Just One of the Guys
Seventeen

Knox

Colt, Averi, and I are sitting awkwardly on the couch, not a single one of us relaxed after Colt walked in on me and Averi getting deeper and deeper into the gray area that I didn't want to venture into tonight. It's so damn easy to get lost in her.

Colt likely saved me from potentially making a huge mistake-not that Averi would be a mistake if we went there not at all. It's actually more that I don't want to rush this with her. Colt claps his hands on his legs as the credit begins to roll, acting like he's going to bail at any moment.

I couldn't even tell you what the last forty-five minutes of the movie were about. I was too preoccupied with trying to calm myself down. Although my head knows that things aren't going to be going any further with Averi than making out, my cock didn't seem to get the memo.

"Well, that was fun..." Averi announces, her words trailing off as she breaks the awkward silence that had filled the space around us since the end of the movie. Then, grabbing a hold of my hand, she stands up. "I should probably go now. Walk me out?" she asks, looking up at me from beneath her lashes before, blushing, she leans over me to look at my roommate, saying, "Bye Colt, it was nice meeting you."

"I'll be right back," I tell Colt as I make my way over to the door, my hand clasped in Avery's, not ready to let go and end the evening that we've had together.

"Thank you for coming here tonight. Even with the little amount of time that we've known one another, you have managed to upset my very foundation Averi Idontevenknowyourlastname, and I couldn't be more bloody thankful, for whatever higher power is responsible for bringing you into my life."

I stop for a moment and just stare at her as something clicks inside of me. Bloody hell, I'm falling for this girl, hard and fast. That thought, though it should scare me, doesn't in the least. I'm not in love with her, but I am in deep, deep like.

"You're going to make me cry," she says, tears pooling in her beautiful eyes. "They're happy tears though, I promise," she says with a smile and a sniffle. "And, I'm so beyond grateful for having met you, too."

Chuckling I pull her into my arms, needing to feel her body against my own again about as badly as I need air to breathe.

"I'm the one who's thankful," I tell her as I bury my face in her neck, breathing her in. "You're incredible."

"I'm sorry for just barging in on you like that tonight...I didn't think," she mutters, looking at our hands laced together between us. "You just seemed so..." she begins, breaking off with a flourish of her hand. I know what she means though, she doesn't have to elaborate.

"I'm just glad that you came," I say, lifting her hand in my own to my lips and placing a kiss against the smooth skin at the back of her hand.

"Do you want to talk about it?" She asks after a moment, still in my arms but leaning back so she can look at me as I speak to her.

Taking a deep breath, I begin at the beginning. This is not something that many know. I've only spoken with the guys about it since coming to Endover.

"Back in England, I had a twin sister, Karissa. We walked home together every day after classes or if I had football practice, she would wait around in the stands doing homework until it was over."

Taking a few moments to make sure that I'm not going to break down, I continue.

"One day she wasn't feeling well and decided to walk home on her own instead of waiting until the end of practice. She waved goodbye, letting me know that she was taking off, I waved in return then turned my attention back to practice." This is the hard part to get through. Taking a few deep breaths, I try to remain as calm as possible so I can continue.

"Since she had already left and it was getting dark by the time practice ended, my buddy Harrison offered me a ride."

I look down at her trying to read her expression, but I think she can tell it's fixing to turn bad by the look on her face. She leans in closer again, resting her head on my chest, giving me enough comfort to keep going, and in her own way letting me know that it's okay, to go at my own pace.

"When I got home, Mum asked me where Karissa was. I was tired and hungry and snapped back at her, that she had walked home, not wanting to wait around. I ran up to her room, thinking maybe mum hadn't heard her come in and she'd just gone straight to lay down since she didn't feel well."

I have to stop to take a deep breath before I'm able to continue.

"When I got to her room, it was empty. Her schoolbag wasn't even there. I ran downstairs hollering for Mum and Dad that something was wrong, that she should have been home hours ago.

When I got downstairs, I ran out the front door, following the usual path that we would take. It was as dark as bloody hell outside, but it didn't slow me. I needed to find my sister, to make sure she was okay. I ran almost all the way back to the school before I spotted something in the grass off the trail not far from the fields. I-it was her." I say, my voice breaking as tears well in my eyes and quickly fall before being replaced by another round.

My whole body begins to shake, feeling as though I'm back there again, living it all over again. "When I rolled her over, the whole top half of her body was naked. She had bruises all over her, clearly beaten."

Sniffling, I look up at Averi, praying that she understands why I reacted the way that I did. There are tears in her own eyes as she waits for me to continue.

"She was gone. Just gone. My twin sister was gone," I sob as Averi pulls me to her, wrapping her arms around me, and rubbing my back.

"The medical examiner put the estimated time of death within an hour of when she left. There was obvious evidence of her being brutally attacked but he said that she had also been raped but there wasn't any DNA left behind to ID who had done this to her."

Averi is crying along with me, my hurt becoming her hurt.

"I couldn't deal, and Mum and Dad shipped me off to the states and enrolled me here, at an all-boys prep school. They thought it would be easier to heal if I were away from daily reminders that my twin sister was gone." "Knox..." Averi sobs, still stroking my back in an attempt to comfort me. "That's so awful. I'm so so sorry that you had to go through that."

She pauses a moment and much more quietly says, "I'm sorry that *I* put you through that."

"You didn't know."

Lost in the words that he just revealed, I make my way towards my apartment without really even seeing where I'm going.

Instead, my head is filled with images of a girl that I've never met, but that has Knox's dark hair and eyes. A softer version of the facial features of the boy that I'm beginning to fa-have feelings for-the boy who sat in the dirt with his sister in his arms, rocking her back and forth, crying, and cursing at the unfairness of her being taken too soon.