Page 163 of Knox Academy Omnibus
“Hey, you okay?” Sawyer asks gently, reaching over to hold my hand.
“Just nervous.”
“Nerves are good. You’re going to smash it. Besides, you once told me your speciality was running away and hiding.”
“So?” I frown.
“Consider it an almighty game of hide and seek.”
“Okay.” I laugh. “I just...I know there’s something going on,” I say, watching him carefully out of the corner of my eye. “I won’t put you in an awkward position by asking, because I’m pretty sure if you could tell me anything you would have already.”
Sawyer does his best to mask his reaction but a tiny twitch at the corner of his eye gives him away.
“It’s just, whatever it is, I don’t want to let you guys down. I’m feeling a lot of pressure.”
“Amelie, there’s no pressure whatsoever.”
“I’m putting the pressure on myself,” I clarify. “I don’t want to let anyone down, or show anyone up, or embarrass anyone.”
“You have nothing to worry about, believe me. Puking, tripping and embarrassing yourself are kind of par for the coursehere anyway.” He laughs, and I smile at him. “First year I took part? I puked everywhere and the whole race had to be halted while the course was cleaned down and reset.”
That makes me feel a little better.
“Kalen knocked himself out on the first obstacle. He slipped and broke his nose, but as he fell back he also blacked out and gave himself a concussion. Though of course, he denies the whole thing now.”
I laugh and allow Sawyer to distract me with funny stories of the obstacle course over the years. I find myself relaxing back into my seat and before I know it he’s pulling the car to a stop and parking.
I freeze in my seat, terrified again, but Sawyer rounds the car to open my door and help me exit like a true gentleman. I follow him across the vast car park to an enormous field where an obstacle course twice the size of the one I’ve been practising on is laid out.
There are people absolutely everywhere. All in running gear, all stretching and warming up, chattering and high fiving one another. It seems like every single person here knows each other and I’m the odd one out.
There’s something odd about them all, but it takes me a moment to spot it. My brain whirls as I try to piece things together. I feel sluggish and slow which I totally blame on the combination of alcohol, orgasm deprivation and an overload of carbs. Eventually though the penny drops.
Almost everyone here has that damn knot tattoo.
Chapter Twenty-Three
Amelie
Monty is the first one to notice that we’ve arrived, and he waves us over with a reassuring smile. He’s wearing running gear – shorts despite the freezing weather – and I immediately spy the knot tattoo on his left thigh as he stretches. His shorts are far too short for a guy his age anyway, and seeing Stepdaddy dearest doing lunges threatens to bring my breakfast back up.
Kalen and Slate smile in welcome at me, but Onyx just smirks. Asshole. He doesn’t think I can do this. I flip him the bird and the others chuckle.
The entire time this exchange has taken place, I’ve been under the intense scrutiny of an old man, whom I’m presuming is Grandpa Knox. He seems to be giving me a very thorough once over and my skin crawls as his dirty old pervert eyes rake over my body in a way which makes me twitch to punch him. Sawyer grasps my hand as we come to a standstill before them all. Is it just my imagination or has he stepped a little closer to shield me from his Grandfather?
“Amelie, I hear you have been training hard,” Monty says as a form of greeting, looking pleased. Before I can reply though, I’m interrupted by the old perv.
“You’re late,” Pops snaps.
I open my mouth to give him a piece of my mind, but much to my surprise Onyx quickly jumps in and diffuses the situation.
“Grandfather, how about we get this show on the road? We don’t want the Bransons complaining that we don’t know how to run an event.”
“Bransons?” I ask in surprise, but I’m ignored.
“You’re right.” Grandpa Knox sighs, giving me a withering look like it’s all my fault. “Let’s go.”
As I watch Onyx and his grandfather head off to get the event started, I notice Baxter leaning against a tree in his usual get up. I wonder why he isn’t dressed to compete. He smiles and winks at me before pulling his sunglasses over his eyes and taking a long drag from his cigarette. I snort back a laugh at the ridiculousness of the sunglasses. They’re so...un-Baxterlike.
