HARD KNOX (6 page)

chapter ten

(knox)

*NOW*

I threw down an ace and then tossed
my cigarette to the garage floor and stepped on it. I put my hand to the middle
of the table and grinned.

“You fucker,” Slam said to me.

“Can’t help it,” I said. “I never
fucking lose.”

“Fuck this,” Matteo said. He threw
his cards into the middle of the table. “I’m out of cash for the night.”

“Saving his last twenty for the
titty bar,” Noah said and laughed.

“Eat shit, Noah,” Matteo said. “Night’s
too young to blow my cash and not my load.”

“Damn,” I said. “Those are true
words, brother. You should get that painted on a wooden sign and hang it above
your couch in the living room. You know? That would look good.”

Now we all started laughing.

Shit, this was what it had become.
Me and six guys, sitting, playing cards. There was a seventh chair at the
table, but it was left empty. I glanced to the chair, nodding with a deep sense
of respect. Our other boy, King, ended up on death row.

Not to mention my old man was
serving a life sentence too. He wasn’t on death row but he had no shot at
parole.

That’s what happens to a MC when
the ground gets shaken and breaks open. We had been set up a while ago and shit
just hit the fan. While things broke apart, the core of us stuck together. We
kept the garage open the best we could. Our repair work wasn’t the bulk of the
business.

Protection was.

We had contacts from Reno to
Tijuana, shit, all the way up into Washington state and into Canada. If someone
needed product moved and product protected to move, we were the guys to do it.
The Reap would live on. We had most of the PD in our back pocket and we still
enjoyed the outlaw rambling life.

Still, it wasn’t the same without
my old man at the head of the table, right there in church, smacking the gavel,
bellowing orders at us.

“Hey,” Ari said, “we got four cars
in today. Getting a little busy again.”

“That’s good,” I said. “Just keep
the straight business straight and the rest underground. We’re doing fine,
guys.” I took my earnings and held them up. “I’m doing really fine tonight.”

“I heard some rumblings, brother,” Liam
said. He sipped a glass of whiskey and leaned forward. “There’s noise all
around that
the family
is looking to make another push into town.”

The family
were the people
that asshole Porter ran with. They were deeply connected, all the way back to
Brooklyn, New York. They were part of the reason the MC took heat, but
generally we were all peaceful. They had a different view on their sense of
freedom than what we had. We rarely crossed paths. Well, unless you counted me
and Ana… and the fact that she was with Porter.

I slammed my fist down, pissed off.
“I don’t want to hear any of that shit again. They won’t come through here.
What can they do? Knock it all down and put up condos?”

“That’s exactly what they can do,” Elijah
said.

“Fuck me,” Slam said. “Last thing
we need is that bullshit.”

“It won’t happen,” I said. “They’re
smarter than that. They’d have too much to manage. As long as they get their
access to the city to skim the edge of what they want, they’re fine. Plus,
everyone knows they hide out here. It’s a safe zone for them. Why bring
attention to it?”

“True,” Matteo said. “But we need
to keep our eyes open. I don’t like when they get together and talk.”

“What about you?” Ari asked me. “You
know your girl’s sort of connected.”

“Hey,” I snapped. “Listen to me,
motherfucker. Ana is not connected. I don’t want to hear that talk at my table.”

“Your table,” Slam said.

“My goddamn table,” I said and I
stood up.

Suddenly, there was a fire inside
me. I walked to the back of the garage and opened the storage closet. That’s
where all the leather cuts were hanging. I reached for mine and peeled it off
the hanger. I turned and held it up.

Everyone at the table looked
shocked as hell.

“What are you doing?” Slam asked.

“I’m putting this cut back on,” I
said.

“You can’t do that,” Matteo said. “Not
without a vote. Not without Uncle Jakey. Shit, you need to talk to your old
man.”

I slid my arms into the leather
cut.

Son of a bitch, it felt right. It
was like kissing Ana. What I was meant to fucking do in life. I pulled at the
lapels and looked to the patches I had earned. I was damn close to becoming the
enforcer for the MC. I was on the verge of pushing forward into a spot that
would let me rise up as high as I wanted. Sergeant at Arms? VP? Hell, the
fucking President of the Reaper’s Bastards?

None of that mattered now though.

This was about right now.

In my mind, I couldn't stop
thinking about Ana. The shit that Danny guy pulled, all of it tied to Porter
and
the family
. It wasn’t going to fly anymore in my town.

“All of you,” I said. “Get your
cuts back on. We take the night right now. I’ll set up a meet with Uncle Jakey
and I’m due for a visit to the old man anyway.”

To my surprise, everyone listened
to me.

We were then standing in the
garage, all in our leather cuts, looking out to the night. And it felt really
good. The town was falling apart. The economy never recovered and we were
basically the runoff for the city shit. But the town still had purpose. People
needed to be protected and we were going to do it.

All of this fire kicked up inside
me because I had seen Ana again. Somewhere inside me I had secretly hoped she
would end up out of this place. Find a decent enough guy who would support and
give her everything she ever wanted. But she stayed in town. She was trapped.

“What now?” Matteo asked.

I took one last leather cut out of
the closet and walked it to the empty chair. I draped it over the back and
stood there. I saw the look on everyone’s face. We all grew up together. From
grade school until now. That’s what made us so fucking tight. Elijah used to
wear glasses. In first grade, some prick called him four eyes. It was right
after his mother died. His father was an alcoholic and treated Elijah like a
punching bag. Elijah took a swing at the kid and the kid then grabbed Elijah’s
glasses and took off. I chased the asshole down and beat him senseless. From
that moment on me and Elijah were best friends.

We all had stories like that,
including King.

But there
’
s another time to talk about that.

“Our brother is sitting in a cell
right now,” I said. “He’s waiting for the rattle of the keys to open his cell
door one last time. Then he’s going to be taken from us. From this world. Who
knows what comes after the mortal outlaw world… but I know this - King isn’t
sitting there down on himself. He’s not worried about getting out. He knows we’re
here ready to keep this club alive.”

Just like that, the Reap was back
in serious business.

I had a high rushing through me.

That decision, however, ended up
being a serious mistake.

We split up to all deal with
separate issues. A couple guys wanted to get to the strip club and set up shop.
Slam and Matteo had a meeting with a representative from another crew to work
out a deal to move a shipment north.

I ended up on my own, on the
streets, thundering into the midnight darkness, feeling free.

It was five minutes into the ride
when I spotted the car behind me.

I knew it was nothing but trouble.

See, right then, some guys would
have taken off. They would have found a way to make a call and get a group
together to work things out. For me, I didn’t give a shit. I wasn’t afraid of
anything. If someone needed me, they’d get me. Face to face.

My old man used to tell me my
attitude and cockiness was going to bite me in the ass one day. Granted, it had
bitten me many times in the ass.

That night
… my ass was
about to get chomped on.

chapter eleven

(knox)

*THEN*

I was on borrowed time still living
in the house. Hell, I was more of a squatter than a resident. I wasn’t sure
whose name the house was actually in, not that it mattered. My mother was long
gone and the old man slept at the clubhouse every night. I had a spot at the
clubhouse myself, but being in the apartment kept me close to Ana.

Soon enough the house would be
taken by the bank and the locks would be changed. Then I’d be able to just
cruise by on my motorcycle and see a standing memory that contained more
memories than I’d probably share with anyone.

I opened the fridge and it was
basically empty. There was beer on the door and a six pack on the shelf. That
was it. As a kid, I knew we were poor but I also knew the fridge was never this
empty.

I grabbed a beer and walked to my
bedroom. I stood at the window and looked across the yard. There was no light
on. Figures. Shit, it was well after midnight so I was sure Ana had to be
sleeping. She was doing all she could to save up and move out of the apartment
herself. Things between her and her mother were reduced to nothing. They relied
on each other to survive and that was it. Part of me wanted to be pissed at my
old man for sleeping with Ana’s mother. But that’s what the old man did. Plus,
it wasn’t my business to get involved in someone else’s bedroom business.

I drank the beer and put the empty
bottle on the nightstand. I had a nice collection going there. Shit, if the old
man or anyone in the MC saw me like that, they’d beat my ass senseless. It was
pathetic to live that way. The clubhouse had everything I needed, including
women. But I knew what I wanted and I stared across the yard at the dark
window, thinking about life. At that point in my life, I thought I was old
enough to know everything. Hell, I was old enough to legally smoke, drink, and
I had enough crime committed under my belt that one slip-up would have me
sitting in a cell for the rest of my life.

I was so wrong about all of that
though. There was never an age considered
old enough to know everything
.
The calm seas of hell were only a break before the next storm.

And the next storm?

Well, she was standing behind me.

“Knox?”

The voice was almost a whisper,
angelic, like a perfect musical note to sooth my bubbling, hate filled soul.

I looked over my shoulder and saw
Ana standing in the doorway to my bedroom. Her hands were on each end of the
doorway like she was fighting her own battle whether to come in or not.

I spun and a smile instantly
climbed across my face. There were only two things that made that happen. My
motorcycle and Ana.

Shit, they were also my two
favorite things to ride.

“Darlin’,” I said. “What are you
doing here?”

“Like I didn't hear your
motorcycle?” she asked. “I should be asking you what you’re doing here.”

“You know what I’m doing here,” I
said. “I’m looking for you.”

I stepped toward her.

She was in a long, white shirt,
from just above her knees down to her feet exposed. She always wore shirts like
that when it was hot out. I knew there was nothing under that shirt except a
pair of panties. Her tits pressed against the shirt. They were so fucking full
and firm, even without a bra.

My cock began to swell.

Her hands slid up the doorway, her
shirt pulling against her body. Even in the pale light of the bedroom I could
see the way her nipples began to show through the shirt.

More of those beautiful legs of
hers began to show, too.

“Why are you looking for me?” she
asked.

“You know why, darlin’,” I said. “I’m
never going to stop looking for you. Checking on you. Protecting you when you
need me most.”

I saw the way she half smiled and
then quickly bit her lip. She was battling the urges… she wanted a normal life
but she also wanted the outlaw.

I inched even closer to her.

I loved the cat and mouse game we
played. Flirty shit back and forth and then we’d end up fooling around. I had
yet to really have Ana the way I wanted though. There was always something in
our way. That didn’t mean we didn’t get each other off, I just hadn’t had the
chance to take her, strip her slowly, claim every inch of her body with my
tongue, and then fuck her all night long. That’s all she needed. Then her sense
of normal would never be the same again.

Tonight
’s the night, Knox
…

No, tonight was not the night.

I leaned forward towards her,
watching her come right at me. Our lips touched and then our tongues started to
do battle. She exhaled through her nose like it was a sigh of relief. She
melted into me, pressing those amazing tits against my chest. Her hands touched
my face, digging at my scruff. She broke the kiss and put her head back, softly
moaning as I kissed down her neck.

My hands moved forward and I
grabbed her waist. I don’t give a shit what anyone says, a woman with curves is
amazing. A woman who took care of herself but didn’t obsess about what bullshit
was poured through TV was true beauty. Being able to squeeze my fingers and
feel Ana drove me wild. Feeling the way her hips moved out and around made me
groan and bite at her neck. The move made Ana jump and yelp. She then grabbed
at my arms and threw her head back even more, laughing playfully.

That sound…

I slid my hands down to her ass. I
made sure she could feel what she did to my dick.

But then the scene suddenly came to
a halt.

“What is this?” she asked.

She tore her hands away from me.
She backed away and looked at her hands. I flipped the switch in the hallway,
turning on the light right above Ana. She was in all white and there on her
left hand was blood. There was something so symbolic about seeing it. Something
that would stick in my mind forever.

I looked down at myself and saw the
blood on my right arm.

“Ah, shit,” I said.

“Knox… tell me that’s your blood.”

I looked right at Ana and knew if I
started lying to her right then I’d end up on the same path as my parents.
Anytime my old man tried to tell Ma the truth, she went nuts about it. I think
that was part of the reason he jumped into bed with Ana’s mother.

Shit.

“Ana,” I said.

“Tell me…”

“I’m not going to lie to you,” I
said. “This is not my blood.”

Ana gasped and ran away.

I chased her into the bathroom
where she hurried to wash the blood off her hand.

It had been a long and rough night.
What happened really didn’t matter. It was something for the MC.

When Ana turned and looked at me
again, she looked devastated.

“Hey,” I said. “This is my life,
darlin’. You know that.”

“I know,” she said. “I just… I just
didn’t know, okay? I could hear things. I could imagine things. But it’s easier
to sleep at night figuring you just fix up cars and bikes and stuff.”

I shook my head. “I’m sorry about
this. I need a shower anyway. I stink. It’s been a long day and a long night.
Let me grab a shower and we can talk. I swear to you, Ana, I will never lie to
you. But there are some things I can’t talk about. I need you to understand
that.”

“I get it,” she said. “I do, Knox.”

“Your eyes are lying to me.”

“No,” she said. “I swear, I’m not
lying. Just… where does it all end?”

“What do you mean?”

“All this in life. Look at it. Look
at us. It’s like from the second I stepped out of that moving truck I haven’t
been settled. And even before then. I went from coming home from school to rush
back out with friends, trying to find a ride to the mall… to my parents
splitting up. To everything falling apart.”

The tears filled her eyes. It
bothered me so much that years later it still got to her like it did about her
father. I tried to reach for her and she pushed me away. She told me to just
take a fucking shower.

I made sure she stayed in the apartment
before I went back to the bathroom.

A few minutes later I stood in the
shower, thinking. About what I had done that night for the MC. About how Ana
felt and what she wanted in life.

That shower was the worst of my
life.

Washing blood off my hands, arms,
and face would become the norm for me. What made it so bad was that I knew
things with Ana would never be the same. I would never stop loving her or
checking up on her, but anything after that…

I punched the tile wall so hard
that I broke a piece. Then I got out of the shower, wearing nothing but a
towel, and walked to the bedroom. Ana was crying. I sat on the bed next to her
and held her. Her hands touched my bare muscles and I fought with all my might
to not get hard.

That night I held her… and we
slowly fell back to the bed together. She curled up on me and we kissed only a
few times. She fell asleep first and I stared at her for hours. Each time she
stirred, I’d whisper I loved her into her ear and play with her hair.

Shit, that should have been nothing
but romantic for us, you know? Two lost souls finding each other. We both knew
we loved each other. We both knew we were meant for each other. I was holding
my girl all night long. I touched her hair, her skin. I tasted her breath when
she woke up. I saw her eyes open for the first time the next morning. It was
everything I wanted to fight for. It was…

…
it was the first and last time
I got to do that with Ana
…