12. Walk With Me
2055 Words
ASHELENE
“Let’s go,” I said, brushing past Rhett and turning to Knox.
Knox gave me a stiff, reluctant nod, like I’d just asked him to attend a tax seminar, not ask him for a romantic stroll through Paris.
"The man looks like he had just bitten a sour lemon," Mei said. "I can't understand how he is part of that wolf..."
"I certainly can't either," I agreed, before turning to look at Knox. His hair was combed perfectly... and his shirt sleeves were rolled to his elbows, showing off those glorious muscles, and I would love to lean closer, and...
"Yeah, put a full stop to that thought, Ash," Mei said. "The man looks like a spooked little lamb... and he looks like you are a big, bad wolf..."
"I could pretend to be... a big, bad wolf... and eat his..."
"Yeah, no, shut up."
“You are being way too enthusiastic,” I teased, smirking at Knox as he stared at me with beautiful eyes. Goddess, to beautiful that sometimes I forgot to breathe when I looked into them. Rhett studied the both of us, clearly amused.
Knox frowned, arms crossing. “I nodded.”
“Yeah, with all the enthusiasm of a dying houseplant," I said, teasingly. Rhett laughed louder, bumping against my shoulder.
"You're ruthless, Ash." Rhett snorted, before he turned to his brother. “But she’s got a point.”
Knox shot him a glare. “Shut the f**k up, Rhett. I am trying hard not to hurt you, and I... nodded. It is yes."
That was entirely too hot, and my heart gave a thud.
Rhett grinned, putting an arm around me, his nose lingering on my shoulder.
“You nodded like someone threatened you,” I said, stepping closer. “Did you pull a muscle trying to show emotion?”
His jaw ticked. “I don’t… pull muscles.”
“That’s what you take from this conversation?” I laughed, incredulous.
Knox looked away, jaw tight, muttering, “I’m here, aren’t I?”
Rhett gave a soft, amused snort. “Look at him trying.” He winked at his brother like Knox was a toddler who had just managed to use a spoon for the first time.
I shook my head. Rhett with Knox was different. Softer. Looser. More at ease. Rhett last night, the first time he saw me with Neon was different... he was tense, he was stiff—like he was bracing for a storm. Maybe it was because... he was shocked to see Neon running wild without Knox. But once he softened, he softened... really.
But Knox… Knox was shy, hesitant man. Quiet. Grounded. How the hell was Neon—that reckless, flirty, chaos-wolf—paired with this man?
The Moon Goddess sure did in mysterious ways, I thought.
“Ah, she does. She surely does,” Mei murmured knowingly in my head, tail swishing with far too much delight.
Knox flipped Rhett off with a lazy, almost elegant lift of his hand—like he was delivering a royal decree of “f**k you.”
Rhett cackled. “Such manners.”
My grin widened. I stepped closer, tilting my head up at Knox.
“You said you want to come.”
“I did say that.” Knox exhaled—a long, slow, oh my gods, why am I dealing with this woman sigh. “And did I take it back?”
“No,” I murmured, crossing my arms, and suddenly... the nervous side of him seemed to be slowly shifting. His grin was dark when he studied me next.
“Then stop interrogating me.” His brows dipped, but not in true annoyance... more like a man trying very hard not to smile. “I want to come, Ash.”
There it was again. My name, in that deep voice... mocking, teasing, curling around my spine like a warm hand.
His gaze dropped—too slow to be accidental... lingering on my lips, then my neck.
“I want to do a lot of things…” His voice lowered, roughened. “Things I probably should not.”
I gasped, an embarrassingly soft sound. He hadn’t said anything explicit. Not really. Not technically.
But his eyes? His eyes told a very, very different story. A dark... dangerous one, and Goddess, it was enough to make my legs shake. Rhett whistled softer, but didn't interrupt. Just stayed and watched... his brother like he was curious how this would go.
I was just as curious.
“Like… sightseeing?” I asked, too breathy, too aware of him.
His lips twitched. “Sure. If that’s the word you want to use.”
I stepped closer... one small step, but enough to feel the tension ripple through him. He stood very still. Too still, like a man bracing himself for an earthquake, or equally powerful disaster.
“Do you always talk like that?” I asked.
“Like what?” he murmured, head tilting, eyes searching.
“Like you’re… plotting... in half puzzles...”
“Oh, I’m always plotting things,” Knox said, his eyes momentarily meeting Rhett, and Rhett's smile tilted to become a frown. Something passed between them, and the air shifted with tension for a second. “I just don’t say most of them.”
“Why not?”
“Because... if you hear them, you might run.” His gaze flicked to my mouth. “Fast.”
My breath hitched.
Rhett cleared his throat loudly. “Are we done here yet? Knox, if you want to flirt more, you can stop being so subtle about it...”
Knox didn’t break eye contact with me. Instead, he lifted a hand and brushed a stray strand of hair from my cheek, his knuckles barely grazing my skin.
I swore my heart stopped.
“I’m not flirting,” Knox said, voice a low rumble. “If I were flirting…” His fingers lingered an extra second along my jaw. “You both would know.”
My knees actually wobbled.
“Okay,” I whispered, failing spectacularly to sound unaffected.
“Okay,” he echoed, softer this time.
Then he stepped back, controlled and calm again, like he hadn’t just short-circuited my brain.
Rhett clapped his hands together. “Fantastic. Now that everyone’s horny and confused, can we go?”
I glared at him. Knox smirked.
And for a moment... just for a heartbreaking moment, I forgot this wasn’t supposed to become anything.
***
Paris in winter felt like a dream dipped in gold. Beautiful. Like a postcard pulled out from under buried layers.
Snow dusted the edges of the trees and the wind carried roasted chestnuts, coffee, and something sweet I couldn't name.
And between Rhett’s warm presence on my right and Knox’s quiet, unsettling gravity on my left, I felt suspended in something unreal. I felt... protected, safe... and also, like the most beautiful woman here. I wasn't, but their looks made me feel exactly that. Their eyes never moved from me... their eyes followed me wherever I went.
“Stop looking at me...” I muttered as we stepped into a small restaurant, hugging my coat tighter. “I feel like I’m in a movie or something, and everyone is looking at me.”
“That’s the point,” Rhett said, flashing a grin that made my stomach tighten. “Paris is the one place where you’re supposed to feel like the main character.”
Knox snorted. “She doesn’t need Paris for that.”
I blinked, and he blinked—like he’d only just realized the words had escaped his own mouth.
Rhett turned slowly, eyes wide, one eyebrow climbing with dramatic disbelief. “Did you just—”
“No.” Knox’s voice exploded, louder, sharper, than strictly necessary.
Rhett and I burst into laughter. Knox glared at both of us, ears pink, hands shoved into his pockets like he was trying to physically hold in any more accidental compliments.
We ended up at a small corner café with a golden awning and ivy hanging from old stone walls. The scent of melting butter and warm sugar drifted out the door like a spell.
It was heavenly.
“We just had breakfast,” Knox muttered, staring at the handwritten menu like it had personally offended him as we took a table.
“This is brunch,” I corrected. My stomach already decided it needed more food.
Rhett leaned back in his chair. “Let it go. She’s feeding her soul.”
“And my stomach,” I said, ordering crêpe, stuffed with nutella and berries . "Always my stomach."
Knox rolled his eyes like he was above such things. But when the crêpe came, he took one bite and looked personally betrayed by how good it was.
“This is… fine,” he said stiffly.
Rhett snorted. “That’s a f*****g lie and you know it.”
“It’s decent.”
“Knox,” I sang. "Admit it."
He avoided my gaze.
“Say it’s delicious.”
“No.”
“Say it.”
“No.”
Rhett poked him with a fork. “Saaay it.”
Knox growled, low and quiet, grabbing Rhett’s fork mid-poke and placing it onto the table--though he looked like he would rather poke Rhett's eyes with it.
“IT’S GOOD. THERE.”
Rhett and I laughed again. I hadn't laughed so much in so long... and I had no idea why it was so easy to laugh with these two.
We talked about everything and nothing while we finished eating. Rhett teased Knox for being old-fashioned. Knox teased Rhett for being a show-off. I teased both of them for inhaling crepes like starving wolves—which they technically were.
A few tables over, two French women approached, their soft perfume drifting in a floral cloud.
“Bonjour,” one of them sang sweetly. “You are… very beautiful.” She looked directly at me, not at the men. That surprised me. Because... I didn't feel beautiful among them. Knox and Rhett were exquisite. Me... I was just old me.
The second woman nodded. “Très jolie.”
I blinked, a little startled, cheeks warming. “Oh... Thank you.”
They smiled, offered a small wave, and continued inside.
Rhett smirked. “Paris likes you.”
We finished eating...
When we stepped outside, cold air brushing our faces, something tugged at my senses... a flicker at the edge of my awareness. I paused on the sidewalk, looking around.
“Something wrong?” Rhett asked.
“I don’t know,” I whispered. “Just… a feeling. I... nothing."
And Knox shifted just slightly closer, like he wanted to protect me from whatever I had felt.
We wandered through a Christmas market near Notre-Dame, lights twinkling like stars tangled in string. Music spilled from a street violinist—soft, trembling strokes.
Knox brought me a box of chocolates. Smiling, I opened it.
He stared... like he couldn't believe I was already eating again.
"Don't look to shocked. I love tasting things..." I said. Closing my eyes, I took a bite, chocolate smearing my lips. Rhett reached out, thumb brushing the corner of my mouth. My breath caught.
He froze too, his pupils darkening before he suckled his thumb, taking the chocolate.
“Sorry, can't resist it,” he murmured.
When I glanced sideways, Knox was watching—jaw clenched, eyes flicking from Rhett’s thumb to my mouth.
“You want a bite?” I asked him, pushing the chocolate up... but we both knew what I was asking about. I licked my lips, and his Adam's apple bobbed up and down.
“No. I’m good.”
But his gaze lingered, a second too long, a little too hungry.
"Are you sure?" I teased.
"I am."
"If you say so... don't say I never offered."
"You are..." Knox trailed off, his eyes going dark.
"I am?" I asked, biting into the chocolate.
Rubbing a hand against his cheek, Knox leaned forward, eyes determined... and then he slammed his lips against mine... until my chocolate was now between his lips. He pulled back, entirely too calm, too smug, while my heart immediately stopped...
I... did I die?
"Thanks for the bite."
"That fucking..." Mei howled. "Oh MY GODDESS!"
____
- Writer
