10. Accidental
1474 Words
ASHELENE
Rhett and I watched Knox walk down the hall and disappear into the bedroom.
“Is he okay?” I asked, a tight coil of worry tugging unexpectedly at my chest. I was worried... and that feeling didn't really sit well with me, but it was what it was.
"You... can't get attached," Mei warrned. She didn't have to warn. I already knew... but... "There are no buts. You... can't repeat the same mistake."
She was right.
“He’s fine,” Rhett said, stretching lazily against the chair. “I have a feeling he just talked with Neon. It’ll take some time. Just leave him alone.”
“If you say so…” I murmured, still staring at the door Knox had vanished behind.
Rhett nudged my ankle with his foot. “Don’t look too worried. I know my brother. He’s alright.”
I nodded slowly. “Okay.”
Just as I settled back, my phone rang sharply from the other room.
“That’s mine,” I said with a sigh. “Probably Bella calling to ask about Christmas," I said with a sigh, but too tired to stand up from the chair.
Rhett raised an eyebrow. “Are you telling her about us?” He looked curious and mischievous all at once. I liked this side of him... just as much as I liked the brooding side.
The phone stopped. I sighed.
“f**k no,” I said, rubbing my forehead. “That’s not something you casually drop on a phone call.”
And it wasn’t something I wanted to explain, not when I was already feeling guilty for leaving Bella alone in New York, because I was being a self-pitying b***h. With everything that happened to Dean... and what Bella went through, I should have been there more for her, but I was a f*****g bad friend, and it made me even more scared to go back...
I had to face all of that when I go back. The mistakes... the guilt... Weston was only a part of my problem. Mine... ran deeper. I let it take me over, change me.
The phone rang again.
I stood with a long sigh, giving Rhett a nod as he studied me. I felt like he saw my hesitation...
"Go," he said, his words pushing me. I walked toward the room still thinking of Bella—until I stepped through the doorway and collided with Knox.
A very shirtless Knox, his body dotted with water.
He was just coming out of the bathroom, and had only a towel slung low on his hips.
Droplets of water clung to his skin, temptingly beautiful, and steam following him like mist.
My foot slipped on the rug, and I jolted forward—but before I could fall, his hands caught me.
One strong palm curved around my waist, and the other braced my hip.
He pulled me upright, close—too close—until my body was pressed flush to his bare chest. My breasts tingled... as his dark gaze swept down.
A gasp escaped before I could swallow it.
I’d seen Neon’s body at night, under shadows and hunger and chaos. I had touched him in all the ways I had wanted to...
"How is this so different..." Mei breathed.
"I know..."
But this— this was Knox. He was the same, and yet... it felt different. The feeling of his body against mine... Strange, and familiar all at once. Like I knew all of it, but none of it.
My heart raced as I looked up.
His throat bobbed as he swallowed hard. His violet pupils widened slowly, dark spreading like ink. His heartbeat kicked up, sharp and fast—I felt it against my palm where it had landed over his chest.
He didn’t step back or loosen his grip. And I didn’t want him to. The towel shifted a little as his breath hitched.
The hand on my waist tightened—just a fraction, but enough to drag my body a little closer. My fingers curled slightly against his damp skin on instinct. His breath stuttered, lips parting just barely.
We stood there suspended in time... too aware of everything. But none of us moved closer.
His thumb brushed my hip, slow, absent, like he wasn’t even aware he was touching me.
My body reacted instantly—leaning, melting, wanting.
The air thickened.
Knox blinked once, then again, like he was trying to remember something important.
His gaze dropped to my lips, his breath shuddering.
His fingers flexed against my waist, a tremor running through them. I felt the shiver travel through me too. We still didn’t move.
My phone rang again behind us, loud, intrusive, clawing at the moment, but neither of us looked away. I couldn’t. We stood locked in the same impossible breath, caught in something that felt too much like a spell.
My skin hummed... in need and anticipation.
His chest rose and fell against mine, warm and solid.
My fingers were still splayed over his skin.
“Knox,” I whispered.
His gaze sharpened... but the look was completely different from Neon's.
My eyes dropped to the long, curved scratches crossing his chest. The marks I had made. Marks Neon had taken with pleasure.
Hell. It was proof that nothing about last night was innocent.
I lifted a hand and traced one gently, following the fading line. The bruising beneath was faint but still there.
His breath hitched, quiet but unmistakable. He didn’t move or stop me.
His voice came out low, strained. “Yes? What?”
The vulnerability in that word made something inside me tilt.
I swallowed, heat rising to my ears. “If you don’t let me go now…” My fingertip traced another line... much slower this time, softer.
“…I might do something I’ll regret later.”
But I knew... I knew I shouldn't. Not with the man. The wolf wanted it, but not Knox. It would be stupid to cross the line... knowing very well the boundaries should be clear.
He hadn’t chosen to wake up tangled in bodies that weren’t his memories. He didn’t trust the situation—or himself.
Knox’s eyes flickered to my face, wide, curious. A long stretch of silence filled the space between us, warm and sharp and trembling.
“What will you do?” he said finally, his breath soft on me... warm and heated.
The question hit lower than it should have, stealing a breath from me.
I wet my lips. “You know.”
His throat bobbed again.
“Tell me,” he murmured. The way he said it... soft as sin, like he was coaxing a secret out of me, sent a shiver down my spine.
I drew in a slow breath, feeling the warmth of him everywhere.
“If I tell you…” I said, my voice barely steady. “…you’ll really panic.”
His gaze dropped to my mouth again. And he looked almost pained.
“Try me,” he whispered.
It was stupid how my heart flipped.
I pressed my palm flat against his chest, feeling the steady thunder of his heartbeat under my hand.
“Knox,” I whispered, leaning into the warmth of him without meaning to. “I’d kiss you.” His breath stilled. “I’d touch you, until you look at me with desperation... and not this quiet wariness.” The muscle in his jaw twitched. “And when I do that, I wouldn’t be thinking about Neon,” I whispered, softer now. “I’d be thinking about you. Only you.”
He inhaled sharply, too loudly.
For a second he didn’t move, didn’t blink. I had a feeling he had stopped breathing, as well.
Then a small sound escaped him. Barely audible. But I heard it.
A soft... low moan.
His hand on my waist trembled. His eyes fluttered shut for half a heartbeat, like he was trying to contain something too big for the narrow space between us.
When they opened again, the violet eyes were darker. Much darker.
“Ash…” he breathed. And the way he said my name made my knees buckle.
Goddess... just my name on his lips felt like it would kill me.
The air between us tightened, slow, humming tension coiling in every inch of space we hadn’t yet crossed.
Then the phone rang again, and Knox flinched like it snapped him out of whatever trance we had fallen into.
His fingers loosened—barely—like letting go physically hurt.
But he still didn’t step away.
Breath unsteady, eyes impossibly soft, he whispered, “…you should get that.”
But he didn’t move.
Neither did I.
Because both of us knew... If he let go completely, we wouldn’t find our way back to this moment again.
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- Writer
