Knox Overstreet Novels & Stories

But I didn’t have long before a familiar shadow fell across my table. Knox. “Hey,” he greeted. “Hey,” I replied. He slid into the seat across from me, casually balancing his tray with the ease of someone used to drawing every eye in the room without even trying. "Did you hear the latest?” he gestured vaguely at the surrounding chatter. “Apparently, I’m throwing the party of the decade tonight.” “So I’ve heard.” “You’ve heard it too, huh?” His tone was half amused, half resigned. “Glad someone told you,” he added dryly. “I found out on my way in.”

I'm wearing a sundress with no bra or underwear. If he's going to devour me, I'm not going to make him work for access. The door is slightly open. I push it wider and step inside. Knox is standing at the window, his back to me, hands in his pockets. White button-down, sleeves rolled to his elbows. He doesn’t have a tie this morning, which makes a lot of sense seeing the time. He doesn't turn around. "Close the door." I do. The lock clicks into place, and the sound echoes through the silent room.

He seemed so serious all the time. "Had to if I'm going to be stuck with you for a week." Despite myself I found a smile working its way onto my face. "Why do you sound like you just woke up?" "Sorry I've been working the last four hours." I heard shuffling through the phone as if Knox was moving somewhere. "Where do you work?" "Uh at Fountain Web." "Isn't that the huge building on Tenth Street?" "Yeah." "What kind of business is it?" I held back a laugh at the fact he knew nothing about Fountain Web. Most people don't really know what kind of stuff Fountain Web does but when I say the name they know its a huge deal.

EMBER’S POV It’s bigger than I expected — industrial, clearly some kind of converted warehouse, but someone has made an effort to make it livable. There’s a couch, a kitchen area, a table covered in papers and tablets and what look like security reports. Knox is standing at the counter with his back to me, dressed in fresh clothes, his hair still damp. He’s gripping the edge of the counter hard enough that his knuckles have gone white. He turns when he hears me.

He simply wanted to make his sister happy. “I have good news!” Knox said in an attempt to make Kirsten happy and he successfully made it as her eyes lit up. “I joined an inter school photography competition and I won first place.” “Really!” Kirsten, Gillian and Klaire exclaimed in unison. Knox nodded happily. “This was my winning entry.” It was only when Knox lifted the portrait that Kirsten noticed what Knox was carrying. Unwrapping the portrait to reveal what was his entry, Kirsten waited in anticipation thinking that it must be beautiful that it gained first place.

We weren’t expecting anyone. “Come in,” I muttered when the knock came again. My heart dropped when Adrian made his entry holding a dinosaur plush toy. “Hey, you.” Adrian beamed at Knox. Oblivious Knox smiled back at him and I almost melted into the chair at their striking resemblance. “Hello. Mummy, is he your friend?” Knox asked. “Oh, I am more than a friend of mummy’s. I am Adrian Sterling. What is your name?” He inquired. “Knox. I like your name.”

"See... I told you." Knox, catching on to the nature of our discussion, feigned indignation with a playful undertone. "So you all have been discussing my chest while I was asleep? Awe, I feel special. I mean... A little creeped out, but still...Special." Not missing a beat, Kael splashed water in Knox's direction with a playful retort. "No, dick, we were talking about our own chests, not yours. Don't flatter yourself." Knox, totally unfazed, reclined on the pool chair, his grin wide and unapologetically cheeky. "Because that is any less weird than sitting around half-naked with our girl talking about mine?"

He looked at the door, then at Tate’s back, then at the wet mark on the comforter. “Cole’s gonna be back,” he said. “I know.” Knox stood. He went to the bathroom and came back with a towel. He tossed it. Tate cleaned up as much as a towel could do. He pulled his sweats on. The inside of his thigh was still slick. He would feel Knox every time he sat down on the bus. That felt like the point. Knox dressed fast. Shirt. Hoodie. He checked the peephole. Hall empty. He turned the deadbolt back.

Knox is a sweet kid but if there’s one thing everybody knows him for, it is that he is a chronic wanderer of the ladies skirts. So although he was masking his intentions as nothing but a warm compliment, I really I’m not having it. And deep down in my heart, I just want to punch the teeth out of his mouth. “Oh no, it’s fine. I got your thoughtful gift. It was quite a lot of gold.” He waves me off, smiling, with his eyes occasionally still flicking to where she is standing. “I must say, you picked a real one. Look at her, she’s so… so damn elegant.”

Knox’s lips twitched like he was holding back a laugh. “So are you,” he replied, his voice dipping to something almost velvet. “In heels, I imagine.” There it was. A flicker of something dangerous behind the tease. His eyes dipped once more to my legs and the stretch of skin between the hem of my shorts and the top of my thighs. I felt the heat rise to my cheeks. Jared didn’t catch the undertone, too busy grinning proudly at both of us. “Knox has been off-grid forever. I wasn’t sure he’d even show,” Jared said, throwing an arm around my waist.