Knox
“Are you still pissed with me about prom night?”
It’s the first thing that pops out of my mouth as Reese and I stare at each other. Ten years have passed, yet it’s like I’m eighteen years old all over again as my rival narrows her eyes at me. God, I’ve missed that look. Even when she’s glaring at me, she’s still breath-takingly beautiful.
Once upon a time, I mistook that beauty for kindness. I thought Reese was perfect. She was smart, stunning, and I thought she liked me the way I liked her. Then I learned it was all an act – that I was her little charity project, and she didn’t care about me at all. I felt like the biggest fool in the world, and I set out to take revenge.
“Ten years was a long time ago, Knox. I’m over what happened.”
Judging by the slightly pinched expression my old rival is wearing on her beautiful face, she’s lying. And since I took her to prom with the express purpose of humiliating her, I owe her an apology.
“For what it’s worth, I’m sorry for using our bet to ditch you at Prom.”
The stunt I pulled was stupid and immature, and I don’t need a therapist or anyone to tell me that I took the resentment I felt towards my father and the town out on her.
More than once, I’ve looked back and winced at how well I misdirected my anger, but I’d feel a lot worse about what happened that night if Reese wanted to go to prom with me. She still spent the night dancing with Gabe, just as she planned to. All I did was derail her night a little.
“Thank you,” she says stiffly.
“I actually flew up on Saturday, hoping to have this conversation with you then.”
“You did?”
I nod. “I thought that since what happened was personal, we should keep it separate from work.”
I made two trips to her place, one on Saturday and one yesterday, but she wasn’t there. Subsequently, I came here early this morning hoping I’d get lucky and run into her before work started. I thought I’d hit pay dirt when I saw Reese sitting in her car – a silver beamer.
“Sorry, I was…out for the weekend.”
“With Max Theroux?” I ask.
The question tastes slightly bitter and I despise myself for asking it. I don’t care who she dates, it’s just that out of all the guys for her to wind up with, of course she’s dating Max. The guy went to the private school with my brother. He’s another Magpie Grove heir born and bred for success. No doubt Reese’s dad approves of her choice of partner in a way he never would have approved of me.
She raises an eyebrow. “You know who I’m dating?”
“Max and Brendan are friends. He mentioned you two are seeing each other.”
“I didn’t realise that you and Brendan still speak.”
Now it’s my turn to raise my eyebrow. “You know how much I speak with my brother?”
“I…” she shakes her head. “No. I just…you two were never on good terms. I mean, you hated him a lot when you first moved to Magpie Grove.”
“I hated him for a long time, but time has made me wiser. Anyway,” I say, trying to pull the conversation back on track. “Again, I’m sorry.”
Reese offers me a forced smile. “Consider it water under the bridge.”
“I hope you mean that because we’ll be working together for the next month,” I say.
“Knox, I don’t think about the prom, or you, at all.”
Her comment needles me and throws me back ten years, to when I heard her tell Bex that I was her charity project, dismissing everything I thought we had. Not in so many words, but I read between the lines.
I’m not that angry, resentful boy anymore, though. I’m a successful and well-known journalist, on the fast track to becoming the youngest editor at The Melbourne Tribune. I don’t need anyone’s approval anymore. Not Reese’s or her father’s. Not this town’s. And certainly not my father’s.
Though, proving to my father that some bat-shit-crazy marriage therapist duped him is something I’m very much looking forward to.
“I’m heading inside, are you coming?” she asks, sidestepping me and heading towards the unremarkable grey concrete office building.
I pick up the laptop bag I dropped at my feet when Reese stumbled, about to follow her when the sight of the familiar logo on the papers cluttering up her backseat of her car catches my eyes. I peer into her back window for a moment before chuckling to myself and jogging to catch up with her.
“I thought you said you haven’t thought about me, but you’ve been keeping tabs on me, Cameron.”
“What?” she asks, not glancing at me as she continues marching towards the office building.
“Your backseat is full of Tribune papers.”
She nearly missteps and I cup her elbow to make sure she doesn’t faceplant.
“They’re not…” Her face flushes as she stops to glare at me, causing me to keep grinning like a fool. “I was researching your style. I thought it was a good idea since we’re going to be working together.”
She’s known about us working together since when? Thursday? Friday? She had at least ten papers in her backseat.
“Don’t be embarrassed about it,” I tell her, loving the fact she’s been reading my work. “I’ve kept tabs on you, too.”
She starts to deny she’s been tracking my progress before her brows draw together. “You have?”
“Sure,” my grin widens. “I’ve missed our rivalry. No one gives me as good a run for my money as you once did.”
After prom, Reese refused to speak to me. I expected her to hate me after the stunt I pulled, but I wasn’t ready for her to pretend I no longer existed. Instead of our back and forth, and our bets, and her glares, she iced me out. And when she stopped competing with me…well, I missed it. More than I expected to. Even winning the internship felt hollow without Reese to bet against. To taunt.
I’ve never found another rival worthy of my time over the past decade, and from time to time curiosity dictated I look her up to see what she was up to. It pleased me when she took a job here – that she didn’t let the fact I won the internship stop her from working here.
“Ditto,” she says quietly, as if it pains her. “But we aren’t rivals for the next month.”
“If it’s all water under the bridge, you’re not going to have any issue putting what happened behind us?” I ask, studying her carefully.
“None at all.”
“Good.”
“Good,” she repeats.
“I’m glad you’re able to be so professional about this.”
She rolls her eyes and begins marching towards the office again. “Are you coming or not?”
For a moment, I’m spellbound by the sway of her hips and the way her pencil skirt hugs her arse before my brain kicks in and I catch up, falling into step beside her.
Reese is with Max, and even if she wasn’t, I’m here to deliver on the promises I made my boss. That means keeping my eyes on the prize, not reminiscing and rehashing history with my old rival.
After walking into the building foyer, Reese presses the up arrow next to the lift and we wait in silence for the elevator. Once the car reaches the ground floor, we step in. She keeps her eyes locked on the doors as we ride up to level three, and though I know I shouldn’t indulge my curiosity, I take advantage of the moment to let my gaze slide over her.
Her curves are a little fuller than there ten years ago, and her dark hair is longer, hanging in soft waves to her waist. But everything else is the same, the long and shapely legs, dark and expressive eyes, the high cheek bones, button nose and full luscious mouth.
Desire punches me in the gut, heat hitting the pit of my stomach as I remember the way her lips felt against mine. Kissing her hadn’t been part of my plan on prom night, but the girl was pure temptation, and I’d fantasized about her for too long to deny myself the privilege. It was just a soft and innocent kiss to start with, but the cherry lip gloss coating her lips and the alcohol she’d consumed made me feel drunk. She kissed me back as if she wanted me as much as I wanted her, as if she craved me the way I craved her. I’d been lost in the moment, lost in her tentative and teasing kiss; I never wanted it to end.
When Taya appeared to remind me that I was supposed to be taking her to prom, I wanted to deny it. I would have done anything to turn back the clock and take back my stupid plan, make Taya’s words untrue. But I was too late. And Reese didn’t want my apology, she wanted Gabe.
Wrestling my gaze from her mouth, I force myself to stop reliving the hottest kiss of my high school days.
“I’m sure you remember where everything is,” Reese says as the elevator dings, letting us know we’ve reached our level.
Stepping out, we walk up to the large glass door that leads into The Sun’s office, and Reese scans her pass, letting us in.
It’s almost exactly as I remember it, a large open-plan space with plush dark grey carpet and light grey chairs at each desk. The desks are newer and there are more pot plants for the cleaners to water, but not much else has changed.
Reese points to the left. “The Men’s Room is that way, in case you’ve forgotten. I have no idea where you’ll be sitting, so you’ll have to ask Bob when he comes in.”
“Bob.” I repeat. “What’s he like as a boss?”
She turns to face me. “Bob’s a great guy. I know you used to work under Jensen when…”
She trails off and I can’t help but smirk. “When I won the internship.”
Her eyes narrow and she crosses her arms. “Because popularity won over quality.”
I chuckle. “You’re still banging that drum, I see.”
“Now and forever.”
I can’t stop smiling, and when I see her lips quirk up at the corners and she begins to return my smile, I feel my stomach dip the same way it does when I get a good lead on a story.
“Did you know they asked me to be the end of the year speaker?” I ask.
I hadn’t planned to mention that. Beyond apologising for the past, I had no intention of referencing our senior year or bringing up our old rivalry, but Reese is sharp as a whip and being around her has always brought out my super-competitive side. Seeing those papers in her backseat poured fuel on the flames of the competitive spirit that burns inside me. Knowing that she’s been reading my work and keeping tabs on me makes me want to challenge her and compete with her.
Her small smile turns into a frown. “They did?”
“They did. Do you think two rival seniors debated the pros and cons of who should be the end of year guest speaker?”
“If they did, I hope neither were stupid enough to make a bet about it,” she mutters, looking away.
“Nothing wrong with a good bet, Cameron. As long as it’s not made by an idiot like me who took things too far.”
Dark brown eyes lock with mine, and I glimpse an emotion I can’t read flash in her eyes before she turns away from me again.
I should tread more carefully. No matter how much she brings out the desire to challenge myself by provoking her, reigniting our old rivalry isn’t the best idea. We’re supposed to be working together, not competing.
She starts moving again through the maze of desks. “My desk is over here.”
Reese parks her bag on her desk, throws her jacket over her chair, then walks away. For lack of anything better to do, I put my laptop down on her desk and follow her into the staff kitchen.
“Mugs are in the cupboard to your right,” she says. “Sugar is on the bench. Milk is in the fridge. Would you like coffee?” she asks politely.
“Coffee would be great, thanks,” I tell her, taking two mugs out of the cupboard she just pointed to.
“A cappuccino?”
“Please.”
“So, how long have you been working on this story?” she asks, taking one of the mugs I hand her and sliding it under the machine before pressing the button that causes the machine to whir to life.
“A couple of weeks,” I say. “What about you?”
She frowns. “A couple of months.”
I wince inwardly. She’s been looking into Von Gruber for longer than I have, and right now she’s probably wondering whether I’ll have anything of value to add to her months of research.
She hands me a mug of coffee that smells pretty good, and I hand her the second mug so that she can make hers.
“Can I look at what you’ve got so far?” I ask once she’s finished making coffee.
After a curt nod, we walk back to her desk, coffees in hand, and she boots up her laptop. I grab the back of the seat from the desk behind hers, swinging it around so that I can sit next to her. I watch as she unlocks one of her drawers, pulling out a bulky manila folder. As soon as she hands it to me, I open it, shock making my eyes bulge as I see the face on the papers staring back at me.
The moment I look down and see the face on the papers staring up at me, I look at Reese. “This is-”
“My brother. But I don’t want you to think this is just…personal for me. I mean it is personal, but there’s so much more to this story.”
“Don’t sweat it, Cameron. My father went to the retreat a month ago and my brother asked me to look into the place when Dad got back.”
“I didn’t know that.”
“Now you do.” I put the papers down on the desk and take my USB drive out of my laptop bag, handing it to her. “And the details are on here. I doubt I have the same depth to my research yet, but I might have a couple of things you missed.”
She thanks me, sits down, and plugs the drive into her laptop.
We spend the next few minutes wading through each other’s research. When I’m done with her file, I put it on her desk and she hands my USB stick back to me.
“Well?” I ask.
Crossing her arms, she says, “You’ve managed to compile a lot of information in a couple of weeks.”
I can’t help but smile. It’s obvious she hates letting me know I’ve done a good job. “You’re impressed,” I tell her. “It’s okay, Reese. You can admit it.”
“I wouldn’t use the word impressed.”
I chuckle. “Then neither will I.”
Her research is more than thorough. She works logically and methodically; the interviews she’s taken, her notes and her clippings are all perfectly ordered.
“That’s Bob,” Reese says as the door to the office opens.
The man walking into the office is tall, maybe six-five, and in his early fifties. His dark hair is streaked with grey, and he looks like he hasn’t slept in a decade. Fortunately, his arrival stops me from continuing my conversation with Reese. It’s too easy to spar with her. Too easy to try and provoke a reaction from her. Too easy to go back to the way we used to do things and the way we used to be together, and I need to stop that behaviour. Because we’re not high schoolers. Not anymore.
I stand up as he walks towards us.
Serious grey eyes appraise me as he holds out his hand. “You must be Knox.”.
“Mr Kates,” I say, shaking his hand. “It’s a pleasure to meet you.”
“Call me Bob, everyone else does. I’ve heard great things about you, son.”
I look at Reese, who is still sitting down, and she shakes her head. “Not from me.”
The older man’s eyes widen at her response.
“Knox and I went to high school together,” Reese explains. “He was my competition for the internship here. Obviously, he won.”
Something seems to click into place for Bob who nods and looks at me a little differently. “Why don’t you come into my office and we can get better acquainted,” he suggests. “You can tell me how you managed to beat Reese for the internship.”
“Make sure you tell him that popularity won over quality,” Reese tells me.
Her voice is cool, but her lips quirk up at the corner, and a small amount of mirth dances in her eyes, making me feel sucker punched by how beautiful she looks when she’s smiling. Before I can think better of it, I lean in.
Her cheeks flush and her eyes darken, and her lips part on a surprised breath. A stroke of lightning hits the pit of my stomach, causing me to swell behind the zipper of my slacks. She’s so damn beautiful and she always has been. Beautiful and unobtainable.
Not that I want to obtain her. The girl was very good at putting on an act and I’ve no doubt the woman is the same.
I ignore the crackle in the air around us. “Quit banging that drum, Reese.”
My gaze drops to her lips again before I force myself to pull back and walk into Bob’s office.
A/N: There you have it guys, Part 5. The first chapter from Knox’ POV. Back when I started seriously writing ten years ago, I used to head hop from paragraph to paragraph. Now I prefer to keep it in POV for a chapter. Though occasionally I need 2 POVs to tell the story.
Buckle up, this will be one wild ride!