HARD KNOX(33)

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 f*cking 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 f*cking 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.