Mostly because they weren’t by themselves.
Knight had his huge ass body tucked between Sophie and Haley, his arms basically around both of them. He had his wingspan draped behind the back of the booth, so yeah, he had his arms all over them, and the moment he spotted me, he tipped his chin. This got the girls’ attention, all of them popping up and waving at me. They looked only too giddy to have Knight Reed basically all over them, and something told me Keisha would have been a part of the sandwich too if he had another side to hug.
“Greer!”
They all said it together, but the only one truly smiling at me with mad delight was Knight himself. He was playing a new game here, easily psychological warfare, and since I was spotted by my friends, I couldn’t so easily walk away.
My stomach clenched as I gripped my bag, coming over and squeezing in next to Keisha. Knight dropped his arms from around the girls after that, sitting up, and the absence definitely hadn’t kept my roommates at bay. Hales and Soph hugged up on his big body like he was their life-force, grinning up at him like he was a member from a K-pop group.
“What’s going on?” I asked, treading lightly here. I lay my bag on the seat of my other side, Haley leaning forward.
“Can you believe Knight was eating lunch too?” she stated, her voice way higher than it usually was. “Right over there.”
She pointed to a group of guys just as big and as arrogant-looking as Knight was, talking amongst each other with their arms filled with just as many girls as Knight had when I came over. The girls swarmed these guys like locusts, but for whatever reason this one in particular stalked me.
“Came over to say hi,” Knight said, hand tapping the table. “Recognized your friends.”
This made them all giggle like four-year-olds, Haley and Sophie hugging Knight even more. In return, he dropped his arms back around them again, and I swore to God, Haley had actual drool dripping out of her mouth when his bicep merely brushed the back of her head.
“So naturally, you invited yourself to sit with us,” I said, expression serious.
Knight leaned forward. “Naturally.”
“We figured it’d be okay.” Keisha exchanged a glance between Knight and me. “He asked if you were coming, and since you knew him, we thought…”
> They figured it’d be okay. My insides were swirling so badly I wasn’t sure if I could keep down anything, let alone order pizza. I started to make up some excuse, that Knight shouldn’t inconvenience himself by sitting with us, but then I noticed his finger. The tip of it looped right around Haley’s blond locks unbeknownst to her knowledge. He was playing with her and, in turn, playing with me.
My mouth dried. “Of course it’s fine.” I shifted in my seat, and only after did Knight drop his arms to his sides. He placed his hands in his lap, his muscled biceps squished between two girls a fraction of his size. His bulging arms shifted beneath his coal black T-shirt, matching his dark eyes, and I tried not to look at them as I grabbed a menu.
“Actually, already ordered for the table, Greer. On me.”
Of course he had, the ass.
Knight grinned. “Meat lover’s all around.”
“Too bad,” I said, shrugging. “I’m a vegetarian.”
“Really?” Knight sat back, fingers moving to his lips. “Weird, since you were scarfing down all that chicken with your fries the other day at lunch.”
My nails dug into my thigh. “Recent development.”
He smirked, but did wave the waitress over. Her gaze too poured over Knight’s body like she’d never seen a member of the opposite sex before, and I rolled my eyes, Knight’s grin widening. “A personal pan cheese pizza please for the little dove over there with the white hair.”
Freezing at the nickname he gave me, I stayed silent, shrinking in my seat after the waitress added to the order and left. Keisha touched my shoulder. “Um, cute nickname.”
Knight shrugged. “She hates it.”
“I wouldn’t.” Haley folded her hands and rested her chin on them, Knight’s smile light as the others and I gave her a look. She sat up. “What? It is cute.”
Hardly, and crossing my arms, I stiffened up more. I wanted to be anywhere but here right now, but was clearly stuck for the time being. The conversation moved on when Haley started it, but before I knew it, I was being pulled right back in.
“Knight was telling us about how your mom used to work at his house,” she said, bouncing her shoulders. “And, Greer, you never told us you guys lived together.”
For all of like a minute before he’d gotten my mom fired over that dog thing, the sicko. I frowned. “Yeah, it wasn’t for very long.”
“How was that? I mean…” Keisha sat back. “Sounds fun.”
“Never really saw Greer too much,” Knight said, dashing up dark eyebrows. “She tended to keep to herself.”