Knox (Dead Souls MC Book 1)

by Savannah Rylan

  I sighed and rested my body as I sat the basket down at my feet. Fuck. I’d have to go get a cart. And the mere thought of walking all the way back to the front of the store was excruciating.

  I needed a nap.

  I opened my eyes and drew in a deep breath, but not before I took in what aisle I was on. I was staring at tampons. Pads. Lube. Pregnancy tests.

  That was it. I was about to start my damn period. Just what I needed for my long weekend.

  I grabbed a box of tampons as a wave of nausea rolled over my body. I leaned against the shelving, breathing in through my nose and out through my mouth. This wasn’t my period. This was something else. I’d never gotten nauseous like this on my period.

  Wait. When was my last period?

  I took out my phone and scrolled through my calendar. Shit. I was a week late. I looked down at the items in my basket-- the pickled chips and the ice cream and the soda. Things I never ate on a regular basis. Things I would’ve never had a palette for.

  Then, my eyes drifted up to the pregnancy tests.

  I ripped one off the shelving and rushed back to the bathroom. I worked it out of the box as I sat there and waited for my body to prepare itself. I willed my bladder to empty itself. Prayed to whatever deities above that they would give me just enough to take this damn test. I held it between my legs then capped it off, my mind racing a thousand miles a second.

  I couldn’t be pregnant. Knox and I were careful. Knox already had a daughter.

  He didn’t want another kid, did he?

  I washed my hands and eyed the test next to me. Two minutes was excruciating when someone was waiting on something. I paced the drug store bathroom floor, my heels clicking against the grimy tile flooring.

  But when it was time, I suddenly couldn’t look at it.

  If it was positive, that would be a problem. My career. My relationship with Knox. This RICO case. All of it was hinging on me being able to stay focused. And pregnancy kept no one focused. I had to stay in the loop with the case because of the information I was feeding Knox as well as Diego, and if I defaulted on my agreement with Diego it could spell disaster for the firm.

  For my career.

  For me.

  I picked up the test in my trembling hands. My eyes watered as I read over the word that had popped up on the digital reading. I turned towards the mirror as the test dropped into the sink, my hands splaying out over my stomach.

  Pregnant.

  I was pregnant with Knox’s child.

  Gripping the test in my hand, I rushed out of the bathroom. I grabbed my purse and left my stuff in the aisle, then tossed some cash onto the counter for the test. I barreled out of the drug store and raced to Knox’s apartment, swerving in and out of lanes and blowing through yellow lights.

  I hoped to fuck he was there.

  I skidded into his driveway and started pounding on his door. I had no idea how he was going to take this information, but I needed him. Tears were welling in my eyes and I felt my legs buckling underneath me. My hands were shaking and my knuckles ached from pounding on the metal warehouse door. I was pounding with both fists, yelling for Knox to open the door as tears cascaded down my cheeks.

  The door ripped open and I fell forward. Directly into the arms of a very shirtless and tired Knox.

  “Whoa whoa whoa. Monroe. Get in here. Come on. I gotcha.”

  I stumbled into Knox’s apartment with the test clenched in my hand. I couldn’t speak. I could hardly breathe. My nausea was getting worse and my headache was blinding. I felt weaker than I’d ever felt and it was all too much. I felt Knox’s arm in the crook of my knees as he lifted me off the floor, the test falling from my hand as I leaned heavily into him.

  “Come on. Calm down. What’s happened? Can ya say something?”

  He sat on the couch and settled me in his lap as his chiseled arms cradled me close.

  “Monroe? Look at me.”

  I fluttered my bloodshot eyes up to Knox as his thumb smoothed over my cheek.

  “What’s wrong?” he asked.

  “Please don’t be mad,” I said breathlessly.

  “Never. Is it something with the case?” he asked.

  “No.”

  “Did Diego do something?”

  “No.”

  “Did something happen with your job?”

  “No, Knox. I-I-I…”

  My forehead fell into his lips and he kissed me softly. I sniffled hard, trying to regain my composure. My stomach was rolling and I couldn’t hold it back any longer. I scrambled off Knox’s lap and ran to his bathroom, throwing the toilet lid open just in time.

  I heaved up the contents of my lunch, my body trembling as tears continued to stream down my cheeks.

  I rested my cheek against the edge of the toilet as I breathed in through my nose. I heard Knox’s footsteps approaching the bathroom entrance. His heavy footfalls were sturdy. Sound. A noise I’d come to associate with protection and comfort over the past couple of months.

  Was I going to lose that now? Was he going to leave?

  I flushed the toilet and sat down, my back pressed against the wall. I grimaced at the taste in my mouth as Knox walked towards me. He bent down into my view and handed me an opened bottle of water, urging me to drink it.

  And that was when I saw it.

  The pregnancy test in his hand.

  “Please don’t be upset,” I said.

  “Drink.”

  I put the bottle of water to my lips as he sat down next to me.

  “You’re pregnant,” Knox said.

  I felt my lip start to tremble as I took another sip of the water.

  “I’m pregnant,” I said breathlessly.

  The snicker that fell from his lips caused me to whip my gaze up to his. And when I took him in, I didn’t see the anger or the fear I thought I was going to see. I didn’t see the disappointment or the shock I figured would come with something like this.

  Instead, I saw a smile.

  A growing smile that bloomed so broadly it closed his eyes.

  “We’re pregnant,” Knox said.

  “We?” I asked.

  “Holy shit. We’re gonna have a baby.”

  “You mean, you’re not-?”

  Knox reached out for me and pulled me into his lap. His arms flew around me, his lips peppering my neck with kisses. The bottle of water fell to the floor, spilling out everywhere as his arms cloaked my back.

  I could feel his smile on my shoulder as I held him close.

  “We’re gonna have a baby, Monroe. Canyon’s gonna have a sibling.”

  “And you’re okay with that?” I asked.

  Knox gripped my shoulders and held me out, his eyes connecting heavily with mine.

  “Yes,” he said. “I’m very okay with that.”

  Tears of relief rushed down my cheeks as I threw my arms around him. My lips planted into his as his hands roamed my back. I could feel his cock growing underneath me. I could feel his muscles throbbing against my chest. He got up off the floor, taking me with him as I wrapped my legs around his thick, strong frame.

  “We’re gonna have a baby,” Knox said as he lowered me onto his bed. “A beautiful, wonderful, incredible baby. Who’ll be as smart as you and as strong as me.”

  His lips nipped at my chest as his hands slid my skirt down my thighs.

  “I love you, Knox. I love you so much.”

  His lips nipped at my neck before his nose nuzzled against my ear.

  “I love you too, Monroe.”

  His hand slid across my stomach, cupping the place where my stomach would eventually grow. Where our child would nestle inside of me and feed until he or she was ready to greet the world. He palmed the whole of my stomach, his massive hand spread out. Like he was trying to communicate with our growing little bean.

  Then he slid between my legs and planted his lips against my belly button.

  “I love you too, little one. And I can’t wait to meet you soon.” He then looked up at
me and took my face in between his hands.

  “We’ll figure this all out, Monroe, I promise.”

  THE END!

  Want to get your hands on the next book, Grave? It releases on August 29th! Turn the page for a sneak peak!

  These lawyers can go screw themselves.

  If they think I’m going to let Everly go into witness protection, they got another thing coming.

  Their right that she is in danger,

  But I can keep her safe.

  So she will move in with me.

  At first, it seems simple,

  But as the lies unravel,

  I realize that Everly might be the only good thing in all of this.

  She’s pure, innocent and everything I’m not.

  But for her, I would change.

  Be the man she needs me to be.

  Forever.

  Chapter 1

  Grave

  “Grave, you comin’?” Knox asked.

  “Nope. Got shit to do,” I said.

  “Like sit there with a bullshit look on your face and hope Miss Long Legs comes back.”

  “She’s got a fucking name,” I said.

  “She’s also got legs for days,” he said.

  “Should you even be looking? With that pretty little thing of yours knocked up and strutting around?”

  “Monroe’s the one who points it out every damn time we’re around her,” he said.

  I shook my head as I stared out the window.

  “Come on, Grave. She’s gonna be just fine.”

  “I don’t give a shit how she is,” I said.

  “Then you’re a fuckin’ liar,” Knox said. “But who cares. More beer for me.”

  “Monroe know you’re going to drink with the guys?” I asked.

  “Know? She’s the one takin’ me,” he said with a grin as he started to walk out.

  “Hey Knox.”

  “What?”

  “You got yourself a good one there.”

  My eyes whipped over to my friend. My brother. My confidant. He was standing in the doorway with his shoulders rolled back and his nose tipped out towards the front. I could hear a car pulling up. Probably Monroe. The two of them had become inseparable and I had vowed to make sure they were safe. If there was one thing these asshole Black Saddles weren’t going to do, it was fuck up someone’s life who had a child on the way. There were a lot of things I fucking tolerated in the world of bloodshed and mayhem, but harming pregnant women and children was not fucking one of them.

  “I know I do,” Knox said. “Play your cards right, and ya might get one yourself.”

  “What makes you think I want one?” I asked.

  “The fact that you’re staring out that damn window instead of coming and drinking with us,” Knox said.

  He was right. I wasn’t going to admit to his damn face that he was right, but he was. I couldn’t stop thinking about Everly. Ever since she rolled up into our lodge with information on her fucking brother, my mind started going. My cock pulsed with life and my veins ran hot with the fire in her eyes. That long blonde hair whipping around her shoulders and those kaleidoscope eyes. Yellows and blues and greens.

  I still didn’t fucking know what color her eyes were.

  Knox slammed the door behind him and I got up to go look out the window. I wanted to make sure him and Monroe got off safely. That was my role in this club. Making sure everyone was okay. I was the protector. The blood-shedder. The punisher, in any form it came. No one fucked with my club or the people they cared about outside of it.

  Ever.

  I wondered what Everly was doing. I knew her greatest concern was Rex finding out what she’d done. She’d been in a panic that day about it after spilling her guts to us. She was a brave woman, but she was scared as hell.

  And she should’ve been.

  This was some scary shit.

  After Knox dropped her back at her car, he told her that our club would look out for her. Once Monroe found out about what Everly knew, her law firm convinced Everly to do a written testimony of what she saw. So, the firm could use it for the RICO case along with helping close some of cold cases they had in their files. We only convinced her because then she wouldn’t have to testify in open court. Her brother would never know it was her, until they were sealing his jail cell.

  I watched as Monroe’s car fell into the horizon before I went and sat back down. I loved moments like this. When the lodge was quiet and dark, with no one there except me. Being bloodthirsty meant always hearing the screams of others. Them begging for their lives and to not be hurt. And silence was the only way to counteract the voices I still heard in my head. The soft darkness of silence was the only antidote I had to the harsh darkness of my mind after I closed my eyes at night.

  But for a few days now, things had been different.

  I didn’t see the faces of those I’d killed when I closed my eyes.

  I saw her.

  Everly.

  With her fuller lower lip and her chameleon eyes and that beautiful blonde hair I wanted a fistful of.

  Shaking her thought from my mind, I headed over to the kitchen. I was fucking hungry and I wasn’t gonna burn the gas heading into town to get food for one. I threw open the fridge and started pulling out some shit. Chicken. Grape tomatoes. Spinach. Cheese I could grate. I was glad Rock loved to eat well because I fucking hated grocery shopping. I learned how to cook from my mom when I was younger, but the grocery store was something I hated. Aisles and aisles of fucking food and people breathing down your neck to get to the latest deal their coupons boasted of.

  Rock fucking did the grocery shopping. And I did the cooking.

  I put some oil in a pan and seasoned the chicken breast on each side. I slapped it in there, the oil bubbling and popping. I dodged the white-hot bullets coming out of the pan before I split the chicken breast in half. Then I topped it with the grape tomatoes I’d chopped up, the spinach I’d shredded, and the cheese that would bind everything together.

  I whipped up some mashed potatoes while the chicken slow-cooking in the pan. I made my mashed potatoes a little different. I peeled, salted, and boiled them. Then I drained the water and threw in sour cream and butter. Mixed that shit all up until it was smooth, then I added A-1 steak sauce.

  Oh, yes. Right into my fucking potatoes. That shit was fucking good, and it made my mouth water every damn time I smelled it.

  My father was a piece of shit, but my mother was wonderful. Her escape from her fucked up marriage was cooking. And she could hold her own with the rest of them. Her macaroni and cheese and fucking meatloaf were off the charts. But I always loved the holidays with her. She made this pineapple-and-honey glazed ham that outdid anything anyone could buy in a fucking store.

  I’d inherited the binder of all her recipes when she’d died.

  I set the mashed potatoes off to the side and began to cook up some asparagus. I took the two halves of chicken breasts and put them on a plate, then threw the vegetables into the chicken grease. A little salt, a little minced garlic, and I cooked them until they were a little charred. That smoky garlic flavors along with that crunch? There was nothing fucking better.

  I grabbed a beer from the fridge and put everything on the kitchen table. Ours was small. Didn’t seat hardly four people. Probably because we never fucking used it. We had it in case we needed it, but it was the only piece of furniture in the damn lodge that still looked brand new.

  I was the only one that actually cooked and ate here.

  I popped open my beer with my hand and took a long pull. My mind drifted back to Everly. What she was doing. Where she was. Who she was with. Was she safe? Was she still scared? Shit, did Everly live with her brother? Was she having to dance around him and act like she didn’t know anything? Was she a good liar like that? Would she be able to contact us if she was in trouble?

  Fuck. My mind was running away from me again.

  My cell phone rang in my pocket and I groaned. A piping hot home-
cooked meal and I couldn’t even get started on it. I pulled my phone out of my pocket and glanced at the number, then straightened up when I saw who was calling.

  “What’s up, Diesel?”

  “You weren’t with Knox,” he said.

  “Nope. Not coming today,” I said.

  “Why not?” he asked.

  “Didn’t feel like drinking.”

  “You. Grave. Didn’t feel like drinking.”

  “Did you not hear me well the first time?” I asked.

  “The attitude isn’t necessary. You good?” he asked.

  “I’m good. Knox made sure I was good. I just didn’t feel like coming out today. Don’t know what the damn deal is.”

  “The damn deal is that we all went drinking specifically so you would come out. You’ve been at that lodge for five fucking days, Grave.”

  “I told you, I’m having my apartment bug-bombed.

  “Except that’s not true.”

  “What?” I asked.

  “I rode by your place to see how the progress was coming along. Nothing’s been touched at your apartment.”

  “Maybe they’re done and haven’t contacted me yet.”

  “Cut the shit, Grave. You know how this works with me.”

  “How long have you known?” I asked.

  “Since the lie came out of your face. You know you can’t lie to me. No one can,” he said. “So, since I’m outside of the bar about to head in, you can tell me why you’re really staying at the lodge instead of your apartment.”

  “Maybe I just want to be at the lodge. That such a bad thing?” I asked.

  “Does it have something to do with Everly?”

  “Why the fuck does everyone think it has something to do with her?”

  “Because she’s the only factor that changed over the past week.”

  “Has anyone told you that your deduction skills are bullshit and that they don’t like them?”

  “Every day,” he said. “I’m not going to get into why I think you’re worried, so I’ll just say this. Stay safe. She’s going to be all right.”

  “We don’t know that. What if she lives with Rex? Did anyone ask her that? Does anyone know where she lives at all?”