Finding Us

I turn around to face him and he’s looking at me with sorrowful eyes, “It’s not, and you’re not sleeping in the tub tonight. If you don’t want to share a bed with me I’ll go sleep on the couch.” He stands and walks over to the door, holding it open for me. “You ready?”

I run back in the bathroom, grab a hair tie out and start throwing my hair up into a messy bun as I walk towards the door. Knox places a hand on the small of my back, I tense for second from the shock of his touch. As we walk through the house all is quiet, everyone is still asleep. Out on the back deck I start stretching, getting ready for this much needed run. Knox is doing the same but he’s turned his back towards me and I’m admiring the view. He has a really great ass.

Our run starts out strong. Both lost in our own heads. I keep glancing over at Knox who is only about two steps ahead of me but he doesn’t glance back at me once. Later on, Knox pulls his iPhone out of his armband, almost drops it in the sand but catches it just in time. He’s running with his head in his iPhone and I’m just waiting for him to see if he trips and if he does I’m going to piss myself from laughing. Eventually we slow our pace by a nearby pier. I paced back and forth with my hands on top of my head pulling as much oxygen into my lungs as possible.

Knox tips his head up to the sky, “I’m sorry I was acting like such an ass this morning.”

Still panting, I glance over at him, “Stop acting like one and you wouldn’t feel the need to keep apologizing.”

Knox walks over to me and takes my iPhone out of my armband. I tilt my head to the side wondering what the hell he’s doing. He unplugs my headphone adapter and plugs it into his and then puts his iPhone in my armband. He taps the play button and a fast tempo sounds from the ear buds. I watch as Knox hooks up my iPhone and then he nods back towards the house.

A song that I love, Bloodstream by Stateless starts up on Knox’s iPhone. I go to turn up the volume and I take note that I’m listening to Jasmine’s Playlist, I guess this is what he was doing while we were running. This song is dark, dreary, and emotional. Is there supposed to be some kind of meaning behind this song?

Listening to song after song on his phone I’ve come to realize a few things about Knox’s music. A majority of his music is emotional, heavy, dark, intense and sad. Mixed in between those are some hardcore, pissed off, angry songs. His songs are like a roller coaster. You have your ups and downs but it’s your choice whether you throw your hands up in the air and scream at the top of your lungs or you don’t ride the ride at all.

When Knox and I get back from our run, which was a little intense, everyone is all piled in the living room. Some guy that wasn’t here yesterday is lying shirtless on one end of the sectional. His hair a crazy mess of dark curls, his bright green eyes are bloodshot making him look very tired. His upper torso is covered in tattoos along with both his arms. He’s all muscle, cut divinely everywhere. My mouth turns dry as I take him in. He catches me checking him out, I try to divert my eyes but it’s too late. He winks and smiles at me.

All of a sudden Cade starts laughing, loudly. Rex covers his face with his free hand and Summer, who is occupying his other hand, is looking from one person to the other. Tanner and Rhea are whispering to each other from where they lay on the floor. I look over at Knox who is glaring hard at Hercules over in the chair.

I nudge Knox in the side, “I’m going to shower then I’ll come help you cook.”

“Aren’t you going to introduce us Knox? Or you know, I can handle it and show her to the bathroom myself.” The guy says while wagging his eyebrows at me.

What a douchebag!

Knox crosses his arms over his chest, still glaring hard. He didn’t seem to want to make the introduction so I start walking away. As I pass by Hercules, who’s smirking at Knox, he grabs my hand. I try to yank it back but when I do he tugs me hard and I basically fall onto his lap. Knox curses and storms over to us, I freeze in place. The rage in Knox’s eyes scares the hell out of me but in some weird way I feel a shield wrap around me within Hercules’ grasp.

“Jeremy, knock it the f**k off. Leave her alone. She isn’t one of your little toys.” Knox seethes.

I feel the rumble in Jeremy’s chest before he belts out a laugh that causes me to shiver. Knox grabs for me and Jeremy lets me go with no resistance. “Go upstairs and take your shower, Jasmine.” Knox tells me.

I look over to Rex for some kind of help but he’s just shaking his head. I’m a little hurt that Rex would just sit there and do nothing. I storm off down the hall but as I reach the stairs I hear Jeremy say, “Damn doesn’t she look just like—Omph.” His voice gets cut off.

Who do I look like?

After my shower I dress in a pair of cut off shorts and a white tank top with white flips flops. I braid my long hair over my shoulder and apply a little eye shadow, mascara and lip gloss. I forgo putting sunblock on for now because I’m not sure what the plan is for the day. I spray a few sprits of body splash and head downstairs to help Knox with breakfast.

My breath catches as I walk into the kitchen to see Knox standing at the counter. He’s got a pair of black cargo pants that are hung low on his h*ps and he’s shirtless and barefoot. His tattoos are out in full display and my mouth waters. He’s dicing vegetables and I watch as his muscles flex. Knox must have used Rex’s shower because his hair is wet and it’s standing up all over the place and I just want to run my fingers through it.

He must sense that I’m standing behind him because he slowly sets the knife down and turns towards me. He smiles at me and motions me to come over to him with a head nod. I hesitate for just a second before I go over.

“You want to finish cutting these peppers up for me so that we can throw them in with the eggs?”

I nod, “Sure. Um,” I look down at the peppers and there is only a few strips cut, “how do you want them cut?”

He grins. “In bite size pieces is fine.”

I get to work cutting the peppers while Knox moves around the kitchen getting other things ready for breakfast. Everyone else is in the living room watching a movie, probably some kind of action movie because I hear a lot of gun fire and yelling.

“You done?” Knox startles me.

I place the knife down and wipe my hands on the towel. I left a few strips so that I can munch on them while the eggs are cooking. “Yup, all ready for you.”