Page 246 of Things We Never Got Over (Knockemout)
“Mom got mad at me for something stupid and cut my hair as punishment. So I decided to punish her back. I took the drive so she’d think she lost it, and then I hid it in the library but not in the historical fiction section like I told Duncan. It’s actually taped to the bottom of one of the archive drawers. I didn’t know they were going to break into Aunt Naomi’s and kidnap us and stuff. I swear,” she said.
Nash put his hand on her shoulder. “You’re not in trouble here, Waylay. You did the right thing telling me about this.”
“He said he was gonna shoot Aunt Naomi if I didn’t tell him where it was. I was trying to tell him, but he taped my mouth shut,” she said.
I growled at this new information.
“None of this is your fault,” Nash assured her again.
But it was her mother’s, and I wasn’t sorry that she was in custody. I did, however, decide it wasn’t a great time to tell Waylay about it.
“There’s one more thing,” she said.
“What’s that?” Nash asked.
“Your name was on the list.”
Lucian and I exchanged a look.
“We need to see the list,” Lucian announced.
Nash reached out and covered Waylay’s ears. “The fuck you do, assholes. Police business. Come on, Way. Let’s clear it with your aunt, and then we can get Sloane to let us in the library.”
“Okay,” she said. “Knox?”
“Yeah, kid?”
She crooked her finger at me, and I leaned down. I tried not to smile when she got done whispering in my ear.
“Got it. I’ll see you at home,” I said, giving her hair a ruffle.
We watched Nash guide her over to the ambulance.
“We need that damn list,” Lucian said.
I felt my lips curve.
“What?” he asked.
“That’s not the only copy. She also uploaded it to the library’s server.”
He stood stock-still for a beat, then let out a bark of laughter. Sloane’s gaze flew to him, and I realized that Lucian rarely laughed. Not like he used to, when we were kids and everything was a punchline waiting to happen.
“You are going to hate your life when she starts dating,” he said.
I couldn’t fucking wait.
We started back toward Naomi, who was on her feet under a blanket and holding a coffee. Despite everything I’d seen tonight, despite everything I’d done wrong, the smile she directed at me lit me up from the inside out.
I slapped Lucian on the shoulder. “Hey. How do you feel about being co-best man?”
EPILOGUE
PARTY TIME
Naomi
“Mmmph. Knox. We have to get back to the party,” I murmured against his mouth.
