Page 74 of Knight
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
Knight
I stood outside of my apartment door. There was no place I’d rather have been but at the same time, I was having a hard time taking the steps that would lead me in there. I’d almost lost her. It had been hitting me over and over again how close I had come to never holding her again. As much as I tried not to focus on it, it was the only thing that filled my mind.
It had been two weeks. The first three days she slept and didn’t get out of bed. On the fourth day, she showered, dressed, and faced the world like it was any other day. Did this surprise me? Well, no, because that was how Gwen handled things.
Two things were going on right then.
One, she was taking the first steps to accepting what had happened. Just because she didn’t talk about it didn’t mean she wasn’t trying to work things out in her head.
And two, she was doing her best to move on from what had happened.
I made sure she knew I was there for whenever she was ready to talk about it. The thing was, I didn’t even have to tell her that because in her heart she knew. She knew that I’d always be there from here on out. Even still, I made sure to tell her every second I could how I felt about her and how I’d never let her go again. I was sure that by this point she was downright sick of hearing it.
I shifted the bags of groceries in my hand and unlocked the door. The moment I stepped over the threshold, her face turned to me with the biggest smile plastered across it. That smile that was all for me. I was home and everything felt right. I wouldn’t even try to deny that feeling, not for a second.
“Did you get the ice cream sandwiches?” she asked as she hopped off of the couch and followed me into the kitchen.
“Of course,” I said with a smile as I pulled the box out of one of the bags and handed it to her.
“Thank you,” she said sweetly then pushed up on her toes to kiss me. “What else did you get?” she began to dig around in the bags, pulling things out and putting them away.
“Just enough to keep us fed for the next week.” I gave her a sly smile but tried to play it off as joking.
Though the last week she’d spent sleeping in my bed, we hadn’t done anything other than sleep and kiss. And, if I was being honest, those kisses had been too short for my liking. I wasn’t sure what was different now, but we both seemed to be holding back.
I mean, I was well aware that she had been through something traumatic. And I wasn’t about to push her in any sort of way. Hell, I knew we had our whole lives together and I would wait as long as she needed.
“Knight,” she said in a tone I hadn’t heard before. Her eyes looked up at me with a heat that I couldn’t ignore.
“Yo, Knight,” Sketch’s voice called out as he walked through the door.
My teeth gritted together as I closed my eyes. A hard, frustrated breath forced its way out of my nose. I loved my brothers, but right then I just wanted them to go the fuck away.
Multiple pairs of footsteps made their way into the apartment. I hated all of them right then.
I was doing my best to calm myself down. I was horny and frustrated, but I couldn’t take it out on them.
Then Gwen slipped away from me to greet everyone, or so I thought.
“Out,” she barked in a tone that couldn’t be ignored. “I love you all, but get out now.”
I held back a chuckle. And I couldn’t deny that I might have been a little nervous at that moment because if she was kicking them out with such haste and bluntness, it could only mean one thing.
“Get it, princess.” I heard Ky say right before the door slammed shut in his face.
The apartment was silent once again. Maybe too silent.
“Knight,” Gwen called out and I could tell she was getting further and further away from where I was.
“Yeah, baby?”
“I need you. Now.”
I turned my head to peer over the half wall separating the kitchen from the living room. My eyes connected with hers as she reached for the hem of her shirt.
This was it. I was going to finally have her. And fuck if I was going to stand there another second.
