Chapter 59

~He knew?~ I think, my mind reeling. ~He planned this? He planned on crashing my date before I even left the house?~ I shoot him a glare and sit back in my seat, my mind already plotting his murder.

When his hand slides onto my thigh, I quickly remove it. “Touch me again and I’ll cut your hand off,” I whisper, turning my attention back to Wes, who is locked in a stare-off with Knox.

Despite my threat, Knox places his hand back on my knee, his thumb gently rubbing my skin. If I weren’t so annoyed with him, I might have enjoyed the contact. But right now, all I can think about is how he’s ruined my date with Wes.

My phone buzzes in my lap, a message from our girls’ group chat with Andy and Hannah.

“That’s not nice, baby doll. You should be thanking me,” Knox whispers in my ear, his words causing Andy, Hannah, and Wes to look up. Wes looks like he’s about to leap across the table and pummel Knox.

“You fucking knew and ruined this date for me! You are a son of a bitch!” I hiss at him, my anger barely contained.

“Where’s Ben?” I ask the group, trying to distract myself from the infuriating man next to me. I remove his hand from my knee once again.

“He had a conference call, so he stayed at the house. He said he’ll meet us later,” Kyle says, his mouth full of bread. His lack of table manners never ceases to amaze me.

Andy leans over to close his mouth, playfully tapping his nose with her finger. “Chew with your mouth closed, babe. Nobody wants to see that.”

Kyle rolls his eyes and dramatically closes his mouth, chewing slowly as he looks at her. She smiles at him, and he softens, pulling her closer to his side.

“Damn right, I get to call this beautiful girl mine,” he says, looking at Brett with a proud smile. The question of whether they’re officially a couple hangs in the air, but no one dares to ask.

As we place our food orders, I can’t help but feel sorry for the waitress. She seems nervous, especially with Knox sitting right in front of her.

I mouth an apology to Wes, who responds with a reassuring, “Don’t be, sweetheart,” before his gaze returns to Knox. The change in his demeanor is startling. These two really have it out for each other.

The tension between them is palpable, but the rest of the group seems oblivious. Wes is clearly not enjoying himself, while Knox seems to relish in riling him up.

Throughout the night, they exchange subtle jabs, causing Kyle to cast skeptical glances their way. He’s starting to pick up on the tension.

I send desperate glances to Hannah and Andy, but they’re just as clueless as I am about how to defuse the situation.

I twirl my pasta carbonara around my fork, taking a bite and sighing at how the night has turned out. I can’t help but wonder how I’m going to survive a few days in New York with Knox without committing murder.

I finish my dinner and realize I’m still hungry. I order a chocolate cake with two scoops of ice cream, ignoring Kyle’s judgmental look.

“I’m still hungry, okay?” I mumble, handing the menu back to the waitress. Wes sends me a smile, shaking his head. It’s the first time he’s smiled since the others joined us.

I refuse to share my dessert, even with Wes, who is practically drooling over my chocolate cake.

“Should’ve ordered your own,” I say, pointing my spoon at him.

He gives me a pleading look. “Whatever happened to sharing is caring?”

“Who said I cared about you?” I tease, and he pretends to be hurt, placing his hand over his heart in mock pain. Knox snorts beside me.

“We both know you love me, sweetheart,” Wes says, his smile returning as he takes a sip of water.

I roll my eyes at him. “What gave it away, Wes?” I retort, causing laughter to ripple around the table.

His grin widens, and the tension eases slightly as we all fall into a rhythm of light-hearted banter.

As I look around the restaurant, I notice all the girls staring at Knox.

The girls were all on high alert, readying themselves in case he turned around and caught their gaze. Even those who appeared to be on dates or with their boyfriends. I finished my dessert, savoring the last bite. It was exactly what I needed.

We rose from our seats, paid the bill, and made our way out, not before everyone’s eyes were drawn to Knox, who was trailing behind me. I felt his hand gently squeeze my waist.

I knew I’d have to talk to him about this. It wasn’t okay that he’d come in and disrupted my date with Wes. My anger had simmered down, but I was still irked.

With Wes’s assistance, I climbed back into his car. We told everyone we’d meet them back at the house.

We were driving far behind Kyle, and I had a hunch he was doing it intentionally to extend the ride back as much as possible. My suspicion was confirmed when he took a turn that led us in a different direction.

I shot him a curious look, only to see him grinning at the road ahead.

“A detour?” I asked.

“Yep, I’m getting some alone time with you, sweetheart. Minus Carter,” he smirked, his eyes meeting mine. He steered the car down a road that turned into a small, inclined dirt path.

We were welcomed by rows of trees on either side of the off-beaten road. As we ascended, he parked the car. We were on the side of a mountain, and the sun was about to set.

“Wow, it’s... beautiful,” I was captivated by the sunset’s color palette. As always. We got out and sat on the hood of the car, leaning against the windshield. His arm was loosely draped around my shoulders as we watched the sun descend.

We sat there in silence, undisturbed, as we watched the sun dip below the horizon. Minutes later, we were enveloped in complete darkness, the sound of crickets from the field below us the only noise.

I felt Wes plant a kiss on my cheek. I turned to look at him, his deep brown eyes staring back at me. We smiled at each other, and he leaned further into me, placing a soft kiss on my lips. Our eyes instinctively closed, but the kiss didn’t deepen.

His hand on my shoulder moved closer to the back of my head, cradling it. I moved closer to him, my hand trailing up his chest. I liked this kiss. But it wasn’t the same. It wasn’t the same because he wasn’t Knox.

Pulling away, I slowly opened my eyes, only to feel him kiss my forehead. “It started bad but ended much better,” he whispered into the cold darkness that surrounded us.

I snorted loudly, “It was a train wreck at the start, but you made up for it.” We stayed there for a while longer, sharing light kisses that lifted our spirits with each one.

“I don’t want to leave here, it’s so peaceful,” I said, my eyes wandering over the surroundings behind him.

“I could stay here with you all night, but Kyle will kill me when I bring you back. Speaking of which, we should head back soon. But can I have one more kiss?”

I nodded, and he leaned back into me, kissing me while cupping both hands around my face. His tongue found its way into my mouth, and I playfully fought him for control.

I felt a smile creeping onto his face, which made me smile too. After one last peck, we pulled apart.

As we approached the house, I saw the boys waiting outside on the porch. They stood up immediately when the car came into view. Kyle looked furious, and so did Knox and Brett.

“The story is, I dragged you up the mountains to see the sunset because I just had to see it, alright? Kyle will buy it, just blame me, he could never be mad at me,” I told him, my eyes fixed on my frowning brother.

Wes hopped out of the car first, while Kyle made his way over to us. I climbed out of the car when Wes held the door open for me.

“Where the fuck were you two?” Kyle roared at us, with Knox following his lead.

“I wanted to see the sunset, so I bribed Wes into taking me up there to see it,” I assured him. His expression softened, but Knox was sizing Wes up behind Kyle.

They both looked like alpha males ready to pounce.

“What did you bribe him with?” Kyle asked, his hands relaxing from their tense grip. He was still making his way over to me.

“I said I’d make him my special chocolate mug cake if he took me up,” I thought quickly on my feet.

I was usually a terrible liar, but I was impressed by how convincing I sounded and how quickly I’d come up with the lie. Nice one, Al!

A smile spread across my face, and Kyle mirrored it, pulling me into a hug. I could tell he’d been worried about where we’d gone.

We all walked back inside, and I took out the ingredients to make Wes my pretend bribe. This was more of an apology for the disastrous date, even though it was out of my control. I still felt bad, despite how well it had ended.

Wes finished every last bite of the cake I’d made him and beamed at me, whispering, “I should take you out on train wreck dates more often if I get this cake made for me!”

After placing the mug in the sink to soak, we all took a walk out to the beach. Ben joined us and sat with me in the sand.

“What did I miss?” he asked, innocence written all over his face as he clapped his hands to brush off the sand.

“Ugh, you don’t want to know, Hendrix,” I groaned, crossing my legs and watching everyone fool around in the distance.

“That bad, huh? Hannah kind of filled me in. You’ve got two beefy guys fighting for your attention, so much that one ruins the other’s date with you? Damn! You’re screwed,” he joked, nudging my shoulder.

“Ugh, I don’t want to date anymore. Can I just marry you now, Ben? I’m tired of all of this, it’s too much,” I said, feeling the energy drain from my body. The tiredness hit me hard as we sat in the dark.

Why are they both vying for my attention when they’re supposed to be interested in other people? Why did Knox have to go and ruin the date? Could my mom be right? Am I the girl Knox has been talking about? Am I the reason they’re at odds?

~I’m so confused.~

“I’m all yours, sweet cheeks. Dinner sounded tense, though. Kind of glad I didn’t go... Maybe you should take a break from dating until you’re in the right headspace,” he suggested, nodding as if he’d just solved all my problems.

Maybe he’s right. Maybe I need to focus on myself for a while. Get my head straight.

“Did you guys kiss?”

I rolled my eyes at him.

“Hendrix, you’re turning into such a gossip. We need to find you some more guy friends,” I teased, “But yes, we did kiss. It was nice.” I couldn’t help but smile as I remembered the way he’d kissed me in the dark, on the hood of his car.

“But it wasn’t Knox,” he pointed out, reading my thoughts like an open book. I snapped my gaze to his, his eyes reflecting the moonlight.

“Stop lying to yourself, Alex. Admit that you like him. It’s okay to like him.”

“I don’t want to be just another girl chasing after him. He doesn’t like me, Ben, so I’m just wasting my time. There’s no point in letting feelings develop if they’re not going to be reciprocated,” I admitted, tracing patterns in the sand with my fingers.

“Has he told you he doesn’t have feelings for you?” he asked, taking my hand in his. I shook my head. “Then don’t assume he doesn’t. It’ll destroy you, sweet cheeks. Trust me.”

He sandwiched my hand between his, trying to warm it with his own heat.

I bit my lip, thinking about Knox. Ever since we kissed at Christmas, I haven’t been able to get him out of my head. The way he holds me, touches me, kisses me, looks at me... My feelings for him only grow stronger the more time I spend with him.

~I like him.~

~I like Knox Carter.~

But does he like me back?

I’m nothing like the girls he usually goes for. I’m the polar opposite, in fact. We’re on completely different ends of the spectrum. Why would he like me?

I glanced over at him, laughing with Andy and Kyle. The sound of his laughter sent butterflies fluttering in my stomach. I’d recognize that laugh anywhere.

I gave Ben a weak smile and turned back towards the house. “I’m tired. I think I’m going to go to sleep. I’ll see you tomorrow before you fly out?”

“Sure thing. I’ll come wake you up and we can spend some time together before I leave. Just the two of us. Goodnight, sweet cheeks.” He kissed my forehead and I stood, shaking the sand off before heading back to the house.

I picked up my shoes from the deck and carried them up to my room. I needed some time to think. What did I really want? Maybe going to New York would help me clear my head.

~I need some time to myself.~