Page 88 of Knock Knock

“Let it free outside?”

He shook his head. “I thought… what if it flies back at me, you know? Figured you might want to do that part.”

“Why are you wearing long sleeves?” I asked, suspicious because the guy barely wore shirts. Barely wore pants, if I was being honest.

“Armour,” he said. “In case it got all up on me. They have barbed little devil legs, Neegs.” He nudged me towards the container. “Please get rid of it. The sound of it in there is going to haunt my dreams for a month.”

I took the container outside while Xavi watched from the front window, face pressed to the glass. I let the thing go and shared a private little smile with myself. I’d never felt like the man of the house before, but now I was the June bug letter-freer, and wow, it felt good to be needed.

“My daredevil,” Xavi swooned when I came back in with the empty container. “Thank you.”

Never felt cooler.

“Okay, wait. I lied about the long sleeves.” He grabbed my shoulders and stood me right in front of him. “I did something.”

Ah, the reason he was being evasive. “What’d you do?”

“Turn around,” he said. “Wait. I’ll turn around.” He spun, turning his back to me. Pulling his shirt off and tossing it onto the couch, he said, “Remember they’re new and will look better later.”

Xavi spun, fists stretched out between us, knuckles pointed right at me. He had a huge smile on his face but a little trepidation in his eyes.What?! He actually did it?

“Happy two months, baby.”

On his left knuckles, his name sat proudly in black ink. On his right hand, “Hate?”

“Nate.” He looked at it. “N-A-T-E.”

“Keith do those? N looks a little like an H, Xav.”

“What?” he scoffed, studying his knuckles. “It clearly says Nate.”

It did, even if the N was a bit wonky, but it was fun to mess with him. “You said it was my hand, and every time you jerked off, it’d be like I was doing it.”

“Yeah,” he agreed. “Exactly.”

“Now you’ll be hate beating your meat, Xav. That clearly says hate.”

“What? No. Neegs,” he whined, staring at his knuckles.

“I love you, Xavi.” I laughed, tugging him forward to press my lips to his. “I can’t believe you actually did it. Me and you, right there on your knuckles.”

“And my heart,” he said, grinning like a cheesy fucker. “It hurt like a bitch, and then I cried like a bitch when you sent Karen’s video. That girl. My god, that girl.”

“So proud,” I whispered, kissing him. “And I love the tats.”

“It’s always been me and you, Nate. Always. And I think it always will.”

“Iknowit always will.”

CHAPTER29

XAVI

My knuckles were itchy,but not near as itchy as the conversation I was having. Maddox made it worse because it was supposed to be a heartfelt chat, but he sat there all stoic and broody, not even blinking.

“Go on, Naomi,” Andrea said, patting Mom’s shoulder in encouragement. Dad sat at the kitchen table, not a part of the conversation but around for moral support.

Mom cleared her throat. “Well, when Nate sent that video of… Karen.” She sobbed, emotional because of Karen or booze or a lack of booze. Who knew? “It just really struck a chord with me. About how I’m affecting my children. I don’t want to lose you for good one day.”

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