Knox
“You could stop fucking pacing. Jesus, you’re making me antsy,” Tank called out from the pool table, where he and Campbell were playing a game.
“Fuck you,” I yelled back, not slowing my pace. I raked my hand through my hair for what must have been the hundredth time since I let Colton take the drinks up to Dylan. It had been a little over an hour and the need to know what was going on was eating me alive.
“He would cut off his hand before he hurt her. You know that right?” A small voice asked from the couch to my right . . . now my left.
“I know,” I grumbled. I stopped in front of Logan, as she peered up at me. “She has just been through so much. I don’t want anything else to upset her right now.”
“We can all see that Knox. And Colton feels the same exact way. Everyone saw how afraid she was last night when you carried her in, and then in the bedroom. He just doesn’t want her to cut and run without knowing how much he wants her to stay.”
“We all want her to stay,” Wesson added. I quickly turned and saw him standing in his office door. “Dylan has to stay at this clubhouse at least until all this blows over. Her safety is at risk. We need to know how the Hellhounds even found out about her considering we didn’t even know about her.”
“It’s crazy,” commented Logan. “Has anyone even seen your ex-wife since the night she snuck off?”
“Not that I am aware of, or have been told,” answered Wesson. “Knox, can I talk with you for a minute in my office?”
“Sure thing Prez.” I followed him into the office and closed the door.
“Knox.” He paused, looking unsure of himself before dismissing whatever doubts he had. “Knox, from this point forward I want you personally responsible for Dylan and her safety until this crazy thing is over. I can’t handle what is coming if I am thinking about her safety. I need to know a brother, that I can trust, is there for her. Even if it means you stay behind when shit hits the fan.”
“Of course Prez. Whatever you need,” I reassured him.
“Colton wanted the responsibility, but he has too much on his plate with being the VP. Plus I see the way you are with her.” His gray eyes turned stormy, as he assessed me once again. “I see the way she responds to you. I am not going to say no, I am just going to ask that you wait until she can adjust to everything that is being thrown at her.”
“It’s at her speed Prez.” And that was the truth.
“Thank you brother.” A slight nod told me I was being dismissed. “And if you see Colton, can you send him my way?”
“Absolutely Prez,” I replied as I walked out of his office. I saw Colton standing behind Logan at the pool table where Campbell and Tank still played their game.
Striding across the room, Prez’s request was completely forgotten as I came up next to Colton and quietly asked, “How is she?”
“Sleeping,” was all he said.
“Is she okay?” I knew something was off when Colton would not make eye contact with me.
“She will be.” The same conflicted, stormy gray eyes as Prez’s finally looked at me.
“What did you say to her?” I grounded out, feeling my anger welling up.
“She doesn’t want to stay here.” Colton avoided my question, sidetracking my anger when my chest tightened at his words.
“She wants to leave?”
“She’s scared.” That was all I needed to hear. I left without another word, as I raced back to my room. The room was eerily silent as I let myself in without knocking. I found Dylan curled up in the tightest ball, asleep. The tightening in my chest loosened as I raked both hands through my hair again.
The need to pace was overwhelming, but I did not want to wake her up. So instead I grabbed a chair from across the room and took a seat next to the bed. A while passed and I was dozing in and out of sleep when Dylan started to cry out and thrashed about in the bed.
“Nooooooo. Stop. Please,” she cried. “I don’t even know him.”
“Shhhh,” I tried to calm her, but to no avail. I knew it was bad to jar someone from a nightmare, but letting her relive whatever was terrorizing her could not be good either. “Dylan,” I called, shaking her. “Dylan, wake up.”
“Don’t touch me,” she sobbed, trying to fight against my hold.
“Princess. It’s Knox. Wake up,” I pleaded. I wanted in that moment to slay every demon that haunted her dreams, to right every wrong that was done to her. “You’re safe.” Her cries stopped, but her body still shook as she slowly opened her eyes. “It’s me.”
“Knox,” she breathed, taking in her surroundings. “You’re here.”
“I’ll always be here.” Those words were the truth. I never broke eye contact wanting her to see the truth there.
“I know,” was all she had to say as a surge of fierce protectiveness coursed through my veins as she peered up at me, trusting me.
“How about that shower?” I asked, wanting to chase the last of the clouds from her beautiful, gray eyes.
“That sounds wonderful,” replied Dylan. The bathroom trip was very much like the first one . . . very slow, but the look of joy on her face when I got her back in bed was worth it. Two pain killers and thirty minutes later and my Princess was sleeping peacefully once again.
CHAPTER SIX
Dylan
Time found me once more. I could no longer simply close my eyes and wish large amount of time away. Even my pain medicine had been dialed down since I first got here, not that I could complain because I hated that I needed drugs at all. But a week here and I was already feeling like myself. I had a little bit more recovery to go, but I was finally able to go to the bathroom without being winded yesterday.
My reflection no longer looked like something from a bad Lifetime movie. My eyes were finally clear from all the drugs and shit the Hellhounds fed me, and my head . . . well my head was clear which led to more thinking . . . and thinking.
Although I was grateful to be out of the Hellhounds’ grasp, I realized that all I did was trade one prison for another. The Soul Reapers may not maim and torture, but they still would not let me leave if I wanted to. Wesson was adamant about my safety and that I MUST stay at the clubhouse until all of this blew over. There was no “hey please stay.” It was more like “your ass is staying here until every last Hellhound was in the ground.” Wesson spent about an hour or so every day with me, but most of the time it was just small talk. I could barely wrap my mind around the fact that I was having lunch every day with my father, let alone that I had a brother who wanted to be in my face all the time.
Colton . . .
That was another mess I had yet to untangle. How could my mother never tell me about my brother? My only conclusion after wracking my brain was that she was afraid I would leave to find him . . . maybe them. After all the lectures about how MCs were bad and to stay away, was it just to keep me away from my father? All of the old ladies or girlfriends seemed to want to be here, even in the middle of war. I also found out from Colton that both Logan and Campbell had been through hell courtesy of the Hellhounds. So they obviously needed to be stopped, but at what cost and to whom?
Plus there was the fact that I had been missing for almost two weeks at this point. Was my mother worried? Did she even know or care? What about Sam? He said he would get me out of here and that was what I still wanted wasn’t it? Then take everything that I heard at the Hellhounds’ place, and damn my head hurt with everything that was vying for my attention.
So instead of fighting against my “father” and his demand to stay, I decided to bide my time until I could get out on my own and away from the Soul Reapers and Hellhounds and Night Demons. They may all wear different cuts with stupid names on them but they were all the same - angry, dark, brooding sons of bitches.
And Knox was one of them. He still brought me breakfast every morning, and continued to soothe my nightmares. And most nights he ended up in my bed, because the terrors from my dreams seemed to lurk in every d
ark corner of his bedroom. But the minute his warm body encircled mine, all things that went bump in the night quieted down enough so that I could sleep. Every morning I woke up cocooned in warmth . . . and safety, with a heaping side of morning wood pressed against me. It felt so good, and the minute I moved or showed that I was awake, Knox would roll me over, partially into his body as he looked me over.
His jaw clenched and unclenched when his eyes took in the slowly fading bruises and healing burns. He cursed under his breath each time he took in my cast. Knox always excused himself after his eyes touched every inch of my body that I wanted his hands and mouth on, but not before he placed a chaste kiss to my forehead. Every morning I found that I prolonged letting him know I was awake. As my body healed, my core began to ache more and more for him. And as my yearning grew, so did my feelings for him. What the hell was I going to do? I was no closer to figuring anything out, but most of all I still wanted the hell away from this mess.
I have always been haunted by bad choices . . . in life . . . in men. This was just another in a long line of them. But this experience taught me something more than any of the previous ones - I was on my own. My deal with Lucifer had completely blown up in my face, leaving me weary to trust again. But Knox and Colton were different right? Maybe even Wesson?
The Hellhounds and Soul Reapers are obviously at war with each other and I willingly let myself be used as bait. But what did the Night Demons want out of all of this? I could see the appeal of two clubs offing themselves and then coming in with guns blazing to take down the last one standing, but it had to be more than that. I just did not know enough and did not trust anyone enough here to voice my thoughts or raise any red flags. As far as I knew I could say one wrong thing and end up in a worse situation than I was in with the Hellhounds, blood relative to the President or not. I just needed to bide my time, get better, and then get the FUCK GONE.
Knox
“So what are you suggesting?” Whistler and his old view of the fucking world. It made church these days never ending.
“I’m suggesting that we go after them and settle this shit,” yelled Colton. “The Hellhounds are the biggest pieces of shit and its time we did something about them. First Logan, then Campbell, and now Dylan.”
“Don’t raise your voice at me boy,” snarled Whistler.
“Enough,” Prez commanded. “We have been fighting this out every day for the last week. We need to start making some decisions. We have been reactive enough. It is time to be proactive. I don’t think it is quite time to take the fight to them like Colton proposed. I stand by my original proposal to suggest a sit-down with the top three Hellhounds so that we can at least see what they want.”
“That will start a war,” argued Whistler. We are already in one!
“We are already in one old man,” Tank spat.
“I agree,” I said.
“Of all people Whistler, I thought you would respect the fact that we need to retaliate for our women being used as collateral in a war that has nothing to do with them. It’s time we did something.” There were a lot of murmurs agreeing with Colton.
“And none of these so-called women are old ladies. None of you “respect” the way of doing shit in this day and age. You all run around with your dicks out and then you get surprised when they get shot off.”
Whistler opened his mouth to say more, but Prez stopped him by saying, “It’s time to vote. We have three proposals on the table and need a unanimous decision. The first one is Whistler’s idea to continue to do surveillance for one more week and then regroup. Or my idea of calling a sit down with the Hellhounds. Or Colton’s idea of ambushing their clubhouse. Because there are three proposals, Whistler, Colton, and myself will not vote, but we all agree to live with what you decide.”
“Agreed,” Colton said as he looked around the room at each brother.
“Fine,” huffed Whistler. “Agreed.”
“Agreed,” Prez stated. “Now, all for Whistler’s wait and see proposal.” Not one brother raised their hand.
“Fucking A,” hollered Whistler as he quickly stood up, toppling his chair over. “You are going to fucking regret not waiting.” With a snare to the room, he stomped out.
“For my idea of the sit-down,” Prez continued as if Whistler’s temper tantrum never happened. After a few seconds of looking around, Prez saw that no one raised their hand. “And last was Colton’s idea of attacking their clubhouse.” Every hand in the room went up. “So there you have it brothers, we go to war.” A loud applause sounded as Colton and Tank high-fived. “Colton will oversee the plan of attack. Gunner will handle fire power. Worm will work his computer magic and get us all the clubhouse details. Colton, pull Woods and Lefty in from the field. And lastly, let’s throw us one hell of a fucking party in three nights’ time brothers! Meeting adjourned.” With a thud of the gavel, cheers and more applause went up as we slowly made our way out of the church.
“Sit with me for a beer.” Colton came up next to me.
“I’ll always have me a beer,” I said as I followed him to the bar. As always Rabbit was behind it with Ax. “But not too long, I need to take something up to Princess.”
“She hates that name doesn’t she?”
“Not when it’s coming from me,” I joked.
“Oh man, TMI!” I loved giving it to Colton. I stood to leave, but Colton stopped me. “Wait.” He paused, looking down the bar and then back at me. “So I just wanted to check in on my baby sister. I know she has been resting mostly this week but how is she really doing?”
“You see her every day,” I said.
“I know, but I feel like she would tell you before me told me.” His comment filled me with pride.
“Both good and bad,” I answered honestly. “All her bruises, bumps, and burns are healing as you can see. Her wrist doesn’t really hurt her in basic movements and tasks. All of which is good. She is doing fine health wise.”
“I know all that, but . . .” Colton trailed off.
“But she has nightmares every night. She is waking up screaming and thrashing about. She has clocked me a couple of times when I try to wake her up, because she thinks I am someone who is going to hurt her.”
“Are you?”
“Am I what?” I asked defensively.
“Going to hurt her?” Colton threw his hands up. “I see everything that you are doing for her and how she looked to you that first night here. Hell I see how her face lights up every time you walk in the room and how you smile now only for her, but I just need to know. I may not have always been able to be her big brother, but I am now and you better believe I am going to wear the shit out of that title.” I laughed at Colton, despite the fact that he was trying to call me out about his sister.
“Listen brother. I am here for her and whatever she needs. Your dad asked me to watch over her until all this shit blows over.” I let that sink in as I downed the rest of my beer. “And I plan to keep doing it well after we come out of this on the other side.”
“I’m gonna hold you to that brother!” Colton called out to me as I went into the kitchen to grab Princess some food.
CHAPTER SEVEN
Dylan
A knock on the door pulled me from my thoughts. “Come in,” I beckoned. Knox walked in carrying a tray of food. He was so damn sexy. From his multi-colored kaleidoscope eyes that showed his exact emotions to his long, lean body that I wanted to intimately explore with my mouth and hands. His dark, tousled hair and thick five o’clock shadow even though it was only lunchtime had my body reacting in ways it never had before. As he got closer I got a whiff of the food he brought, making my stomach growl, which earned a chuckle from him.
“Hungry?” I nodded several times in excitement. The food had my stomach excited, but the rest of me was just so happy it was him on the other side of the door. Even in my post traumatic haze, Knox stood out to me the minute he walked up to me in that hell hole. He gave me something no one else had ever done - a feeling of s
afety . . . of home. The more time I spent with him the more I craved it. I shook my head to clear my thoughts and sat up as he placed the tray over my legs on the bed.
“I hope you like turkey sandwiches and Doritos.”
“Loooooove them.” My enthusiasm for eating made him laugh. He jumped back as I started to devour my lunch.
“Damn girl,” he teased. “Slow down or you are going to make yourself sick.”
“No time,” I grumbled around a mouthful of chips. “Too hungry.” Knox shook his head as he watched me make a pig out of myself. Five minutes flat and the plate was empty. I even licked my fingers before I ran it over the plate to get any crumbs.
“I can get you more,” said Knox.
“No, I’m good,” I reassured him.
Knox took my tray away as he pointed to my cast, and said, “The doc is coming by to check on you this afternoon.”
“Ok,” I said as I snuggled back into bed, rubbing my very happy belly and surrounded by his scent, reminding me how happy I was in this moment. “Where have you been?” The question took us both by surprise as I had never asked him before.
“Downstairs,” he answered.
“Very specific,” I teased earning me another chuckle.
“Church, to be specific.” The glint in his eye told me he liked our flirting.
“Big plans, huh?” I knew he would not tell me anything.
“Something like that.” He proved my point, earning a chuckle out of me.
“Well Mr. Blabber Mouth, I was about to jump in the shower.”
“Oh. Don’t do that!” His sarcasm thick.
“Do what?”
“Do what,” he said in his best Britney Spears impersonation. I was now laughing hysterically. “Jump in the shower. You might slip and fall.” The look on his face was priceless. He was trying to be all nonchalant, while trying to hide a shit-eating grin at the same time.
Dylan's Reaper: Soul Reapers #3 Page 4
