Page 31 of Keep Me Safe: A Small Town Suspenseful Love Story

“Don’t!” he said harshly. “You don’t get to meddle in my personal life. Everyone meddles in my shit and I don’t need it from you, too.”

I was caught off guard by his sudden anger and sat up. “Robbie, I’m not trying to meddle. I-”

“Good,” he said promptly and walked back over to the grill. “The food’s almost done. Why don’t you go help your friend set the table?”

“Beautiful,” Knox greeted me as I met him at the front door. He leaned down and kissed me, his lips lingering a little longer than necessary. Wrapping an arm around me he brought me closer and kissed the spot just below my ear. “That dress looks very familiar.”

It was the dress I wore to my parents house, the dress I knew he liked. It was nothing fancy, just a dark blue sundress that was fitted in the bodice and flared out at my hips. Knox liked the dress and I liked Knox, so it was only fitting that I wore it.

“You look nice,” I slid a hand down the front of his black dress shirt. The sleeves were rolled to his elbows- again, universally attractive- and the top two buttons were undone revealing the column of his throat. I couldn’t help but lean up and take a little nip at the exposed skin.

Knox took a step back, keeping me at arm’s length. I gave a cat-that-ate-the-canary grin and promptly turned on my heel, heading into the kitchen.

“Hey, stud,” Simone said as we rounded the corner, standing on tiptoe to give him a peck on the cheek. “Hope you’re hungry.”

“Starving,” he responded and gave me a heated look.

I smirked and then turned as Robbie sauntered in from the deck holding a plate of steaks that looked so good my stomach growled.

Thank God I never decided to go vegan.

Robbie nodded a hello at Knox before setting the plate down on the center of the table. I prayed that this wouldn’t turn into an ugly “you hurt my sister and you’re forever on my shit list” scenario.

He wiped his hands on his shorts. “What’s up, man? How’s the gym treating you?”

Knox seemed to be just as relieved as I was and shook his hand. “Pretty solid. It’s really picked up for the summer with all the tourists.”

Robbie laughed. “I bet. Nothing like hairy old men on the treadmill.”

“Jesus, they freak me out. All I can imagine is one of them breaking a hip or blowing out their back.”

The men fell into a conversation as I rounded the counter and grabbed the large blue bowl of potatoes. “I know you were listening to our conversation outside,” I whispered to Simone.

She shot a narrow eyed look my way. “No! I wasn’t eavesdropping. I was just… making sure everything was alright. Robbie raised his voice and you guys never fight.”

I raised my eyebrows and made a frustrated sound that caused Knox to look my way. I quickly covered it up with a smile and whispered, “This isn’t over.” before walking over to the table.

Tonight was going to be nice. No fights and no talk of relationships and labels, although, I was definitely interested in getting to the bottom of the whole Robbie and Simone story. Just four people enjoying a nice meal and good conversation. So unlike New York, I thought to myself. “Let’s eat!”

Not much conversation went on as we were actually eating. It seemed everyone was too busy shoving steak in their mouth to bother with polite conversation but after the plates were cleared we all sat around the table drinking what was probably going to be too much wine. It was nice. Content. I wasn’t stressing about work or what time I had to be up in the morning, and there was no struggle to keep the conversation away from work topics. We talked about memories and plans for the future, and we laughed. A lot. So much laughter that my sides ached.

“Do you remember the time Knox and Abby got busted making out in the janitor’s closet?” Simone asked and burst out laughing, red wine sloshing around in her stemless glass.

“Stop!” I said as my cheeks flamed while Knox howled next to me, unable to contain his laughter.

“You made out in the janitor’s closet?” Robbie asked, seemingly disgusted but trying not to laugh.

“No!”

“Yes,” Knox confirmed as he took a sip of his own wine. “Yes, we did. You were so embarrassed you ran with your head down and slammed into Beckett McAdams’ locker.”

Simone had tears rolling down her cheeks from laughing so hard and my brother didn’t even try to disguise his anymore.

“I remember!” he said and pointed at me. “You had a bruise on your forehead for a week.”

I couldn’t help but join in, laughing as we all reminisced about the things we did in high school. Like the time Simone had a pet ferret and hid it in her backpack until it escaped and made its way to the gym where Ms. Crawford nearly had a heart attack. Muffy the ferret didn’t get injured but Simone paid for the stunt by serving detention every day for two weeks.

“Detention was a death sentence for us,” she said and drained her glass before pouring another one. “More?” she asked me and I tipped my glass towards her.

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