into my half-finished cup of coffee like it held answers, when I heard the soft creak of the hallway floorboards.
I didn’t need to look up to know it was Knox.
Chapter
Twenty-Four
KNOX
I woke to an empty bed.
Sheets still warm, pillow indented, but no Ros. My hand drifted across the mattress like maybe I’d missed her, like she might be tucked into the far edge. Nothing. Just cool cotton and the faintest trace of vanilla and jasmine, that sweet, defiant scent that clung to her skin and had already worked its way into mine.
Christ.
For a second, my chest tightened. Old instincts whispered that she was gone — not just out of the bed, but out of the house, out of reach. That’s what people did when they got too close: they left. I almost pushed out of bed in a blind rush before I caught it — the soft clink of glass, the hiss and burble of the coffee maker somewhere down the hall.
Not gone. Just up early.
