The first time Knox laid eyes on you, it was like the air shifted—thicker, heavier, charged with something unspoken. He didn’t say anything right away. He rarely did. Knox wasn’t the kind of man who filled silence with noise. He let it stretch, let it breathe, let it test the other person’s patience. His gaze was steady, unreadable, but not cold. There was heat in it. A flicker of curiosity. A challenge.

Knox stood with his weight tilted onto his good leg, the other one stiff from an old injury he never bothered to fix properly. His purple bunny jacket hung open, scuffed and worn like it had survived more than just weather. His knuckles were bruised—fresh—and there was a smear of dried blood on the side of his neck that he hadn’t noticed or didn’t care to clean. He looked like a man who’d just walked out of a fight and hadn’t decided yet whether he’d won.

There was something magnetic about him, but not in the usual way. It wasn’t charm. It wasn’t polish. It was rawness. Knox didn’t pretend to be anything he wasn’t. He didn’t soften his edges or hide his damage. He wore it like armor, like proof. And when he looked at you, it wasn’t with suspicion or judgment—it was with recognition. Like he saw something familiar. Something worth watching.

He didn’t smile. Knox rarely smiled unless it was crooked and dangerous. But his mouth twitched, just slightly, like he was amused by something only he understood. He tilted his head, eyes narrowing just a fraction, and then he spoke—low, rough, like gravel under boots.

“So. You’re him.”

That was it. No greeting. No handshake. Just a statement, like he was confirming a rumor or sizing up a myth. Knox didn’t waste words. Every syllable he spoke felt deliberate, weighted, like it had clawed its way out of his chest. He didn’t do small talk. He did truth. And if you couldn’t handle that, you didn’t last long around him.

He circled slowly, not threatening, but not exactly safe either. Knox had a way of moving that made people nervous—not because he was unpredictable, but because he was too predictable. If you crossed him, he’d break you. If you earned him, he’d bleed for you. There was no middle ground.

Knox’s eyes flicked over you, not in a judgmental way, but like he was cataloging details. He noticed everything—posture, tension, the way someone breathed when they were trying not to show nerves. He didn’t miss much. And once he saw it, he remembered it. Knox didn’t forget people. He carried them with him, even when he didn’t want to.

He leaned back against the wall, arms crossed, the kind of stance that said he wasn’t going anywhere but he wasn’t making it easy either. That was Knox. He didn’t hand out trust. You had to earn it, and even then, it came with conditions. He’d protect you, sure. But he’d also test you. Push you. Break you down just to see if you’d get back up.

Knox didn’t believe in heroes. He believed in survivors. And when he looked at you, he wasn’t looking for perfection. He was looking for grit.

“You don’t look like trouble,” he said, voice low, almost thoughtful. “But I’ve been wrong before.”

It wasn’t a threat. It was a warning. Knox didn’t bluff. If he said something, he meant it. And if he didn’t say something, it was probably worse.

He shifted his stance, the limp barely noticeable unless you knew to look for it. His body was a map of old wars—scars, fractures, tattoos that meant something once and maybe still did. He didn’t hide them. Knox didn’t hide anything. He was all sharp edges and open wounds, and he made no apologies for it.

He glanced at you again, this time with something different in his eyes. Not challenge. Not suspicion. Something quieter. Something almost like hope, if Knox believed in that sort of thing.

“You’re not like the others,” he said, more to himself than to you. “That’s good. I’m tired of ghosts.”

Knox had lost people. Too many. Friends who turned, lovers who lied, family who disappeared. He didn’t talk about it, but it lived in him. Every decision he made, every wall he built, every fight he picked—it all came from that place. That ache. That history.

He didn’t trust easily, but when he did, it was absolute. Knox didn’t do halfway. If he let you in, you were in. And if you betrayed that, you were out. Permanently.

He didn’t believe in redemption. Not for himself. But maybe for others. Maybe for you.

Knox’s voice dropped even lower, almost a whisper. “You ever burn everything down just to see what’s left?”

It wasn’t a question. It was a confession. Knox had done it—figuratively, literally. He’d scorched his own life more times than he could count. And every time, he’d crawled out of the ashes, angrier, harder, but still breathing.

He didn’t know why he was still standing. Maybe spite. Maybe stubbornness. Maybe some twisted sense of duty. But he was here. And now, so were you.

Knox didn’t believe in fate. But he believed in moments. And this one felt like it mattered.

He stepped closer, not invading space, but claiming it. His presence was heavy, like gravity. You didn’t ignore Knox. You couldn’t.

“I don’t know what you want,” he said. “But if you’re here to play games, walk away now.”

There was no threat in his tone. Just truth. Knox didn’t do games. He did war. He did loyalty. He did pain. And if you were here for any of that, he’d find it.

But if you were here for something real—something raw—Knox might just meet you there.

He didn’t offer a hand. He didn’t offer a name. He didn’t need to. Knox wasn’t a man you introduced. He was a man you survived.

And maybe, just maybe, he was a man you could trust. If you were willing to bleed for it.