Wild Knight: a bad boy romance novel

by Jaxson Kidman

  She had dark eyes, long dark hair, and these little dimples that showed even when she wasn’t smiling. Everything about her screamed that she didn’t belong there.

  “I’m Knight,” I said.

  “The new guy?”

  “Yeah, the new guy,” I said.

  “I’m Priya,” she said.

  Her voice was silk.

  When she blinked it was like a punch to my heart. She was controlling the seconds in time.

  I offered my hand and she took it.

  She stepped out of the car and barely came up to my chest. A short girl. I fucking loved short girls. She was in a black shirt with tits that looked amazing. Jeans that hugged all the right curves. Her hand was slender, her fingernails painted red, but there were little chips in the paint, telling me that she wasn’t some obsessed person with that kind of shit.

  I studied her for a few seconds.

  I was pretty obvious about it.

  “Is there a problem?” she asked.

  “Hardly,” I said.

  “Do you want to know what happened to the last new guy?”

  “Sure.”

  Priya moved up to her toes and touched my shoulder. “I killed him.”

  We both laughed at the same time.

  I knew she was breaking my balls.

  I had to collect myself.

  I hurried to get the fuck away from her, running to the nightclub and I opened the door.

  Damon stood there. “What’s taking so long?”

  “Nothing,” I said.

  He looked by me. “Ah, fuck, Priya. You look terrible. Fucking jeans?”

  I watched as Priya hung her head and walked right by me.

  I caught sight of her ass in her jeans and saw nothing wrong with her choice of clothing at all.

  I had no idea why a woman like that would be with an asshole like Damon.

  I would have years to watch and learn.

  Years to feel things.

  Years to grow close to Priya.

  Years to fuck her… and maybe even get her pregnant.

  5

  (knight)

  *NOW*

  The motorcycle was goddamn two feet from hitting the car before it turned and got the hell out of the way. It felt right by me, the rider throwing me the middle finger. I slammed on the brakes of the car, cut the wheel, and turned sideways.

  I threw open the door and got out.

  The two motorcycles then came flying up on me, right next to the car.

  The guys got off and ripped their helmets off.

  It was Matteo and Ari - members of the Reap.

  “What the fuck are you trying to do?” I yelled at Matteo.

  “You know me,” Matteo said with a grin. “I live on the edge, brother.”

  We both stared each other down for a few seconds before coming in for a hug.

  I slammed my fists to his back as he did the same for me.

  “How the fuck are you?” Matteo asked.

  “About to sell this bad boy for forty large,” I said.

  “Shit,” Ari said. “And I’m in the outlaw business? I can be a grease monkey.”

  “I have jobs for you,” I said.

  Ari tugged at his leather cut. “And I have something you want.”

  “Yeah, sure,” I said.

  Matteo punched me in the shoulder. “Hey, you fucking serious about that shit?”

  “The car? Yeah. I fix them up…”

  “No, man,” Matteo said. “You called me. Wanted a favor.”

  I ran a hand through my hair. “I was drunk.”

  “You were serious.”

  “I’m from the other side of the tracks,” I said. “The Reap and me don’t get along so well.”

  “That was years ago,” Matteo said.

  “Didn’t we all sign a pact saying we’d fight each other to death?”

  “We were teenagers,” Ari said. “But I don’t give a fuck personally. You can go sell your fucking cars in your beat up garage all you want, man.”

  I nodded. “Fair enough, Ari. Glad you’re doing well.”

  “Ari, go grab a smoke break,” Matteo said. “Let me talk to Knight by myself.”

  Ari sluggishly walked away to his motorcycle and lit up a smoke.

  Matteo pointed to the other side of my car.

  He leaned against the back quarter panel and I grabbed his leather cut, pulling him away.

  “Easy,” I said. “Don’t scratch the paint.”

  “Look at you. Falling in love with a car. You like this shit, don’t you?”

  “Yeah. I fix things. Take problems and make them right.”

  “So why the Reap then? You know we’re a fucking mess. We’re the same we’ve always been. So are you. You’re on the other side of the tracks. You’ve got some money in your pocket. A half decent brain in your head. So what gives?”

  “I’m fucking bored, Matteo,” I said. “I was running other jobs for years. Banking cash, trying to find something. My last job ended a little shitty.”

  “What happened?”

  “Couldn’t keep my dick in my pants,” I said with a grin.

  “There’s a big shock. I remember when you fucked Stevie’s girl in high school. Shit…”

  “Threw his game off,” I said. “You guys lost in the playoffs.”

  “Probably the only time we gave a shit about football,” Matteo said. “That damn near started a war. If we were just a year older…”

  “I live on the edge,” I said. “The reaper next to me.”

  “Now you want to be part of the Reap?”

  “I told you. I’m bored, Matteo. I want to have some action in life.”

  “Does it have anything to do with the woman you fucked?” Matteo asked.

  “No,” I said.

  Matteo put a hand to my shoulder. “You’re a terrible liar.”

  “Then put a bullet in my head and call it even.”

  “I’ll do you one better,” Matteo said. “Trade your four wheels for two and meet me at the clubhouse. Knox is willing to have a sit down with you.”

  “Really?” I asked.

  I was completely shocked. I never thought in a million years I’d have a chance to sit down with the Reap.

  “I’ll see you in a little bit.”

  “Hey, Matteo. How do I know this isn’t a set up?”

  “You don’t,” he said. “Depends on how bad you want this.”

  I watched Matteo walk away.

  I wanted it bad.

  I wanted to wear the cut, represent the Reap.

  I wanted to find Priya, find the truth about her pregnancy, and finally have her all to myself.

  Matteo opened the door to the next room. The garage was beat up and rundown. No big shock there though. Everything in Bishop was beat up and rundown. That was just the charm of the forgotten little town. Not that I could brag much about my hometown, a connecting town called Nimson. Yeah, back in the day, pricks like Knox and Matteo would spray paint rod over the son to make the town sign say Nimrod.

  How fucking funny, huh?

  Our towns were once little places to come flourish, raise kids, live a simple life. All that shit was wiped out thanks to a shit economy, people racing out for bigger cities and better jobs, and other bullshit that I never cared to understand. Of course, a lot of people blamed the Reap for some of the stuff. They were rough, tough, and violent. But so were the guys like Damon and his crazy family. They’d sweep into a small town, fill it with drugs, and then take everything they wanted, including lives.

  I stepped into the room and saw all the eyes on me.

  I was nothing more but a common enemy to them all. Most of them I had fought many times. But that was teenage kid shit though. Even if some of the tension still lingered in the room, it really didn’t matter now.

  “Holy fucking shit,” Knox said as he stood up. “It’s the biggest pain in the ass I’ve ever dealt with. Knight.”

  “In the flesh,” I said.

  “
I can’t believe this,” Slam said.

  “How are you, Spencer?” I asked, knowing how much it bothered him to be called his real name.

  I saw Kingston - King - turn around and looked at me.

  It was like looking at a ghost. Last I heard about him he was locked up for murder. He must have gotten his ass out free and clear.

  I nodded, knowing what was I about to do.

  My old town was shit. I never had a group, a crew, a gang, nothing. We were just teenagers always looking to cause trouble. There was a fence that separated the towns and that’s where I’d stand, sip whiskey, smoke cigarettes, and think about life. That’s where I met Matteo and we became close friends. Time pulled everyone in different directions, but the Reap found a way to survive.

  That’s what I wanted.

  Survival.

  “So, you’re here,” Knox said. “We have an open seat at our table.”

  “Presidency?” I asked.

  “Trust me, Knight, nobody’s giving you a gavel unless they’re sticking it up your fucking ass,” Knox said.

  Everyone at the table laughed.

  “Why don’t we get down to business?” Matteo asked. “Knight has a few cars to sell. Make some serious cash.”

  “Right now our acting President is Uncle Jakey,” Knox said. “He’s taking a little vacation, leaving the Reap to survive on its own. I’m fine with that. We can handle ourselves. But we can squeeze in one more. I just want to know what the fuck you want out of this.”

  I stepped forward and reached into my pocket. Everyone jumped back like I was going to pull out a gun and start taking them out one by one. I wasn’t there to shoot anyone. I did have a gun on me, but that was for other reasons. It was an envelope I took out of my pocket. Full of cash.

  “What the hell is this?” King asked. “A bribe?”

  “Tribute,” I said with a grin.

  “We’re not the fucking mafia,” Liam said.

  “No, but you need cash,” I said. “And I need a leather cut. There’s a woman out there and I’m pretty fucking sure she’s carrying my baby. She’s in danger. So I need the Reap to get behind me on this.”

  It was a long shot to throw that out there to the table.

  Knox ran a hand through his hair. I caught sight of a scar that I caused.

  I smiled.

  He grinned back at me, then he shook his head.

  “We’ll keep the cash,” Knox said. “We’ll have a discussion about you, Knight. Tell you what, we’re short a mechanic today. Why don’t you go get greased up for a little while?”

  “Not a problem, Knox,” I said.

  We stared each other down for a few more seconds.

  Knox could play hard ball all he wanted. But we both knew he owed me one.

  I saved him once from being murdered.

  6

  (knight)

  *THEN*

  “I have a fucking idea,” I said.

  My veins throbbed with whiskey. I wasn’t thinking straight but I was thinking right. Those assholes over in Bishop painted all over three of our cars. The rest of us had our tires slashed. The war raged on between our two towns.

  Mick stood up and fell back into a table, drunker than me.

  Everyone laughed.

  I looked over at Donnie. “You good?”

  “Sober as shit,” he said.

  “Drive me to the fence. I bet they’re celebrating there.”

  It was me, Donnie, Brad, Jet, and Mick.

  As we walked along Brad’s driveway, I stole some of the expensive fancy stone his parents had put in. The entire neighborhood was fake. In less than ten years it would become a fucking block of empty houses all taken back by the banks thanks to whatever fucking mortgages the people grabbed and could no longer afford. That would break everything up.

  Not that I liked any of the people I hung with.

  I was fucking poor. I belonged on the other side of the fence over in Bishop. My mother took off when I was seven and wrote me a letter every Christmas. She apologized, said she loved me, and would put a twenty in the card. Twenty fucking bucks for the year. My old man worked his hands bloody at a factory, an auto shop, and then drank most of it away at a bar where he’d run off with anyone who would open their legs. Mostly married women. Which usually meant when the husbands found out, they’d show up at the apartment and all hell would break loose.

  Yeah, my life was a fucking peach.

  I took all that anger of my mother and father and carried it on my back like a fucking tumor or something. And I loved to be angry.

  Not to mention the girls that were in Bishop.

  Untouchable yet beautiful. But there was one in particular that I just couldn’t get my mind off of. I had my share of girls to fool around with and all that shit, but this was different. The unattainable.

  We crossed through the woods next to the train tracks and came out at an empty field. It used to be where they played soccer but the town built a new fancy sports complex down on RiverSide. (That too would end up shut down and overgrown, like something you’d see out of a zombie movie.)

  Sure as fuck, they were there. A fire going. Four of them there. It was Knox, Slam, Ari, and Noah.

  The second they saw us, they stood up. They squeezed their beer cans and threw them to the ground.

  It was on.

  We walked - Mick stumbled - down to the fence.

  It was just a generic chain link fence that separated the old soccer field, but we treated it like it was a line for territory.

  I had the jagged stones in my back pocket, ready for war.

  “Look who the fuck it is,” Knox called out.

  Slam, Ari, and Noah all whistled and clapped their hands. In the reflection of the firelight I saw Noah’s hands were the same color as the paint on our cars.

  “You fucking painted our cars and slashed our tires,” I said.

  “What’s wrong?” Knox asked. “Want to talk about what you did to us a week ago?”

  “We didn’t vandalize your cars,” I said.

  “They don’t have cars,” Brad said.

  “Fucking scum can’t afford it,” Jet said. “Drinking cheap beer even.”

  “Not that sweet shit we had,” Mick said in a slurred voice.

  He fell against the fence and reached over, grabbed for Slam.

  Slam swung a left and slammed Mick in the jaw. I think Mick was out cold before he hit the ground.

  Jet jumped at the fence, trying to climb it.

  “Come on!” Noah called out.

  I stepped back and took a rock out of my pocket. I threw it, hitting Noah in the shoulder.

  “What the fuck?” Noah yelled.

  “Don’t fuck with us,” Knox warned.

  I started to hurl the rocks, one after another. I drove the four of them back and away from their little fire and drinking fest. My eyes kept scanning around, waiting to see if she was hanging around. I knew she didn’t have a boyfriend. I knew she was quiet and hung around. She was a dark hair, dark eyed beauty. Just looking at her was enough to get my dick going wild.

  Slam grabbed a beer can and threw it at me.

  A full beer can.

  I punched it out of the air and piss warm beer sprayed all around.

  I threw another rock and Slam ducked.

  With my last rock in my hand, I looked at Knox. I knew we weren’t meant to be enemies, but I had to play the game. Part of it was anger. Part of it was jealousy. I hated anyone that looked at Priya or got a chance to talk to her.

  I threw the rock and swore I could follow it in the darkness.

  Someone called Knox’s name. He turned his head and the sharp edge cracked off his skull. I saw a spatter of blood shoot into the air and Knox went down to the ground.

  “Yes!” Jet yelled and grabbed my shoulders. “You fucking did it!”

  “Fuck you, assholes!” Brad called out.

  They gathered up Mick, who was slowly coming back to life.

  We got the fuc
k out of there before things got even more violent.

  It was my life.

  A war everywhere I turned.

  The fight with the Reap would go on for years.

  The fight in my heart for Priya… that would go on for forever.

  7

  (priya)

  *NOW*

  I was just a semester shy of graduating and becoming a nurse. My plan had been really cut and dry. Graduate in the spring, enjoy the summer traveling with friends, and then start a job in the fall.

  What happened?

  Damon happened.

  But I couldn’t blame just him. I let him into my life. I let him convince me that I needed him. When my life fell apart he was the one standing there. Not to pick up the pieces but to use those pieces against me. To trick me and trap me.

  That last semester? That was when my mother was killed in a car accident. My entire world shook and crumbled. I lost my financing for college. I lost my apartment. I lost everything. I was left without much of a choice but to fall into Damon’s arms. And he knew just what to say, when to say it, and knew how to be perfect it in a way that he could use it against me later in life.

  I never had to worry about work, money, or life.

  Until I got pregnant.

  “Hey, hey, hey… are you okay over there?”

  I was hunched over just catching my breath.

  I forced myself to stand and gave the thumbs up to the short order cook, Jeff.

  I turned, my huge stomach ready to knock anything off in the way.

  My cheeks were red, my hair sweaty, and yet I was still waitressing tables at a restaurant that wasn’t all that busy, but it was the best I could do. I shouldn’t have been working considering how close I was to giving birth, but I refused to go back to Damon.

  I hadn’t seen him since he kicked me out of his car at the doctor’s office.

  He texted me everyday to remind me that I was a whore and that he would get what he wanted from me.

  In the end, all he wanted was for his mother to die so he could inherit her money. She was fighting for dear life to meet her grandchild that was in my womb. A grandchild that wasn’t hers. Wasn’t her son’s. She knew of Damon’s condition and the pregnancy to her was nothing short of a miracle from above, giving her life to keep living.