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

WITH YOU (The Knights
Brothers Trilogy, Book 2)

Ann King

Copyright 2014 by Ann King

All rights
reserved; no part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted by any
means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying or otherwise, without the prior
permission of the publisher.

This book is a
work of fiction. The names, characters, places, and incidents are products of
the writer’s imagination or have been used fictitiously. Any resemblance to
persons, living or dead is entirely coincidental.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Thank you, Father for everything. To
my family and friends, and wonderful readers for your endless support.

WITH YOU (The Knights Brothers
Trilogy, Book 2)

This is all so crazy. My life has been turned upside down. First, I
discover a dark secret about my ex-boyfriend and now, I’m seeing the guy who I
held responsible for his death. Could life be more complicated?

Should I trust my heart with Cory?

Coming soon… Book 3

Cory Knights

“Are you sure you want to hear the whole truth?” I offered
Kate one last time to escape the horror of the truth from that night. About Peter,
the guy she thought she knew. The guy she thought she was in love with. Yeah,
I’d wanted to tell her for so long. But looking at her now. Seeing her like this…I
really didn’t want anything to ruin her happiness. It was amazing how a guy
like me could change his tune so fast. Getting this close to Kate
now—hurting her was the last thing I wanted to do.

“Yes,” she said, pulling herself up and putting the rest of
her clothes on. My own body was burning up still from Kate’s sweet lovemaking.
I wasn’t ready to put all my clothes back on just yet. I just had my silk
boxers on.

I sucked in a deep breath. My jaw clenched. She wanted the
truth. She deserved the truth.

Even if it would hurt her and probably
tarnish her memory of Peter forever.

But, heck, we could very well die here today. Might as well
get it all out in the open and move forward. Kate was carrying an overwhelming
amount of guilt over that night. She blamed herself and I knew it. I didn’t
want her to keep this up and ruin what chance of happiness she could have. This
wasn’t even about me. Heck, even if she didn’t want me. She still deserved to
know the truth so she could move on and stop blaming herself for something she
had no control over.

“Peter really liked you, Kate. I believe he did.”

“But…?”

“But there’s a lot you didn’t know about him,” I said,
trying to control my emotions.

“Wait a minute. You said he liked me. Didn’t he love me?”

I turned my head, trying not to look deep into her eyes. I
just couldn’t bare the pain of what was to come. Shit! I had no idea how
difficult this would be. “What do you know about that night, Kate?”

She appeared to
hesitate,
her
facial expression was contorted in pain. “I…” She squared her shoulders and
looked in my eyes. “I know that part of it was my fault.”

“No. It wasn’t.”

“How could you be sure?”

“Because…”

“Look, Cory. Just spill it out, okay? I know something went
down that night when I told Peter I wasn’t ready to marry him yet. I know he
ran off and probably went to some guy hangout night and probably fooled around
with another girl. I drove him to this…”

“No you didn’t, Kate!” My voice was louder and more forceful
than I had intended. Kate seemed to curl up into a ball.

Kate bit down on her lip
,
her face appeared to twitch
.
“What. Happened?” she said emphatically, her voice cool and even.

“He was pissed that night but it wasn’t because of anything
you said.”

“What do you mean by that?”

“Kate…”

“Cory, this is killing me. Just tell me what went down that
night. What are you hiding?”

“The truth, Kate. Peter…”

“Yes?”

“Peter had a fight with his old man that night.”

Kate’s face grew more concerned. “What happened? Why didn’t
he
tell me this?”

“Because, it was about his personal issues he was having.”

“Like what?”

“His dad, you know the big shot Assistant DA and all that.
Well, he had this image of his son that he wanted to uphold. He was all
mightier than thou complex. Piece of shit in a suit.”

“Cory,” Kate gasped.

“Peter wasn’t what he had expected in a son. Peter knew he
just couldn’t live up to his expectations.”

“And?”

“Well, Peter had enough. He told him that he was going to be
with the one he loved and that was it. He wasn’t going to be leading a double
life like his old man or his uncle.”

“Wait a minute. His dad was nice to me. Are you saying that
he really hated me?”

“Oh, no. His dad liked you alright,” I said, biting my lip
and avoiding her eyes. My gaze drifted to the window and the heavy gusts of
snow blowing every direction. Much like my thoughts right now. “You would be a
perfect cover for his son.”
God Kate, I
didn’t want to have to spell it out. Please just understand and move on. Don’t
let me torture you like this.

“What are you saying, Cory?” Kate’s breath was shallow now.
I could practically hear her heart pounding hard and fast in her chest. Christ!
Why did I have
the be
the one to break this to her.

“Peter was in love with Bruce from the team.” There, I said
it.

And the words felt like acid on my tongue because I was
hurting Kate with the truth. Not because Peter was really gay and in the closet
but because Kate really thought that he’d wanted to be with her and only her.

“Fuck! That’s one of the reason’s I was pissed that he took
your virginity, Kate!”

Kate was
livid,
she looked as if
she was frozen in shock. She opened her mouth to say something but no words
would come out.

“Kate! Kate, speak to me. Say something.”

Kate hugged herself, rocking back and forth nervously, a
dazed expression on her face. She seemed paralysed with shock or something.

She’d turned her head to look at me and her darkened eyes
pierced mine. The dagger in her look stabbed me straight through the heart.

It killed me to see Kate like this. But I had to let her
know it wasn’t her fault.

Peter was going to break off with her long before she’d
thought of putting off their getting engaged. She hadn’t driven him to
anything. He’d had a fight with his dad about being his own person. Being with
the person he really wanted to spend his life with.

The truth was, Peter was with us at the Frat house. We’d had
a few drinks and Bruce came by. We all knew Peter was gay. It was pretty much
cool with us. It was his life. His secret. Anyway, Peter and Bruce had a wild
make out session. We all sort of laughed it off, drinking our beers, watching
the game on the Flat Screen. Him and his guy were really going at it. Sucking
on each other’s necks,
french
kissing. I finally told
them to go get a room so the rest of us could get on with watching the game.
Peter felt free around his guys. We’d all come from different backgrounds. We’d
all known what it was like to be an outcast and to not have the acceptance of
those close to us—our families.

But it all ended when his dad was tipped off about what was
going on at the Frat house. He came in with a friend and started harassing
Peter. Threatening him. We’d all stepped in and tried to defend Peter but his
dad threatened us, too. The dude had tons of connections in high places and low
places. We all knew he could set us up any day with a kilo of coke and we’d be
done with for the rest of our life. We backed off. Well most of us. “Peter, you
need me?” I asked him.

“No. I can handle my own.” Those were the last words Peter
had spoken to me.

He’d went reluctantly with his dad and, well…the next thing
we knew, police were at our door during the middle of the night on some
investigation.

Peter had been killed in a car crash. Alcohol was suspected.
They’d wanted to know who’d provided him with booze.

We all knew his dad must have had something to do with it.
Of course, we couldn’t prove it, could we? And we were forewarned about keeping
his little secret or that old man would screw us all over. That was about the
time I’d left town to find myself. Figure out what I was going to do with my
life. Being caged wasn’t an option for me. But every day I’d thought about ways
to get even with that bastard father of his. I knew he would get what was
coming to him. Karma was a bitch with a badass memory. When he least expected
it—when time provided him a false sense of security, he would get what
was coming to him.

But it hurt me when Kate turned against me. She wouldn’t
even look at me during the funeral. I knew that creep father of Peter was
behind it all, saying it was all somehow our fault.

Yeah, like hell
it was!

“Kate, Peter was going through torture not being able to
come out. It wasn’t easy when you lived around bigots who owned the keys to
your life. Peter was gay, Kate. He liked you because …well you weren’t like other
girls. That’s why for a long while he wasn’t intimate with you. He’d told me…”

“What
?...
What
?....
No.”
Kate got
hysterical,
she bit her lips and kept shaking
her head as if the truth would change. Tears welled up in her beautiful brown
eyes. “No. No. No. No.”

“My God, Kate. Calm down. You’re hyperventilating.”

I reached over to touch her but she flinched and backed
away. “Don’t touch me.” Her voice was course and acidic.

“Kate!”

“Stay away from me! You creep! You and those idiot jocks
made this shit up, didn’t you? How could you talk ill of the dead like that!
Peter loved me. Only me!” Tears gushed down her face like a heavy rainfall.

“Kate!”

“Don’t touch me,” she screamed, pulling herself away from
me. I didn’t know why I hadn’t
realize
before but she
had grabbed her jacket to make an exit. She fumbled with the sliding door,
breathing shallow and fast.

“What the hell do you think you’re doing, Kate?”

“Get. Away. From. Me!” she pulled herself from my grasp
almost stumbling backwards. She eventually fell on her ass but she got up fast
and headed away.
To where?
I had no idea! Maybe she
thought she could run from the truth.

“Kate! No!” Kate opened up the door to the SUV and ran
outside, gusts of blowing snow blew into the car.
 
“Shit! Fuck! It’s cold! Kate!”

I hadn’t realized that I was still half-naked. I quickly
pulled on my hoodie and grabbed my jeans and pulled them on as fast as I could.
“Kate!” I cried out, fuming mad.

What the hell was she doing? She was going to kill herself
out there.

I quickly pulled my boots on and slammed the door shut of
the SUV and took off, running after Kate. The wind was strong and forceful,
practically pushing me back. “Kate!”

The visibility was crap! I could barely see a thing in front
of me. This was crazy. What was she thinking? Running off like that in this
freaking blizzard!

I hurried as fast as I could on foot, sloshing through the
thick white snow hills after her. God, she was fast on foot. Adrenaline could
do wonders to the body.

“Hey!” I shouted out when I spotted her stumbling. She
wasn’t far ahead of me now. But she was standing wobbling before she toppled
over into a snow bank. “Kate! No!”

I reached out to grab her but it was too late, she’d slid
down the slippery snow bank and into a hidden small lake. The ice was too thin
and cracked as soon as her body hit the surface. She’d fallen in. I reached out
and grabbed her hand but she’d slid out from my grasp. The cold air was frigid.
My fingers already felt numb. I knew frostbite in a weather condition like this
could happen in seconds but I didn’t care. I had to reach Kate. I had to save
her. Shit! Why had I told her the truth now? Was it all worth it? I could lose
Kate. Her skin was pale and white like the falling snow, her fingers felt like
icicles. I was feeling numb by the minute. Kate’s fingers slid from mine, she’d
gone into the water first. “Kate!” I shouted out but I could barely hear my own
voice. Was I dying? Was I already dead? I didn’t give a shit—as long as
Kate would be okay. But that wasn’t going to happen, was it? It was too late.