Knox taps the spatula in his hand against the edge of the frying pan forcefully as he blurts his response, “He had his hands on you, Gigi!”
“And I appreciate you looking out for me, but you didn’t have to tell the crazy people who raised me about it. Now they’re going to ask me a million questions about my job, again. Where do you work, Gigi? Who is your immediate supervisor? What’s the pay? What are the hours? Who do you talk to? What are the names of the other people you work with? Dad will probably do a deep background check on everyone there until he knows what brand of toothpaste they use.”
“That might be a good idea until we handle this threat. We should leave no stone unturned.”
I’ve been mostly radio silent around the apartment and pretending that Knox doesn’t exist. Today is the first day that we’ve returned to some normalcy.
“Speaking of background checks, you never told me how you discovered that Ben’s name used to be Jake? As a matter of fact, how did you know I worked with someone named Ben? Did my dad already do a background check on my coworkers and didn’t tell me?”
“Uncle Cam and Aunt Jade are giving you a wide berth to live your life the way you want; it’s my dad who had me do background checks on everyone you work with.”
“Oh. My. God.”
“Relax, everyone checked out except the new guy, Ben aka Jake. The university did not hire him through normal procedures, so it threw up an immediate red flag.”
“Normal procedures?”
“He wasn’t interviewed by anyone in human resources and magically became a standardized patient overnight. That doesn’t sound right.”
I admit it sounds fishy. I had to apply and interview twice before I was given a probationary period on the job. Ben (I mean Jake) never mentioned his process of getting hired at all. Even so, if he was up to something, wouldn’t I have sensed it?
“If he’s been in jail, then perhaps that explains it. Maybe someone did him a favor and got him the job so he could have a decent second chance. Uncle Stone and Ariana have done work to help ex-convicts. There are probably dozens of those sorts of programs.”
Knox pulls two small white dinner plates out of my cabinet and serves up some sort of scrambled egg, pepper, and cheese dish with sliced Polish Kielbasa and sourdough toast on the side. It looks and smells incredible.
“Or maybe someone with some pull planted him in that program to get closer to you,” he says. “I bought some orange juice, you want some?”
“Just water for me.”
I scoop a forkful of my food into my mouth and my eyes almost roll into the back of my head. It’s that damn good. I wonder when Knox learned to cook like this. He’s going to make some woman very happy one day… or he’s going to drive her completely crazy.
“Your theory works well for a James Bond movie plot, but in real life, what would someone like Ben gain from purposefully befriending from me?”
Knox mutters something sarcastic under his breath as he shoves a piece of toast in his mouth.
“Speak up,” I challenge him to repeat himself. “Say what you said again.”
“I said you’ve never known your own worth, Gigi. That’s always been your problem.”
“What the hell is that supposed to mean?”
“When we were kids, if the girls didn’t pick you for teams first or tell you a secret before they told another girl, you thought no one liked you.”
“That’s normal kid stuff.”
“In high school, you were always trying to flirt with guys who had the worst reputations. Guys that clearly didn’t know you or give a shit about you.”
“They were the only boys who weren’t afraid of you, so I had to make the best of it.”
“And now, you can’t even fathom why someone would bother insinuating themselves into your life? Think about it. Why the fuck wouldn’t they? You are the daughter of a man who owns a lot of property and a lot of people in this town. Whether you like it or not, accept it or don’t, by birthright, you are a powerful woman. You are worth much more than you can imagine.”
Knox and I lock eyes and for a moment I see something different in those bottomless pits of his. Is it actual sincerity? I can’t be sure. We’ve been at odds with each other for so long that I’m not sure I would even recognize it.
I drop my gaze onto my plate and change the subject.
“Where did you learn to cook like this?”
“You like it?”
“I don’t usually eat breakfasts like this, so yes.”
“You were raised on smoothies and chia seeds right?”
“Funny, but my Mom is very health conscious, so yes, we ate little meat or carbs.”
“Meat is good though, ain’t it?” he chuckles. "You're not a real Philadelphia girl unless you eat Kielbasa."
“I’m not going to lie.” I take another bite of the sausage, savoring the taste. “It’s damn good.”
“I’ve got an idea for after we eat.”
“What?” I chew suspiciously.
“Let’s play Uno.”
“You want to play Uno? We haven’t done that in years.”
“Do you have a deck in the house?”
“Of course, I do. Are we playing your rules or mine?”
“It’s been a tough few days for you so we can play by your rules this time, but we need to play for something. It used to be for Swedish Fish or pennies, but it needs to be something a little more substantial now. We’re grown.”
“Like what?”
“If I’m right about Jake, you have to do one thing of my choosing without any push back.”
“What do you mean, if you’re right? He may have changed his name, but that isn’t a federal crime last time I checked.”
“I’ll be more specific. If your father confirms that Jake is specifically targeting you, then I get one wish.”
“And if he isn’t?”
“Then I’ll do something for you. No questions asked. No debate.”
I consider his terms but then make a suggestion. “It might take a long time to find out anything definitive about Ben. Let’s just play the game like we normally do and winner gets the wish.”
“Agreed.”
After we finish eating, I pull out my favorite deck of Uno cards (I own three) and take a seat on the balcony. Knox maneuvers his big body on the balcony after he cleans up the kitchen, still dressed in nothing but a pair of basketball shorts.
“Aren’t you cold?” I ask facetiously.
“Never, I run hot.”
I feel the truth of that statement in every nerve ending of my body. He’s certainly hot as hell.
“Fine,” I mutter under my breath, wondering if there’s a chance that he’s purposely doing this to distract me. No, he has no clue that I’m attracted to him. He can’t possibly know. Hell, I didn’t even know myself until a few days ago.
We agree to play three rounds, which isn’t so bad since we’re playing by my rules (the official rules) and not stacking draw cards. The player with the least amount of points is the winner since the point of the game is to get rid of all of your cards. It was ridiculously fun and I felt like a kid again. I was animated every time I called Uno.