Page 55 of Chasing After You
“Hold up,” Knox says when he sees the both of us walking in, hand in hand. “Did it happen? Did Matti make his grand gesture and tell you he still loves you?”
“No,” I deadpan.
“Way to make things awkward, man.” Matti’s tone and expression match mine perfectly.
For a second, Knox just stares at us.
“They’re obviously fucking with you,” Kenley says from the kitchen, waving around a large knife like it’s a feather, not a blade capable of slicing someone’s hand clean off. I like her already.
“We obviously are,” I confirm, breaking into a grin.
“After the way this whole mission has gone, I really wasn’t sure,” Knox says, chuckling. He stands, setting down his guitar before reaching out to pull me in for a hug. “It’s about damn time you came home,” he says as he’s squeezing me tight. “Things weren’t right without you.”
“I missed you too, Knox.” I hold him tight a moment longer. Vale is my brother by blood, but Knox has been my brother by choice. I let him go along with Matti, because they were best friends and having one without the other felt impossible, but I can’t deny life felt that much emptier, losing them both.
When we step out of our hug, I keep right on moving to the kitchen. “What are you making, and will you be sharing, because it smells to die for.”
Kenley lets out a laugh, her knife never missing a chop as she works, thinly slicing green onions and scraping them across the board to join the growing mound. “I’m making spicy ramen.” She uses the point of her knife to gesture at the pile of green onions. “And yes, we’ll be sharing. There’s going to be plenty.”
“Any chance you’re using a vegetable base?” I ask, not wanting to sound difficult but also wanting to find out for sure if I’ll be able to partake. And I really, really want to partake. I can’t remember the last time I smelled something so divine.
“I am.” She smiles. “I heard you were vegan. And that you might be joining us.”
My immediate delight quickly gives way to curiosity. “What else did you hear?”
Kenley’s eyes move from the guys back to me. “Some stuff I don’t think is relevant anymore.” She reaches for the strainer to her left filled with fresh spinach. “But mostly, I heard how beloved you are. By Matti, as well as Knox.” She smiles again. It’s warm. And kind. And a lovely contrast to her badass chopping skills.
“That’s good to know.” I lean to the side, peering into the open pot filled with golden liquid simmering away. “I’m kinda nuts about those dudes too.” Then I meander my way back to the guys, both sitting on the sofa now, Knox’s guitar resting between them while they pore over the lyrics he’s been working on. It’s such a normal thing to see, and yet it suddenly stings, realizing how long it’s been since I’ve walked into a room and seen them huddled up like this.
“I wanna hear about Kenley,” I announce, plopping myself down on the sofa next to Matti and consequently, breaking their concentration.
“I’m right here. I can tell you about Kenley,” Kenley calls out from her chopping board.
“No, I wanna hear Knox’s version.” I want to hear what love sounds like from him. “Also, where did you guys land on the whole boyfriend-girlfriend debate?”
“It’s a work in progress,” Knox grumbles loud enough for Kenley to hear. Then he leans in and whispers, “I’m working on new titles. She just doesn’t know it yet.”
Holy shit. The man is going to propose. “Tell me again how you two met. Was it really a meet and greet?”
“It was really a meet and greet,” Knox says, laughing quietly. “One she tried to avoid.”
“It’s true,” she admits, clearly more invested in the conversation than she’s pretending to be, acting like her attention is devoted entirely to the meal she’s preparing. “I pretty much ran from the building. That’s how much I didn’t want to meet the man.”
“Sounds like a fairy tale in the making.” I cross my legs and lean forward to see past Matti, who seems surprisingly entertained by the retelling of a tale I’m quite sure he lived through as well. “Let me guess, she left a glass slipper behind in her haste to escape.”
Knox’s laughter only grows louder. Kenley on the other hand lets out an affronted gasp. Then she starts jabbing her knife at the air in Knox’s direction. “Stop laughing. It’s not that funny!”
“It’s hysterical,” he argues. “And I’m telling Sloan!”
Kenley makes a face, twisting her nose back and forth like she’s fighting to hold back what she wants to say. “Fine,” she sniffs. “Maybe it’s a little funny.” Slowly, even she starts to smirk.
“Kenley has a whole Cinderella thing. We even talked about that fairy tale the first night we met,” Knox fills me in, still grinning.
“But for the record,” Kenley chimes in again, “there was no slipper.”
“I mean, therewasa slipper,” Knox points out.
“That was way later, and it was your doing,” she counters. “The point is, I did not leave behind a shoe. I made it to the parking lot still wearing both stilettos.”
