HARD KNOX(22)

“Yeah. I have cash. Not enough, but I…”

“Why?” he growled at me.

Knox was still between my legs. He should have been tearing my clothes off. His mouth should have been kissing anywhere he wanted to kiss on me.

“Darlin’, tell me what you’re thinking,” Knox said to me.

“Tell me first,” I whispered. “What happened to your face?”

“I had a talk with Porter.”

“No,” I said. I reached for the cuts. “Knox…”

“It’s all good,” he said.

“Why are you wearing your leather cut again?”

“Simple. I’m meant to f*cking wear this. This is who I am. The Reap has not died and never will die. I’m an outlaw with a bad heart, Ana, but you’re the only one who makes my heart feel right. That’s why I’m here. I’m done f*cking around. I’m done playing games. There’s a lot I have to say to you but right now, I’m alone with you. I’m f*cking finally alone with you the way I’ve always dreamed to be.”

Jesus… f*ck me… Knox…

My entire body quivered.

I touched the end of the table and tried to lower my head.

All I wanted to do was disappear. The temptation was too great though. Most women would love to indulge a little with temptation, but with Knox, there was no indulging. It was addicting.

Knox touched my jaw and made it so I couldn’t avoid looking at him.

“Your face,” he whispered. “Go clean that shit off. I want to see.”

“No,” I said. “Knox, no.”

“Goddammit, darlin’, I’m not giving you a choice here. You’re going to take your pretty ass into that bathroom and clean your face off. Right now.”

The anger was still on his face. I saw it changing to something else.

I was staring into the eyes of my protector though. That’s what Knox had always been for me. The truth was that he’d come to see me. He’d obviously taken a beating from Porter, which I knew had to be an unfair fight because I’d seen Knox fight so many times already. He wouldn’t have lost to a guy like Porter one on one.

He wanted the truth? He wanted to see?

“Fine,” I said. “Move.”

I jumped off the table. I felt my panties pull against my body and swallowed hard. I was dripping. The mess was completely unfair because I was then untouched.

I walked into the bathroom and saw Knox lingering behind me.

The weird part was that as I washed my face clean, it wasn’t just the makeup coming off. It was like I was somehow taking off a mask I’d been wearing for years. A mask that tried to keep myself at a safe distance from Knox. But what had that gotten me?

Nothing.

I was lonely, desperate, and I wasn’t happy.

I wiped my face and stared at myself. The bruise was clearing up, just like it always did.

I knew when I left the bathroom and let Knox see my face, nothing would be the same again. I started to shake. I teared up.

I’d never loved someone like I loved Knox… and admitting it and embracing it was the hardest thing to do…





chapter fourteen


(knox)



THEN



I got the word she was at a party and drinking a lot. The last time I talked to her she said she and her mother had gotten into it pretty bad. To the point where they pushed each other and her mother slapped her. She called her mother a whore for sleeping with my father and her mother booted her out.

Some dumb ass friend in college dragged her to a party for fun.

Matteo tried keeping me out of it. The old man tracked me down and put me in a corner to convince me otherwise.

I wasn’t having it.

At the very least he asked if I’d take my leather cut off. Whether it was a test or not, I made it very clear the leather cut would never leave my body.

I took Slam with me and we rode through the hills, just outside the city, where a college campus crawled through the trees. Completely hidden from the real world, it stood and served as a way for people to spend four years figuring out what they wanted to do with their lives.

I won’t lie, it was an easy place to pick up women who were looking for a little outlaw wildness. We always called them one-nighters because if they stayed at the clubhouse for a night, by morning, they were all but begging for a ride back.

The second I went into the house, it was like a f*cking movie scene. People everywhere. All of them holding red cups. Beach balls getting bounced around. Music thumping. Out back, the yard was just as full. All eyes were on me and Slam as we walked through the place. I asked everyone in sight where Ana was and most of them knew nothing. Of course they didn’t know her… she didn’t f*cking go to college there. She didn’t go to college anywhere. That opportunity in life was pissed away a long time ago.

I finally found her dumb ass friend and asked her where Ana was. She pointed upstairs with a red faced grin.

I turned to bolt.

Slam grabbed for me but I was gone. My shoulders were wide and I knocked everyone out of my way. Two guys made comments at me but I didn’t bother stopping. Slam did though. He never gave up the chance to knock someone’s jaw off. That left me alone as I walked up the stairs of the house. I started with the first door I could find and started kicking them in. There was some crazy shit going on - nothing I hadn’t done in my life up to that point - but I couldn’t stop fearing what I’d find when I found Ana.