He shakes his head and says gravely, “I was just shocked to see you. I didn’t look there. I saw you on the ground and assumed you were trashed. I didn’t know where you lived—”

“So you took me to Piper’s and rang the doorbell.”

He swallows. “Right. I thought you’d sleep it off. Then, the next day I heard you’d gone to the hospital.” His face hardens. “I had no idea. You looked okay to me. Sick maybe, definitely drunk. As soon as I knew the truth, I went to the police and told them how I found you and took you to Piper’s. I felt terrible. If I had known—”

I shake my head. “The police never told me that! Why wouldn’t they?”

He gets a pained expression on his face. “The police here know who signs their paychecks, Ava. It’s a small community run by rich men. Liam’s dad is the mayor, my dad owns half the town, and you…you don’t matter to them, not when it comes to protecting the people here.” He stares down at his hands. “I’m sorry.”

The detective’s words come roaring back. “Miss Harris, is it possible you consented to sex? Your behavior at the party was, well, indicative of…”

I breathe. Big inhalation. Long exhalation.

“The police questioned me for hours,” he continues. “They had a timeline for everyone who was there and who they left with, but because I’d left early, I couldn’t help with those alibis. If it’s any consolation, they looked at me harder than anyone. I looked suspicious because I picked you up. Then my dad showed up and the cops let me go.”

A harsh laugh comes out of me. “I’m no one in this town, but the rest of you…ha. I’m no one. Just a nobody girl.” He doesn’t respond, and I push on. “Dane said the team suffered. He said you questioned everyone personally and hired a P.I. for me.”

He starts, and I study him intently, trying to catalogue every expression he gives me. He’s such a brick wall, and like always, I want to knock it down. “He told me about your mother. I’m sorry about what happened to her. Is that why you hired a private investigator? Guilt for not taking me to the hospital?”

He whitens, his shoulders tensing. “Shit.”

“You don’t like to talk about what happened to her, and I get it. It’s not pleasant, I imagine, seeing someone unravel and there isn’t a damn thing you can do about it.”

“She had a lot of issues before she was assaulted, Ava.”

I inhale. “I hate it when you call me Ava instead of Tulip, you know. You’re putting distance between us. Even now, when I know you aren’t the big bad Shark you want me to think you are.” I huff out a breath.

He grows quiet. Then, “Can you forgive me for not taking you to the hospital? For not—” He stops, his top teeth biting down hard on his bottom lip.

“What?”

His lashes flutter against his cheeks.

“Just say it. Please.” I don’t know why I’m begging him, but he’s so close, so close to telling me what I sense is just right there.

“For not staying, okay? I should have stayed, but I left because…”

“You saw me kissing Chance.”

He closes his eyes. “If I’d stayed, maybe—”

That moment plays back in my head, when Chance said he loved me and Knox was standing right there with Tawny. The anguish on his face…

Was it real?

I shake myself, pushing that away for now.

“It wasn’t your fault, and I never want you to feel guilty for something you had no control over.”

“But…I didn’t even do the right thing when I found you! It drives me crazy!”

I’ll kill him with my bare hands.

Moments tick by.

“I’m starting to think no one really knows you. You hire a private investigator, you fight with Liam over me…” I murmur, shaking my head.

Tentatively and carefully, he reaches out and touches my hand. “Don’t you know me, Tulip?”

My body tingles at the use of my middle name combined with his hand, and dang, it’s such a simple thing, but…

“You’ve told me more than the cops ever did.”

My frustration ebbs away, leaving bitterness and regret, yet in the end, I can’t blame anything on Knox. I went to that party. I let my guard down. I own that.

“Thank you for taking me to Piper’s. You might have saved my life. I seriously entertained the idea of a coyote getting me,” I add, trying for levity, but he doesn’t laugh. “Anyway, I could have choked on my own vomit out there in the woods.”

His jaw tightens.

I sigh.

“I’m not mad at you.” I stand up.

He stands, gray eyes holding mine.

“But I can tell you can’t make up your mind about something when it comes to me. You’re holding back.”

He crosses his arms. “Trust me, that’s a good thing.”

“Is it?” I cock my head. “Tell me, what else have you done for me lately? Someone paid for my housing, and you were the one who came out of Trask’s office before I went in—after I’d just told you I wasn’t in the dorms. Was that you?”

He drops his eyes and paces around the stage.

“Knox?”

He waves me off and plops down on the piano seat. “I blamed myself for not staying at the party and making sure nothing happened to you.”

“Uh-huh. We’ve established that point. You’re not answering my question.”

He nods. “At the same time, I got all this information about you from the P.I.—how you grew up, how your mom left you with a baby, how you beat the odds and managed to get a scholarship to Camden. You’re a bright star in this shitty place. You’re not like anyone I’ve ever met.”

“Was it you?”

He stands and marches over to me, staring down at me with those hot eyes. “I know underneath that tough-girl exterior, you’d do anything for the people you love. Do you know how rare that is? People may say they care and love, but from what I’ve seen, they only look out for themselves. You, though, you feel so intensely. You love so hard you came back to Camden for your brother—”

“Is there anything about me you don’t know? When I was spilling my guts to you in class and at Lou’s, did you already know those things?”

“I knew about your mom. I knew she left you, and I knew you lived on the streets sometimes. I knew Trask had asked you back and you requested to live in the dorms, but—”

He stops and swallows, his brow furrowed. He turns back to me, meeting my gaze, holding it steady. Still he doesn’t speak. I see that mask slipping back onto his face.

“Knox? Don’t you pussy out on me. This is the most honest conversation we’ve had, and I want to hear it all.”

I move closer, and part of me knows it throws him off, makes him uneasy. The smell of him, like summer and ocean waves, surrounds me.

My eyes trace the hard lines of his jaw, the long, strong nose, the way his dark hair falls around his face.

When he speaks, the words come reluctantly. “You’ve always fascinated me, okay? Since day one, since the moment you waltzed through those doors with your long blonde hair and eyes full of all that hope. Everyone else comes here and they already have everything, but you had nothing—nothing except your power. You barely looked at any of us, especially me, and I knew then you were untouchable, knew you deserved better than any guy at Camden.” He pauses. “Then Chance…you gave him a shot.”