I was supposed to take the weekend off to clear my head about this case, but all I could think about was Knox. Every time I had a silent moment, he would pop into my head. Sometimes I would wonder how he was doing and sometimes I would simply see his eyes. Other times I could draw the details of his lips in my mind’s eyes, and other times I was envisioning what he might look like beneath his orange jumpsuit.
But every time it happened, I beat myself up for it.
I couldn’t think like this about my client, and yet… I couldn’t stop it. What did that mean? Did that mean I had feelings for him? I couldn’t have feelings for a man like Knox. He was a criminal who ran with a notorious biker gang. What the hell kind of woman did that make me? And it wasn’t like he was out of jail yet. It wasn’t like he was roaming the streets with his bike between his legs and a jacket thrown along his shoulders.
He was still in jail, for fuck’s sake.
I was harboring feelings for a man in fucking jail.
“Shit,” I said as I went back inside. “This can’t be happening.”
I tried to think of something else. Anything else. Lying. I had to think about the fact that Knox was lying to me. Or at least withholding information. That would make me not like him. That would put us back on neutral footing. I couldn’t have feelings for someone who withheld information from me. I couldn’t build a relationship with someone like that.
If you can’t trust him now, you’ll never trust him as your boyfriend, Monroe.
Boyfriend? Now my mind thought he was my boyfriend? I groaned as I put my wine glass into the sink. Was it possible for me to have feelings like this for someone like him? I was more confused than I’d ever felt in my entire life. I had to do something to get him out of my mind. Maybe a night out in Redding to explore would do me some good.
Yes. A night out. That was what I needed.
I slipped into my room and changed into a decent outfit. A pair of light wash jeans to accent the swell of my hips and a tight shirt to tuck into my pants. I picked out a crimson belt to match the crimson tank top I had on, then I grabbed a brown jacket and threw it over my shoulders. I slipped my feet into my casual brown flats and stuck some sparkling earrings in my ears, surveying myself in the mirror. I removed the clip from my hair and allowed it to tumble down my back before putting it into a half ponytail. My strawberry blonde hair framed my face and fell between my shoulder blades, sliding against the brown jacket I had covering my shoulders.
A splash of makeup to draw out my emerald eyes was all I would need before I was ready to go.
I grabbed my purse and stuck my phone in my back pocket. I had no idea if Redding even had a nightlife, but if all else failed I could get some food somewhere. I turned off all the lights in my apartment and locked the door behind me, then I strode to my car.
I didn’t even get in it before my cell phone vibrated against my body.
“This is Monroe Williams.”
“This Knox’s lawyer?”
“Yes this is. With whom am I speaking?” I asked.
“This is Officer Morris. I’m calling on behalf of Knox.”
“What’s happened? Is my client okay?” I asked.
“I’m afraid not,” the officer said.
“Is that all you’re going to tell me, or do I have to subpoena it out of you?”
I slid into my car and cranked it up before I skidded out of my parking space.
“Knox has been beaten pretty badly. He’s in the infirmary now, but he’s unconscious.”
“I want all of the footage from the cameras today to be sent to Rose Lowen of Lowen & Scott,” I said as I pulled out onto the road.
“Ma’am, we can’t-”
“If you make me get a subpoena, so help me God I will bring up charges on you for obstruction of justice. One of your inmates has been beaten so badly he’s in your infirmary. Send my firm what we need or I’ll have you arrested,” I said.
“I’ll move it up the chain of command.”
“If it takes more than two hours to get that footage, I’ll be rolling Mrs. Lowen out of her bed tonight. We’ll see how far she gets with you,” I said.
Then I hung up the call, tossed the phone into the passenger’s seat, and sped all the way to the jail.
Chapter 11
Knox
I couldn’t get my last meeting with Monroe out of my mind. I understood why she needed to know everything, but I wasn’t going to put my daughter at risk. Everything about my personal life had been kept secret and separate from the crew for a fucking reason. And I wasn’t gonna start blabbing all that shit to someone I didn’t know because she thought she needed to know my entire damn world. My mother didn’t have shit to do with this and neither did Canyon, and I wasn’t gonna start spilling my world just because some lawyer with a tight ass wanted me to.
Hell, Blaze was never supposed to know about Canyon, and somehow he did? How the hell had he found out about her? Someone was running their damn mouth about things they didn’t need to be talking about, that was how. Yet I was trapped in this fucking jail for shit I didn’t do because the government wanted to dangle me as fuckin’ bait.
But they had another thing coming.
I wasn’t about to roll over on my damn club. Especially when they were trying to pin some kind of murder on my head.
It made me angry that Blaze had known about Canyon. It made me angry that he thought he could make a joke like that about her and get away with it. That man deserved to die. I knew he wasn’t dead when I left him, but I’d kill him in a fucking heartbeat if he was still alive. He didn’t get to talk about my damn daughter that way and get away with it. Men in my world had died for less. Much less.
And he was knocking on death’s door with that information.
And if he knew, who was to say the entire group of Saddles didn’t know? For all I knew, the moment Blaze found out he started rattling off his big ass mouth to his friends to try and get initiated quicker. Show how big his dick was. Show off the kind of information he could get on rival club. It meant there was a chance the entire damn club knew about Canyon.
I wasn’t the only one who needed protection.
My family needed protection, too.
“Knox? That you?” Diesel asked.
“You got someone else calling you from county?” I asked.
“It’s been two days. I still can’t fucking get the police to cooperate with us. I was about to send Grave there to see you,” he said.
“Don’t bother. They’re making this hard. Look, have you talked to Miss Williams lately?” I asked.
“That new lawyer? No. But I have talked with Rose. She filled me in on what they’re trying to do to you. We’re gonna get you out of there, Knox. You gotta keep hanging on.”
“Have you talked to Diego yet?” I asked. “Because the heat’s rising in this place and it doesn’t look good.”
“The talks are going slow, but I’m putting pressure on him. I should have something in place for you by tomorrow morning. Can you hold tight for one more night?”
“I can do that. Been putting together some things that’ll help me defend myself if necessary.”
“Let’s not say that too loud,” he said. “But I got you.”
“Can you do me a favor?”
“Anything you need just say the word,” he said.
“If Blaze knew about Canyon, there’s a good chance he spilled that shit to his club. Which means the entire fucking Black Saddles could know about her.”
“I can go back and check on them if you want me to,” he said. “But there’s something you should know.”
“What? What’s happened?” I asked.
“You know Brewer’s got police contacts everywhere because he’s a fucking crazy man, right?”
“Yeah?”
“He told me this morning that the Anderson police department have been regularly checking up on your family. Every day, making sure they’re okay.”
“What?” I asked. �
�Has something happened?”
“No, nothing’s happened. Brewer did say that one of the officers mentioned the department owing a favor or something like that. You know what I think?”
“What?”
“I think our new lawyer girl pulled strings and got the police department to check in on them.”
“Why do you think that?” I asked.
“Because there are regularly-logged reports on how they’re doing. Daily reports. Everything is by the books.”
“I’m not gonna even ask how you guys got ahold of that shit,” I said.
“I can take a ride out there tonight to check on them, but they’ve got officers regularly dropping in on them, according to Brewer. And you can thank Rock for tapping into their technology and getting those daily logs.”
“I owe you guys some shit when I get outta here,” I said.
“Look, family’s family. Whether they run with us or not. I’m still trying to figure out how the fuck some asshole in another club figured out about your family. I’m not getting much headway on that. The more I dig, the more I’m worried someone in our club talked.”
“I’d love to ask you why you feel that way, but I’m getting nasty looks from people,” I said.
“That’s fine. It’ll give me time to confirm suspicions. In the meantime, get through the night. I’ll know something from Diego tomorrow morning and then you should have some protection in there.”
“Thanks, Diesel. Talk to ya later.”
I hung up the phone and the guard yanked me off to the side. Fuck. I really wanted to bash every single one of their fucking heads in. The guard gripped me with a strength that would’ve signed his death warrant had we not been in jail, and I gritted my teeth as we started walking.
But instead of takin’ a right, we took a left.
“Where we going?” I asked. “Do I have a meeting today?”
The guard continued to drag me down the hallway before he tossed me into a room. I knew I wouldn’t be seeing Monroe this quickly after our last meeting, and that put me on guard. I turned around and the man at the door grinned at me, then he walked away and left me there by myself.
“Hey! What the hell’s going on!?” I asked.
I heard footsteps coming down the hallway and I braced myself. I didn’t know what the fuck was coming, but it wasn’t gonna be good. I saw three heads pop up with angry glares on their faces, then the door busted open and I was tackled.
I threw punches in all directions trying to get those assholes off me. I recognized their faces as I tried to break their noses. Blood was flying and punches were landing in my back. It felt like I couldn’t breathe as blood trickled its way up my throat.
“You think you was gonna get away with it?”
“With killing one of our own?”
“You ain’t shit in here, Knox.”
“You’re a pussy in chains.”
I got one of them in a headlock as my body tried to get to the door. If I could get out into the hallway, I could make a run for the nearest guard. If they would even fucking help me at this point. I whipped my fist around and cracked someone’s jaw, smiling when I heard it crunch.
But it wasn’t enough, and soon I was overwhelmed.
A fist came down into my temple and all I saw was black. I could feel the pain wafting through my body as my knees hit the floor. Another fist cracked me against my temple and it made me nauseous.
Then, a cold enveloped my body.
When I came to, I could hear monitors beeping. The smell of disinfectant was strong and my body felt like it was on fire. I opened my bruised eyes and looked around the room, taking in the I.V. bag that was pouring into my hand.
Shit. I’d been overrun with Black Saddle fuckbags.
The guards were corrupt. I knew that from the beginning. But I didn’t know they’d throw me to the dogs like that. I had to talk to Diesel. Or my lawyer. Someone who would listen to me. The Black Saddles had control of this prison. Or at least had a few of the guards in their pockets. No amount of protection would keep me alive with shit like that.
Not even protection from the Latin Cobras.
I heard someone groan and the lightness of the voice fluttered against my ears. I turned my head and saw a chair come into view, and in it a woman was resting. I didn’t recognize her at first, but she sure as hell was beautiful. Her jeans were tight against her hips and her dark red tank top squeezed against her body. She had on a brown jacket that framed the breadth of her shoulders and fell open right at her tits. Hell, whoever that woman was had a wonderful fucking rack. A rack I’d let my tongue get lose in any day of the week.
But it wasn’t until I took in the beautiful strawberry blonde hair flowing down the woman’s body that I figured out who it was.
Monroe.
My fucking lawyer was sleeping in a chair next to me.
She looked beautiful. Her body in those fucking clothes tugged at something inside of me I’d ignored for years. Fucking around with women was fun, but it wasn’t anything to write home about. I had needs and had plenty of choices when I needed to get my rocks off. But this was different. Looking at Monroe in that chair with her face contorted the way it was. There was something raw and vulnerable about the way she looked.
There was something about her body that almost… cared.
Had someone called her and told her what had happened to me? Maybe Mrs. Lowen? Or Diesel? I didn’t figure the jail would call her over something like this. The fucking jail was what did this to me in the first damn place.
Either way, she wasn’t working when someone called her.
What had she been doing? I’d had my hands on enough women to know she was dressed for fun. Looking to relax, or possibly spend time with someone. Rarely had I met a woman that dressed like that only to sit around in her damn home and shoot the shit with someone. She had makeup on that accented her features and clothes that clung to her curves, and I felt a pang of jealousy rush through my body.
Who the fuck did she have on makeup for?
Who the hell was she expecting to find before I interrupted her plans?
And why the fuck was she here anyway?
A shot of pain ripped through my ribcage and I groaned. My eyes squinted and my body winced, and the movement was enough to make me wanna vomit. I heard Monroe shuffling in the chair as I tried to get my body under control. I felt like I was sitting in the middle of a bubbling volcano.
Didn’t they have pain medication in this hellhole?
She shot up from the chair and her emerald eyes popped open, revealing the worry that was sitting behind her stare. My head lobbed over to see her and I watched tears rise in her eyes. Why the hell was she crying? Did I look that bad? Oh shit, was I dying? Had those Black Saddle assholes beaten me so badly I was gonna croak?
If I ever got my hands on them, all of them were dead. No matter what type of jail time that came with.
Without thinking, she leaned over and took my hand, her delicate fingers curling around my skin. Our eyes locked and I could see the fear behind her darkening green eyes. She squeezed my hand and scooted the chair towards me, closing the distance between the two of us. But a woman in a white coat slamming through the damn door ruined the moment and Monroe quickly pulled away.
Fuck me. Her touch felt phenomenal.
And I wanted it to come back.
Chapter 12
Monroe
I pulled up to the county jail and skidded into a parking lot. I left my purse behind in my car in order to lessen the time I’d have to take up in order to get through all their protocol. I grabbed my I.D. and walked straight up to the front desk and the man at the front scurried off his stool when he saw me.
“Miss Williams, I’m glad you could make it,” he said.
“Do you have those security tapes for me?” I asked.
“I sent it up the chain of command as fast as I could, ma’am. But it’s going to take some time to-”
“I’ll call Mrs. Lowen
once I’m done talking with my client. Your chain-of-command can deal with her,” I said.
“That won’t be necessary, Miss Williams, I can assure you.”
“Then have those tapes ready for me by the time I’m done with my client. Otherwise, I’ll wash my hands of this and you can talk to Mrs. Lowen,” I said.
I walked through the metal detector and kept going when it didn’t go off. I flashed my identifications to anyone who needed to see it as doors were opened for me. Guards were looking me up and down and one of them even whistled after me, and I spun around to make sure he knew I’d heard.
“I’m not sure where you get off thinking you can catcall me when I’m about to talk to my client, but if you ever do it again I’ll find a reason to put you on the other side of these bars. You understand me?”
I glared at the man as his back stiffened, his gut hanging over his belt like he was something special.
I turned on my heels as I followed the signs for the infirmary. I had only one thing on my mind. I had to make sure Knox was okay. I wasn’t going to wake Mrs. Lowen from whatever slumber she was resting in until I knew the extent of the problem. She would want details on how Knox was as well as details on what the fuck had taken place.
But nothing could have prepared me for what I saw when I came into the room.
Knox was lying in a rickety hospital bed underneath some dim fluorescent lights. His eyes were bruised and there was a ring around his neck. Tubes were flowing everywhere and there were two separate I.V. bags feeding into his body. There were bruises on his forearms, overshadowing his tattoos.
He hadn’t just been attacked.
He had been beaten within an inch of his life.
My heart shattered into a million pieces. I felt tears crest my eyes as I started walking towards the bed. He was sleeping soundly, his chest rising and falling with his breaths. His orange jumpsuit was rolled down and in its place was a plain white t-shirt. It gripped to his body and I got my first decent look at the strength his body boasted of.
He was a strong man. Stacked with muscle he obviously took care of. This attack wasn’t taken out by just one person.
Knox (Dead Souls MC Book 1) Page 7
