46. Knox

CHAPTER FORTY-SIX

Knox

“We need to talk.”

I groan at the sound of Rhys’s voice. The last thing I want to deal with is that asshole.

I just finished storing the product in the backroom and was trying to enjoy a joint before the night started. I’ve completely given up on the hope of seeing Elton walk through the club doors, so why not get high as fuck and try to forget?

“What do you want, Conway?” I ask, taking a deep drag. “I’m not in the mood.”

He stops in front of me and, fuck me, he looks nervous. Super uncomfortable. Normally, I’d love this, but I wasn’t lying when I said I wasn’t in the mood. To no one’s surprise, I’ve been shit in the month that’s passed since I last saw Elton. I learned through Butch that Davis has been letting him work from home, which is why I haven’t seen him at the club. Which, I suppose, is for the best.

Because Elton and I are done.

In my drunken state, I thought talking to him would help me win him back. I thought that the way he fucked me in the kitchen was a sign that he still loved me too. I was right; he does, but that’s not enough.

He doesn’t trust me. He doesn’t believe in me. He doesn’t look at me and see the person I was before the truth came out. All those walls I let slip for him—razor-lined and angry—are back up, because my worth was defined by what he saw in me, and without him, it’s gone.

“Seriously?” Rhys scoffs, pointing at the joint. “ That’s how you’re going to win Elton back?”

I roll my eyes. “Fuck off and leave me alone.”

“Look, I—” His eyes widen as he looks at my neck. “You got a new tattoo.”

I run my hand across the ‘Sweetheart’ I got tatted on me a few days ago. In red ink, it stands out against all the black on my neck, just below my jaw. It was an impulse tattoo that Jack was hesitant to give me, but when I broke down and told him the story of Elton and I, he understood why I wanted it.

A reminder of the love of my life—the soulmate I let slip away—because I was a cowardly fuck who didn’t do the right thing.

When I don’t speak, Rhys grumbles to himself. “Okay, I’ll hop straight to the point, because I’d like this to be over with as quickly as possible,” he snaps, messing with his backwards hat as he shifts on the balls of his feet. “This is about Elton.”

“Did someone say Elton?”

Rhys actually gasps as Skylar magically appears out of thin air. He’s jumping on the balls of his feet beside us, looking up at us with eagerness and excitement. “Are you and Knox finally going to talk about this?”

“I’m still pissed at you for telling everyone what happened,” I sneer at him as I take another drag of the joint.

He waves away my frustration. “We’re a family, Knox. And sometimes, begrudgingly, you’re a part of it. Like the weird cousin we don’t want to invite to the family reunion.”

Rhys, as gently as possible, snaps at him. “We’re trying to have a conversation here, Skylar.”

“Please, by all means, go on,” Skylar says, leaning against the wall beside me. “But, before you do, there’s something I want to talk about.”

I roll my eyes, groaning, and wishing I had another joint to light right about now. “Of course you do.”

Skylar ignores my tone and reaches for my free hand. He examines the little flamingo there with interest, and I don’t stop him. Let him look. That and the sweetheart tattoo are all I have left of Elton anyways.

“I want to talk about how you’ve changed, Knox,” he begins, dropping my hand so he can look up at me. “I feel like I haven’t been the nicest to you, and I’m sorry about that.” He looks at Rhys. “He thinks you’ve changed too. We’ve talked about it, but he’s been too stubborn to say it.”

I raise an eyebrow at Rhys, but I don’t find the same enjoyment I used to out of seeing him squirm. “Is that right?”

Rhys grunts under his breath, arms crossed over his chest. “You’ve been less of an asshole lately.”

“And so helpful,” Skylar adds, and there’s genuine excitement in his voice. “I mean, you always say hi to me now when you come in, and you even helped Cassius figure out his new set the other day.”

Yeah, because Cassius really isn’t shit once you get to know him, and he was stressed the fuck out about his new playlist. Saying hi to Skylar, that’s simple enough, because the petite bartender is weirdly easy to please. Still, I shrug. “What’s your point?”

“You’re different now. Kinder, more helpful, and we like this side of you,” Skylar explains, locking his arm around mine. “Like I said, I wanted to apologize. Rhys does too. You’re a good guy, Knox.”

I blush at the compliment and shake my head. “Nah, I’m not worth it. I don’t deserve that.”

“And that just shows how much you’ve changed,” Rhys says. “Before, you would have gloated about us telling you all this shit. You’ve become a better person, even without Elton, and Skylar felt you should know that.”

Skylar narrows his eyes at him. “ Rhys. ”

“Fine!” Rhys shouts, throwing his hands up in the air. “ We thought you should know that.”

Slowly, my razor-lined walls start to chip away. They don’t completely demolish, because that’s not how years of careful crafting crashes, but I start to feel like maybe they have a point. I have been nicer, and it hasn’t been to win Elton back. I just think… I don’t know. People might not be as bad as they seem.

“That’s not actually what I wanted to say to you,” Rhys explains, then throws Skylar an annoyed look. “I have news about Elton.”

My heart skips a beat, and I try to tamp down my eagerness to hear whatever I can about him. “What is it?”

“He’s moving.”

All of a sudden, my lungs run out of air. I drop the joint and stumble back against the wall, only faintly realizing that Skylar’s helping me stand, looking just as surprised as I am. “He’s what?”

“He made his decision last night,” he tells me. “After all the work you’ve put in to not be the worst human on the planet, I thought you should know.”

“He can’t leave,” I stammer out, completely sober now as I shake my head.

If he leaves, then we’re really over. I knew we were, but this just cements it. Any possibility of us reconnecting, even as friends, will go away. But it’s not just that.

Elton loves Miami. He loves living close to his family, and he loves his dream job at the club. It doesn’t make any sense. Unless…

“Is he doing this because of me?” I ask, waiting impatiently for Rhys’s answer. “Fucking tell me.”

“Why do you love him?” Skylar asks out of nowhere. “How do you know?”

I blink at him. “Is this some sort of joke to you?”

Rhys growls. “Just tell us why the fuck you love my best friend or I’m walking away right now.”

I release a deep breath, killing the joint as I prepare myself to bare my soul to the last person on this goddamn planet I’d want anywhere near it. “I’m always laughing when I’m with him. Elton is… He’s my sun. All I want to do is revolve around him. He makes me believe in all the bright and shiny shit life has to offer. No one’s ever seen me the way he has or even cared enough to try. He’s the greatest man on the planet, and I fucking want him back more than anything.”

Rhys rolls his bottom lip in his mouth, nodding along as I finish. Looking to the side, he sucks in a sharp breath before pinching the bridge of his nose. “I can’t believe I’m doing this, but I’m going to help get you two back together.”

All thoughts of being kind and respectful and decent fly out the window. I was so certain there was no future between Elton and I, but Rhys is offering me a lifeline I never expected. I realize now that I’ll fight tooth and nail for what we have, that I never wanted to give up in the first place, but I was convinced it was the only option.

“Oh, yay!” Skylar says, clapping as he hops on his tiptoes. “Can we lock them in a broom closet until they fuck away their problems? We can supply it with canned tuna and energy drinks to make sure they don’t die.”

Rhys shakes his head in bewilderment. “Skylar?—”

I cut him off. Suspicion is all I feel as I narrow my eyes. “This isn’t a fucking joke, Conway. I love him and?—”

“And I’m not fucking joking,” he bites back. He runs a hand down his face and sighs. “Look, it’s obvious I don’t like you, but that doesn’t mean that you’re not good for him. You just have to promise to never fuck up like this again.”

I can’t believe the desperation I’m showing Rhys as I nod quickly, so fucking happy I could hug him. “Shit, never. Never again. I can’t lose him a second time.”

He still looks like he doesn’t believe me, but I don’t comment on that. If getting on Rhys’s good side is what it’ll take to have my sweetheart back in my arms, I’d go as far as to clip his damn toenails for him. Anything to win Elton over and show him how sorry I am.

“He promises he won’t!”

“ Skylar .”

“I’m trying to help!”

Rhys pinches the bridge of his nose in impatience, but the fondness he holds for Skylar isn’t lost in his eyes. “Okay,” he finally says. “First things first, you got to quit this shit.” He points to the joint on the ground. “Are you willing to quit dealing?”

“Yes,” I say. “I was already planning on it.”

Skylar wrinkles his nose. “Wait? Knox is a dealer? What else do I not know?”

Rhys gives him a meaningful look that goes right over his head. He hands me his phone, albeit begrudgingly. “Put in your number and I’ll text you tomorrow morning. Everest and I have a plan.”

Whatever plan they have, I don’t fucking care. I’ll do anything— anything —to get Elton back. He taught me that I have worth, and all it took was Skylar reminding me to believe it. I deserve a chance to tell Elton the full truth, to lay it all out on the table, to give myself one last shot at making both of us happy.

Because I’m worth the second chance.