Infinity & Always (8 page)

“What
are you doing here so early?”

Looking
up, I watch Abbey take a seat opposite me with a coffee in hand.

“Bad
morning.”

She
shakes her head and holds up a finger, she gets another coffee and
two muffins. Coming back Abbey takes her seat again, handing me a
coffee and muffin. “So what has he done?”

I
fill her in on my life for the last few days, leaving out some more
personal stuff. But I tell her all about Knox’s text messages
and Facebook page, and her jaw drops.

“I
didn’t think you guys did the whole social media thing.”

“We
didn’t,” I answer, shaking my head. “I don’t
get it, Abbey, why would he set one up now, and have all those girls
on it?”

Grabbing
my laptop, she pulls up her own page and finds Knox through Eric. I
don’t want to look, but I can’t help it. We scroll
through all the pictures on the wall of skanks. Abbey clicks on
Knox’s pictures and we see a few of him and Max, the band and
some of the beach. There are no pictures of him, and I, and that
hurts me even more.

“I
don’t get it,” she sighs, looking up at me.

“Yeah
neither do I,” closing my computer I sit back down and finish
my coffee.

“Come
on babe, let’s go to class,” she says, giving me a sad
smile.

Knox

I
drive to the office in silence. Max is listening to music, and I’m
freaking out. I thought those texts had stopped. I have no idea who
this chick is and I don’t know how she got my number. We walk
into the office in silence too. I have a feeling Max is pissed at me,
but he hasn’t even asked for my side.

Sitting
at my desk I get to work on my presentation for today. Frank has some
buyers and asked me to pitch the project again. I’m not sure if
he has spoken to Bailey yet, but I’m sure I’ll find out
soon enough.

“Hi,
Knox,” Meagan chirps, as she walks around handing out mini
muffins.

“Hey,”
I reply, turning away from her.

She
offers me a muffin and I decline, her bottom lip juts out in a pout,
but I don’t fall for it. I’m done being nice to chicks;
sometimes I get pissed off that I look like I do. I’m not
arrogant, I know I’m not an ugly bastard, but still. Sometimes
it’s annoying when chicks don’t leave me alone. I do my
best to concentrate and ignore Meagan, praying that she will walk
away, but she just stands there, looking at me while sticking her
chest out.

“Meagan,
I’m busy here.”

Another
pout and she puts her hand on my arm, leaning in. “Are you okay
Knox, you seem a little upset. Did you not sleep well?”

“Meagan,
I’m fine. Now please, I’m busy.”

“Okay,
well if you ever need to talk I’m just over there,” she
says, pointing to her desk. She turns and hits me in the face with
her hair, then says ‘oops’ and leaves.

“And
you wonder why your fiancée is pissed,” Max says from
behind me.

Turning,
I look at him. I’m about to open my mouth when he shocks the
shit out of me.

“I
never should have served her that night. I should have kicked her
underage ass out of the bar.”

He
walks away from me without another word. Leaving the room, I pace the
lobby in front of the elevators. Pulling out my phone I dial and pray
that she talks to me.

“Hello.”

“Hey
Paige, its Knox. Do you have a minute?”

The
line is silent for a while before she clears her throat. “Yeah
sure, what can I do for you?”

“I
need help,” I sigh.

“Uh-oh
what did you do now?” her voice sounds cautious like she
shouldn’t be talking to me.

“I
need a computer wizard.”

“You’re
engaged to one,” she answers quietly.

“Yeah,
I know, but I can’t ask her.”

I
tell Paige what has been going on with the text messages and I don’t
know who they are from. I want them to stop, but the phone company
can’t help me. I am stuck and I need help.

“Knox,
I’m not sure what I can do. I’m a programmer, Bailey is
the security expert.”

“Fuck,
Paige, I don’t know what to do and I know she doesn’t
believe me.”

“Okay,
leave it with me. Send me all the info you have and forward me the
texts.”

“They
are graphic,” I sigh and send them on to her while she waits.

“Knox,
no offense but that is some nasty shit. I’m sorry, but
seriously.”

“I’ll
send you the less nasty ones and delete the rest again. Thanks,
Paige, I appreciate your help.”

“Sure,
take care and Knox?”

“Yeah?”

“I’m
only helping because I don’t want my friend hurt again. She’s
been through enough in the last few years.”

Hanging
up I’m even more pissed. I know Paige is looking out for
Bailey, but so am I. After a few more hours of going over designs, I
head to the café, finding Max and I sit down with him. We
still don’t talk. I know he is stuck in the middle, but he
should really let me explain things.

“Hey
kids, all set for the presentation?” Frank asks, taking a seat
beside us.

“Yes,”
I answer.

“Fantastic,
I’ll see you in a few minutes,” he pats my shoulder when
he leaves and I relax a little; at least Bailey hasn’t told him
yet.

“You’re
lucky, Knox. You get the girl, her father likes you, and you have to
fuck it all up.”

Taking
his soda, he walks away from me taking my appetite with him. I see
Meagan making her way over to me so I get up and leave. I have no
desire to keep entertaining her. When I arrive in Frank’s
office, we go over the proposal quickly and he says he will meet me
in the conference room in five minutes. I have all my boards set up
and I’m just going over my speech, a few people are walking
into the room.

Lifting
my head, I say hello, then take a seat waiting for Frank and the
other guys to arrive. Keeping my head down I look over my designs. I
love doing this, giving proposals, telling people about my designs.
I’m looking forward to the day Max and I can open our own
company.

“Sorry
we’re late everyone, for those of you who don’t her, this
is my daughter Bailey.”

Lifting
my head, my stomach hits the floor. She completely ignores me and
introduces herself. She sounds so formal, and business-like, once she
is finished she walks over to me.

“You’re
in my seat,” she says, banging her bag on the table.

I
don’t want to make a scene and move out of her way. She grabs
my designs and hands them to me without looking, effectively
dismissing me. It stings. I would feel better if she had have slapped
me.

Frank
starts the meeting off as he talks about the design in a general way
before nodding for me to take over. I stumble for a minute, but pull
myself together and focus on the guy sitting across from me. When I’m
done I take a seat and sigh, the tension in the room is obvious, well
maybe just to me.

“Hi,
I’m Bailey, Assistant Director of Security Programming.”

She
starts and I have never seen her in action before, but listening to
her sell her security software I’m in awe. She gives a flawless
pitch and explains everything when asked a question. When the meeting
is over she walks by me as if I don’t exist. I try to catch
her, but Frank corners me in the room.

“Knox,
that was a great pitch.”

“Thanks,
Frank.”

“I’m
not stupid,” his voice takes on a harsh tone, “I know
something is going on here and I’m telling you this is the last
chance you’re getting with my daughter. I love you like a son,
but you’re not, she’s mine and don’t think I’d
stand by and let her get hurt again.”

I
swallow hard I can’t function right now; pulling out my phone
in a desperate move. I show him the pictures and tell him what has
been going on. I never in a million years thought I’d be
showing my future father in law pictures of a naked chick, but I have
to make him understand.

He
asks me a million questions and shakes his head in anger, telling me
I should have come to him sooner. He tells me he has no one who can
access my phone except Bailey. We all know she is the security brains
here, but she refuses to accept the title.

“I
have someone looking into it,” I admit.

“Who?”
he snaps.

“Paige,
she is good with computers, not as good as Bailey, but at least she
knows where to start looking.”

Frank
paces the room then turns to me. “Go home, son,” he says,
before walking out the door.

My
chest constricts, and walking back to my desk I keep my head down. My
hands are shaking as I gather my stuff. I leave the truck for Max and
walk home. My head is blank, and I have no idea what the fuck just
happened.

Arriving
home, I change into jeans and a T-shirt, throw on my boots and grab
my helmet. I haven’t been on my bike for a while so I drive to
my dad’s office. It takes me about an hour. Walking in here I
get the same shit from the chicks, all smiles and pushing out their
chests, touching me when they talk to me. Knocking on his door I walk
in.

“Hi
son, this is a nice surprise,” he beams at me.

The
minute I look into his face I crumple, words flow without a filter.
Now I’m even showing my own father pictures of some chick. He
listens to me while I waffle on. I tell him how much I love Bailey
and I thought things were getting sorted between us.

Then
I take a deep breath and prepare myself.

“I
think Frank just fired me.”

My
dad looks shocked. I thought I would see anger and disappointment,
but after the shock I see sadness.

“It’s
okay, Knox, you’re my son, and I’ll take care of you.”

He
wraps his arm around my shoulders and I feel about six years old
again.

“How
did it get this messy?” I ask, finally letting the angry tears
fall.

I
hang out in dad’s office for a few hours and then follow him
home. We sit across from each other eating dinner. He has a concerned
expression on his face and he is watching me closely.

“I
think you should get a new phone number and only give it to people
you know are not doing this.”

“Dad,
the only women I have in my phone are the ones I need for work,
Bailey, Paige and Peggy next door. I don’t give my number to
chicks, not after all that shit with Stacey and Lindsey.”

My
dad shakes his head. “I don’t get it, son. You both
looked happy yesterday,” his voice comes out in a sad whisper.

“We
were Dad, then I left my phone in her car.”

Dad
and I spend the rest of the night going through my phone and trying
to figure out who could be sending the messages. We come up empty and
I just get angrier. He calls the phone company demanding that they
find out who the blocked number belongs too. By midnight, were are
both exhausted. I say goodnight to my dad and go to my room to call
Max.

“Yeah?”
he answers.

“Hey,
just letting you know I’m staying with Dad tonight.”

“Right,
so what happened today, why’d you leave?”

“I
didn’t leave, I think Frank fired me.”

Max
is quiet for a while then sighs. “Okay bro, sorry for being a
dick, but I don’t get you. Seriously Knox, who is the chick?”

“I
don’t know, Max, I swear. Dad and I have spent that last few
hours going through my phone and he called the phone company again.”

I’m
tired of explaining this to everyone. I only want to tell one person
and she totally blanked me today.

“Okay
bro, I’ll talk to you tomorrow,” he says and hangs up.
Throwing the offending piece of plastic and glass on the nightstand,
I crawl into bed.

Bailey

We
are running drills for practice, Abbey, and Becky are sticking close
to me making sure I don’t lose it. They don’t know that I
have managed to build up half a wall around my heart again.

“Come
on slackers!”

Ryan
shouts at us from the bleachers; he too has been sticking to me like
glue. I haven’t seen Knox since last Tuesday. Another week of
my life fucked up and next week I will be back in Grove, alone.

We
practice for another hour. Becky goes easy on me, only knocking me on
my ass twice. By the time we are done, I’m sore all over and I
just want a bath.

“Okay
ladies, milkshakes on me,” Ryan calls out as we head into the
locker room.

Half
an hour later, we walk out to meet him and drag ourselves over to the
diner. We take the biggest booth and spread out. I order my shake and
close my eyes.

“All
set for the game in a few weeks?” Ryan practically shouts at
us.

“Dude!
Keep it down,” I moan, closing my eyes again.

When
our shakes arrive I sit up and look around, most people in here have
come from practice, so I relax. I know Knox should be working in the
bar tonight. Dad said he never came back to work last week and he’s
worried about him. I suggested he send a picture of a naked chick and
ask to meet him. I was told to start acting like a grown up and that
his phone is not working.

I
have been tempted to call the number to check for myself, but I’m
not sure if this is another one of Dad’s ways to get Knox and I
talking. I listen to my friends talk about the game in a few weeks
and nod when I’m supposed to, but I just want to go home.

“Okay
folks I’m out, I have a paper to write.”

“Liar,
liar, liar,” Ryan chants. I give him a light slap on the head
as I pass.

“I’m
not lying, see you all tomorrow.”

When
I get home, dad is in his office. “Burning the midnight oil,
old man?”

“Hi
sweetheart, how was practice?”

“Good,
the usual, I’m sore. I think I’ll take a bath and go to
bed.”

Walking
around the desk, I hug him around his neck and kiss his cheek. He is
working on the final proposal alone because Knox hasn’t shown
up for work.