Chapter 18
Icollapsedonto the couch in the living room, breathing out a sigh of frustration. Marv said something quiet to Knix and Texas who both glanced at me. I didn’t hear what they said but I watched as Knix shook his head and ushered Texas and Marv out the door. As soon as the door was shut behind them, I steeled myself, but Knix didn’t say anything as he strode back into the center of the room, his eyes trailing over me. He took a seat next to me, so close there was no way for me to move away without it being obvious that I didn’t want to touch him. The problem wasn’t that I didn’t want to touch him, though. It was that I did. Verymuch.
I sat forward, edging my elbows close to my sides. “Why did Marv and Texasleave?”
“They have to set up for the next part of our plan,” hesaid.
“Oh.” I scratched a spot on my wrist. “Why aren’t you with them? What’s the next part of theplan?”
“Before I tell you that, can I ask yousomething?”
I paused before nodding. I didn’t know why he felt the need to ask me if he could ask a question. Why he couldn’t just outright askme?
“What did you think of Jonathan andBeth?”
I frowned, confused. “I think they need ourhelp.”
He nodded as if he expected that answer. “And when you asked them to trust us, did you meanusas in you, Marv, Bellamy, Texas, and me or trust us as in me, Marv, Bellamy, andTexas?”
“Does it matter?” I asked, tilting my head to the side. “We’re going to help them as a team, right? If you need me, I’m here to do whatever you need. Why am I here, if I’m not going to help them? I want tohelp.”
Knix smiled, dark-blue eyes sharp. “I’m happy to hear you say that, but I needed to know because as of right now, most of your work is done. We can give you more to do, if you want to stay. But you were here to give a sufficient reason for Marv to be here as a guest. This is a couple’s retreat after all. He needed a date to behere.”
“If you didn’t want me here, you could have just gotten an Iris girl,” I said, recalling the strange conversation I had overheard between Bellamy and Texas. My eyes trailed to the lamp just beyond his head, trying to look away without truly doingso.
“Alex thought you would work well with us,” Knix replied, shifting in his seat to lean closer. My gaze met hisagain.
“Alex isn’t here,” I remindedhim.
Knix nodded. “You’re right, he’s not. I just needed to make sure that you knew if you wanted to leave, youcould.”
I remained quiet for several more moments. Did I want to leave? No, I wanted to stay. I wanted to help Beth and Jonathan. They needed us. It was then, with a jolt, I realized I wanted to be a part of theirus. I wanted to be included so badly and, in a way, I felt like I already was. Looking back at Knix, I noticed him watching me, waitingpatiently.
“Do you want me to stay?” I askedhesitantly.
He rubbed the underside of his jaw as a grin spread across his full lips. “I would like that very much, Little Bit,” he said. “But it isn’t about me right now. This is about what you want. What do you want,Harlow?”
I kept my eyes locked with his. “I want to know more about Iris,” Isaid.
“That’s the choice you have to make then,” Knix replied. “Does your curiosity about Iris overrule your need to helpothers?”
My brows lowered until they formed a V between my eyes. “That doesn’t seem fair,” I said. “Holding information over my head to help people. Shouldn’t you be jumping at the chance to get me on board? Don’t you need myhelp?”
“We could use you, yes.” Knix sucked back a breath, before releasing it in a huff. “But we could survive without you. If you’re going to do this and go any further, you need to be doing it for the rightreasons.”
“And what reasons would those be?” Iasked.
Knix sat up straighter. “You can’t be doing this with the intent to get information. After this job, we may not feel like you’re completelyready.”
“You’re saying that even if I finish this investigation with you,” I began. “You still might not tell me aboutIris?”
“That’sright.”
Knix waited as I turned that over in my mind. This whole time, they had been promising me things about Iris – information, jobs, connections, a network that would help me and my Mom. He was telling me that even if I risk myself in his investigation, I still might not get any reward. Though that thought made me wince, another thought was even more difficult to consider. If I didn’t help, would Beth and Jonathan be okay? Would Mrs. Foster ever get her belongings back? Would whoever was doing this get away with it again? After several long moments of silence between us, I looked back at Knix with determination. He raised onebrow.
“It doesn’t matter,” I said confidently. “You said this is about me, about if I want to continue, but it’s not. It’s about them – Jonathan and his daughter-in-law. It’s about Mrs. Foster. They need help and I want to helpthem.”
It shouldn’t have been such a difficult decision and if I was honest with myself, once I got over the curiosity of Iris, itwasn’t.