Page 27 of Fright Night
A better person would accept the praise and move on. Not believing Knox doesn’t have a deeper ploy at play, I scoff. “That sounded like quite a few compliments.”
“An acknowledgement,” he corrects, his finger coming up into the space between us. Because Knox never does anything without reason, he bops me on the nose, the same way he used to, because pissing me off seemed to be his day job back then.“Complimenting you would involve getting on my knees and showing you how much I’ve missed you, audience be damned.”
Then he walks away, whistling.
An hour’s passed since Knox’s interruption and I fuckinghatehim. No more caring about his praise because the way he’s hovering, constantly causing me to peek over my shoulder, is exhausting and very much him. Wherever the flattery came from, it was a one-off.
Every booth, every corner, everywhere, he’sthere, with his mask covering his face, like he has some weird magical teleportation abilities that gets him from one place to the next.
He doesn’t talk to me again—thankfully. But he’s present. Looming.
It’s enough to be unsettling.
Even Mom and Henry eventually find me in the crowd, and Knox is there, arms crossed over his chest and foot propped against the back of a food truck nearby as he regards the family moment he’s opted not to join.
“Great event, honey.” Mom kisses my cheek. “Everything’s so well done.”
“Thanks.”
Clearly they’ve decided not to mention brunch yesterday, and how this event was basically a central topic of Knox’s interruption.
Henry reaches forward to rest a hand on my shoulder, squeezing fondly. “I agree, Oakley. Very well done. Can’t wait to see what you do with the Christmas event. You’ll certainly have an appreciation for these things one day when you’re holed up in my office as the future mayor.”
As he takes Mom’s arm in his and leads her away, dread sinks my stomach. His compliment came with the conditions to keep working at City Hall without addressing what I said—what Knox pointed out.
Suddenly, everything I’ve been doing to stay on Henry’s good side feels pointless.
Before I turn away to return to work, my gaze finds Knox. Even with the mask shielding him, I imagine his frown quickly followed by anI told you so.
Finally taking a brief break, I slip over to the booth handing out free paper cups of water when his back presses into me, chin coming down to rest on my shoulder, so when he speaks, it’s a whisper tickling my ear that makes me shiver.
“You in this fairy costume is a damn sin. Every time some asshole looks twice at you”—his hands rest on my hips, slowly travelling to the mid-thigh hem of the chiffon lavender dress coated in glitter—“I want to gouge their eyes out.”
“Do it,” I challenge, reverting to banter instead of acknowledging my racing blood. “Do it, so when you return to jail, I can laugh.”
He hums against my throat; the sensation doing things to my insides. Things that are too R-rated for the setting, considering how many kids are around.
“You’d like that, so no. I won’t be going anywhere and leaving you again.”
That sounds like a vow.
“Mm, well, if you could amend that comment and leave right now, I need to get back to work.” Downing the water cupinvolves tipping my head, which puts my head onto his shoulder, countering my latest comment.
“You sure about that?” His hand sweeps my thigh, moving upwards to between my legs. “You’re the boss. Bosses need breaks.”
“There’s kids here, Knox.” My teeth slide together painfully as I wrench myself from his grip and turn, planning to never give him my back again. He has too much power in that position.
“Fine, fine.” He nips my neck. “See ya later, Trickster.”
He disappears into the crowd, and I know, it’s going to be impossiblenotto think about him.
THIRTEEN
KNOX
Very amused with myself,I force myself away from Oakley and towards the exit for a much-needed smoke. Fuck, stalking Trickster through the crowds of chaos and Halloween shit is annoying as hell because she’s entirely too far away at any given time for my liking.
It’s impossible to deny the admiration I have for her and her job, which makes me hate Dad even more. There’s been a few instances of families praising the organization of the event and how fun the activities are. Soon, I’m going to start recording these comments so I can have them blasted on the speakers connected to Dad’s office to make my point very fucking clear.
