Chapter 94 KNOX

Chapter 94 KNOX
She narrowed her eyes at me, studying my face with exaggerated suspicion.

“What? You don’t believe we’re famous?”

Before I could answer, she suddenly gasped, as though she'd just remembered the most important piece of evidence.
“I have actual fans.”

She nodded solemnly, completely convinced of her own celebrity status. “Oops. Wait…”

Her eyes widened as she caught her own mistake. “Sorry. I meant we have fans.”

She lifted four fingers..“Three fans. Exactly.”

I glanced at her hand. “That’s four fingers.”

She looked down. Her brow furrowed. Then she started counting.

“One…” She touched her thumb.
“Two…”

She skipped an entire finger.
“…three.”

She looked back at me, beaming.
“Three fingers.”

I stared at her hand.
“Speckles, you’re holding up four.”

She blinked. Then looked at her fingers again as if they had personally betrayed her.
“No, I’m not.”

“You are.”

She tilted her head,
“Are you drunk, Knoxy?”

I almost laughed. “Me?”

“Yes, you.” She nodded with absolute conviction. “Because you're seeing four fingers instead of three.”

“You just skipped a finger.”

“I did not.”

“You absolutely did.”

She held her hand closer to my face.

“One. Two. Three.”

She counted the exact same three fingers again, completely ignoring the fourth.

“See,” she said triumphantly. “Three.”

I stared at her. She stared back.
Then she gave me a deeply concerned look.

“It's okay.” She patted my chest reassuringly. “We don't have to argue about your little counting condition in public.”

Counting problem What the fuck.
I was about to explain that the problem wasn't my counting when she remembered what she'd been trying to tell me in the first place.

“Three girl fans,” she announced.

“I met them in the toilets,” she added, lowering her voice with the grave importance of someone passing along highly classified intelligence.

“They said our dancing was superb. Like…really superb. I accepted the compliment on our behalf, since apparently we’re professionals now. And superstars.”

“We are?”

“Yes. Ask Katy and Piper. They were both there.”

Piper took a slow sip from the bottle, completely deadpan.

“Can confirm. Three girls. Very sincere. One of them actually clapped. I almost asked for autographs on your behalf, but then Juni started ranking the soap dispenser again and the moment passed.”

Juniper beamed anyway, entirely unbothered by the sarcasm. Then her eyes went wide, struck by sudden, urgent purpose.

“Come on. We have to give them an encore.”

“Speckles—”

Juniper grabbed both my hands, eyes wide with sudden purpose, like a general rallying troops who had slightly lost the map. “We need to go back—”

“Back where?”

“The dance floor, duh.” She gave my hands a little shake for emphasis, swaying as she did it.

“We have a responsibility now. To the three fans. And maybe—after the second dance—we’ll have more fans. That’s how it works.”

“There are no fans, Speckles.”

“There are absolutely fans, Knoxy. Keep up.”

“Go dance with her, bro,” Hunter wheezed. “You know… for the fans, Knoxy.”

I slowly turned my head toward him. I glared.
Hunter's grin only widened.

“I'm serious. Three fans is a pretty demanding audience.”

I gave him a look that promised consequences.

He lifted his glass innocently. “What? I'm just supporting her career.”

Juniper looked at me with enormous, betrayed eyes. "You don't believe in us."

“That’s not the issue.”

“What is the issue?”

“The issue is that you’re swaying like you’ve got a personal vendetta against standing still. Dancing is officially suspended.”

“I can dance. Watch this." She released one hand and attempted what I could only assume was meant to be a seductive body roll.

Instead she bent her knees, wiggled her shoulders, drifted three inches to the left, and nearly tipped face-first into the bar. I caught her, purely on reflex at this point, my arm shooting out faster than conscious thought.

She straightened with as much dignity as she could summon, patting her hair back into place like nothing had happened.

"See — expert. That was the warm-up."

Hunter howled, actually doubling over. Even Slate laughed, a real one, rare enough that Katy visibly noted the moment on her phone like it was a historic occasion.

"You're never doing that again," I said, rubbing a hand over my face.

"Why?"

"Because you almost took out an entire bar of very expensive glassware."

"You're trying to sabotage my artistic career now Knoxy."

"Your artistic career lasted four seconds and nearly involved a cocktail table."

"That was deliberate."

"You were falling."

"Deliberately."

She smiled sweetly, entirely unbothered by legal concerns. "Come on, Knoxy, stop being boring. One more dance."

"No."

"Half a dance? A modest, tasteful wiggle? I'll keep both feet on the ground this time. Mostly."

"Especially no."

She pouted, leaning against me with a world-weary sigh, like I'd single-handedly derailed her entire future. "You're ruining my dancing career."

"I'll handle your PR," Hunter offered solemnly, raising his glass like he was being sworn into office.

"I'll handle security," said Slate.

"I'll handle the alcohol," Piper said, raising the bottle like a trophy she'd earned through great personal sacrifice.

"No one," I said, "is handling anything. That bottle's getting confiscated, effective immediately."

Juniper, apparently not having registered a word of that, looked up at me, entirely, blissfully pleased with herself, swaying gently on her feet like a very content buoy.

"Knoxy come on, lets dance..."

"No."

She stared at me for a long second, clearly waiting for me to reconsider.

I didn't. Her eyes narrowed.
Then she crossed her arms over her chest.

“Fine.”

“What?”

“If you don't wanna dance…”

She gave a tiny shrug, as though she couldn't possibly care less.

“…then I'm going solo.”

“Speckles—”

Too late.

She spun around and marched toward the dance floor.

Or, more accurately, she attempted to march toward the dance floor.

Her first step was confident.
Her second was questionable.

Her third involved her ankle wobbling dangerously in her heel, forcing her to grab the shoulder of a passing stranger for balance.

“I'm okay! I'm okay..” she announced before the guy had even asked.

Then she released him and continued.
I followed her with my eyes, fighting like hell to keep my face straight.

She made it onto the dance floor, and started moving.

Calling it dancing was generous.
She bounced.
She swayed.
She rolled her shoulders with far more confidence than coordination.

Then she attempted a hip movement that seemed to begin in one direction and end somewhere completely different.

I pressed my lips together. Hunter was already laughing.

“Don't,” I warned him.

“I didn't say anything.”

“Your face did.”

He grinned. “I'm just enjoying the show.”

I looked back at Juniper. And despite everything, I couldn't stop the smile threatening my mouth.

I'd never seen her like this.
Not in the short time I'd known her.

Not really. Juniper was always careful. Always thinking. Always worrying.

But tonight? Right now.
She wasn't worrying about anything.
She was just fucking free.

Her eyes were closed as she moved, a ridiculous little smile tugging at her mouth while she danced like nobody had ever told her there was a right way to do it.

And maybe that was what caught me off guard.

She looked relaxed.
Completely, stupidly relaxed.

She spun—badly—and nearly collided with another couple.

“Oopsie. Sorry. Sorry!” she blurted, throwing up both hands in apology. “My bad.”

The couple barely had time to react, she turned back toward the music, and immediately resumed dancing again like nothing had happened.

I bit the inside of my cheek.
God, she was fucking adorable.

And that thought should've worried me more than it did.

Then some guy stepped into her line of sight. Tall. Dark hair. Confident smile.

The kind of guy who clearly had enough confidence to approach a girl without first checking whether she was attached to the human tank standing ten feet away.

He said something to her. I couldn't hear it over the music.

Juniper looked at him. Then smiled.
And, because apparently tonight wasn't determined to leave me with a single functioning nerve, she started dancing with him.

My smile disappeared. Instantly.
I straightened.

Hunter noticed. Of course he fucking noticed. His grin slowly widened.

“Oh.”

I didn't look at him. “What?”

“I didn't realize we were doing jealousy tonight.”

“We're not.”

“Right.”

I kept my eyes on the dance floor.
The guy stepped closer to Juniper, matching her movements.

She laughed at something he said.
Then she copied one of his moves.
Badly. Obviously.

But she was having fun. My jaw tightened.
I told myself it was because she was drunk.

Because she could barely walk in a straight line, let alone assess whether some random guy had good intentions.

That was the reason. It had absolutely nothing to do with the fact that his hand had settled lightly at her waist.

Nothing. Not a fucking thing.
I took one step forward.

Slate glanced at me. “You going somewhere?”

“No.”

“Looks like you're going somewhere.”

“I said no.”

Hunter looked between me and the dance floor. “You're doing that thing.”

“What thing?”

“The thing where you pretend you're not bothered while looking like you're about to commit a felony.”

“I don't look bothered.”

“You look like the guy personally insulted your bloodline.”

I ignored him. On the dance floor, Juniper threw her head back laughing.

The guy leaned closer. Something inside my chest pulled tight.

She was still smiling.
Still completely fucking unaware that the man she'd just met was standing far too close to her.

I exhaled slowly. Fine. She wanted to dance.
Let her dance. I could handle it.
I absolutely could.

I took another step forward.
Hunter sighed.

“Yep.”

I glanced at him.

“What?”

“Nothing.”

“Then stop looking at me like that.”

“Like what?”

“Like you know something.”

He grinned. “Oh, I know something.”

I narrowed my eyes. “Hunter.”

He lifted both hands. “I'm silent.”

I turned back toward Juniper.
The guy said something in her ear.
She laughed again.

My hands curled into fists.
Yeah.I was definitely not jealous.

I was simply developing a very reasonable dislike for one particular stranger's continued existence.
There was a difference.