I finish up and put the stuff away. “Tess, can you drive me to the store real fast? I want to pick up something for pain. He’s going to need it.” She nods, and I place a light kiss to Knox’s lips before heading out. “I’ll be right back, okay?”
“You better.”
Just as we walk out the door, I hear Stone snort. “So much for just fucking around. You’re so whipped.”
And yeah, maybe I feel the slightest bit of pride for that.
I LAY WITH MY head in Knox’s lap, looking over each one of his tattoos while his eyes stay fixated on the movie. The bruises on his chest and stomach are brutal, but he doesn’t seem to have any internal injuries—thank God.
“I can’t believe Carter did this to you.”
That gets his attention, and he looks down at me. “He’s not the guy you think he is.”
The corners of my mouth raise. “Funny, that’s what I’ve been telling everyone about you.”
“Don’t do that,” he groans. “I have a reputation to uphold. You’ll go making me look like a total softie.”
“Aren’t you?”
Poking me in the side, he makes me squirm. “Fuck no. It’s just hard to be an ass to you.”
“I seem to remember you having no issue in the beginning.”
“Yes, but that was before you won me over with your fiery personality and tendency to not listen to a damn thing I say.”
“And here I thought I was just a ploy to make a certain prep-school douchebag jealous.”
He smirks. “That’s just a nice bonus.”
Wincing, he moves to the side to slip out from under me and then gets up. As he’s walking away, I notice the tattoos that cover his back. A rose on his shoulder blade. Praying hands on the other side. “Fear No Evil. Trust No Man.” inked across the top in fancy writing. They’re all a beautiful part of him.
“What do your tattoos mean?”
He shrugs, playing it off like it’s nothing as he rummages through the kitchen cabinets. “Just things I liked at the time.”
“You hardly seem like the kind of person to get things permanently on your skin with no reason at all.”
Stopping what he’s doing for a second, he looks at me and smiles. “You’re impossible, you know that?”
I bite my lip. “Yeah.”
After a couple minutes, Knox comes over with a bottle of Jack Daniels and two shot glasses. I eye it all carefully before giving him a look.
“I’ll make you a deal,” he starts. “For every shot you take, I’ll tell you about one of my tattoos.”
“That’s hardly fair. If I want to find out all of them, I’ll end up in the hospital with alcohol poisoning.”
He thinks for a second before nodding. “Okay, one shot for two tattoos.”
When I don’t argue it further, he pours some of the alcohol into each glass. I’ve spent the last eighteen years not letting a single drop touch my tongue, but somehow, right now, I want to. I want to experience everything with him. It’s like the thrill of doing something new gets me high, but only when he’s there to do it with me.
He hands me a shot glass and gives me one of his heart-stopping smiles. Even all bruised up, he’s so fucking hot.
“Cheers.”
We swallow the liquid at the same time, and it burns my throat the whole way down. I grimace, shaking my head and rubbing my tongue on the roof of my mouth to try to get rid of the taste.
“Oh God, that’s disgusting.”