Page 2 of Secret Obsession
He smiles. That smile turns into a sneer too fast, and he keeps hold of Willow’s hand. Yanks her closer, into his arms. “Fuckingfinally,” he crows.
He finds Greyson in the crowd that’s slowly building. More people are drawn by the spectacle, by the attention that Knox Whiteshaw always needs on him.
“Did you hear that, Devereux?”
Greyson ignores Violet’s confused scowl and raises his eyebrow. “I did.”
“I won the bet.”
Willow jerks, but Knox grips her hand tighter.
“I won,” he repeats, looking back at her. “You fell for me. And what a fuckingreliefit is to be done with this nonsense.”
“What?” she finally voices.
I grit my teeth. My folded knife is in my palm, and I have the urge to throw it at my brother’s face. Because this is worse than anything I could’ve imagined.
“It was a fucking bet, Reed,” he says slowly, like she won’t understand him any other way. He releases her hand. “Greyson and I made a bet to see who would fall in love first—you or Violet. Obviously, he’s an idiot and fell in love first, making his end of it void.”Insert eye roll. “But me? I was determined.”
Her mouth opens and closes.
Everyone is staring in shocked silence.
It’s not like theyallthought they were endgame… right? My brother has been a man whore for ages. The fact that he dedicated a year to one pussy is proof that he really is a competitive bastard.
That’s how I wound up playing goalie anyway. Our coaches figured out that if we were on opposing teams, there was no way we’d leave each other alone. Even on the same team, he needed to shine. So they tried to separate us further, to put us in positions where we had to work together—or not interact at all.
But there’s only one goalie, and he didn’t have the fucking reflexes for it.
And then someone laughs, and that silence is broken wide open. They’re all laughing at her. At the way Knox fooled her. Everyone except me. And Violet.
But Willow’s best friend is caught up in Greyson’s arms, and there’s no one else to stop Willow from fleeing. Her eyes fill with tears, and she meets my gaze briefly on her way past me.
She rushes out into the night, the door slamming behind her.
Knox is still chuckling, and he shakes his head. “Finally free,” he says on a sigh. “Who wants to help me celebrate?”
The music restarts, and my muscles unlock. I shove myself off the couch and through the crowd, grabbing Knox by his shirt. He doesn’t object when I tow him outside and shove him against the deck railing. Steele and Aspen are nowhere to be found, which is good. I don’t need an audience for this conversation.
He slides on the ice, his fingers digging into the snow on the handrail.
When he turns to look at me, Iknowhe knows.
He lifts one shoulder. “Hit me and get it over with, then.”
“That easy?”
“You gonna go get the girl, have a little cry, and then make her fall in love with you?” Knox shakes his head. “You always did want to play with my hand-me-downs—”
My fist slams into his face. Pain blooms across my knuckles, and a song of revenge whispers in my ears. If he wasn’t already against the rail, he would’ve fallen. As it is, it catches his weight as his head whips to the side.
He groans through his teeth. “When did you learn to throw a decent punch?”
“Fuck off.”
Knox laughs.
I shake my head and eye him. “You’re done with her?”
