3
Knightly
I didn’t think I’d ever see her again. Phoebe. I never really got over our encounter. It’s not every day one meets their soulmate like that. To say it surprises me that she’s married and has kids is an understatement.
We didn’t really talk much that night, but our connection was instant. The way she said. my name. How she touched me. She asked for nothing in return after she let me have her every way I could think of. The vinyl was the only thing I could leave behind. Had I stayed and let her wake up, things would have ended badly for both of us. Has she thought of me since then?
She’s as beautiful as the first time I ran into her. This encounter is as bad as the last one. That itch I thought had disappeared is stirring and I don’t want it to.
“You made a scene at the airport, Pete says and drops into the armchair across from
- me.
“I ran into someone,” I explain.
“Do tell,” Rip pushes my leg off his coffee table. His wife glares at me.
“Sorry,” I apologize and sit up straight.
“Who was it?” she asks.
“Do you guys remember the girl from six years ago?”
“The girl that inspired the album that followed?” Pete laughs. “Yeah, we remember Phoebe,”
“That’s who I ran into,”
“What?” they all sit up. I laugh at their reaction.
“Did you at least get her number?” Rip smacks my leg.
“No, I didn’t, and even if I had. She’s married now. Has two kids,”
“Aww,” Felicity taps my knee. “That sucks, man,”
“Yeah,” it really fucking does.
“Did she get fat at least?” Pete scoffs. We all laugh.
“Not even a little. She cut her hair. She looked so fucking good,” I admit and sit back. Her daughter looks just like her,”
“That’s cute. What did you say her name was?” Felicity asks.
“Phoebe,” Pete answers.
Let’s see who the lucky fuck that married her is,” she laughs. “Do we have a last name?” “The sign her driver was carrying read Altaha,” I say,
1/3
“She’s native?” Pete asks.
“I think so. Mixed maybe. She has dark blue eyes. Like navy blue eyes,” I nod. They all laugh at me. That was sappy, even for me..
“Are you sure? All that comes up with that name is the new CEO of Royal Threads in SoCal,”
“What? Wait, that might be her. She said she was a clothes designer when we met. She had drawings all over her suite,”
“No, fucking way,” she laughs and hands me her phone.
“That’s her,” I nod. They all bunch in around us to get a look at her. Wow, she’s really got her shit together.
“Dude, she is so fucking hot,” Pete nods.
“I’d think about that all day long too, if I were you,” Rip momentarily forgets his wife is in the room and gets a slap to the back of the head, “Sorry, baby,”
“Aww, they’re so fucking cute,” she wiggles next to me. “Oh, look at the little boy. He has a guitar,” she switches the picture to the kid sitting on her lap while she strums the guitar for him when he’s about one or two. The baby loves it. “Oh, my god. He plays,” she moves to the next video. It’s the boy as old as he is now playing a baby blue. electric guitar customized for him. “Did she try to make him look like you?”
“Her husband,” I roll my eyes.
“I don’t see one,” she says as she continues to scroll through. “Wait, here, my stomach clenches when she stops. “This is from like three years ago,”
I still don’t like the picture. Some guy has his arms around her. He’s looking up at the camera but the look she’s giving him implies they’re more than just friends. It shouldn’t. bother me. It’s not like she belongs to me. In fact, I don’t really know anything about her except that she’s fucking phenomenal in bed.
“I don’t think she’s married,” Pete says as Felicity scrolls through her Instagram. “Hey, it” -s you,”
They hold the phone out for me. The picture we took outside the elevator comes up. We’re both laughing. I hadn’t laughed like that in a long time. Before her, things were a little bleak. I had nothing. I had never had writer’s block like that and I haven’t had it again since.
“That was a good night,” I admit. They all laugh.
“If you see her again, check for a ring,” Rip smacks my chest.
“I am going to get some rest. That was a long flight,” I say and get up. “Sorry about the mess today,
They all dismiss me. I take a hot shower and get into bed. It gets the better of me and I reach for my laptop. I type her name in and a whole lot of out of my league pops up on
23
the screen. Fashion shows, fashion awards, fashion articles, pictures of her on magazine covers, and a whole lot of success.
One article catches my attention. It’s about her rise to the top. How she overcame the struggles as a single mom. A single mom? How does that happen? Who in their right mind would leave her like that? This girl is a whole ten with no buts.
Then I see how old they are. I laugh for a moment. Her kids are five years old. Five plus nine months is almost six whole years. My heart starts to race and I sit up. I go back to her QuickHowl and scrolled down to the picture of us.
There are over a hundred pictures above it before there’s a picture of an ultrasound. I reach for my wallet to check the napkin with the drawing of a dress I stole from her. She had written the date at the bottom left–hand corner and I start to feel sick to my stomach.
“Knightly,” Peter barges into my room. I immediately slam my laptop shut. Maybe a little too hard. “You’re not jacking off, right?”
“What? Of course, not,”
“Whatever, sick ass. Dude, I was stalking your girlfriend,”
“Not my girlfriend,” I shake my head.
“Her kids are five, my man,” he jumps into the bed with me. “Wouldn’t it be fucking crazy if they were yours?” he laughs. “What were you doing, liar?”
“Nothing,” I shake my head. He snatches my laptop. “You were stalking her,” he opens. the laptop and then shows me. “You cracked your screen, dumbass,”
“Fuck,” I take it from him. I don’t know how that happened. My wolf has been dormant for years.
“If you weren’t stalking. It was porn,” he declares.
“Get out of my room,” I toss the laptop on the floor. He laughs and heads to the door.
“It was porn,” he nods sure of himself. I take a throw pillow and launch it at him. He closes the door before it can hit him.
“Holy shit,” I sit up and try to take even breaths. “You fucking didn’t do that,”
回
