Page 85 of Knox's Boy

"I am the champion of the sea!" Luna declared, surfacing from a dive and shaking her head like a wet dog. She looked at Knox. "Tell him I won our war."

"I fear my judgment might be biased," Knox called back, his voice amused.

"You have to get in. We need an impartial judge for the tie-breaker," I told him with my best puppy eyes.

Knox raised an eyebrow. "I'm not sure I'm impartial."

"Get in!" Luna chanted, slapping the water. "Get in! Get in!"

Knox stood up. “Okay. Give me a second.”

I raised my eyebrows, surprised, not expecting him to actually go change. Luna looked like she had just won the lottery.

“He's actually alright,” she whispered to me. I couldn't hide my delighted face.

He came back a minute later, dropped the towel to reveal simple black swim trunks. My breath caught in my throat; it always did when I saw him nearly bare. The scars, the muscle, the presence of him. He was fucking hot. Like God-tier.

He walked to the steps and descended with dignity, avoiding the cannonball route. The water lapped against his chest as he waded toward us.

"The shark has entered the tank," Luna whispered loudly to me.

"Attack!" I exclaimed.

We both splashed him simultaneously.

Knox sputtered, wiping water from his face, looking shocked for a split second before a mischievous grin broke across his features. "Oh, is that how it is?"

He lunged.

He caught me, easily scooping me up and tossing me around like a little doll. He turned on Luna, who shrieked and tried to swim away. She was successful; he wouldn't touch her without permission, but he still pretended to do his best, while still holding me close.

We spent the next hour in chaos. At one point, Knox had me on his shoulders while Luna tried to knock me off with a pool noodle she'd found.

He never left me for long, and I realized he still worried about me in the pool, even though I was much more confident now. He reached out, pulling me against his wet chest, his arms slippery and strong. He kissed my wet forehead.

"Happy?" he murmured against my skin.

I looked at Luna, who was floating nearby.

"Yeah," I whispered, holding onto him tight. "Yeah, I'm so happy."

Chapter 36. Knox

When my phone rang and I saw the name on the screen, a cold knot tightened instantly at the base of my spine. Mrs. Prentiss, my mother's live-in nurse, never called during the day unless something was wrong.

The quarterly reports for the Asian manufacturing division were spread across my desk, a sea of numbers and projections that usually had my absolute focus. But that afternoon, the figures blurred. I picked it up. "Hey."

"Mr. Knox," her voice was thin, pulled with a concern that she rarely displayed. “It's your mother, sir. She's having one of her episodes. Her breathing is a bit shallow, and I've called Dr. Winters as a precaution. She's asking for you, though, and I thought you might want to know."

"I’m coming."

I ended the call and stood. For a moment, I simply stared at the mahogany desk. I took a breath and walked out of the study.

I found Florian in the living room. He was sprawled on the rug, surrounded by textbooks, a yellow highlighter clampedbetween his teeth like a cigar. He looked up as I entered, his eyes bright and teasing, ready to make a bratty comment about me interrupting his academic genius. But the smile died the instant he saw my face.

He scrambled to his feet, the highlighter dropping to the carpet. "Daddy? What’s wrong?"

I stopped in the center of the room, feeling uncharacteristically exposed. I was the one who provided stability. I was the mountain. But right now, the ground felt like it was shifting under my feet.