“My friend was just leaving. We were saying goodbye.” I grab Matthew’s arm and push him back inside the door. “I’ll be right there, Matt.”
Matthew’s face drops, perhaps because he’s disappointed that I haven’t introduced him to the stranger at my door or maybe because I’ve embarrassed him, but I can’t let his possible hurt feelings sway me. The faster I get Knox away from my apartment, the better.
“Actually, Matt, I’m moving in tonight, so you’re going to need to leave. You two can pick up whatever this is at another place and time.”
“Seriously?!” I grit my teeth. “You can’t just ask my guest to leave.”
“I just did.”
“You haven’t changed a bit,” I huff.
“Not one fucking bit.”
“If this is actually happening, you moving in here, why didn’t my mom call me and tell me about it?”
“Like the disappointment you are, you didn’t pick up her calls.”
“So they sent you here to my house, anyway?”
“Yeah, me, the jackass that’s been taking care of your spoiled butt your whole life.”
“Oh, so this is your cousin?” Matthew interrupts, still trying to figure out who Knox is.
“Hell no!” We both vehemently deny any sort of blood relation to each other in unison.
“Back inside,” I order, then Matthew falls back and shuts the door.
“He’s quite obedient,” Knox mockingly observes. “That’s how you like ‘em, huh?”
It takes everything in me to tamper down the anger bubbling inside of me. There’s got to be a mature part of him underneath all of those tattoos somewhere.
Hmm, when did he get all of that ink?
“Come back in an hour so I can say goodbye properly to my guest,” I tell him.
“Again, this is not a negotiation. I’ve been on a plane, had dinner at Grandpa Joe’s, picked up my truck from my parents’ house, and then drove here. I need a shit and a shower and some sleep.”
“Knox!”
“Even if I considered your request, which I wouldn’t, I have nowhere to go to kill time for an hour.”
Having this conversation in the middle of my hallway is getting me nowhere. It doesn’t matter that it’s been years since I’ve seen him. I know Knox and he hasn’t changed. He’s still as relentless as ever.
I hate to give him this win, but I think I may have to.
“What’s this supposed threat again?”
“I’m not discussing our family business in the hallway.”
“And you’re sure that my parents are okay?”
“Watch.”
I stare at his screen as he sends a text to both of my parents.
Knox: Made contact with Gigi. She’s safe.
My father responds immediately with a thumbs up emoji and my mom replies.
Aunt Jade: Thanks, hun’. Tell that brat to call me.
Sometimes I think Knox is the son they always wanted but they got stuck with Benji and me, both disappointments.
“Fine,” I concede. “Give me a second to explain to him.”
“You have one second. There’s something about him I don’t like.”
Knox and I have a stare off. The kind we used to have when we were kids, trying to see who would blink first. The kind we used to have when we were teenagers, trying to see who would throw a middle finger up first. The kind we used to have when I became so angry that I couldn’t even yell at him. The kind he enjoys immensely.
Dammit, he wins.
I finally break eye contact and slip back into my apartment to face Matthew. It’s his first time in my house and now I have to kick him out because Knox said so. He’s never going to understand this, and I realize that something like this may raise more questions than I’m prepared to answer. I know if the shoe were on the other foot, I would run for the hills. This is going to be messy as hell.
“I’m sorry, Matt.” My eyes shoot to the floor. “I’m going to have to cut this night short.”
“Because of him?”
“Can I just say right now that I apologize for his behavior?”
“So you’re inviting him in here to stay?”
“I’m obligated to.”
“He looks like an older version of the guy in that picture.”
Matthew points to the group photo he was looking at earlier.
“Yes, that’s him.”
“You said he was your family, but it’s pretty obvious that man out there is not your brother.”
“No, but our fathers are best friends. My parents wouldn’t have sent him here if there wasn’t something important going on. Can I take a raincheck on our movie date?”
Matthew grabs my hand, leans in, and gives me a chaste kiss on the cheek.
“I understand, Gigi, and I trust you. Family first.”
You don’t find too many gentlemen like Matt these days.
"Thank you."
There’d better be a legitimately good reason why Knox blew up my entire life tonight or I’ll strangle him myself.
Seven
Knox
I’m leaning against the wall, scrolling through my phone as if I don’t have a care in the world. I don’t even raise my head to acknowledge their presence as Gigi walks the submissive loser dude out.
“It was nice meeting you,” he says, although this time he doesn’t extend his hand to me.
Gigi is standing behind him, and stares at me over his shoulders with a look that demands I be cordial, but I don’t want to play nice. The moment I laid eyes on Gigi again, something shifted inside of me.
Something I don’t even understand myself.
In response to his gesture, I give the dude some sort of grunt and a slight head nod. Then I return to mindlessly checking emails on my phone until the guy is out of earshot.
“He’s the reason you didn’t want to answer the door?” I ask in a deprecating manner. “Or your mother’s calls?”
“I didn’t want to answer the door because I have nothing to do with the business of Masterson and Associates. Any threat against the owners of that business has nothing to do with me, therefore your presence is neither wanted nor required here.”
Sometimes I want to just shake the shit out of Gigi. She sounds ridiculously naïve when I know that she’s smarter than this. Like it or not, if there is a threat to one of us, it’s a threat to all of us. Just because you wake up one day and decide you want to distance yourself doesn’t make it a reality.
Without an invitation, I walk inside her apartment and all that’s left for her to do is follow. I can feel her eyes appraising my body from head to toe. I’m sure from behind, she can’t help but notice how my body has significantly changed.
When I left Philadelphia, I was a boy and now I am a man. I was lifting weights and doing some martial arts training in Miami. My back is broader and my trapezoid muscles are more pronounced. My chest slopes into a defined V at the waist and even my butt looks more powerful.
I wonder if she’s as impressed with the changes in me as I am with her, because holy fuck, Gigi has grown into a magnificent creature. There is no doubt in my mind that she needs protection because every single man within a hundred-mile radius that lays eyes on her will be a threat.