Knox Brotherhood

by Knox, Elizabeth

  Dmitri answers the phone, sounding suspicious of the random number. “Dmitri,” I bark. “It’s me.” I wasn’t about to say my name over the phone right now to anyone. I have no idea how Juan ended up figuring that I was an undercover agent with the FBI, but there were no more chances I could afford to take. “Something bad has happened with the cartel, and things have gone south. I have to go off the grid for a while, and I need to know you’re going to take care of things there. If you need any help, the Skulls Renegades will happily be of service. But don’t expect to purchase any more girls from Juan, and definitely, don’t contact him.”

  “Should I be worried, boss?” Dmitri asks with concern. The man had taken a real liking to me once I took over the MC and I wondered if it was because I had made sure all the other families were safe and cared for by not letting the club go to shit. But maybe it was more than that.

  “I need you to worry about the MC right now. Make sure there’s muscle around and just keep things running. I’m going to worry about me. Don’t you do that for me.” I hang up before I get too emotional about it. I had heard about agents being put into hiding before, but I had never thought, even with all my recklessness, that I was going to be one of those agents someday.

  I take Reed’s hand and head back over to the car and get in, anxious to get back into the house and be alone with Reed; as alone as we were going to be sharing the place with the two agents. But that was our life now. We had new names, new jobs, and a new place to live. The only thing to telling me about where we were, are the welcome signs to the city; Everett, Washington.

  The bureau had rented a house in a nice and quiet neighborhood just minutes from the coast, but despite the beauty of the blue waters, it seemed too cold to bother going to the beach. Everyone we saw headed there wore wetsuits.

  As soon as we get into the house, I head straight for the bedroom I was sharing with Reed. I shut the door the minute he was in there with me and turn on the television for nothing more than distracting noise. Laying down on the bed, I cross my arms over my chest.

  “Babe, you need to quit beating yourself up over this. This was bound to happen either way. Those cartel assholes, they aren’t dummies. We are just lucky that we’re both here together and alright. I didn’t think anyone is going to find us here.” Reed was trying to make me feel better like he had for the last several hours. He was relentless, and it was sweet, but it just wasn’t helping.

  “I don’t think you get it, Reed, what I’m feeling right now,” I admit, sitting up and pulling my knees to my chest. Reed rubs my back comfortingly.

  “Then, why don’t you tell me? You don’t have to be so damn tough all the time, Siren. I know you aren’t weak. You run an MC. You shot the man that killed your mother. You are an FBI agent. I am never going to think you’re weak.”

  He voiced what my fear was deep down. I was a tough girl; I had to be. I grew up to be an even tougher woman. If I had learned anything from my relationship with Dick, it was a lesson about not being too vulnerable and too soft. But maybe with Reed, I could find that happy medium.

  “Reed, I’ve always been this amazing FBI agent. I always went rogue and made up the rules. I pissed off my superiors more times than I can count. But what all those times had in common was that I never failed. I got the job done, and I got it done better than any other agent I knew of. They loved me, and I felt so strong and powerful. When I got serious with my ex, Richard, you know the one that you met in Cincinnati?” Reed nods. We had gotten deep into each other’s pasts since being together, but I hadn’t really gotten into details about Richard other than that we were engaged, and he cheated. It didn’t really seem necessary to talk about until now. “Well, he was concerned about me being in the field. You know it’s a dangerous job. You’ve seen it firsthand. So, he asked me if there was something else I could do while still being involved in the FBI. I asked to be trained as a handler. I would get to be at home and be protected, giving the orders to somebody else who would be in danger. I did it because I thought Richard was being sweet and looking out for the woman that he loved.”

  “It’s not right to ask those things of someone you love; asking them to change something about them. I can tell you love what you do. Even if it worries me, I could never ask you to quit just for me.” I smile and lean over into his arms.

  “I appreciate that,” I tell him. “But it wasn’t even just the job. I just didn’t know it until I saw him with his secretary balancing on his balls. He had slowly changed everything about me; the clothes I wore, the places I went for fun… He softened me to the core, prepping me to be his perfect little trophy wife, and then he still didn’t want me. As soon as we were over, I went running to Kristie and begging her for a job in the field. I wanted to prove to myself that I was still the woman I had been before I met Richard, but that’s not how this is turning out. I’m afraid this is just proof I can’t do this anymore.”

  “Babe, you can do anything you set your mind to, I know that. You have now saved eight women from the life of sex trafficking. You have brought two MC’s together to do legitimate work. There’s nothing to scoff at there.” I hadn’t thought about it that way, and I realize that I might have found a new calling for myself without trying to. I loved the exhilarating danger in the field, but being the Prez of an MC and Reed’s Ol’ Lady felt like an amazing place to be. It felt like home.

  I look in Reed’s eyes with a lot of thankfulness. Thankfulness he has risked his life to take out Juan and come for me. I pull his face to mine and kiss him passionately, pulling him down on top of me in the bed. His hand snakes up my shirt to massage at my right breast, causing me to moan into his mouth. Being with Reed is the perfect distraction from our current predicament, and I wanted to take full advantage of that.

  I press myself up against him, wriggling my hips against his pants. I could feel that he’s already hard as a rock inside those ridiculous khakis. So, I reached down and take them off as fast as I can, letting those and his boxers slide to the edge of the bed.

  Reed balances himself over my body as I slide my own pants down, revealing my wet and wanting pussy. His face dives in, lapping at my sweetness as I arch my back into the pleasure of his motions. I reach down to let my fingers run through his hair, which was now bleached like a California Ken doll. It’s soft though, and familiar, as I used it to hold his face to my aching center, just wanting more. Being in bed with Reed is the best comfort a woman could ask for.

  His tongue slides in and out of my wet pussy like a pleasant snake, and I moan softly at the sensation. But even as I feel my body getting warm, letting me know I’m close, I knew it wasn’t going to be enough. I wanted to feel him too.

  I whimper, feeling deprived of his body. Then, he licks up to my navel, and I sigh as he spreads my legs wide, letting his thick cock make its way inside of me. I have missed this. I needed this.

  I slide my nails up his back, scratching and letting out all my emotions that way, probably leaving long marks along his skin. He bends down to nip at my neck in response to my own violence. My whole body tenses up, loving this new edge to our love making. It’s raw and desperate and sad and angry. It’s amazing.

  I moan and buck my hips within his set rhythm until I’m screaming his name, not caring if the other agents could hear.

  CHAPTER 19

  Daisy

  I have a feeling that the reason that Reed and Elena aren’t around and not in contact is because something awful has happened. Seamus had come back with the girls in utter shock, telling us he had heard gunshots and then Reed came out looking like he’d seen a ghost. They’d split up somewhere in Texas with Seamus having orders to bring the girls home and let Reed go. That’s all he knew and all we were left with, nothing other than the orders to keep each other safe and trust no one. I knew the cartel we had been doing dealings with were nasty, and I could only imagine what they might do to anyone of us, especially Reed if he had harmed or killed one of them. I was nervous as hell, an
d the tension was already high because Kyle has been around more and more since Reed had disappeared.

  I have to admit, though, as annoying as hell as he was and as many awful memories as he brought forth within me, he was doing a decent job at keeping morale up. He was even helping with getting the women Seamus had brought back nice and settled. It really confused me, because I had my eyes set on someone else already. I wanted to keep to myself for a little while longer, but it was hard knowing that my epic ex is running around the bar all day long like the ghost from Christmas fucking past.

  It’s around eight or nine at night, almost everyone was in the bar, having a drink and shooting the shit like they always do. It seemed like the most normal night we’ve all have in a while. But that changes quickly when a group of Mexican men storm into the place with guns of all sizes, shooting them up like it is World War III.

  I scream out with the rest of the girls and drop behind the bar, trying to pull as many people back there with me as I could. The shots just don’t stop, and I knew some of our men have pulled out their guns and joined in the crossfire. Deep down, I felt afraid knowing that having the men in the MC retaliating would only make matters worse. How many people got killed from crossfire in MC fights? There were a lot I knew of in my time on this Earth, and I didn’t want to see it happen to anyone I loved. But as I crouch behind the bar, praying that the guns would run out ammo and the men would leave without taking prisoners, I knew that there couldn’t be that much gunfire without injuries or hell, a loss of life.

  I begin to flat out cry, hugging Michelle to me. She’s the only comfort I have at this point. So yes, I am scared shitless, afraid that I was going to be taken once again, become one of those women sold into sex slavery down south. It wasn’t a life I would live through after what has happened to me in the past. I would rather fuckin’ slit my own wrists before I go through something like that ever again.

  Eventually, the guns quieted inside, and I could hear the men of the MC pushing the Mexicans outside, out into the open.

  Jenna crawls over to me and points to the basement entrance. Just in case they come back in, going down there is probably the safest bet. So, we began to lead all the women, crawling until we get to the stairs, and we run as fast as we can, locking ourselves inside until someone tell us the coast is clear and it’s safe to come out.

  I knew if a god existed I wasn’t on such good terms with him, but I bowed my head and prayed anyway. I find I wasn’t the only one. What was going to be left of the bar and the people I called my family after this was all over?

  We hold hands together down there for hours until we’re all too exhausted to keep ourselves awake any longer.

  ***

  I climb into the ambulance like the fuckin’ softie that I am, looking down at the man I once loved, fighting for his life. He looks like hell, with blood all over himself. My heart’s torn. Even though I hated this man’s guts for abandoning me, I couldn’t let him die alone. I hold his hand and cry for the second time in less than 24 hours, not knowing if the EMT’s had been able to get to any of our injured members on time. I didn’t even want to think about the dead ones we lost back at home. If I could just get through this one, I could worry about the rest later.

  My damn cell begins to ring in my pocket, and I pick it up. I have never been so fuckin’ relieved to hear the Prez’s voice. “Oh, my god, Reed!” I scream, losing my shit right then and there. “They fuckin slaughtered us. They blew bullet holes through the place for hours. Where the hell are you?”

  “The most I can tell you is that Elena and I left to keep something like this from happening. I couldn’t be more fucking sorry we were wrong. Dais’, Dais’, just tell me. Tell me who we lost. How bad is it?”

  I could hear the distress in his voice. Someone had gotten to him first and told him what happened. Nothing was more humiliating or devastating for a Prez than having your members gunned down in an attack like this. I wonder how Elena’s feeling and if the Vipers had met a similar fate.

  I meant to tell him about the four we lost, including one of the girls he had saved, but there was only one person on my mind right now to speak of. “Kyle, your fuckin’ brother. He thought he was a bad ass and pushed them outside and off the property. He’s got bullet holes all in him and there is so much blood. It doesn’t look good, Reed. I’m in the ambulance with him right now, and they’re working on him as best they can. But he just looks so red and so out of it, Reed. Please, tell me you’re coming back. We don’t know what to do without you.”

  It’s selfish to ask because I knew the two of them were probably safer where they were. But the MC would fall apart now without his leadership. And obviously being in hiding has done nothing.

  “I think we’re both coming back. We’re going to figure this out, Dais’. Just hang in there. Do you want to talk to Elena?” He knew what the answer was before I even saying it, and the phone is passed off to her. I could hear her tears before she even says a word.

  “Shit, Daisy. I’m so fucking sorry for leaving you guys behind. I was just so sure you’d be safe if we disappeared. How can I ever make this up to you?” She sounds just as distraught as I am. In just a brief time she had made herself fit in with us like family. She was like the sister I never had. I just wanted to hug her so we could both know it would be okay, but I couldn’t.

  “It’s not your fault, Elena. I know it ain’t. They were sick men; assholes. This was bound to happen one day. I just hope we find a way to make them pay for what they did.” It’s the truth. I’m seein’ red.

  “You’re damn straight we will.” I knew when Elena says something like that, she meant it.

  CHAPTER 20

  Elena

  It is under the cover of night when we return to what is left of the bar. It has been blown through with bullet holes, at least in the actual front half of the building. A couple of the rooms had caught some damage as well; including Reed’s office. Tears pour from me until my eyes run dry. I’m sure I wouldn’t be able to produce any more again for a long while.

  As I slide into bed with Reed, it’s hard to view this as a safe place anymore, even though I was glad to be home. I couldn’t help but feel a deep regret for letting the FBI hide us away instead of staying and fighting with our MC’s.

  Reed turns over and looks at me, and I could see the same tired guilt in his eyes. I stroke my fingers through his still light-colored hair. It has grown on me a little since we’d been gone, but I was happy to see his five-o’clock shadow again. I lean in and kiss him, tears streaking down my face, believing my previous thought. I press myself up against him, only his boxers, my cami and matching panties keeping our bodies apart. His warmth is comforting and real; the only solid and tangible thing I have to go on right then.

  We easily slip into each other, my panties down to my toes and then tangling in the blankets before he unfurles his cock. He slides his warm member into me, making love to me slowly and surely, the way I needed it right now. There’s sadness in our rocking motions that we share as I hold on for dear life. Soon, I’m shivering in his arms as his warmth spills inside of me. It’s the only way I was going to sleep this night.

  ***

  I hang up the phone and sit down at the bar, or what was left of it, feeling drained. It had taken all the convincing within me to get the FBI to let me go back Tennessee before they had caught Rafael Ramirez as we knew his full name to be now. Luckily, they had already apprehended a few of his associates on their way back into Mexico and were able to bust one location where they were holding a good fifteen girls hostage in terrible conditions. My career was about to burst open, but all I could think about was all the losses that had taken place because we had underestimated Juan and the cartel. The repairs were slow coming, and we had held a memorial for those lost already. But the one piece of good news we had was that Kyle was coming home from the hospital any minute now.

  Daisy had headed to the hospital to pick him up. He had died on the table d
uring surgery several times, but he had somehow pulled through. I had never seen Daisy so upset or confused before. The minute I’d come back, she ran into my arms and spilled the beans about all her conflicted feelings. There was another man she had been with for a bit, but it wasn’t too serious yet. She didn’t tell me who, and I didn’t push her. She had also told me that when she saw Kyle laying there and dying, all the feelings, she had once felt for him came rushing right back into her heart like they had never left. I felt for her. I couldn’t imagine the emotional rollercoaster she had been on ever since he came back, and now with a near death experience added in, it was just impossible to fathom.

  The two of them walk in the door, Kyle with an obvious limp and looking worse for the wear. He wasn’t going to be 100 percent for quite a while, but as I understood it, a lot of the members owed him their lives. He led the fight back against the cartel and put them on the run.

  Everyone in the bar cheers for his arrival, and I try to put a smile on my face for the sake of what’s appropriate and what Dais needed from me, but I just wasn’t feeling it.

  Reed turns around and grabs a beer from behind the bar and raises it, tapping it with his keys to get everyone’s attention. I was sure he was going to give a toast in thanks to his brother, but instead, he turned to me.

  Everyone watches as Reed grabs my hand and looks right into my eyes. I have absolutely no idea what is going on. “Babe, you have been my everything through thick and thin since you got here. I would trust you with my life. I once told you that you were my ride or die when I gave you this cut.” He reaches over and feels the leather of my jacket between his fingers. I look at him curiously, but he gives away nothing.

  “I kept thinking of ways I could let you know what you meant to me and how to top myself, but it just wasn’t coming to me. But then I realized, there was only one fuckin’ thing left to do.” He gets down on one knee, and a collective gasp are sounded around the room. I could feel my hands shaking within his, finally realizing what he’s about to do. What the hell is he thinking?