HARD KNOX (4 page)

chapter seven

(ana)

*NOW*

I needed air.

Lots of air.

I made it to the side door when
someone grabbed my arm.

“Where the fuck are you going?”

It was Danny. He was overweight and
sweating profusely.

“I need a break,” I said.

“Like hell you do. I’ll call Porter
right now.”

I took my hand off the door.

“Look at this fucking place,” Danny
said. “It’s packed. They’re thirsty. Shake your ass and tits and do something.
Now.”

So that’s how my night started to
look.

I glanced to the stage and it was
empty. That meant Knox was done playing. I had heard his band before, just on
local radio though. His voice was undeniable. Most of the time I couldn’t
listen to it because of the memories it brought back to me.

Now he was here.

We were already in a dangerous
spot.

I couldn't see him again.

I had to avoid it all.

I grabbed a drink tray and kept
busy. Cleaning up, serving drinks, taking orders. I laughed, talked, maybe even
flirted a little, mentally calculating how much I was making. Somewhere in the
back of my mind I had a grand scheme to save up enough money and just run. Head
east and don’t stop until I hit water. Chances were Porter could reach me there
but I’d give it my best offer.

Standing at the bar, I watched as
Eddie opened the register. He put in a five and took out a twenty. I raised an
eyebrow and watched as he grabbed a bottle of vodka. He poured a shot for
someone and then wiped the back of his pants. The twenty dollar bill was now
magically gone.

Holy shit. Porter was right.

I looked down the bar for Danny,
wanting to blow the whistle on this right now. Maybe if I did so I could split
right then. Hell, maybe it would make Porter happy. Maybe he’d then lay off me
a little.

I saw Danny at the corner of the
bar.

A second later he was gone.

I did a double take but then saw
people at the bar push away.

I pushed my way through and couldn’t
believe my eyes.

There was Knox
… holding
Danny on the ground by his throat.

I covered my mouth in shock as Knox
dropped his knee to Danny’s chest.

“You want to do this here?” Knox
asked. “Or outside like men?”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa,” Danny yelled. “Not
in front of the people.”

“Then get up and get outside,” Knox
said.

He let Danny go and helped him up.

That’s when we saw each other
again.

Knox didn’t seem to be in the mood
to stand there and eye flirt with me. He grabbed Danny by the front of the
shirt and walked toward me.

I jumped out of the way and Knox
passed by, turning his head toward me. “Hey, darlin’. Why don’t you meet me
outside, too?”

Just like that, all those feelings
rushed back. I felt like I could pass out. It took me a few seconds to regain
my thoughts and footing. By then the door was opened and shut.

I saw the look on Eddie’s face and
wondered if he wasn’t part of what Knox was up to also. I knew the MC had been
taking hit after hit and they were desperate to stay afloat. At this point,
they were more or less just a small group of guys that met up to ride
motorcycles. But knowing Knox and his strength and mindset, he could easily
turn the club back into a powerful and dangerous force, if it wasn’t that
already.

My mind kept racing as I opened the
door and went outside.

Knox hadn’t let up on Danny yet. He
swung Danny around and slammed his large body against the side of the building.
Danny let out a loud groan and looked ready to mess himself. Obviously whatever
protection Porter had been offering was good… up until now when Danny had to
face a wild outlaw like Knoxville.

“You owe me money,” Knox said. “The
band played and now you pay up. You agreed.”

“I didn’t say shit,” Danny said. He
looked at me. “Make the call, Ana. Right now.”

“Keep her out of this,” Knox said. “Let
me explain something to you. My boys in that band have families. They have
people waiting on the money. Me? I don’t have anyone. You want to stiff me,
fine. Stiff me. But not my boys. So I’m going to give you a chance. I never do
this. I’m only doing this because Ana is watching. Ready for this, Danny boy?”

Knox laughed and tightened his grip
on Danny’s shirt, pushing him harder against the building. Danny’s face was
apple red and looked ready to explode.

“What?” Danny asked.

“I’m going to send my boys on the
road. Then I’m going to hang out back, on my ride, smoke a few. I’m going to
sip a cold mug of beer. By the time I’m done with that beer you’re going to
give me the money for the show tonight. If you don’t, I’m going to come back in
and I’m going to take the empty beer mug and I’m going to shove it up your ass.”

Knox broke away from Danny.

There was silence for a few seconds
and then Danny swung a fist at Knox. He clipped Knox in the jaw and I gasped.
Before any of us could take a breath, Knox unloaded on Danny. It was like
watching some boxer going to town on his opponent. Left, right, left, right,
left, left, right. Each hit made Danny groan in pain. Punching from Danny’s gut
up to his face, where Knox only hit him there once, right in the eye.

I knew Danny would have a black eye
for days after that.

“Knox!” I finally yelled.

He stopped. Holy shit, he actually
stopped.

Knox looked at me, his eyes wild as
ever. They seemed to calm when he saw me though. Slowly, he reached for his
smokes and lit one up. Then he walked away without a word.

I felt strangely disappointed. Last
time we had met up, it ended when I finished with his hands down my pants. Now
he was just walking away, cool and bad as I could ever remember him.

Danny then looked at me, shaking
furiously. He took a step and winced in pain. He reached for the building to
brace himself.

“I saw Eddie take money,” I said. “He
took a twenty.”

“What?”

“He took a twenty and poured a
drink. Then he pretended to wipe his hand and slipped the money into his
pocket. That’s how he’s ripping you off. I saw it happen.”

“Great,” Danny said. He stutter
stepped again. He reached for the door and then stopped. “Can I ask you
something?”

“Yeah,” I said.

“That guy, Knox, is he serious?”

“Yeah,” I said.

“He’ll wait? Then come back in?”

“Yeah.”

“Even if I call Porter?”

“Especially if you call Porter.
Trust me, Danny, Knox is someone you don’t want to mess with.”

“Fuck,” Danny growled. He reached
into his back pocket and took out a wad of cash. “Here.”

“What is this?”

“Don’t fucking worry about it,” Danny
snapped. He grabbed for this left side and groaned in pain. “Go give this to
him.”

“To Knox?”

“Yeah. I don’t want to see that guy
ever again.”

My lips started to quiver.

Go see Knox? Alone? With his
motorcycle? With the temptation to run off with him?

I reached for the money and took
it. There was quite a bit there. “Danny… if you had the money for him…”

Danny looked at me. He gave me the
fuck
off
eyes. Being close to Porter and his life, I understood more than I
cared to understand. Meaning, Danny took the cash to pay Knox’s band and was
going to keep it for himself. Like the bartender ripping off the club, so was
Danny. Everyone wanted to rip everyone off.

I squeezed the cash tight and
watched as Danny opened the door.

“Hey,” I called out. “Are you going
to tell Porter about Eddie?”

“I’m going to call him right now,” Danny
said.

That was all I needed to hear. I
knew Porter was out of town, but I didn’t know how far.

In other words
… I didn
’t
have much time alone with Knox.

Any sane woman would have been
terrified to turn the corner of a dark alley and find some tall, wide
shouldered biker standing there, smoking a cigarette, his eyes damn near
glowing with evil against a buzzing streetlight that hung from an adjacent
building.

For me, it was everything I could
have ever dreamt of.

So many nights I had stood in my
bedroom window, staring across to Knox’s window, wondering if he was there and
what he was doing. Or who he was doing. I had gotten to the point where I felt
confident enough to talk to him but then my mother ended up in bed with his
father and all hell broke loose. In the blink of an eye, my entire world changed
again. My mother chain smoked more than ever. She cried at the kitchen table.
She missed my father. She wasn’t sure if she actually liked Knox’s father or
not.

Across the yard, Knox’s mother took
off. His grandmother died. His father was never home. And before I knew it, Knox
started to wear a leather cut just like his father. He had been sucked into the
MC life.

But the life worked for him. It made
Knox who he was odd enough, it matched who he was before the life. As though he
was born to become this outlaw kind of man. For me, that meant always having a
dream and fantasy but never living it out. It meant I’d never have the
wraparound porch and white fence out front, you know? I’d never stand at the
door and greet him from a long day of work. Maybe that was meant to be for the
better, but it didn’t end up that way.

“Hey, darlin’,” Knox said as he
tossed his smoke across the alley. It bounced, sparked, and died out.

“Knox,” I said. “That was bad what
you just did.”

“Bad? When you fuck my boys…”

“Porter is tied into this,” I said.

“Fuck him,” Knox said. “My band
works hard.”

“I know. I’m sorry.” I approached
him. “It’s been a while, huh?”

He stood before me, towering over
me. “Far too long, darlin’.”

I held my hand out. “Here. This is
from Danny. He was going to rip you off.”

“Of course he was,” Knox said. “A
lot of these dickhead club owners do that. The band really does have a life
outside this. They’re honest guys. Good guys. Paying for their families.”

“And you?” I asked.

Knox grinned. “You know who I am,
Ana. What I do. What I stand for.”

“So the Reap is still alive?” I
asked, referring to the Reaper’s Bastards MC.

“Is that a question you really want
answered?” he asked, reaching for my face.

His fingers stroked my cheek,
bringing life between my legs for the first time in a long time. There was a
different feeling when Knox turned me on. It wasn’t just about me getting wet.
It was like heat surged head to toe inside me. It was the wildest feeling,
something no person gave me.

I tucked my shoulder to his hand
and let out a little sigh.

Knox was killing me. He was always
killing me.

“Ah, fuck,” he whispered. “What
happened to us, darlin’?”

“Do you really want to go there?” I
asked. “History sometimes hurts.”

“Yeah, it does. I never stopped
thinking of you. I know you’re not happy here. I can fix all that, Ana. I can
steal you away.”

“Into what kind of life?” I asked.

“One where you know you’re loved.
One where you know you’ll forever be touched the right way.” The back of his
hand gently touched my cheek. “The way you deserve.”

Next thing I knew I was turning,
backing up, knowing I wanted to hit the building and have him pin me against
it. I wanted to feel his hand against the back of my leg and lift it. I wanted
to feel him kiss me, undress me, fuck me. We never had our chance at it the
right way. Everything had always been so rushed, waiting for the next slice of
hell to come barging into our lives.

Knox got close to me, but not as
close as I wanted him.

I then lifted the money to him,
like I was afraid of him or something.

“Take this,” I whispered. “I have
to go. Porter is on his way.”

“You think I give a shit about that
guy?” Knox asked. “Darlin’, I just want you to find happiness.”

“I’m working on that,” I said. “Saving
money so I could get away from it all, Knox.”

He nodded. He put his hand over
mine and pushed it away. “Keep the money.”

“What?”

“You heard me. Keep it.”

“No. It’s your money.”

He shook his head. “Ana, I earn on
my own. You take that money and stash it away. You never know when you’ll need
it.”

I swallowed hard, feeling all those
old emotions starting to stir again. Each time I met up with Knox, he always
found a way to give something to me. To remind me that under that outlaw
attitude and thick muscle there was a beautiful man with a beautiful heart.

“What about your band?” I asked.

“I’ll take care of them. I usually
do. Plus, we’re sort of moving away from it all. Bret’s old lady hates him on
the road so much. Luke’s old lady just had their second kid. Might be time to
put it all away. Which is fine by me.”

“Jesus, Knox,” I said. “I had no
idea. You guys are really good and popular.”

“I’m looking at the true star in
all of this,” he whispered to me.

Just like that we were set back
years, the two of us staring down at the beginning of a wild kiss. Our lips got
so close, just barely touching, then Knox pulled away.

“Not this time,” he said.

“Knox…”

“Darlin’, I can’t hold back anymore
with you. If I kiss you again I’m going to devour you. I’m going to tear you
apart. You need to know that. I’m done with these fucking games. You need to
get the fuck out of here, Ana. For good. There’s nothing left here for you.”

“What about you?” I asked.

“Don’t worry about me,” he said. “You
know what I’m doing here. What I’m trying to protect, save, create. It’s part
of me. It will forever be a part of me. But you can go. I’m sorry to say this
to you, darlin’, but there’s nothing here for you. It’s all dead and gone.”