Knox Brotherhood

by Knox, Elizabeth

  Allison’s two favorites came in last night, looking for her. Bones, who is about twice her age and has an Ol’Lady since Allison was probably in diapers, is one of them. Then, there’s Trigger, he’s a nice lookin’ Nomad who loves to come into Bubba’s whenever he’s in town. When I say nice lookin’, I really mean that he looks like he walked straight out of an Inked Magazine cover. He is NICE lookin’. Here’s the problem; Allison told both Bones and Trigger that she’s completely faithful to both of them. I’ll tell ya, she isn’t. She fucks any dick that points in her direction.

  I know what she’s doing. She’s telling both she is, and she’s just waiting for one of them to claim her. Bones and Trig may not be the smartest tools in the shed, but they aren’t total idiots. They’re not claiming her crabby clam anytime soon.

  “Oy, Margarita, why do those two keep staring at you?” I turn to look at Maria. She speaks so fast sometimes that I can’t even keep up with her. It’s gotten a lot better since she first came with us, but damn me to hell if I still don’t understand everything she says.

  “Why do you call her Margarita?” Butch asks, trying to imitate Mar’s Spanish accent, which only gets him an eye roll in response. I think he’s trying to get with her and a lot of the boys have here. Maria just simply won’t have it. She tosses them to the curb like trash. It doesn’t mean that she isn’t getting any action, I’ve seen her with one of our regulars at the bar, Tommy. Maria likes to go on long breaks every Tuesday and Thursday. I can’t blame her, Tommy is comparable to Trig.

  “It means flower in Spanish,” Pain answers for her. I don’t miss the small smirk that comes across her lips at his answer or the stare they both share that should cross into the awkward stage but doesn’t.

  “You know them? They stare, keep staring. Need me to tell them to stop? I will. I’ll tell them to take a picture,” Maria rambles it out so fast, I’ve already forgotten that there’s someone here staring at me. I turn to look over at the corner booth that Maria is talking about and bust out laughing.

  “What’s so funny?” Seamus huffs. He looks over. He doesn’t know who they are, but I sure as hell do. Before I can respond, the big lug of a man slides out of the booth and walks over with a shit eating grin on his face. I know that grin; I inherited it from him. I just saw him last month when I went home to Baltimore for my baby sister’s graduation, but my God, every time I see my Dad, he looks different. He was almost bald last month, and now he looks like he was lighting it up with Bob Marley back in the day; dreads down past his shoulders. The man still has never shared his infamous hair secrets with me.

  “There’s my little wildflower,” he chuckles, and I slide over the bar and run straight into my dad’s arms. He lifts me up and spins me around like I’m five again.

  “Oh gosh, put my ass down, now,” I tell him, patting his chest. He listens, surprisingly, and sets me down on the ground, kissing the top of my forehead.

  “Um, Daisy?” Seamus says. I look back to him, forgetting he’s never seen my father.

  “Oh! Dad, this is Seamus, Sea, this is my Daddio.” I smile, getting all giddy. I have no problem admitting I’m a daddy’s girl. I am, completely. Maybe that’s why I enjoy being spoiled so much. Sea doesn’t say a thing, but he keeps looking back from me and my father. We don’t look alike, and there’s a reason for that.

  “This is your father?” he questions, his eyes still staring.

  “Sure as hell am,” my father growls out. I laugh. I laugh way harder than I mean to, but this is hysterical because when I really think hard about it, Seamus and my father are weirdly similar. They’re both beefy, muscular men with hot headed tendencies. I guess that saying’s always true; girls always look for men like their father.

  Ew.

  That’s fuckin’ gross.

  “I’m adopted,” I point out, and I notice how Maria and Butch are both paying close attention to our conversation. “I was adopted when I was five,” I add, waiting for some sort of question from anyone, only, there wasn’t any. I can imagine it’s hard to figure out how a short, brunette, green eyed, white girl’s dad can be as black as coal.

  “I never knew that,” Seamus says. It’s true. I never told him. The only person that knew was Kyle because I’d taken him home to Baltimore a few times. It wasn’t too hard to figure out. Come to think about it, I don’t even think he asked me if I was adopted. I know I never told him the story. I would’ve remembered that. I could hardly ever think about what happened to my birth parents without breaking out into a complete crying fit.

  I was four when they were killed, and I remember everything. They may have brought it on themselves, crossed the wrong people, and in a sense made created their fate but they were still my parents. I was in foster care for a year, in a few homes, until I met my parents, my last foster family, who adopted me.

  “You never knew that? What’s this Wildflower? You ashamed of your ghetto ass family?” My dad snaps at me. I roll my eyes just like my mom would. I glance around and spot her, immediately, and I smile until I see who she’s sitting with – Kyle.

  “Dad, how about we don’t turn this into a fight? We both know I’ll lay you out anyway,” I counter, patting him on the arm.

  “Wildflower,” he growls

  “Daaaaaaad,” I say, cocking my head at him. “Who do you think I inherited my sassy ass attitude from?”

  “Your mother, it’s fuckin’ obvious.”

  “ERRRRRRRRR.” I try to sound like a buzzer for a wrong answer on a gameshow, but it doesn’t sound that way.

  “What the fuck was that?” Seamus laughs.

  “A buzzer. My dad is wrong, as usual. I get my snarky ass attitude from you, genius.” I poke him right on the chest.

  “Seriously?” He cocks his eyebrows at me, staring at me like he used to when I was in trouble as a teenager.

  “Seriously,” I say, a voice echoing me. I know that voice. Glancing around the bar, I see her a few feet back, chatting with Maria. “Isha,” I giggle, running up to my baby sister and pulling her into a big ass bear hug. I rub the top of her head like I did whenever she was a kid, and she shoves me back “I will slaughter your whole family if you mess up this weave. This ain’t cheap shit.”

  “Start with Dad, will you?”

  “I heard that!” he growled. Isha and I both busted out into laughter.

  We spent the next hour catching up. She told me she’s finally decided to go to Coastal Carolina University for a degree in Engineering. It’s funny, seeing my baby sister going after everything she wants to. She has big dreams, and she’s gonna get there. I know that for sure. I never had an ounce of the fearlessness that she has. I envy her for that. For having the courage and determination for going after whatever she wants to in life. At eighteen, all I wanted to do was run, and I did, somehow ending up here with my new family; my biker family.

  “What does it take for a girl to get a drink around here?” Isha mutters. I roll my eyes and go behind the bar, making her a tequila sunrise. I set it down in front of her as she takes a sip. “Mmm, delicious. You’re pretty good at this.”

  “It’s only my job,” I retort, smirking as I speak.

  “Didn’t Aisha just graduate high school?” Reed grumbles, coming around the bar.

  “No, college. Coastal Carolina,” I bullshit him completely, hoping he’ll buy my shit.

  “Daisy.” He didn’t buy it, not at all.

  “Reed, what’s one drink? She’s graduated with honors, on full scholarship to Coastal Carolina. She deserves to celebrate a little.”

  “Celebrate somewhere, anywhere, but not in my fuckin’ bar. I do a lot of fucked up shit Dais’, but we don’t serve minors,” Reed snaps. I don’t know what I did, but somehow, I hit a nerve with him.

  “Oh, please, we were drinking vodka straight from the bottle when we were 14,” Aisha laughs. Reed starts turning blood red. At least I know when not to push him anymore. Isha doesn’t know that you don’t question him. I grab her drink and pou
r it down the sink so fast. She shoots me a glare, and I look back over to Reed. “Happy now?”

  “Not in the least,” he says as he walks away.

  “That wasn’t very smart,” Sea mutters. “He’s pissed.”

  “I’m not a very smart bitch; there’s a reason I skipped out my senior year, didn’t get my GED, and came here to Gainesville to jumpstart my bartending career,” I snap. I know Reed wasn’t happy. I don’t need Sea rubbing it in, or making me feel worse about it.

  For the next two hours, I do my job. I serve every single customer walking through that door. I take away a couple guys car keys, and they aren’t too happy about it, tough shit. If you can’t walk to the bathroom without falling over, I’m not letting you drive home.

  I wipe down the bar one last time, realizing I haven’t spoken to my mom at all. My dad and Isha have been playing pool with Chaos and Pain. I’m wondering who’s winning right about now.

  “You ever gonna come over and see me honey?” My mom asks. I look up to her and smile.

  “Yeah, I was on my way. Just had to finish cleaning up. It’s been a busy night, and it’s bound to get busier with the Nomads in town,” I tell her, even though she has no idea what it means. “Sorry I didn’t come over sooner, how’s everything goin?”

  “Everything is perfect, honey. I’m wondering how you are, though?” I rolled my eyes; I couldn’t help it. My mom is shrinking me right now. The Shrink, it’s her signature move.

  “I’m perfectly fine,” I tell her, grabbing a glass, trying to get her to back off. I was going to take a break to talk to her for a bit, but now I’m going to distract myself and hope she finds something to do with herself.

  “Daisy, be honest with me. How are you?”

  “I’m fine, until you ask me how I’m doing. I’m perfectly, absolutely, fuckin’ fine. Whenever you ask me how I’m doing there’s something behind it, something you want, maybe something you’re trying to influence me to do. So, spit it out, what is it?” I love my mom, she’s amazing, but she’s also a therapist who tries to shrink me and my sister all the time.

  She stays silent for a minute. “I’m just trying to understand how Kyle is back and how you two aren’t a couple, still. I knew you two had an ugly breakup, I know that it hurt you – “

  “No. You don’t know anything,” I snap. I don’t mean to do it, but I just can’t help the feelings that are still deep inside me about our ‘break up’ as my mother calls it. I didn’t tell her, my father, or my sister what happened. They know nothing about me being kidnapped, taken, whatever the fuck you want to call it. They don’t know that Kyle was a coward who abandoned me, after he promised to love and protect me forever when he gave me that fuckin’ ring.

  “You two just need to kiss and make up. I’m sure you two can work this out. You were so happy with him, I remember. I’d never seen you so happy in my entire life, honey. You were ready to get married, to start a family. He’s your future.”

  “I have to agree with Mom.” I shut my eyes tightly, hearing Kyle speak. He is not in my family, and he doesn’t get to call my mother his mom. He doesn’t get to agree.

  “We are never kissing and making up. We will never work this fucking shit out. I was happy, yeah, but that was years ago. People disappoint you, they rip your heart out of your damn chest and leave you alone to deal with all those feelings. You may have been my future once Kyle, but all you are now is a piece of gum I can’t get off the bottom of my fucking shoes.” I stare him right in the eyes as I say every word. I want him to know I’m serious; to finally understand I’m not fucking around. I just want him to leave me alone and move on.

  I won’t lie, seeing him get shot in the shootout a few weeks back killed me. I thought, Jesus, my heart was breaking all over again. I love him, I’ll always love him. I’m just not in love with him anymore, and I never will be. Seeing him in that ambulance, bleeding out in front of me, clinging to life, brought back a lot of emotions, so many emotions that I buried deep down inside me, that I worked so hard to never come back up.

  Kyle comes right back behind the bar, right next to me and turns me to him. “I’m not a little bitch. I’m not gonna give up on you, or us.”

  “I cannot believe the words that just came out of your mouth. You’re not gonna give up on me? You already did, or did you fucking forget?!” I screamed it at him. I didn’t care who was listening. I wasn’t doing this. I refused to listen to his false promises, his determination to make us whole again. You can’t fix what’s been thrown into the fire. It was burned, destroyed, there is no coming back from that.

  “Just kiss and make up, honey,” my mom begs. I have to take a moment to myself as I shut my eyes and take a deep breath in. Tears are threatening to fall, but I’ll be damned if I let them. I wasted too many tears crying over Kyle Michaels.

  I’ll never, ever, cry over him again.

  “The only man I will be kissing, mother, is my boyfriend, who is in this damn bar,” I hiss out through clenched teeth.

  “Who. The. Fuck. Are. You. Seeing,” Kyle growls. I don’t even look at him. I’m doing my best to ignore him.

  “I have to get back to work, Mom. I’ll talk to you later.”

  “Daisy. Who the fuck are you seeing?!” Kyle yells it at me, and I don’t respond. I go to the end of the bar and start filling up patrons’ drinks, waiting until the moment that the piece of gum finally gets off the bottom of my heel.

  “Wildflower, we’ll be in town for a couple days. I think we’re gonna stay about a week. Your mom and I both need a vacation. Wanna grab lunch tomorrow, or the day after?” I nod at my father’s question.

  “Yeah, I’d like that. I’ll text you, and we’ll set something up,” I tell him quietly, though all I want to do right now is get through my shift and crawl into bed.

  “Dais’, need a refill,” I hear Seamus call over to me. Walking over to his end of the bar, I grab his glass and refill his beer.

  “Boyfriend, huh?” He winks at me, and I can’t help but have a small smile drag across my face. We’ve never labeled what we have, but he’s totally my boyfriend.

  He has been for a long damn time.

  CHAPTER 3

  Seamus

  We all got called outta bed real fuckin’ early this morning. Reed texted us all, telling us to get our asses in church and to stay put until he and Elena came in. I may physically be here, but my mind is stuck on Daisy. I had to sit there and watch all that fuckin’ shit happen last night. After her shift, she jumped in the shower and crawled into bed with me. She didn’t say a damn thing, besides her normal late night ‘I love you’. Dais doesn’t keep quiet, she rambles when she should be keeping her mouth shut, so I know shit isn’t good.

  “Any idea why Reed texted us this fuckin’ early?” I ask Dmitri as he sits next to me at the table.

  “Nope”

  Well, I thought I’d get more out of him, apparently not. He’s not a man of many words, but he is a good man. I don’t like many people, I can just tell that he’s one of us, even if he is a fuckin’ Viper. He wears their cut in church, in our fucking church. I still don’t know how Reed allows that shit. I don’t fuckin’ get it. To me, it’s disrespectful, but we are aligned with the Vipers. Elena is their Prez, which means that we have a truce of sorts.

  “Huh. Should find out soon enough. How’s everything goin?”

  “Good,” Dmitri mutters, staring at the door.

  “What’s with you, Russian, day dreaming about Jenna writhing under you?”

  “The fuck?” he snaps. I chuckle at his response. I don’t have a doubt that he has a thing for her. I find his eyes lingering on her a little longer than he should. Jenna’s not anyone’s woman, she’s a full patched member like Dais’ is but he’s gotta know Enzo has a thing for her. He’d be blind not to see it.

  “You know what I said. Stop dreaming about it and make it a reality, brother. She may not be a free woman for too much longer; she’s a fuckin’ catch, and you sitting here a
ll silent and broody isn’t going to make her want you. I bet, one fuck, and she won’t want anyone else.”

  “I’ll handle Jenna,” Dmitri growls.

  “I’m sure you will, I’m sure you will.” Can’t help it, I enjoy stirring the pot. I don’t know what it is. Jenna and Dmitri seem like a good fit. They’re both quiet, have this dark and damaged energy about them. If I knew him better, I’d ask him about his darkness. I’ve known Jenna long enough, and she doesn’t talk about hers either.

  Reed and Elena walk in through the door, and behind them is that girl. The one at the bar that day, Katie? I think she’s friends with Elena.

  “So, I’m sure you’re all interested to find out why Kristie is in church with us, but first we’ve gotta handle some business,” Reed says. I don’t speak but observe as some of the brothers have a problem with it. The way jaws are being clenched, eyes locked on the woman. Someone’s gonna speak up soon, I can feel it.

  “Why the fuck is some business bitch up in here?” Bones growls, staring at Kristie.

  Kristie yanks something out of her jacket, tossing it over to Bones. “I prefer Agent Chandler over ‘business bitch’. We’ll talk about me later; your Prez has business to attend to.” I hide a soft chuckle, the woman knows how to handle herself, that’s for damn sure.

  “You done?” Reed asks him. Bones nods, and Reed starts to speak. “Max here,” he slams his hand over Max’s shoulder, giving him a squeeze “has decided to go Nomad. This will be his last day as acting VP of the Skulls. Our first order of business will be voting in his replacement as VP then we will talk about Kristie and why she’s here.”

  All of us look to Max. None of us saw this shit coming. “No hard feelings brothers, I just need to feel the wind on my face ridin’ through the States, tasting all the different flavors of pussy. You get me?”

  “You’re only leaving to taste pussy” Enzo laughs, the rest of us chuckle in agreement.