When I Break

Chapter Ten - Knox

Knox

Having McKenna here was strange, yet felt completely natural at the same time. I needed to keep it together in front of the guys, but I wanted to pull her aside and ask her why she came back.

Once dinner was over, I sent McKenna into the living room to relax while the guys and I cleared the table. This was all new territory for me-but since she was a guest, she shouldn't have to clean up, right?

I carried the now-empty pizza boxes out to the garbage can and leaned against the side of the house, inhaling deep breaths of cool night air. It smelled like rain. I closed my eyes and tried to calm down. Why was she here? I never got rattled around a woman, but things were different with McKenna. Was it because she led the sex addicts group I was part of? No. I didn't think that was it. She made me feel aware and alive in a way I hadn't felt before, challenged things I thought I knew. She'd talked me into getting STD testing done, though I'd been adamant I didn't need it.

I'd be lying if I said I wasn't nervous for the results to arrive. McKenna thought I did the test for my brothers. The truth was that I did it for her, not for some altruistic purpose. I wanted her. Something told me if I pushed her, I could have her. And I'd never expose her to something I picked up from one of my exploits. I just wasn't ready to go there until I knew I could trust myself with her.

When I headed back inside, I found the boys in the kitchen cleaning up and jumped in to lend a hand, welcoming the distraction from the thoughts swirling inside my brain.

"So, what's McKenna doing back here? I thought she was just your counselor," Jaxon asked, looking down as he washed a glass in the sink. It was how guys worked. Sometimes we found it easier to have conversations when our hands were busy.

I bumped his shoulder as I pushed my way in to rinse. "She is. She's just my counselor. But she came to hang out too. That cool with you?"

"Sure. Why should I care?"

I could tell there was more to it than he was letting on. He'd brought it up for a reason. Maybe he was just curious about my having a normal relationship with a girl. Hell, I was too. I'd repeatedly told my brothers things weren't like that between McKenna and me, but apparently they knew my history with women too well.

"I like her," Luke said as he stuffed the paper plates into the overflowing trash can.

"Me too," Tucker chimed in. "She's nice."

"She's got a nice ass," Jaxon said, smirking down into the dishwater.

Reaching back with a wet hand, I smacked the back of his head lightly. "Don't talk about her ass, dude."

Shit, he was right, though. Earlier when I'd watched her lift up onto her toes to reach the top shelf in the cupboard, her shirt had ridden up, revealing the milky skin of her lower back and a perfectly round ass I wanted to grip in my hands.

I'd fought the urge to walk up behind her and cage her in against the counter, and rub up against her like a dog in heat. It should be illegal to be that hot and be a sex addiction counselor. Seriously, they needed to outlaw that shit.