Leaving the bathroom, I tried to remember where I’d last seen my wristlet. I had given it to Creed to hold before Isabelle and I had gone to dance. If I knew the guys, they would have put it in the bowl by the front door. Going into the dark living room, I turned on one of the free-standing lamps they had next to the couch. With light to see, I went over to the bowl, and sure enough my wristlet and keys were there. I pulled out my phone, hoping the time would tell me four or five in the morning. My phone lit up and showed me that it was barely two-thirty. This town’s bars closed at two in the morning, meaning people were making their way home and some, who weren’t smart, were probably trying to drive home drunk. Logan would kill me if he found out I’d gone running at this time of night. What if the guys woke to find me gone? I didn’t want them to worry. But I couldn’t go back to bed. Just the thought of doing that made my chest hurt. I needed to do something. Keep myself busy.
I looked around. If I was quiet, I could get ahead of what needed to be done for Keelan’s birthday. I had asked Colt and Creed what to expect with Keelan’s party after learning about it. They had told me that people were coming over, they’d all hang out by the pool, and Knox would grill some food. To which I’d replied, “That’s it? What about decorations? Cake? Snacks? Drinks?” They had looked at each other, then Creed had responded with, “There will be beer.” After I’d heard that, I had asked Keelan if I could contribute to his party. He’d seemed happy at the idea and given me the go-ahead to do whatever I wanted.
Relieved I had something to keep myself occupied with, I ran to my house to grab the supplies I’d purchased. Back in the guys’ kitchen, I started with making the cake and getting it in the oven. Next, I made my mom’s chocolate buttercream frosting and put it in the fridge to keep cold as the cake cooled down after it was done baking. Knowing the cake needed time, I jumped to decorating. I refused to pause between tasks or to think of anything other than what had to be done. If I did, that might allow my mind to wander. I didn’t even slow down when my hair started getting in the way. Using two pens I found, I twisted my hair up the best I could without a mirror. Small tendrils of red hair I still wasn’t used to seeing escaped as I worked and I either tucked them behind my ears or swatted them out of my face.
I had chosen the colors of black, maroon, and metallic gold. I had managed to almost completely decorate the dining room. I went overboard with the amount of foil swirls, paper pom-poms, and streamers I taped to the ceiling, but it looked amazing. All that was missing were the balloons. The pump was too loud to blow them up.
I moved to decorate the kitchen next. I had just finished taping up one side of a Happy Birthday banner over the kitchen island when I heard, “Shiloh.”
I jumped a little and glanced down. Knox was standing by the dining room table, staring up at me with tired eyes.
I winced. “Did I wake you?”
“What the hell are you doing standing on the counter?”
I looked down at the second half of the banner in my hand that needed to be taped up. “Decorating for Keelan’s party.”
“It’s four in the morning.”
I stepped to the opposite side of the island. “I couldn’t sleep.” As I reached toward the ceiling to hang the rest of the banner, the height made me a little dizzy and I wobbled a tiny bit. “Whoa.”
Knox dashed for me. “Damn it, you’re going to get yourself hurt.” He put his hands up in front of him as if to catch me. “Get down, now.”
“Not before I tape this up,” I said, reaching for the ceiling again.
Knox cursed and grabbed my bare thighs just above my knees. The feel of his warm hands distracted me a little as I pushed up on my tiptoes and finished getting the banner hung.
Knox’s fingers dug into my skin. I looked down at him. He was glaring at my left thigh where the hem of Creed’s shirt ended, and his jaw was clenched.
I patted the top of his head. “What’s the matter?”
His angry eyes jumped to meet mine. “You’re not wearing any underwear.”
Gasping, I jerked to get away from him so he couldn’t see. He didn’t release his tight hold on my legs and I ended up falling backward. Knox tried to catch me by the back of my calves. It didn’t work. My legs bent and I ended up clamping his hands between the backs of my thighs and calves as I went down. My butt slammed onto the island, making a very loud thump. I caught myself with my hands before falling the rest of the way onto my back.