Tears slid down my cheeks, and I wanted to scream. She knew him; she knew where he was. I was so close, and she wasn’t going to let me get any closer. “I have his number, I just need a phone. Please!”
The pregnant girl now looked at me closely, just like everyone else had—eyebrows pinched and eyes narrowed. “If you have his number, why don’t you use your own phone?” she asked, but her question sounded genuine.
“I don’t have it.”
“And why not?”
“I-I . . . I just don’t,” I whimpered, and swayed. “Please, it’s so important for me to find him as soon as possible.”
The girl tried to lean closer to me, but her swelling stomach wouldn’t allow it. After a few silent seconds, she quietly asked, “What’s your name?”
I wasn’t sure why it mattered, but I found myself answering her anyway. “My name is Harlow.”
I’d barely gotten my entire name out before her eyes widened and she rocked back on her heels. “Oh my God. Oh my God. Oh my . . . shit. Anne!” she yelled. “Anne! I need to go home! Right now, I’m leaving right now. I’m sorry, I’ll make it up to you tomorrow!” She’d been taking off her dark apron as she talked, and she gave it to a woman—Anne, I presumed—without stopping. She rounded the counter and grabbed my hand to tow me outside with her. “Come with me,” she said when I stumbled after her.
“Look, I don’t know how you know Knox, but I don’t have time for this.” Or the strength, I thought lamely. “I really—”
The girl whirled on me and wrapped her arms around me. I stilled and bit back a cry of pain. “I always knew you’d come for him.” When she pulled back, her eyes were glistening. “Stupid hormones. Get in the car; I’ll explain.”
Knowing I didn’t have another option, I followed her to her car and slid into the passenger side. My face twisted in pain, but I knew my hood hid it.
Once we were driving, she started talking. “I just realized you might not know me. But I know everything about you, and everything about you and Knox. I have for years.” She glanced at me quickly and flashed a smile. “My brother is one of his best friends and roommates; my name is Grey.”
Oh no. She was going to drive me as far away as she possibly could. “Grey, as in Graham’s sister?”
Her eyes widened. “You do know me?”
“Yes, but . . . look, I know you all hate me, but it’s an emergency. I need to see Knox.”
“Hate you?” she asked incredulously. “I don’t hate you . . .” She trailed off and looked sheepish for a moment. “There have been times I hated you for what you did to Knox. But he loves you, always has.” She paused again, and this time when she spoke she didn’t have the same excitement in her tone. “I didn’t agree with you seeing each other while you were married. But if you’re coming to him, then that must mean you made a decision, right?”
Decision. There was that word again. Yes, so many decisions had been made today. So many different ones I’d never expected to make.
When I didn’t respond, Grey swore and slowly pulled off to the side of the road. After putting her car in park, she drummed her fingers quickly on the steering wheel for a few seconds and said, “I won’t help you cheat on your husband.”
My head whipped to the side to look at her, and I sucked in a sharp breath at the movement. “No, ah . . .” I sucked in another breath and waited until I was composed before I spoke again. “What exactly did Knox tell you?”
Grey gave me a quick once-over; her face was pinched in confusion like she was trying to figure out why I’d just hissed in pain. “I was the first one he told when he ran into you. He told me that he thought you weren’t happy with your husband. That you cried when you saw him . . . that kind of stuff. When you told me who you were, I was excited because I want you for Knox, but not this way.”
I was surprised he hadn’t told her more, but thankful at the same time. I didn’t need that. “There is so much that you don’t know, so much I can’t tell you. But I promise you that if it were as simple as me not being happy with my husband, I would not be in Thatch trying to find Knox. I told you, this is an emergency. One I can’t call the police for.”
Something in my tone must have convinced her, or at least prompted her to continue driving. But she didn’t speak to me the rest of the way there, and she kept sending me worried glances—and I knew it wasn’t me she was worried for.
We pulled up to the house and parked behind a few cars in the driveway. When I started opening the door to get out, Grey’s soft voice stopped me. “I love Knox. He’s like a brother. He means a lot to me, just like Deacon does. If all you want from him is to have fun, or to have someone besides your husband to make you feel loved, then I want you to know that he deserves more than that.” She nodded in the direction of the house. “My husband is in there. If you have an emergency and need help, he can help you and we’ll make sure Knox never knows. But you being here like this, Knox is going to think he can have you. If he can’t . . . I can’t let you go in there.”
I opened the car door the rest of the way, and my voice broke when I said, “Then I guess I’m going in there.”
A smile briefly covered her face before she could stop it, and then she followed me out of the car and up to the front door. She didn’t knock; she just walked in. I heard a bunch of guys talking and laughing before they noticed Grey and started yelling her name.
“The love of my life!” Deacon called out.
Graham threw something at him and shouted back, “Dude, shut up! She’s married; she doesn’t want you!”
A guy walked quickly over to Grey and gave me a suspicious look as he pulled her into his arms and kissed her. “Why are you already off work, and who is this?”
The two other guys noticed me at the same time, but they couldn’t see me with my hood up, and I wasn’t taking it off for them.
Without answering them, Grey asked, “Where’s Knox?”
“Here,” he called out from somewhere in the house. His voice sounded distracted, and I turned to watch him walk down the hall, only to come to a halt when he saw me. Knox’s head jerked back as his eyes narrowed, and then his entire body sagged. “Low?”