Things We Hide from the Light (Knockemout, #2)

by Lucy Score

Just me and the void.

Phones rang. Keyboards clicked. Officers served. And the coffee sucked. Everyone was alive and breathing. Everyone but me. I was just pretending.

But part of me had died in that ditch that night, and what was left didn’t seem like it was worth fighting for.

I had no complaints about the view, but I had serious concerns about surviving small talk.

The universe was a jerk.

I was worried.”

Redirection was what kept my relationship with my parents intact.

Dad had married the farmer’s daughter—my mother—and spent the ensuing decades missing the car.

they were still the other’s biggest cheerleaders…and biggest annoyances. “That’s very on-brand for you both,” I said. “Consistency is key,” Mom sang.

If I avoided them for too long, they had been known to show up on my doorstep unannounced.

Ooh! Or a sheriff. Have you met the sheriff yet?”

Now Mom expected my life to turn into the plot of a romcom at any moment.

“And actually he lives next door.”

They’re trained in CPR, you know.”

To my mom and dad, I was still a fifteen-year-old in a hospital bed.

Even from hundreds of miles away, my mother still managed to make me feel like she was holding a pillow over my face.

Nash’s ass in his uniform pants was considered a local treasure.

“Knockemout has a way of turning into home,” Naomi said, handing me the plant.

In the space of a few weeks, Naomi had become guardian to her niece, picked up two jobs, gotten abducted, and made Knox “I Don’t Do Relationships” Morgan fall in love with her.

She’d lose her mind over the real-life happily ever after.

“Be polite.” “No,” he growled.

Thanks for letting me move in temporarily.”

Apparently they were all raised by wolves.”

A dinner I didn’t have to order and the chance to enjoy domesticated Knox? I wasn’t about to pass up that invitation. “Sure. Let me know what I can bring.”

“Believe me, there are worse things to be obsessed with,” I told her.

“Might as well tell him I’m lookin’ for him too,” Waylay piped up.

sweater. “Dunno. Just felt left out.”

Knox raised a hand in acknowledgment.

“You can’t hide forever,” I told the picture.

then lost his damn mind trying to find his damn memory.

At least with the job, I had a reason to go through the motions. I had a reason to get out of bed—or off the couch—every morning.

Inhale for four. Hold for seven. Exhale for eight.

I was worried. Worried that I would never remember. Worried that I would. I didn’t know which would be worse.

until my print was what identified that car after it had been found.

Or Duncan Hugo climbing out of the car and looming over me.

If it hadn’t been for those headlights.

Twenty seconds later, a nurse late for her shift in the emergency department spotted me and immediately got to work.

Part of me had died here on this very spot. Maybe the rest of me should have.

This whole woe-is-me wallowing was really starting to piss me off, but I didn’t know how to climb out. Didn’t know if I could.

Any fucking thing that doesn’t make you hate yourself more.” Lina.

eyes sparkling. Crouched down next to me in that dirty warehouse,

rosy lips as if they alone could anchor me to this world. Something stirred in my gut. An echo of yesterday’s embers.

Growing up the son of an addict had taught me to gauge moods, to watch for signs that everything was about to go to hell. My law enforcement training had built on that, teaching me to read situations and people better than most.

Relief coursed through me. I wasn’t fucking insane. And it wasn’t a fucking rabid squirrel.

My body reacted accordingly, and I went stone hard against her.

“Your gun is digging into me.” “That’s not my gun,” I said through clenched teeth. Her mouth curved wickedly. “I know.” “Then stop moving.”

I’d only ask you to apologize if you didn’t have a very healthy biological reaction to pinning me down.”

I’d have belly crawled through frozen mud just to get a better look at her, but that was me, not some half-frozen stray.

“You did not just police business me over a shivering stray.”

Besides, you and those broad, hero-like shoulders would never fit in here.”