Page 21 of Fright Night (Twisted Holidays #3)

TWENTY

OAKLEY

Lunch with Mom and Henry will be even more uncomfortable than the last, and it has nothing to do with the guy seated beside me, his hand hooked around my thigh.

When we first sat at the outdoor dining area of one of Mom’s favourite tea spots, he grabbed my hand, but I asked him not to make it too obvious to them yet.

He listened…only to claim my thigh instead, his fingers digging into my leg. It wouldn’t be surprising if he bruised me, though also not unwelcoming.

“I went a long time without getting to touch you, Trickster,” he explained. “I won’t be living another moment of not.”

How could I argue with that?

When Mom enters the seating area from the restaurant’s entrance, she’s the first to notice our intimate position. Henry’s behind her, tall enough to see over her shoulder, and unlike Mom’s shock, his face reddens, mouth flattening.

I’d expected it. After ignoring his call last night because Knox immediately dragged me to my bedroom, I texted Mom this morning asking them to meet.

A waitress flits over at their arrival and the poor girl’s barely away from the table after taking their drink orders before Henry’s rant booms around the immediate area.

“Why did HR inform me you’ve quit your job?” His question is for me, but his glare is centred on his son, who couldn’t look less affected. “What ideas did he put in your head?”

Not ideas. Realizations.

Needing to defend him, I lean over until Henry is forced to shift his attention to me—the person whose job is the topic in question. After Knox fucked me a few times last night, I sent the email off.

“I quit because I’ll be applying to the local college to eventually open my own business.”

“That isn’t the plan,” he sneers.

“No. It’s not your plan. You got me the job to keep me close so I could learn from you. You wanted me to fall in love with politics.”

Mom chooses that moment to get involved, stretching her hand across the table.

She’s always tried to play peacekeeper between Knox and his father, and now I’m included in the sides—Knox’s side.

“Honey, Henry’s done everything to help you get ahead.

Why would you want to go into debt with school and a business that might fail within the first year? ”

For thirty-thousand reasons.

Knox’s fingers dig into my thigh, annoyed by Mom’s insult—as am I. “Why would you assume your daughter would do anything but succeed?” he snaps, voice sharp. “You saw yesterday’s event for yourself; she’s fuckin’ good at what she does.”

“Knox,” Henry hisses, his attention flicking to where Knox is attached to me. “Why are you even here? This is a family matter.”

“He is family,” I argue, despite everything he and I have done this week that implies otherwise.

At the same time, Knox shrugs. “One day I plan on marrying into Oakley’s family, so figured I should see all the drama for myself.”

Mom’s mouth slips open, but it’s Henry’s fist coming down on the table that rattles my teacup. My face is hot because that isn’t how I imagined telling them.

Shaking my head, I return to Mom’s earlier question. “How can I fail if I’ve never tried?”

A different waitress than the one who took Mom and Henry’s orders returns with a tray holding two tea cups. She rests them on the table, scans the rest of us but pauses on me. “Hey, you were working the Halloween event on the thirtieth. I remember you; I asked you for directions.”

Knox leans around me. “She was in charge of it.”

The waitress’s smile expands. “No way. Best Halloween event of the past few years. My daughter and her friends raved about it all day yesterday. They loved the House of Mirrors.”

“Thank you.” Her compliment couldn’t have come at a better time, to help make my points. Points I technically don’t have to prove either.

Mom and Henry shift in their seats, but having said what I did, the topic of my career is finished. They can’t force me to work at City Hall and they can’t ban me from attending school. If it all blows up and fails, at least I tried.

Knox squeezes my thigh—something Henry latches on again, his eyes narrowing. “Did I not tell you to leave her alone?”

He did?

“You did,” Knox agrees.

“And?”

“And since when do I listen to you? I wanted her, she wanted me. The rest isn’t your business.”

“Oak?” Mom looks at me, imploring for the truth but feeling every level of embarrassment, and I only nod. “You two are siblings.”

“ Step siblings,” we both chime, and then Knox adds, “For a year before my arrest. We were basically roommates and nothing more.”

Mom purses her lips but smiles faintly, suggesting she’s on her way to accepting it. Henry, however…is beet red.

“ No. Knox, I told you to not go near her. You ruin everything you touch, and you’ll drag Oakley down too. You’re about to destroy this girl, mark my words. For once in your life, stop being selfish.”

Every fight I heard between them in the past returns with a hard hit. He was cruel back then, but he can’t have that kind of power over Knox anymore. Knox helped me; I’ll help him.

My hand lowers on top of his.

“Why do you hate your son? Why are you so determined to push him out of this family? Most importantly, why did you hit him all those times?” My voice lowers to not be overheard by other tables, though I really should be louder.

Should speak up and announce to the town that the family man image of their mayor is quick to throw things at his son in a fit of rage.

“Why was nothing Knox ever did good enough?”

Knox’s hand flips until he’s gripping mine. “Trickster?—”

“No.” I direct my glare to him for a moment, shaking my head until he understands why this is too important to let up on.

“You hated Knox for your wife leaving. It wasn’t fair to him then or now.

Henry, thank you for caring about my mom and me, but this family isn’t the town. You can’t manage us all.”

And then, Knox’s hand in mine, I pull him to his feet, reminiscent of the time he tugged me out of an uncomfortable brunch.

Knox casts a mocking salute to his father, a nod for Mom, and we leave the restaurant. Once safely on the sidewalk and away from them, he swings me to a stop, backing me into the brick wall of the next shop over.

“I think I fucking love you, Trickster. No one’s ever stood up for me like that. You went from once getting me in shit to defending me. You’re exhausting to keep up with.”

“Get used to it. As long as we’re together, I’ll defend your actions to anyone.”

“Yeah?” His hand trails down my back, pausing on my ass, and his tone turns me into mush. “If I get on my knees for you here and we’re charged with public indecency, you’ll defend my actions then too? Explain that seeing my girl fight her parents makes me so fucking hungry?”

“Well, if that’s what you want, I happen to know the maze isn’t being taken down for another few hours.”

Knox grabs my hand and yanks me down the street and in the direction of the park.