"It smells like you."
Technically, I smelled like it, but I liked that Knox gave me that ownership. He'd stopped in front of this brand because it smelled like me. Why was that comforting?
"Just the shampoo and conditioner are fine. The small bottles. I can ration and—"
Again, Knox dropped the entire line, from the deep conditioning mask to the clarifying spray, into the basket.
"That's too much!" I didn't know why I fought this. The man wanted to buy me things. I loved things. But, every item felt like a promise, a commitment of time. It wasn't the commitment that I didn't want; it was the grief. When all this was over and Knox had made his decision, there were only two things that could happen. Either he'd turn me in to my father and get the rest of the million—I'd asked Knox how much I'd been worth to my father—they were owed, or he would decide my father was the shifty one and let me go.
Neither of those options included me continuing to shower in Knox's room. I'd already resigned myself to the fact that I'd never be able to use any of these products again after Knox. I wouldn't be able to separate one from the other.
"You can't just buy me everything," I added when it didn't look like he'd heard me at all.
He rotated, standing slightly curved over me. I sighed silently. My heart seemed to beat a little calmer whenever he was close like this. "I can buy you what I want. This is my reward to you."
"But I don't need—"
"I'm taking over," Knox announced.
Taking over? Had he ever not been in control?
"You can wait at the end of the aisle if you want, but I'm getting you what you need, Jazz."
That was just the thing. I didn't need any of this. It would been nice to have. My time in the hotel would be a little easier with these items. It would feel a little more like home.
And that was the problem.
I swallowed down a lump in my throat. "Fine," I muttered, walking the other way mostly so he couldn't see I was about to cry.
Knox growled low under his breath, but it reached me like a sound bullet. My thighs clenched together. I scowled. One person shouldn't affect another so much. This wasn't fair on so many levels.
I reached a row of hair supplies and paused. I wouldn't say no to a package of hair ties. At least those were small and easy to take with you when you lived on the run.
A wet curl broke free from the prison of my ear and stuck to my forehead. I didn't want the twins to think I was doing another impression of a wind tunnel, so I tried using my elbow to push the hair up. It was awkward with my hands bound, but I'd succeeded in swiping away the curl at the exact same time the brunette woman who had followed us from the other store rushed over.
"Are your hands tied together?"
I shoved my hands back to center but was helpless to stop her from grabbing my elbow and pulling up my sleeve. It didn't hurt at all, but she got an eyeful of the entire situation and hissed.
Knox appeared at my other side, his eyes hard. "Let him go," he growled.
"Ready at the entrance." I had a clear view down the aisle and through the store windows to the Hummer idling by the curb.
Huntley and Jagger sat in the front seats, both staring at our trio.
"I won't," the woman replied. Her voice didn't shake, but her lip did. She was scared.
"This isn't what it looks like," I attempted to explain. This was probably exactly what it looked like, and I was in foreign territory trying to persuade someone without the use of my powers. If I had my hands, this lady would be whistling down the next aisle by now.
"It looks like a young man being restrained and ordered around by…" Her eyes landed on Knox, and she looked him up and down, but the action didn't seem to have the same effect on her as it did on me. "I've seen you around town." Her forehead wrinkled. "One of you better say something, or I am calling the cops."
"Huntley has a shot, Knox." Jagger's words sounded in my ear, calm and casual like he was talking about what they'd have for dinner after, not killing a woman whose greatest mistake was caring.
I stepped to the side, putting myself between the woman and the Hummer. Knox growled, stepping behind me.
"Negative," he murmured at a volume I only heard because his mouth was so close to my head.
I couldn't trick the woman, but maybe I could tell her the truth. "Please don't call the police. My hands are restrained, but it's not entirely what it looks like."
While I spoke, Knox tugged me away and toward the exit, nullifying everything I was saying with his actions.
The woman just followed behind. She wasn't yelling or making a scene, but she also wasn't letting Knox pull me more than a few feet away. "What is it then? If it isn't what it looks like?"
"It's none of your fucking business," Knox snarled. He'd reached his limit on patience. His shoulders were tight, his neck strained.
The woman flinched but didn't back down. She exhaled, centered herself, and lifted her gaze, finding Knox's. "It's my business if he's in trouble."
"What is wrong with this lady?" Huntley hissed over the comms. "Jagger's running a scan. You think she was sent here?"
Knox couldn't answer them without causing more questions.
The woman pulled out her cell phone.
"Okay, wait, everyone stop." I tried to lift my hands, remembering the next moment that I couldn't—and that was sort of the point of this conversation. "I can tell you're a good person Ms…?"
"Hallie," she replied stiffly.
"If you're not going to step out of the way and give me a clean shot, at least get her last name," Jagger hissed.
I ignored him. "Hallie, I'm Jazz. This is Knox. Yes I'm tied up, but that doesn't have to be strange, does it? A decade ago, seeing people with colored hair was strange, and now look. I am not under duress, and we're going to go through the cashier's aisle slowly and calmly to prove that. You can come."
Hallie cocked her head to the side. Her gaze was softer when she looked at me after staring at Knox. "Fine, okay. Let's go." She gestured like a tour guide toward the cash registers.
Knox moved stiffly forward, his free arm latched around my waist. He hauled the basket onto the conveyor belt, and we waited our turn, Hallie standing behind us the whole time.
I could only imagine what the cashier thought as he scanned our items. None of us spoke. Knox was visibly furious while Hallie's eyes narrowed at him.
Knox paid in cash before wrangling the bags in one hand.
Now that my plan had been carried out, I wasn't entirely positive what it would prove. I thought if she saw us doing normal things in a totally unafraid way, she'd be convinced I was fine.
"Now lose her," Huntley grunted.
"Or step out of the way," Jagger added.
"How come I haven't seen you around Rockshell?" Hallie asked.
She crossed the line of concerned citizen a while ago, and though the woman was nosy, it came from a place of caring. For me, anyway. I couldn't be angry about that.
Knox could.
"I've seen him, grunting around town, but not you. I won't find you on a missing poster, will I?"