Page 21 of Knox

Knox took the money, his fingers brushing against Adrian’s hand briefly—a touch that sent an electric shiver down Adrian’s spine.

"Thank you," Knox said simply.

Adrian nodded, unable to form words as Knox turned back toward the entrance ofSerenity Now.

Adrian watched Knox step into the establishment, the door closing with a soft click that echoed in the pit of his stomach. The incubus moved with a confident stride, unaware of the turmoil he left behind. Adrian’s hands clenched into fists at his sides, nails digging into his palms.

He couldn’t follow. His legs felt like lead, rooting him to the spot. His mind raced with images he couldn’t banish—Knox with someone else, feeding off their desire. It was wrong. All wrong.

The bile rose in his throat, and Adrian swallowed hard, fighting the urge to retch right there on the sidewalk. He pressed a hand against his stomach, willing the nausea to pass.

Why hadn’t he offered himself? Why had he let Knox walk in there alone?

Bitter regret clawed at him, and he fumbled for his phone, needing something—anything—to distract himself from his thoughts. He opened his group chat.

While he had been busy, Daniel and Leon had chatted about the news reports. Apparently, they were mostly convinced now that Adrian hadn’t been bullshitting them last night.

Good.

Because Adrian really needed to discuss his bizzare adventure with someone.

TheRealisticRomantic:He just walked into a brothel.

LiteraryLion:Okay, I knew this was going to get weird, but I didn’t think it would get brothel weird this fast.

BookBoyfriendLover69:Wait, hold on, rewind. You’re talking about Knox? Why is he in a brothel??? Are you seriously pimping out your book boyfriend?

TheRealisticRomantic:I’m not pimping him out! He needs… a way to regain his magic. Because of the Shadow King. It’s complicated.

LiteraryLion:Yeah, "complicated" is one word for it. "Apocalyptic" is another. Did you see what happened to that bank downtown?

BookBoyfriendLover69:It’s like all our "what if the characters were real" fantasies just came true… and then went horribly, horribly wrong.

TheRealisticRomantic:Tell me about it. I’m freaking out here!

LiteraryLion:So you took Knox to a brothel? Are you sure that’s a good idea?

BookBoyfriendLover69:Hey, if the world’s ending, might as well go out with a bang, right? Get it? Bang? (laughing emoji)

TheRealisticRomantic:Not helping, Daniel.

BookBoyfriendLover69:Sorry, sorry. But seriously, you okay with this? I mean… You worship that man. Why did you send him to a brothel instead of helping him regain his magic yourself?

TheRealisticRomantic:I do not worship him.

Adrian glared at his phone.

It took less than two minutes for Leon to send three links into the chat, all pointing to different blog posts Adrian had made over the past month. ‘10 Reasons Knox from Monsters of Veridia is the best incubus ever written,’ and‘Sinful things I would do if incubi were real’and ‘Why monsters are the better boyfriends.’

Adrian cursed under his breath. He’d written those blog posts back when Knox wasn’t real. Wasn’t that the entire point of having a book boyfriend? That he wasn’t real?

It was only imaginary people who could be hot and perfect in every way all the time.

Reality always disappointed.

Reality was scary.

Adrian started typing again.