With You #2 (The Knights Brothers Trilogy, Book 2) (3 page)

Cory Knights

The
following week I pumped weights while working out at the gym with my brother
Evan. Didn’t matter what the weather was like, exercising was an outlet for me.
Well, that and sex. It’s how I kept my bod fit. I didn’t mess around with my
health. Besides, I had to keep my mind off Kate for now. She was back at her
grandmother’s house. She ended up staying in town since her new job wouldn’t
start for another couple weeks. She made arrangements with her new landlord in
New York to hold her apartment until January. I was glad she was staying in
Buffalo. I could get to spend more time with her. This was the first time she’d
spoken to me in six months since Peter’s tragic death. The one she’d blamed me
for.

The Big
Apple was under state of emergency right now with the storm and power outage.
She was to start her classes as a TA in January. That would give her a few
weeks here in Buffalo.

While
working out, I found myself confessing to Evan about what had gone down between
Kate and me in the SUV while we were stuck in the storm. Luckily, it was just
the two of us in the small gym at the fitness center down the street. The music
played over the loud speakers. No one could hear our conversation even if it
were packed. The winter weather kept a lot of gym members away.

“You idiot,”
Evan scolded me. “Are you crazy, man?”

“Nope. Just
crazy in love, I guess.” I tried to shrug it off, but deep down inside, I was
blown away by what I’d just done.

Shit. I
almost spilled it all out in the heat of passion. I could have put Kate’s life
in danger, never mind my own.

“You had no
right to tell Kate what happened to Peter.”

“I didn’t
tell her everything.”

“You told
her enough, Cory. You told her too much. Do you realize what you’ve done? What if
Peter’s old man finds out?”

I thought
about it for a moment, clenching my lips. Evan was right. That dude was as
corrupt as a mobster. Setting people up was his past time. He’d already
threatened the guys and me—and what’s worse—he’d try to somehow get
Kate’s name messed up in this shit. He was everything that was wrong with
society.
A con, a closet bully.
 
A bigot. The guy couldn’t take that his
precious adopted son turned out to be gay. In this day and age you would think
he would get with the times.

“You know
that guy is a walking time bomb right now. He lost two sons in the last year
alone.”

“Right, I
forgot about that. Patrick.”

Go figure.
Peter’s twin brother Patrick had gone missing weeks before Peter’s death—well,
wasn’t actually missing. He actually left town and went to Mexico. He never did
show up for Peter’s funeral. Some fight he’d had with Chuck. Seemed like Chuck
didn’t exactly get along with his kids. He wasn’t up for any father of the year
awards any time soon. But Chuck Brentwood, Peter’s adopted dad didn’t seem that
distraught that Patrick never showed up to the funeral. He never got along with
his son and Patrick more than likely walked out of his life for good.

Could you
imagine losing both twin sons in a short span of time? Peter died and Patrick ran
away. They were only twenty-two, same age as Kate and me.

It was
crazy. It was all crazy. But something sure was up with that crazy old man
Chuck. He was hiding something and to try and pin that crazy shit on Evan and
me was just messed up.

“Never mind
that,” Evan said, furious. He shoved the latest edition of the newspaper in my
hand. “Take a look at that.”

I read the
headline, stunned. “Former DA to run for Mayor?” I read out loud.
Disbelief clouding me.
“What’s this about?”

“Seems like the
rumors have been true. Brentwood’s had his eye on the next mayoral race and
he’s throwing his hat in the ring. No wonder he was planning to step down as
the DA.”

“And what
does this have to do with Peter?”

“Well, it’s
convenient that Peter’s not around to embarrass him as he would say, right?”

“So? What
does that have to do with us?” Like I already knew the answer and anger seeped
into my veins as I clutched the paper skimming the article in disbelief. That two-faced,
no good-son-of-a…

“Well, if
you ever had a suspicion about Brentwood, now would not be a good time to make
that public. That man is a power hungry freak. He’d do anything to win and keep
his dirty little secrets hidden. And he’d probably take anybody out who
threatened his chance of winning. Image is everything in that game.”

“Tell me
about it,” I responded, bitterness hung on the edge of my words.

My eyes
glanced over the headline again as if that would make more sense. But it
didn’t.

Former DA to Run for Mayor

Well, look
at that.

It looked as
if I had to make a slight change in my plan. And part of that plan involved
ensuring Kate would be protected in all of this.

“So let me
guess, he’s probably going to use the fact that his son died in a tragic
accident as a platform for pity. Hoping he could win some sympathy votes or
something.”

Evan
shrugged.

“So what
about you and Kate?” Evan asked.

I shrugged.
“Don’t know. What about us?”

“What do you
mean, you don’t know?” he persisted. “What else did you guys talk about in the
van that day when you were stuck together?”

“Nothing
much,” I said. Did I really want to go into what else really happened? The last
thing I wanted him to think was that Kate was easy.
Because
she was anything
but
easy.

What was it
about Kate? Why was I so protective over her?

I was always
protective over her, wasn’t I? There was something so innocent about her. I
really connected in her in a weird kind of way. I didn’t want her to get hurt
in anyway—not her body or her mind or her reputation. She was off limits
as far as conversations over intimacy was concerned. I might have spoke in the
past about the others girls I’d slept with but Kate was different.

That’s one
of the reasons I wanted to give her some space. I hadn’t seen her much since
the hospital visit. Maybe once or twice the day after but that was it. I told
her I had things to do. Yeah, like
sort
my head out.
Before meeting Kate again, I had one thing on my mind. Revenge.
Revenge over Peter’s death and his dad trying to pin the blame on the
guys and me.
It was all I could think of.

But then
Kate came back into the picture and everything changed. I wanted to protect
her. I actually wanted to see if I could sort myself out and have some kind of
a life with her.
But how?
How was I going to do that
now with Brentwood’s lie hanging over my head like an axe ready to drop.

And speak of
the devil. Just then Kate walked into the gym.

Kate Samuels

“Hey, guys,” I
said, trying to pretend that I didn’t just overhear the conversation Cory had
with his brother, Evan. What were they talking about?
Peter’s
dad being corrupt?
The
truth
surrounding Peter’s death?

My ears burned when
I heard them mention that dark past I was trying so hard to forget. The past I
fought hard not to be consumed by. But it wasn’t over yet, was it? It never
would be. I had a feeling there was more to the story than Cory had told me
when we were stranded in his SUV during the storm.

“Hey,” Cory said.

“Good to see you
again, Kate. You’re looking well,” Evan said.

“Thanks,” I
replied.

The feelings of
dread over what Cory had said about Peter were soon replaced as I walked closer
to Cory seeing him sitting up on the bench press seat, sweating, his naked
chest exposed.

Cory had the body
of a sex god.
No, a Greek god.
He was perfect. His chiselled
muscles and sculpted abs, his bulging biceps. Ripped to perfection. Okay, I was
standing there drooling over him. My inner thighs pulsed hard in remembrance of
the hot passion that consumed me when Cory made hard and crazy love to me in
his SUV while we were stranded in the middle of the ice storm.

He was dripping
with charm and sexiness. Did he even know how hot he was? How much he made my
legs weak looking at his hot, sexy body. How addictive his soft, erotic touch
was for me? No man had ever touched me the way Cory had. No man had ever had
that type of crazy effect on me before. Not even with Peter, my only other
intimate partner, before Cory.

My God, Cory gave
me my first real orgasm, and I felt my body explode with all kinds of delicious
sensations, all from his magical touch and caresses. I thought scream-out-loud,
toe-curling sex only happened in the movies. The way he drove into me,
pleasuring me in all kinds of wicked and erotic ways was mind-blowing.

I could feel my
nipples hardening inside my bra remembering how amazing and beautiful he felt
as he moved his hard erection inside me, thrusting until I came so hard I
didn’t know my own name—I only screamed out his.

The truth was, I
was going crazy all week not seeing Cory.

I hated that he
didn’t want to see me because he was too busy with other stuff to take care of.
I was going crazy for his touch, his warm body next to me, inside me. I longed
to feel the touch of his strong muscular arms around me. All I could do was
fantasize and dream about him day and night.

So that was what
the girls used to talk about. One hit from Cory and you’re an addict. Girls
would go insane when he dumped them.
 
They would do anything to be with
him—on his terms.

Stop gaping, Kate.
His brother’s right there.

Cory’s mouth
twitched with amusement as he watched me gaping.

“I’ll leave you two
alone,” Evan finally broke the awkward silence as he looked from Cory
to me and back to Cory
. Evan smirked then swung his towel
over his shoulder and picked up his gym bag. “I’m gonna go hit the shower.
Catch you later, Cory.” Evan gave me a nod and walked off.

Cory offered me a
sip of his water. I shook my head. He then held the bottle to his sweet lips
and took a drink. His Adam’s apple bobbing as the drink went down his throat.

I put my bag down
on the bench beside his and sat down. “So, you guys had a good workout?” I
asked, my heart thumping in my chest.

“Yeah, it was all
right. How did you know I was here?” he said, wasting no time.

“Oh, I called your
house and your grandmother said you were working out with Evan.”

Cory rolled his
eyes. “Right.”

Cory’s
grandmother’s bus was delayed during the storm but she ended up coming in two
days later. She’d been staying with them ever since. She was a real sweetie.
She came to visit me at the hospital before I got my discharge to go home.
She’d brought in some homemade cookies and chicken soup.
 
God bless her.

A part of me longed
to be a part of Cory’s family. He seemed to have it all together. I was so
thankful to have my grandparents, but it was just pretty much
us
. Cory seemed to have a whole network of family and
friends for support.

“So how are you
feeling?” he asked.

“Fine.” I said,
touching an apparatus as if admiring the steel texture. I tried to avoid his
eyes right now. I didn’t want him to see me drooling over him.

“I know you didn’t
come here just to admire the equipment,” he said.

“I didn’t.” I
finally peeled my eyes away from the equipment.

“How much of the
conversation did you hear?” His voice was stern and hard. I flinched at the
sound of his icy tone. How did he know?

“What makes you
think I heard any of your—“

“Come on now Kate.”
He patted himself off with his towel casting a knowing glare in my direction.
He then slung the towel over his left shoulder. God, his body was so ripped in
all the right places. His chiselled physique was driving me crazy. I longed to
reach out and touch him again, stroking his firm, smooth skin and running my
fingers down his sculpted muscles.

“Okay, maybe I
heard a little,” I said, my heart racing.
 
“But not much.”

I didn’t want to
admit it at first that I’d heard anything, but it was no use. I could never lie
to Cory. There was just something about him that made it difficult to even
think about deceiving him. He made it easy to confront him. Just as he did back
when we were stranded in the storm together.

“Not much, huh?”

I shrugged.

“I’m gonna wash up
and then we’ll go and get something to eat.” His tone had an air of finality to
it. It was more of a command than an invitation. Cory was pissed that I
overheard a part of his conversation with Evan. I could tell. He didn’t know
just how much I’d heard—or he might be a little more disturbed about it. But
it wasn’t as if I was purposely eves dropping. I planned to play it cool and
see if he would tell me on his own. That’s what I would do.

Now that I know
something was up with Peter’s death, I’m involved now. I want to know more. But
more than anything, something was bothering Cory and I wanted to be with
him—I wanted to be around him, working with him to sort out whatever the
hell he had to sort out. I wanted to be a part of him. And I didn’t want to
ever let him out of my sight again.