Knox (Hellbound Lovers MC #8)

by Crimson Syn

  Mine. It wasn’t as simple as you think. Jade Winters was more than just a dancer. She meant more to me, to us, especially to Wolf & Grayson. We’d been through shit together, shit only we knew about. We’d all been in the same Special Forces unit. We were in the suck together, watched the same fears and cried the same tears, the unspoken bond forced upon you in chaos. We had a tight bond, one no one could break. Which is why when Jackson Winters passed away, we had all decided that life was too fucking short not to live it. Jackson was our brother in arms, he was a good man, one who knew how to fight and how to control a bunch of hotheads. He was the one you went to for advice, the one who knew what to do when things got heated, the one we all looked up to. He was our leader.

  I remember that day clearly. For nearly a year we'd been stationed thirty clicks outside Kandahar, chasing Intel on enemy insurgents using the mountains like rats use the sewers to move and hide. The intel was dodgy at best, but orders from the top said that mountain road had to be cleared. It was business as usual until that broken-down car appeared in the middle of the road. In Afghanistan, abandoned vehicles or machinery were quite common, but the location of this one made the hair on our necks stand up. It was on a road that carved its way through the mountainside, walled by twenty-foot cliffs. If you could paint an ambush in your head, it would be the perfect scenario. To check on that car would be to lose the high ground. All I could tell you was that in a place like this, you had to stay frosty. We knew something was wrong, fuck we could feel it. It was an instinct that ran through the whole unit. Everyone was thinking, IED, and then we saw the family. We hated days like this. Insurgents? Not insurgents? Children? The same thoughts ricocheted through all of us.

  The father exited the car first. In Pashto, he told the women and children to get out, he lifted his shirt and spun frantically, showing us, he had no weapons. The entire family followed his lead proving to us they were no threat. They all got down on their knees with their hands up above their heads. This was not the first time guns had been pointed at these people.

  Guns up, safety off, we approached the car in standard two by two formation. A child started to cry. Jackson at point, farther away than he should be, but I was at his six, my eyes taking in everything, focusing on the cliffs to my right. We approached the car down the center of the road. Wolf and Grayson positioned themselves to our right, focusing on the left-hand cliffs.

  I’ll never forget their eyes as we got closer, in specific the father’s eyes. He was nervous, his eyes darting to the cliffs. How they stared back at us, almost begging for us to turn around. To save ourselves. Jackson saw it, we all saw their innocence, and he quickly had to make a decision. In the broken Pashto that he’d picked up along the way, he tried to tell the family to come to us, but they didn’t move. The father and mother started to shake. Jackson signaled for us to keep moving forward and by the time we were only a couple feet from reaching the family, all hell broke loose.

  The canyon echoed, making it hard for us to know where the gunshots were coming from. Mom and Dad got their bullets first. On instinct, Jackson grabbed the little girl, not more than five-years-old, and started running. They say when the adrenaline is pumping you sometimes forget what gunshots are supposed to feel like-since the body is just trying to survive. It numbs the pain by fueling every part of your body to get out of harm’s way, which is why Jackson was able to carry that little girl so far while full metal jackets tore into his flesh.

  The canyon was an amphitheater bellowing screams, gunshots and that bone-chilling sound of the slide of an AK47 as it fulfilled its purpose. In that devil's symphony, I froze while I watched Jackson's weightless body fall to its knees. Everything went still as he hit the ground, still protecting that little girl.

  I screamed his name and ran over to him, leaving myself blindsided. I fell to my knees in front of my best friend, pulling on his gear and trying to turn him around. I was doing my best to seal up his wounds, but there were too many. Too much blood seeping through. I didn't even know where to fucking start. His lifeless blue-green eyes stared back at me and all I could hear was the sound of my roaring heartbeat pounding through my eardrums. I continued working on Jackson, blood everywhere as smoke started to seep into my eyes. Wolf appeared through the midst, half crouched as he tried to cover us from all sides shooting blindly into the fog. I realized he'd sent smoke grenades in every direction to blind them.

  He looked over at me and I could tell he was trying to tell me something, but I couldn’t register it. I just stared back at him in desperation and suddenly I realized what he was screaming. He was screaming my name.

  “Knox! Knox! Knoooox!”

  I stared back and forth, from him to my dead best friend lying in front of me. The little girl crying beneath his heavy body.

  “Fuck! Fuck! Fuuuucckkk!” I was so caught up in trying to save him that I hadn’t realized I was putting myself and my brother in danger.

  At some point, Grayson had double-timed back to the Humvee. I knew what he was doing, and within seconds he was swerving around the front, shielding us from the bullets. Wolf grabbed my pack and I hesitated. Making a heart-wrenching decision, I grabbed the little girl, lifting her into my arms and getting into that goddamn vehicle. From the corner of my eye, I watched in panic as Grayson jumped over the side and grabbed at Jackson.

  “What the fuck are you doing? Get the fuck back in here!” Wolf ordered.

  “I won’t leave him!” Grayson began to drag Jackson’s weightless form back in with us. He was right, there was no way we were leaving him.

  “Go! Go! Go!” Wolf screamed as Grayson hopped in. Wolf took the wheel and we backed the truck up as bullets continued to blindly ricochet off the metal frame. I had Jackson propped on my chest, I could feel the blood seeping through my uniform. Grayson’s eyes were dark and as Wolf looked back at us, we all knew we’d never be the same again.

  We sat there, in silence, mourning our friend’s horrid death. It was unfair, it was brutal, it was fucking startling. Anger flowed through us and at what point Grayson had to calm Wolf down before he turned us around and went back to blow those motherfuckers to the ground.

  When we arrived at the green zone, medics were immediately hovering over us, but we knew. We mourned quietly, bottling it up, acting up. Until finally our commanders decided we needed to go home, to our loved ones. Huh, loved ones. If they only knew we had no one. Just each other.

  After the funeral, we went our separate ways. Wolf had gone back for another tour, I heard he was part of a special interrogation unit. The type that pull-out nails and yank out teeth. Grayson had gone and taken a Security job in the Military. I, on the other hand, came from a small town in Utah. I went back and started up my own Auto Repair Shop in an old abandoned highway house. I had made a little nest for myself, but not enough to hold me over in the least bit. It wasn’t until Wolf had called and let me know that he had decided to take up a spot in Los Angeles I figured, I have nothing to lose, I’d go wherever he went. Wolf’s idea of having a refuge just worked, we all needed one.

  Being a part of the Hellbound Lovers helped too. Those lifers didn’t leave each other out, and Wolf had made a name for himself. Throughout the years, the guys started appearing. Some were friends, others strangers. Grayson joined us about a year later and with his entrepreneur skills, we started making some investments and getting some serious returns. Hell, if it wasn’t for Grayson I wouldn’t have my body shop. The HLMC was my home, and Wolf and Grayson my brothers. But we never forgot Jackson. We’d always celebrate him and his heroism.

  What we hadn’t expected was that he’d left someone behind. I couldn’t blame the fucker for not telling us. We were a bunch of young Neanderthals with an urge to fuck anything that wiggled its tail at us, but fuck he didn’t know us one bit if he thought we wouldn’t protect what was his.

  When Grayson brought Jade in, I hadn't realized the resemblance. Although now that I thought about it, she had her brother's same blue-gre
en stare. Grayson had found her name tucked into an old book of Jackson's and between him and Wolf they searched for her, leaving word everywhere until she finally reached out. She'd been alone for years. Struggling to make ends meet. I didn't find out who she really was until months later. I nearly killed Grayson but he told me it wasn't his secret to tell, she didn't want anyone else to know.

  Jade was young, twenty years old at the time, with no one in her life. But it turned out she was a dancer and a damn good one. She'd studied choreography in school, but had to drop out when Jackson died. If only I would have known, I would have gotten to her sooner and she wouldn’t have had to get up on that stage. Protecting her was what I was meant to do, knowing this, that’s when my heart gave up its search and attached itself to hers.

  So, it wasn’t that she was the help, or that she was off limits because Wolf said so. No. She was off limits because I said so. Because I respected my brother and I wouldn’t do a thing to dishonor Jackson’s name. Except for jack off to his sister as I spied on her through secret cameras. Fuck! But goddammit, who the fuck could help that! I mean look at her! She was gorgeous. I only hoped he’d forgive me. I hope he knew that I’d protect this part of him until the day I died.

  I stared down at my hands and sighed. “I won’t hurt her Jacks. I swear to you. Please forgive me.”

  I looked up at the screen, my eyes gliding across her naked silhouette as she lay there in exhaustion. I had a serious fucking decision to make. One that could affect my life as well as hers. I wasn't sure how Wolf, or even Grayson, was going to take it, but every brother had fought his battle, soon it would be my turn to fight my own. Watching my luscious little kitten gyrating on the bed for me, aching for me, was pushing me over the fucking edge. Five years of this shit. Five years of rejecting my own feelings, of walking away from her. I had suffered night after night watching men ogle her, throw money at her, try to touch her. My Jade was a tough kitten though. She had her claws and knew how to use them if anyone got out of hand. Besides, she knew I was always there for her. Always right by her side, ready to pounce on any fucker who tried to touch her. No one laid their hands on my property. No one.

  I couldn’t deny she was a good show, the best we had. Her body moved as if the music was written for her. She had this blonde hair that she had tinted a dark rose gold color. I didn’t even know what rose gold was until she'd mentioned it, but goddamn she looked like fucking edible cotton candy. Her bright blue-green eyes stared back at me in this innocent pout that she'd always give me when I made fun of her. It was the fucking cutest thing I'd ever seen, but I'd never admit it. What I will admit is to how fucking beautiful she is. Especially in those outfits she wore up on stage. A police officer, army brat, ponytails and short school skirts. Jade colored bikinis underneath that molded to those luscious breasts and barely covered tips. Night after night I'd pray they wouldn't pop out, then pray that they would so I could get a glimpse.

  She danced only for me. This I knew. Every step, every dip, every rock of her hips and the way she fucking winked at me as she hung upside down from that metal pole, smiling at me. Not the fuckers screaming obscenities or the assholes trying to grab at her. She only smiled at me, anyone else she’d kick off the stage or brush off. I wasn’t completely oblivious. I knew her every move, how she slowly cupped those tits and teased me, taunting me as she bent down low, watching me through the gap in her legs as she bent over for me, giving me a perfect view of those firm juicy globes.

  Staring at the image on the screen I couldn’t help but grin to myself. I was getting the best show in all of Los Angeles and it was my secret. No one else knew about it, and it was going to stay that way. No one was going to find out our secret. Because I was going to have my way with Jade, I can assure you she was going to be mine. I watched all my brothers get what they wanted while I sat in the shadows and waited. I was biding my time for the right moment, and I’ve decided it was the right fucking moment.

  2

  Knox

  I watched as she twirled her tight curvy ass around the dancing pole. I loved watching Jade dance, her movements had a sexy hypnotic quality. As she swiveled down to the floor, she arched her back and caught my eyes. Smiling, she twirled around and jumped off the stage.

  My cock strained against my jeans as she strutted over to me. She was dressed in a pair of black yoga shorts that barely covered her hips and a neon pink sports bra that barely managed to hold in the two plush pillows that I had been fixated on from the start.

  “You’re here early,” she grinned up at me as she picked up a towel and wiped the sweat from her cleavage.

  I stared down at her exposed flesh, indulging in how her soft skin glistened under the stage lights.

  “Eyes up here, big boy.” I snapped my eyes back to hers and the temptress winked at me. If she only knew that I’d been ogling her entire beautiful body for months.

  I tilted my head as I took my time running my eyes up and down the length of her. “Shouldn’t you be teaching a class somewhere?”

  She smiled and shrugged, propping the towel on her shoulder. Jade was a pole dancing teacher at a location not far from Ravenous. She’d been teaching there for three years and recently she found out the owner was selling the place. She’d been working her tight little ass off to put the down payment on it. Wolf and Grayson had offered to help and I even told her I’d lend her the money, but the girl was stubborn. She wanted to do it on her own, and you had to respect that. She was there almost all the time, but lately she’d been around Ravenous more and more. She never missed a class, she loved her job there, which made something inside of me click. I’m not sure why, but like I said I knew all her patterns, this change just seemed off to me.

  “Not today, I have to teach the girls some new routines and Candy needs to learn Sophia’s routines. Now that Cain took her away, that fucker, I need some new BDSM kink up on that stage.

  “You brought in some new girls I see.”

  Her eyes narrowed in on me and that glint of jealousy was apparent in her eyes. She looked so fucking cute. I just wanted to lift her up in my arms and whisper I was completely hers.

  “Yeah. So?”

  I smirked. “Just askin’.”

  “Well, they’re not your concern. So, keep it moving, Eric.”

  I rolled my eyes and scowled at her. She knew I hated people using my real name, but then again, I’d love to hear it being whimpered out of her pretty pink lips. I came up to her and she retreated a step, slightly looking concerned. I smiled at her and ran my fingertips along her shoulders, slowly gliding them up along her neckline. She closed her eyes and parted her lips, a shaky breath escaping her. She was so soft, I wanted to pull her against me, but instead I traced my thumb along her pouty pink lips.

  “The next time you call me by my name, a kitten will be spanked. Hard.”

  She glared up at me and her tongue slightly slipped from her lips, lapping at my finger like a kitten would.

  “Promise,” she whispered.

  "Don't tempt me, Jade. I'm on my last thread here."

  “Don’t mess with my girls Eric, and we’ll keep the peace.”

  I growled, my hand tightening on the back of her neck and pulling her slightly towards me. She held her ground though, which was sexy in itself.

  “Jealous?”

  “Fuck off,” she rolled her eyes and I bit my lip trying not to laugh. She went to turn her head, but I gripped her neck, forcing her to look at me.

  “You know it’s only you up on that stage for me.”

  Her lips parted and I could see the yearning in her eyes. It was the exact reflection of my own. I could feel the sexual tension rising, that energy that had me leaning toward her. My head dipped and my lips lingered on hers. Her gasp snapped me out of the trance and I immediately let her go, the temptation was too great.

  “Hmmm, I thought so,” she smirked and lifted an eyebrow, challenging me. “Too much for you, Gabriel?”

  "Don't play with me
, little girl, unless you want me to snap."

  My warning held meaning, it held promises that we were both holding back on. It meant that I knew what she wanted and if she pushed just a little more, I was going to give it to her. Unfortunately, warnings meant nothing to Jade and she smirked.

  “Don’t get all bent out of shape and shy around me now, big boy. We’re just getting started.” She winked at me and then turned her back on me and went back to work.

  Jade was a hell of a cock tease and I’d easily say she was like that with all the members, but she wasn’t. When it came to other men she was reserved, rough, and didn’t let any man disrespect her. It was one of the things I loved about Jade Winters, that and her eyes. The woman looked at me and everything else disappeared, everything except her and I. Like I said, she was fucking hypnotic.

  I forced myself to turn around and head back to the office. No one was here this early in the day and I needed to get some work done. After what had gone down at one of the warehouses a few weeks ago, I was itching to find out if La Cruz’s men were still around. If they didn’t heed Hellbound Lovers warnings they were going to have to feel the weight of our threats. If they thought they could fuck with us before, they had another thing coming. No one fucked with one of our brothers and lived to tell the tale. And they’d already tried with Seth and Gunner. It definitely wasn’t going to happen again.

  My mission was simple. Get the word out to the nearby brotherhoods that if they stood by our side they would always have a Safe Haven with the Hellbound Lovers. Word was to be sent out immediately and that included both East and West Coast MCs. Two of our strongest allies, the Fallen Kings, and the Death Row Shooters were already on board. We just now needed to make sure that La Cruz's men got the word as well. The docks were now Hellbound Lovers and Death Row Shooters turf. Any movement that seemed in the slightest bit elicit would be directly handled by Wolf Stone and Ryan Simon. Wolf had hated calling out turf because it meant we now had to worry about defending it, but it would be worth it in the long run.