Page 70 of Find Me

“You said that there was someone in the house and that we needed to leave before he found us.”

“That’s really strange,” I said, shifting my weight from one foot to the other. “But that’s dreams for you.”

Knox’s eyes narrowed as he studied me. “You’d be a terrible poker player, Shiloh.”

Alright, I was done with this conversation. “Where are Colt and Creed?”

“They should be home any moment. They went out to get fresh bagels for breakfast,” Keelan replied.

Knox never took his eyes off me and it was making me want to squirm. I looked from him to Keelan. I knew they were waiting for me to elaborate and I could see the questions they were dying to ask. “You know what? I’m not really hungry,” I said, stepping back. “I better get my run in before it gets too hot out. Don’t you guys have to get ready for work?” I rambled before spinning on my heel and heading for the door.

“Who’s Mr. X?” Knox asked.

I stumbled to a stop and slowly turned around. I didn’t want to believe it. I begged the powers above that I was hearing things. “What did you just say?”

Knox’s gaze was intense and unrelenting. “Who is Mr. X?”

24

The walls feltlike they were closing in on me as the panic rose and rose in my chest. “Where did you hear that?” I asked.

Knox stood in front of the couch and stepped toward me. I took a step back. He frowned at that, but didn’t make another move closer. “After I got you to settle down and it was just the two of us out here, I asked you again, ‘Who is in the house?’ You said, ‘Mr. X.’”

I rubbed at my breastbone as I tried to pull air into my lungs. What should I do? What could I say? “I have to go.”

I bolted for the door again. Before I could get there, it opened. Colt and Creed walked in, carrying two brown bags from a bakery nearby. They took one look at me, then their brothers, and I could see that they knew what we were discussing.

Creed shut the door behind them and handed off his bag of bagels to Colt, who took off toward the kitchen with them. “You were supposed to wait until we got back to talk to her,” Creed said, glaring at Knox and Keelan.

“Well, things didn’t go as planned,” Knox said, sounding irritated. “She’s refusing to talk, anyways.”

“Why don’t we all sit down?” Keelan suggested as he rounded the couch. He and Knox took a seat next to each other.

Creed tried to reach for my hand, and I jerked out of his reach. I hated the look of hurt that flashed in his eyes. “Shiloh,” he said. “You can’t blame us for having questions after last night.”

“I’m sorry you had to deal with that,” I forced out.

“Stop doing that,” Knox snapped. “Nothing about you is a burden. That’s not what this is about.”

Creed inched closer. “We’ve tried to not pry and wait for you to be ready to talk to us, but—”

“Please don’t,” I pleaded. This was it. This was the moment I’d known was coming.

“You don’t trust us,” Knox said.

The backs of my eyes began to burn. “I do trust you.”

Knox shook his head. “Then what’s the issue, Shiloh? We spend practically every day together. We share things with you, but you barely share anything with us and when things happen with you, like last night, you expect us to ignore it.”

I understood his point. I really did. But my fear of telling them anything wasn’t the only thing holding me back.

Colt returned with his hands stuffed in his pockets and had a dejected look on his face. “You scared the shit out of all of us last night, babe. But we’re still here. I don’t know what else we have to do to prove to you that you can talk to us and that you won’t scare us away.”

A single tear escaped my eye. “I can’t tell you.”

“Can’t or won’t?” Knox asked.

“I can’t.”