HARD KNOX (11 page)

“For anything.”

“The loyalty of the cut and the
club.”

“Reaper’s Bastards for life,” he
said.

“Good.”

Slam put a hand to my shoulder. “Hey.
And whatever you need for Ana, I’m there with you. I get it. You two have been
all tangled up for a long damn time. If you get what you want this time, Knox,
don’t fucking give it up.”

I didn’t respond. I knew exactly
what Slam was talking about.

I had my leather cut. I had my
darlin’.

I wasn’t going to lose either.

My phone rang in Slam’s pocket and
he took it out.

“Speak of the angel,” he said and
tossed me the phone.

It was Ana calling.

I answered with a
Hey, darlin
’
but she cut me off quick.

With one word.

Help.

nineteen

(ana)

*NOW*

Porter demanded I go to his office
to see him. He had an office and fronted that he worked in construction site
development. His office had blueprints everywhere, along with pictures of him
shaking hands with prominent businessmen in front of new buildings.

I couldn’t have Knox come crashing
into Porter’s office and cause hell. I knew what Knox wanted to do to Porter
but it had to be done right. The last thing I needed was Knox being put in jail
because of me.

When I got there and saw two men
standing outside his office door I knew it was nothing good waiting for me. I
couldn’t back away and take off so I entered.

Porter sat at his desk with another
man across from him. They quickly wrapped up and shook hands. The man eyed me
and exited the office.

“Tony,” Porter said. “Helping with
an expansion project. He owns a lot of construction equipment. Expert in
digging holes.”

“Okay,” I said. “Everything okay?”

“Not at all, Ana. I’m replaying some
details in my mind and I’m not sure what’s happening.”

All I could think then was that
Porter had someone watch me last night and knew Knox had come over. I was tired
of living like that, you know? I loved Knox and there was going to be no shame
in it.

Easier to think than react to.

“What do you mean?” I asked.

“Your old flame… he’s riding his
motorcycle again. Wearing his leather jacket again.”

I swallowed hard. “Oh?”

“See, there was a time when my
family and the Reaper’s Bastards could live side by side. We had small run-ins
here and there, but nothing violent. Of course, everyone wants to swing the
bigger dick. Newsflash, Ana, my dick is bigger.”

No it
’s not, Porter.
Ohmygod, it
’s so far from bigger
… or even big
…

“What does that mean?”

“Something is happening,” Porter
said. He rose up. “If those fucks think they’re going to push back at me, they’re
in for a war. Their leader is in prison for life. Another member is on death
row.”

Porter paused. I had a small sense
of relief go through me. He had seen Knox and beat him up. I was sure it wasn’t
just Porter that hurt Knox. Porter couldn’t handle himself alone.

“I’m not sure…” is what I started
to say before Porter cut me off with another line in his thought.

“And Knox is fucking the woman who
is supposed to be mine.”

The second I heard the sentence, I
stepped back. “What?”

“Please. You have guilt all over
your fucking face. You smell like grease and sex. You look like you can’t walk
straight.”

“Better than you ever did,” I
blurted out.

I quickly gasped and turned to run.

I exploded out of the office only
to have one of the guys ready for me. My instinct kicked in, my ability to
defend myself, just like the way Knox taught me to do so. After that night at
the college party where Knox saved me from something bad, he got me coffee,
breakfast, and took me to a gym to teach me how to defend myself. Step one was
pretty obvious - don’t get blackout drunk. But the rest of the steps were
handy.

The big guy opened his arms to grab
me and I lifted my foot and slammed into his balls. I hit so hard it hurt my
toes. The big guy fell to the right and gasped for air. I wasted no time in
running.

I heard the door open and Porter’s
voice said to get me.

He was calm and cool about it.

There couldn’t be a big scene, not
at his office.

That gave me the chance to get out
of the office and into my car. Before I could throw the thing in reverse,
Porter and his two guys came rushing out of the office building. Porter pointed
right at me. He was going to come for me. He was going to get me. Shit, he was
going to hurt me.

No. No, Ana. You have Knox. Your
outlaw. Your warrior.

I sped out of the parking lot and
Porter was after me. I reached across my seat and grabbed for my bag. The wheel
turned to the right and the car swerved toward the side of the road. I caught
myself before I crashed and hurt myself. Darting to the left, I almost went
into oncoming traffic. I had the phone in my hand and then it was gone. I
dropped the damn thing on the floor. My hands were shaking so bad, my mouth
bone dry. I never had death so close to me.

Reaching down, I kept my eyes on
the road and found my phone again.

I quickly called for Knox.

When he answered, I said one word.

Help.

It was then like I could feel the
rage pouring through the phone.

I talked fast and told him what had
happened. That Porter wanted blood because of the Reaper’s Bastards getting
back together and because he just knew me and Knox were together. That shouldn’t
have been a huge shock because anyone in town knew that me and Knox were always
bouncing back and forth.

Not anymore. We were together now.
I was going to take his promises to my grave if I had to. Of course something
like this would happen right away though. We could never get a break to
ourselves. It was the thing that kept us apart for years.

Knox told me to go west and get on
what people called the abandoned roads. There used to be big factories and lots
of jobs but life happened and a good chunk of the town was left to rot and
rust. That’s where a lot of bad things happened. So the second Knox told me to
go there, I knew bad things were going to happen.

I looked in the mirror and saw the
two black cars following me still.

The problem was that as I got
closer to those roads, it gave a chance for Porter and his guys to stage an
attack.

Which they did.

The car his guys were driving flew
right up next to me and started to cut to the right, wanting to take me off the
road. I panicked and didn’t know what to do. Logic was not stepping forward
during those moments for me. I hunched down a little, fearing a bullet was
going to get me. I then slammed on the brakes.

That turned out to be the right
move to make.

The black car went flying forward.

Behind me, Porter slammed on his
brakes and cut to the right to keep from smashing into my car. His car turned
sideways and skidded to a stop.

In front of me, the black car’s
brakes light lit up.

I turned the wheel to the right and
pressed the gas. I shot around the black car and bought myself some time.

Not much, but I hoped it was
enough.

I couldn’t believe the wild turn my
life had taken.

You know how people say that if you
mess with fire you’ll end up getting burned?

Yeah, well, here’s another lesson…

If you mess with an outlaw, you
’ll
end up getting killed.

Porter wanted to go to war with
Knox. Knox wanted to go to war with Porter. And I was in the middle. Trapped by
Porter and loved by Knox.

I flew around a wide bend just as
Porter and the black car were catching up again.

That’s when I saw him in the middle
of the road.

Like the crazy, bad-ass outlaw that
he was, Knox had his motorcycle sideways in the middle of the road and he
leaned against it. He reached into his leather cut and took out a smoke and lit
it up.

He was insane and the hottest
guy I
’d ever known
…

The showdown was officially on.

Knox stood there and smoked like
nothing was happening. Porter jumped out of his car and reached for a gun. With
the cigarette still in his mouth, Knox reached for his gun. They were then
standing, Porter closing in on him, both of them pointing guns at each other.

I was standing there, behind Knox’s
motorcycle, my entire body shaking.

Knox took one more drag of his
cigarette and tossed it to the ground.

“You want more of this?” Porter
asked.

The two guys got out of the other
black car.

“You can’t do it man to man, huh?” he
asked Porter.

“Fuck you,” Porter said. “I should
have killed you.”

“You don’t want that war, Porter. I’m
simply taking what is mine and then taking control of my town.”

Porter laughed. “You’re starting a fight
over a cunt?”

“Call her a cunt again,” Knox said
and stepped toward Porter. “I dare you, you fucking greasy piece of shit. Why
don’t you put that gun down and fight me like a man?”

“I don’t need to fight you,” Porter
said.

“That’s right. You only beat up on
women.”

I gasped and covered my mouth.

Porter then looked at me. “That’s
what you want, Ana? You run off to this asshole to cry about your mistakes?”

“She didn’t do anything wrong,” Knox
said. “No woman deserves to get hit. Ever.”

“Oh, please,” Porter said. “Sometimes
a woman needs a good beating.”

I honestly stepped forward, ready
to take my life into my hands to get a shot at Porter. Talk about the nastiest
thing I’d ever heard someone say.

Before I could do that though, Knox
sprung to action.

He swung a fist and clocked Porter
in the jaw. It was a risky move because Porter had a gun and so did his guys.

Knox grabbed Porter’s arm, twisted
it, forcing him to drop the gun. Then Knox kicked the gun out of reach. He
grabbed the back of Porter’s shirt and pulled him in. I’d never seen anyone
touch Porter let alone punch him and manhandle him like Knox did.

Both of Porter’s guys were ready to
kill Knox.

What was he thinking?

I had my answer when I saw two
lumbering men appear from the side of the road. They had been hiding behind a
thick patch of brush.

It was Matteo and Slam, two of Knox’s
closest friends.

They were like beasts as they
charged up behind Porter’s two guys.

In a matter of a few seconds the
guys dropped their guns and were on their hands and knees, guns pointed at them
from Matteo and Slam.

I muttered two words.

“Holy shit.”

It was all I had. Knox had
outsmarted Porter and now bad things were about to happen.

“Knox,” I said.

He looked back at me, his face like
nothing I’d seen before.

“Darlin’,” he said.

“Don’t kill him,” I said.

Knox grinned.

Foolish me, right?

If Knox wanted Porter dead, he’d be
dead by then.

I knew what Knox wanted to do.

I told myself to look away. But I
couldn’t. Porter was going to get punished for what he did to me.

I had to watch.

Knox spun Porter around and punched
him again. Porter stumbled back. He then came at Knox, taking a swing. Knox
blocked the punch with ease and got Porter square in the nose. This time when
Porter stumbled back Knox went after him. Two more hits and Porter fell to his
ass.

Knox wasn’t done yet.

As Knox towered over Porter I
feared what was going to happen next. I had been around and seen enough to
understand how everything worked. My simple dream of having a house, paying
bills, finding time for a romantic movie night, all that was shattered the day
Knox’s sexy lips touched mine. Since then I had watched pain, violence, death,
yet I wouldn’t change it for anything in the world to have a chance to be
wrapped tight in my beautiful outlaw’s arms.

That meant I had to stop Knox from
killing Porter.

The war had started already but I
was going to keep it from ending all our lives.

At least I hoped.

Knox got down on one knee but he
wasn’t proposing to me or anyone else.

His left knee was on the ground. He
lifted Porter up by the shirt with his left hand.  His right hand cocked back
in a tight fist.

It was like everything moved in
slow motion.

The truth was that I wanted to see
Porter hurt. What Knox had seen on my face was hardly the first time something
of that nature happened with Porter. I had become nothing less than a punching
bag for him. He would hit me then fuck me.

And I let it happen.

I was mad at myself but the pain… in
so many ways… was just my reminder that I was alive. And I always dreamed of
some pathetic fairy tale where Knox would come save me before I got hurt again.

“You ever touch her again and I
will kill you,” Knox said to Porter. “You tell your fucking family to keep to
their shit and we’ll keep to ours. The Reaper’s Bastards own this town and
everything in it. You need something, you set up a meeting with me. My cut says
enforcer but after today I’m VP of the club…”

That stopped me in my tracks.

VP? Knoxville… as VP?

That was pretty big.

Knox came crashing down with the
fist to Porter’s face. He loaded back again and punched again. Porter clawed at
Knox’s arms and face but there was nothing he could do. The lion versus the
gazelle and there was no escape.

Not until I stepped up behind Knox
and put a hand to his shoulder.

He froze instantly and looked back
at me. My eyes filled with tears. Why?

In one word: everything.

All the years of emotion building
and collapsing around me.

Knox saw my tears and stood and
turned. His hands grabbed my waist and he stared at me.

“Is it true?” I asked. “VP?”

“Yeah,” he said. “Nothing is set in
stone yet. It’s all fucked up. The Reap is alive. We’re here. I’m tired of
this, darlin’. I told you that. This piece of shit on the ground will never
bother you again.”

I looked down at Porter. He had one
hand on the ground and wiped his face with the other. Our eyes met and there
was no feeling. There was probably never any true feelings there anyway. He was
just the temporary bad boy fix until my hands could get back on Knox’s body.

Was that wrong? Probably. But I
didn’t care.