Tipping The Scales: Knox (Mate Craze)(7)

“Yep,” I answered, barely. I was surprised that anything had come out of my mouth. The corner booth was on the other side of the place, so I counted the black and white tiles as I tried not to fall on my ass in front of my future mate.

“Been here about twenty minutes, give or take. Gretchen filled me in on the situation,” Trina mumbled as the black sludge poured into a cup she’d set in front of me.

“Thanks, Trina.” I focused as hard as I could on my reflection in the hot liquid. “One of everything, please.”

“Already cookin’, Knox. Say, um, is she? You don’t think that might be your… she’s not…”

My upheld hand shut up anything else she was going to say. “Don’t be silly, Trina. She was digging around here last summer, trying to uncover things that are best laid buried. That’s all. I just want to keep an eye on her—make sure she doesn’t dig too deep.”

“Gotcha, boss. Be right back.”

Over the tip of my raised mug, I dared to look in the direction of—fuck, I didn’t even know her name.

Trina was already on that for me. She was at their table, making small talk. I waited, demanding that I maintain some semblance of normalcy while they talked, while Trina found out the information that I should’ve been finding out, first hand, from my mate.

“Everything you ordered, sir.” Gretchen placed plates of food one by one in front of me.

“Gretchen, there’s no need to call me ‘sir’. Knox is just fine—and thanks.”

I took a glance back at the table to see my mate wide-eyed at something in front of me—or maybe at me.

God, I hoped it was at me.

“Dude, that’s a hell of a lot of food,” the raven-haired friend called out to me after turning around in her booth.

“It is. Y’all want to join me?” I asked, not thinking they would.

“Absolutely!” the friend called out, hopping out of her booth, grabbing her plate, and almost skipping over to my table. I pulled everything I could toward me to make room—not for her, but for my mate.

“I’m Knox,” I said, pushing my hand across the table with my eyes on the brown-haired beauty now joining us. “Knox Renouf.”

“I’m Rhi and this is Kallie.”

Kallie-Kallie-Kallie.

“Kallie, this is Knox. Knox,” she fumbled over the introduction.

I smiled at Kallie rolling her eyes. “Two Knox or just one Knox?”

Pretending to be calm, I lined up my pancakes and poured the syrup in the middle, watching it waterfall over the edges.

“Just one. One of me is enough for anyone. Go on, eat. I won’t bite.” Kallie had left half of her plate full of food.

“Damn, you’re not my type then. I like the biters.” Rhi dug into my omelet, not caring.

“What are you girls in town for? Business or pleasure?”

Kallie opened her mouth to speak, but then closed it. “Some business and some pleasure,” she finally said. I closed my eyes, feeling myself carried away by her voice.

“We signed up for a survival course. Kallie loves all that outdoor shit. The only thing I like to do outdoors is, well… not hiking.”

A whisper of a smile pulled at Kallie’s mouth. She had a sense of humor. While I was busy looking at her mouth, her lips fell back into place making me look at her eyes to see what had changed. Her brown eyes, golden flecks scattered in like Midas’ stars, stared back at me. I gasped in my mind. My scales, the ones that were too stubborn to go away with the dragon, buzzed, vibrating against my human skin just below the surface. The burning that had only been an ember before was now a bonfire, heating me from the inside out, confirming what I already knew was true about the female across this rickety table from me.

When I finally gained some air back in my lungs, I spoke again, “Well, I teach the survival course.”

“What did I tell you, Kallie? It just gets better and better every time he opens his mouth.”

I didn’t know what that meant, but whatever it was it made Kallie’s cheeks bloom with color. Blush was her color.

“Are y’all in college?”

Kallie flicked her fork down onto her plate. “You ask a lot of questions. What are you, the sheriff?”

I looked to Trina and Gretchen who were barely holding in laughter. Probably because no one talked to me like that— ever.

“Something like that. This is a small town, if you haven’t noticed. We notice when new people come here. But you two know that. You were here last summer. Or, at least, one of you was.”

“I wasn’t,” Rhi said. “But Kallie was here all alone. You didn’t see her?”

The lie was bitter on my tongue, like I’d inhaled it and it soured on my taste buds. Rhi turned and gave me a look of bewilderment.

“I see a lot of people.” A grin like the Grinch’s grew on my face as I inched the plate of loaded hash browns my way. It was the only thing Rhi hasn’t stuck her fork into, unwelcomed.

“That’s a shit-eating grin if I ever saw one. He’s got your number, Kallie—dialed it and you answered. Sex-on-a-stick has you cornered. Isn’t that what you call him—or have called him for almost a year now?”

Not only was Kallie’s face red, but now the tips of her ears were almost glowing. I moved my plates to one side of the table for the show. From the eyes that Kallie was cutting in Rhi’s direction, it was going to be good.