Page 97 of The Quiet After The Fall

He holds down his horn, cursing. “Some asshole just cut me off.”

A black Jeep sits at an angle in front of us, blocking the lane. I know it’s Knox immediately and I don’t know whether to be relieved or irritated. My heart does a little flip though, answering for me.

The driver’s door flies open and Knox strides over to us, his aviators hiding most of his face. He wrenches my door open before I can even reach for the handle, and the second he sees me, he lifts his glasses onto his head. I brace for anger. For him to ream me out for leaving. But there’s only relief in his expression.

“You’re okay. Thank God.”

Chapter 25

Knox

Idon’t remember the drive from my parents’ house. There was only the tracker, her dot miles away from Miriam’s property on my screen and ten different disaster scenarios in my head while I followed it.

My mother’s voice kept playing on loop as I drove. Where else am I supposed to go? Her resigned words tangled up with the knowledge that Sawyer could be in trouble, hammered the same point home. My father destroys people, sometimes so slowly they don’t even realize it’s happening. I’m done letting him hurt anyone else I love.

By the time I spot the car on the road ahead, I don’t think, I just react, cutting the wheel hard and sliding in front of it before my brain fully registers what I’m doing.

I’m out of my Jeep before the driver lets up on the horn, pulling the back door open to find her sitting there, paper scattered in her lap, blinking up at me like I’ve lost my mind.

And maybe I have.

But seeing her, whole and unharmed has every ounce of tension draining from my body. “You’re okay. Thank God.”

“Knox, what the hell! You can’t just cut people off like that!” She glances at the Uber driver, apologizing profusely while climbing out. “What’s wrong with you?”

“I panicked.” There’s no denying it. I was out of my mind with worry the second I saw her dot moving on the road.

I slip the driver a generous tip and wave him on, and by the time his taillights disappear around the bend, it’s just the two of us standing on the shoulder of a quiet road about half a mile from Miriam’s fence line.

“You could’ve just called me,” she says, arms crossed.

“I did call. You didn’t answer.” I reach for her hand, needing to feel her skin on mine. “I thought something happened to you. I wasn’t going to wait to find out.”

“I’m sorry.” Her voice softens, some of the irritation leaving her face. “I needed to see my mom and I was going crazy being stuck in there.”

“I get it. I just wish you’d have told me first.”

She closes the distance between us, wrapping her arms around my waist. “You were really scared, weren’t you?”

“Fucking terrified.” I tilt her chin up and kiss her, feeling the last bit of tension leave my shoulders. When we break apart, she’s smiling. “Let me park, and when we get back to the house, I’ll show you just how happy I am to see you.”

I press one more kiss to her forehead before pulling back, reluctant to let go of her even for the thirty seconds it’ll take to move the Jeep. I jog back to where I left it swerved half in the road, shaking my head at the dick move I pulled, park on the shoulder and lock it up before jogging back to her. She’s waiting with her arms crossed, and a brow raised.

“You do realize how insane that was, right?” she deadpans, but there’s amusement underneath. “Like full on movie stalker energy. I was half expecting you to backflip out of the Jeep in slow motion.”

“You keep calling me a stalker like it’s a bad thing.” I take her hand and lace my fingers through hers, starting for the shade of the woods. “And yeah, I know now it was a bit much, but it worked.” I shrug, cutting through branches and leading us deeper.

“A bit much? That Uber driver probably needs therapy now.” She laughs, ducking under a branch I hold back for her.

“Eh, he’ll be fine.” I glance back, and the rest of my thought gets stuck in my throat. The sight of her illuminated by golden light cutting through the branches, that stubborn teasing look on her face, undoes me completely.

I pull her against the nearest tree before she can get another word out, my mouth finding hers hard and hungry. I don’t have any more patience left in me. Not after the terror of the unknown, not with her looking so fucking perfect.

“Knox.” It’s a half laugh, half gasp against my mouth.

“Need you.” I drag my lips down her throat, undoing the button on her shorts. “Right now. I can’t wait.”

“We’re literally in the woods.” But her hands are already fisting my shirt, pulling me closer instead of pushing me away.