Stolen

Chapter Twenty

Ember

When I woke up the next morning, Knox was no longer outside of my door. In his place stood a blonde man who had simply nodded to me as I emerged. There was a pang in my chest that I ignored as I made my way to my classes. Knox wasn't in any of them today. Was he truly going to give me space? I tried not to let myself think about it but any time there was a moment, my mind drifted back to him. To our conversation the night before. Maybe I had overreacted. The high of thinking I could see Carrson, that he had found me and had been in that room had outweighed any progress that Knox and I had made.

I took my tray of food to an empty table in the cafeteria and sat down. Before I could do anything, Maya slid into the booth across from me. She had some kind of drink with her that I wasn't entirely sure the contents of.

"Anything new?" She smiled, taking a small sip from the drink.

I shook my head. I still wasn't sure if I could trust her or not. I'd had zero memories of Maya. All I knew about her was that Rhett treated her like the sun revolved around her and Knox tolerated her at best. Since that day in the library, she hadn't really been around much. This was my first real chance to talk to her and find out what she knew. She was there when I woke up from the darkness. She had to know something.

"Did we know each other? Before I was taken, I mean." I asked her softly. I didn't want to offend her but I had to know.

Maya set her drink down, "No. Not really at least. We knew of each other but we weren't friends."

"Oh." was all I said, a little surprised by her admission. I had assumed that we were friends.

Maya sighed, "Look, the boys don't want me to say anything. They think that the memories will come back on their own but I don't. I think if we don't tell you then it'll never trigger anything. Knox and I dated when we were sixteen. I was really jealous of you back then. Knox was obsessed with you and I just never understood why. No offense," she added quickly but I waved her on, "I don't know the extent of your relationship with him. But I do know you are the reason that we broke up and I resented you for it when it wasn't your fault. Knox has been through a lot. I put him through a lot and I think that somehow you fixed him. I honestly don't even know if he realizes how broken he was before you. Now..." She shrugged, her eyes staring off into the distance, "he would do anything to get you back. The version of you that he lost that day. Rhett would too. He's trying, Ember. He really is. I hope you can see that they both are."

I let her heavy words hang in the air between us. Rhett had said that Knox was in love with me. Knox had all but admitted that he was in the library but when I'd asked him, he said that we were just friends. There were too many different versions of who I was for me to really make heads or tails of it. Was I the girl that destroyed a relationship? Was I the girl that fixed the unfixable? Or was I just a friend? I took a deep breath, trying to steady my growing frustrations. Maya was opening up and giving me the answers I needed. For now, that's what I need to focus on.

"Who did this to me?" I breathed. The question caught her off guard but for a moment I thought she was going to tell me the truth. She glanced around quickly before opening her mouth. The words were right there. Ready to roll off of her tongue. I waited with baited breath for an answer to the question that haunted me.

Knox materialized beside our table, "Am I interrupting?" he asked. Maya and I jumped away from each other. Neither of us had noticed him approach the table until it was too late.

Maya shook her head and snapped her lips shut again. She stood up quickly from the table. "Find me later?" it was directed at me.

I nodded to her and watched as she walked away into the crowd of recruits, taking all of my answers with her. I didn't know how I was going to find her again, especially now that Knox was around. I hadn't seen him at all today. He'd cut all of our classes and wasn't there for training. Knox slid into the seat Maya had been sitting in just a few seconds ago. I stared after her with the feeling that Knox's sudden appearance had everything to do with the information that she was about to share with me. She had told me he was trying to be better but...how could that be true when he was still keeping things from me? When he was still inserting himself into my life.

"Didn't we discuss this last night?" I finally asked him, trying to keep my tone harsh and unwavering.

Knox nodded his head and took a bite out of his burger. "You discussed it." He shrugged nonchalantly.

"Leave me alone, Knox. You mean nothing to me. I don't even think about you." It was a lie. I knew it was a lie and so did he. He smiled at me and it felt like all of the air had been sucked out of the room. How did he have such an affect on me? You love Carrson, I reminded myself silently.

"Wasn't it you who said I...what was it? I infiltrate your every waking thought?" Smug asshole. He was using my words against me.

"That's what you took from that conversation?" I gaped.

Knox's blue eyes danced with life under the low lighting. "It was the only thing I needed to hear to know that whatever I'm doing is working."

I wanted to be angry with him but something deep in my chest bloomed. A fragment. I clawed for it in my mind. It was only a sliver, so small it didn't make any sense, but it was there. It had come back. I replayed it over and over in my mind. The image was so clear and breathtaking. Knox standing in the sunlight, beaming at me like I was the only person in the world. How could he be so bad when these moments existed? I had the oddest feeling that the Knox I had known was not the same man that everyone else got to see. I shook the thought away and attempted to focus back on the version of him sitting in front of me now. The smug arrogant asshole. He looked at me like he knew what I had seen. Confirmation that indeed, whatever it is that he was doing, really was working. Knox was bringing them back.

I shoved my untouched plate of food towards him and stood to leave but his long fingers wrapped around my wrist. Everywhere that his skin touched mine felt like it had been set on fire. I could feel the sensation humming through my entire body. I didn't dare try to pull my arm away from him. I couldn't even bring my muscles to respond to me. They were under his command.

"Stay." He said. It was as much a question as it was a statement.

"One condition." I muttered to him, hating the submission in my voice.

Knox's blue eyes searched mine for what felt like ages before he spoke again, "Anything."

He was desperate and he was letting it show.

"Stop hiding things from me. Tell me everything."

His hand dropped away from my wrist and he looked back down at his plate of food. But he nodded. He agreed so I sat back down into the booth.

"What do you want to know?" he breathed.

"Start with explaining why you told me that we were friends and then Rhett said that you were in love with me."

Knox dropped the food that was in his hand, "I thought you might have heard that." He was deflecting but I stayed the course and just indicated that he should answer me. He took a deep breath and leaned back against the booth.

"I think this is a bad idea," he admitted.

"Stop stalling." I snipped at him.

Knox held his hands up in surrender, "Fine. But everything I'm about to tell you is the truth and you may not want to hear it."

It was a warning but I said nothing.

"We were intimate." He said matter-of-factly. Nerves shot through my body.

I shook my head, "That...I wouldn't do that...to Carrson." I was whispering but I wasn't sure why. There was no way that this was the truth. Maya said she hadn't known the extent of my relationship with Knox but there was no way that this was it.

"Well you did. Carrson was in love with you and you knew it. And yet..." he shrugged again. This time when I pushed away from the table he didn't try to stop me from leaving. I felt like I was going to be sick. The mental image of being intimate with Knox was enough to knock me off kilter as I stumbled my way through the crowded cafeteria. But I could see it so clearly in my mind. His lips on my neck. His hands roaming freely over my body. The feeling that pooled deep in my gut. I bumped into people, too many people. I felt like I was struggling for air. Too many bodies. The walls too close. The room... It was spinning and then... it was all gone.