HARD KNOX(23)

The last door on the right was the one.

I opened it and the first thing I saw was Ana on the bed. Her head turned toward me, eyes half shut. Her arms were limp, a red cup on the floor, booze spilled onto the carpet.

Some * was on top of her, lifting her shirt up. I saw him kiss below her belly button, his other hand pulling at her jeans, and I lost my mind.

I stepped into the room and the * looked up at me. He smiled, like he was a king about to feast.

“Hey, bro,” he said. “When I’m done you can have her.”

Yeah, that wasn’t the right thing to say to me in that moment.

I walked around the bed and grabbed the * by his shirt. I threw him so hard against the wall he bounced off it and came flying at me. There was shock in his eyes but that was quickly replaced by tears when I nailed him in the jaw. He flew to the left, into a dresser, knocking everything off it. He stumbled and groaned, trying to mumble something at me. He grabbed a few picture frames and launched them at me but I swatted them away.

When I got him by the back of the neck I slammed his face off the wall, over and over, my mind unable to stop playing images of what this guy intended to do to my Ana. To my darlin’. My girl. And she wasn’t even coherent enough to make a decision and tell this prick not to touch her body.

It might have been ten hits… maybe fifty… but I felt someone grab my arm.

It was Slam.

He pulled me away from the guy and the guy toppled to the ground, crying like a baby.

“Bro,” Slam said to me, “go take care of Ana. I got this.”

Yeah, Slam wasn’t there to stop me from beating the guy. He took over for me.

Slam had massive feet. And he kicked the guy over and over as I tended to Ana.

I kept her head turned to the side as I checked to make sure nothing had happened. The next day I’d get the entire story and truth. That she was upset and just drank too much at once. That some guy was grabbing at her and she sort of liked the attention but had no intention of going upstairs with him. She actually went upstairs to get sick and somehow ended up in the bedroom.

Man, the rage that soared through me during that night and the day after was bad.

But that night I lifted Ana up and made her walk with me.

She finally did get sick - all over my leather cut.

It pissed me off, but it was Ana. My darlin’. My girl. I would have carried her to the end of the world, puke all over my leather, shirt, arm, and leg.

All for her.

I took her to the clubhouse and took care of her all night.

Not in the way I wanted to though.

But I saved her that night.

I told myself then I would forever save her - no matter if it cost me my life.





chapter fifteen


(knox)



NOW



She stepped out of the bathroom and I felt all that rage rush back to me. I wasn’t stupid and I wasn’t blind. I knew Ana had been with other guys. It was only right she explore her needs and wants. I knew she’d never find anyone better than me, but the thought of another man even looking at her made me insane. But to see a bruise under her right eye…

I reached back and felt for my gun. Not to hurt Ana. Never. I had the sudden urge to blast out of that apartment and go find Porter. He was going to take a bullet for this.

Ana just stood there, afraid.

I didn’t want her afraid. Or ashamed.

“This is my fault, darlin’,” I said to her.

“How?”

I swallowed hard. Goddammit, emotions were trying to nip at me right then. I didn’t get emotional like that. Fuck that.

I stepped toward Ana, my hands demanding I hold her. Demanding I steal all her pain and fear. It was all she ever had in her life. From the second her perfect middle class life was ripped apart by her father.

“I should have never kept my distance,” I said to her. I touched her face but not the bruise. “I will never do that again, darlin’. This has been real from the day I met you. Fuck, nothing has ever been so real to me. Nothing will ever be so real.”

Ana reached for me, grabbing at my jeans. I felt her nails touch my skin and it set me on fire. Her fingers curled and were inside my jeans. She pulled at me, backing up, pinning me against her body.

She looked up at me with those eyes that had been trying to find a pulse in my heart for years. Little did she know she was the lightning bolt that kept me alive.

With my other hand, I touched her breast, over her shirt. I squeezed and she let out a whimper, putting her head back against the wall.

I lowered my head down to hers. I stood there, our foreheads touching, the line of temptation already a mile behind us. That wasn’t the problem. It had nothing to do with loyalty, relationship, or cheating. Fuck all that shit too. Ana was my darlin’. Ana was my girl. I was her man. I was her outlaw. I was f*cking Knoxville, the only guy she ever needed.

Right then, we were crossing the line of a wild romance that was going to rip us both apart. And right then, without saying a word, we were both ready for it.

“I swear I’ll tell you everything,” she whispered to me. “Later.”

She bit her lip, blocking me from kissing her. Not that she meant to block a kiss from me, but I wasn’t concerned.

She had another set of lips that I was dying to taste again…