Page 34 of Knox

Tate’s shoulders rose and fell. “She’s pretty upset about what went down tonight. I’m not exactly sure what she meant, but she said something about completely freaking out—”

“We were nearly buried to death. We wereallfreaking out!”

But Tate held up his hands as if he had nothing to add.

“That’s just stupid,” Knox said and again tried to push past Tate. And would have if, yeah, he hadn’t lost a pint or two of blood. And maybe Tate had filled out a bit over the past couple years, apparently taking seriously his gig as a security for some Vegas casino.

“No,” Tate said and met his eyes.

Still, in that moment, Knox gave serious consideration to taking his little brother down. Except he probably would open a stitch or two, and who knew if he would be the one getting back up.

Instead he took a breath and slumped onto the gurney. “I don’t get it. I just—”

“Want to help? Yeah, bro, you did that. You got her out of there. I tried to tell her that you wanted to see her, but she was pretty gung ho about leaving town, pronto.”

“She’s leaving town?”

“Sorry. I think they’re all just trying to figure out what to do next. Probably suffering from a little PTSD—”

“Which is why I want to see her!”

“C’mon, bro. You can’t fix her.”

“I promised that I’d keep her safe. Get her out of this mess.”

“And you did. She called you sweet. Said you saved her. But also that you’re just a reminder of the explosion.”

Oh. And then he got it.

She was embarrassed. Stupidly, unnecessarily embarrassed.

He closed his eyes. And he was a reminder to her of whatever had her running.

So much for being safe.

The steps sounded behind Tate, and he looked up, expecting to see Garcia.

Rafe Noble appeared. His face was drawn, his eyes reddened.

“Rafe!” Knox’s voice turned Tate around. “How’s Tori?”

Rafe came in, breathed out hard. Shook his head, and his eyes filled despite his gritted jaw.

And for a moment, Knox’s gut dropped. No—

“Alive, thanks to you, Knox.” Rafe held out his hand, his eyes fierce on Knox’s.

Knox took it, but Rafe pulled him into a hug, his voice a little ragged. “Thank you.”

Knox’s own eyes burned. He leaned back from Rafe, slapped him on the shoulder, took a breath. “She in surgery?”

“They were able to close the wound in the ER. She’s with Katherine, eating a Popsicle.” Rafe turned away, ran a thumb under his eye. Swallowed when he turned back to Knox. “And actually, I’m here for another reason too.” His mouth tightened, and he glanced at Tate, then back to Knox.

And Knox knew it even before Rafe said it. Had the foresight to reach back to the gurney and brace himself even as the solemn words issued from Rafe’s mouth.

“I’m so sorry, Knox, but I got a call from the stock manager at the arena.” He put his hand on Knox’s shoulder. “The explosion…” He shook his head. “Hot Pete is dead.”

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