Knox Brotherhood

by Knox, Elizabeth

  “Ma,” I groan, glaring at her.

  “What? I’m just sayin’ I can see alla the class over this one, so how the hell did you find her? I can already tell she’s too good for the likes of you, baby!”

  Bellamy covers her mouth, laughing into her hand. “Elena is her sister.”

  “Elena? Sweet spitfire Elena is related to this one? Well, hot diggity! You’ve got yourself a fight, dontcha?”

  “My ma’ loves Elena, they’re two kindred spirits,” I tell Bellamy, quoting her exact words the last time she crashed a club party because that’s what she does. She makes pudding and then invites herself.

  “I’m Bellamy, Bell or Bells for short. It’s so lovely to meet you. Sorry, I’m so…ah…underdressed. The caveman here dulled me down a bit.”

  My ma wacked me so hard I stumbled back. “What the hell was that for?” I snap, growling at the woman.

  “For dullin’ this girl’s sparkle! How could you do that to her?”

  I sigh, rubbing my hand across my beard. “You realize I couldn’t dull this lil diamond’s light even if I had a gun held to my head telling me I had to, right?”

  My momma grins like she’s never grinned before, and before she even says it I groan. “You’re different than all the others. He actually likes you!”

  “He’s not too bad himself,” Bellamy admits, smiling.

  Out of nowhere, I hear Jackson moving his big ole ass over to us and in comes the 101 Dalmatians, otherwise known as the herd.

  “Oh. My. GOD!” Bellamy squeals, instantly dropping to the ground. “Oh, my god! Oh, my god!” She repeats over and over again. “I’m in Heaven!”

  “Welcome to my humble abode, babycakes, something tells me I’m about to love you more than Abe, and baby…take one of them. It’s a gift from me to you. I’m sure he’s not gonna let go of your ass anyhow, so consider a puppy an apology from me for downgrading to my son.”

  I look down at Bellamy, whose eyes catch my own. My momma usually doesn’t know half of what she’s talking about, but today she sure does. No way in hell am I gonna let this one slip through the cracks, and she just was gifted a puppy. I’m pretty sure I’ve won some major brownie points right about now.

  I knew bringing her home would do me some good. I just didn’t know how much.

  CHAPTER 21

  Before I met you, I never knew what it was like to be able to look at someone and smile for no reason. -Anonymous

  Bellamy

  He brought me to his mom’s house and she gave me a puppy out of the litter she had. What kind of twisted joke is this? The way all of them just ran out to us…I had died and gone to Heaven. Heck, maybe I’m dead. There is no possible way that one day I can go from crying about my ex who is trying to ruin my life, to kneeling in a circle of happy, slobbery, puppies.

  Mal and Butch just made this day so much better. Normally I’d be freaking out that he even brought me to his mother’s house, but it doesn’t feel weird. It’s not like we’re dating…maybe we might. I just don’t have that whole ‘you must impress’ her vibe going on.

  “I cannot believe your mom just gave me a Rottweiler puppy,” I tell Butch, staring into the mix of them, knowing that I shouldn’t pick one out, but I so want to…I have zero self-control right now. I…I haven’t had a dog since I was a kid, since before my parents died.

  One of them keeps coming up and sitting before my eyes, staring up at me with its little mouth hanging open, waggling its little nubby tail.

  “She’s taking a liking to you,” he tells me, and I see this one has. The rest are playing a few feet away with their mother and father, and here this little one is…staring at me like I’m something special.

  “Hi, cutie,” I coo, holding my hands out. She takes a step closer and closer until her paws are on my thighs and she’s sniffing at my face, trying to give me kisses. I scoop her up into my arms and hold her, getting a big whiff of that puppy breath. “You are so cute!”

  “What are you gonna call her?”

  I glance up to Butch from my position on the pebble filled driveway, hating the way the small rocks are digging into my legs. “I shouldn’t take her.”

  He scoffs, rolling his eyes at me. “You’re taking the puppy, and that’s that. End of discussion.”

  “But…”

  “No buts. You want the puppy, the puppy likes you, I want you to have the puppy, and my Ma wants you to have the puppy. So, you’re getting a damn puppy. I’ll ask again, what are you gonna call her?”

  I think about it for a second, already knowing the name. It’s one of those names you think about for ages and ages, swearing the next time you get a dog it’ll be their name. “Mia.”

  “Well Miss Mia, something tells me you are about to be one spoiled little princess.” Butch is sure right about that.

  Butch and I spent the next five hours at his mother’s house. She fed and fed us until we both couldn’t eat anymore, and I now know why Butch raves about her banana pudding. I’ve never tasted anything quite like it. I heard story after story about Butch and his shenanigans when he was a child, every story had me laughing so hard that tears were spilling from the corner of my eyes. Mia was settled on my lap sleeping away when Butch made the comment that we’d better get going. The sad part is, I didn’t want to. There was something so sweet about the love that Butch and Mal had for one another. Maybe it’s because I hadn’t been around a family environment for so long, but I missed it.

  Honestly, being here with the two of them tonight made me miss my parents so bad. I hadn’t really thought about them in ages, and that makes me feel awful. I miss them both so very much, and it angers me knowing that their case went cold. I wanted the person who did that to them to suffer more than anything on this Earth, and I know that nothing is wrong with me wanting that. Some people would call me cold, or callous. I’d just call myself one thing, and one thing only – human.

  Butch promised me before we left that he’d make sure Mia was with me again in a couple days, and I would hold him to that. He told me that I’d better not try smuggling her in my jacket for the ride home, which gave me a good laugh. No part of me feels comfortable on the back of his bike, there’s no way that I’d be risking my poor baby girl’s life and do that. No way Jose! We’ll wait until he gets ahold of a car or something to come grab her.

  He took my hand, and we got back onto his bike, our ride seeming so short from the previous trek that we completed. Before I knew it, he was driving up another gravel driveway that connected to a massive parking lot. You would have never known the clubhouse was here thanks to the trees that surround the property. Off to the distance, I can see more gravel, and where it leads, I’m unsure.

  Butch pulls up until we’re at the top of the small hill and dismounts his bike. I follow, sticking close by him.

  “Well lookie here, you made it home!” Slash huffs, slamming his hand on Butch’s back as he comes up. “And how’d you fair, princess?”

  “He nearly killed me, twice, but I’ve arrived completely unscathed!” I say dramatically, getting a good chuckle out of Slash and a glare from Butch.

  I glance around, taking in the scenery. I didn’t really know what a biker club looked like, but never did I picture it to look as nice as this does.

  “How’s Elena doing?” I hear Butch ask Slash, the way he asked it made me feel like something had happened.

  “Uh…she’s alright.” He doesn’t really answer the question, it’s almost like he’s avoiding it.

  “What happened to her?” I ask, stepping in front of Butch so I can get a good look at both of them. If they’re going to hold something back or lie to me then they’d better damn well be doing it to my face.

  “She was in the hospital, but she’s alright now,” Butch mutters, clearly uncomfortable with talking about it.

  “You’re not telling me something, and I don’t like it.”

  “It’s not our business to tell, Sugar,” he growls at me. If he thinks that he’s go
nna get away with any bit of attitude with me right now it’s not going to happen.

  “Well, it seems to be your business since you both know something that obviously I don’t. Listen…” I think hard for what I’m about to say. “I know that I’m new, and I’m not part of your club or whatever but I feel like I have a right to know, especially when this has something to do with my sister. I’ve already missed out on years of being there for her, so if I get the chance to do that today – then let me.”

  Butch starts to speak, but Slasher stops him, slamming his hand out on Butch’s chest. “Let’s get one thing straight here, Bell. You’re as much part of this club as he or I am. The second we found out you were related to Elena you became a member of the Skulls. You got that? So, get it out of your little brain that you don’t have a say because you always do. Elena had a miscarriage, so she’s recovering from that.”

  I can hear Butch groan as Slash tells me, the only thing I can do is wonder why he doesn’t want me to know. “Elena didn’t want you to know.”

  “Well, it’s not really her decision on what I get to know and not know, is it?” I mutter, disappointed that my sister didn’t want me to know about her struggles. We have missed out on years of being around each other….and I mean it, I’m going to be here for her as much as I possibly can. I can only hope that she’ll do the same for me.

  The three of us don’t say anything for a couple of minutes, all just standing together in complete and utter silence, which you know, isn’t awkward at all.

  “You must be Bellamy,” I hear a man say, glancing up I get a good look at him. He’s tall, muscular but not in a freaky Dwayne Johnson way. He has stubble on his face, and he’s in a black leather jacket, shirtless otherwise. His dark hair compliments his eyes, over all – he’s gorgeous in that rough looking kind of way. “You and Siren could be twins.” He rubs his hand over his jaw, staring at me like I’m a freakshow in a circus.

  “Siren?” I look to Butch, who takes a step closer to me.

  “It’s Elena’s nickname. You’re Sugar, she’s Siren.”

  “You call her Sugar?” The strange man asks Butch, and he nods.

  “Hmpf. Didn’t expect that to happen so quickly. I’m Reed,” and just like that, I know who he is. He’s the Prez of this club and my sister’s husband. “It’s very nice to finally meet you. We had a room arranged for you, but I somehow have the feeling that you won’t be using it.”

  “No, she won’t,” Butch hisses. I can’t help but like the way that he makes decisions for me, but at the same time I wanna smack him and tell him to stop making decisions for me. Does that make any sense? Sure, it does. Women like dominance, we just don’t like dicks. Butch is a little bit of both.

  “Where’s Elena?”

  Reed tells me about how she’s been up in his office on the couch all day ‘resting’, obviously not knowing that I am very well aware of what happened. He gave me some excuse that she hasn’t been feeling too well and just needed to take it easy for a couple of days. With every word he speaks, I can hear the sorrow in his voice. “Reed, there isn’t a reason to lie to me. I’m so sorry for what happened. I can’t imagine how the two of you must be feeling right now.”

  “Thanks,” is the only thing that he can manage to get out.

  Nothing about our encounter was awkward until this moment, so I took a step forward and wrapped my arms around the big guy. “I know we’ve just met, but you’re just as much family as she is to me, so if you need anything at all, please let me know. I’d like to help.” When I pull away Reed’s eyes are glossy, I guess some big bad MC Prez can show a bit of emotion, can’t he?

  “Would you sit with Elena for a bit? She hasn’t been up for many visitors the past couple days, and I think by you sitting with her it might lift her spirits a little.”

  “Of course, just show me the way,” Reed instructs Butch to take me into his office, he takes my hand in his and leads me through the doors. Before I even get a few feet in the door I’m introduced to Daisy and Seamus, who have a little boy named Ryder, which Butch helped deliver…somehow, I don’t buy that. Next are Dmitri and Jenna, who seem to be nice, but they have this eerie dark feeling around them that I can’t quite put my finger on. I meet a big muscled up guy named Kyle, then two brothers called Pain & Chaos, this funny guy named Enzo, and two girls, Maria and Michelle. All in all, everybody that I’ve met tonight seems so welcoming.

  They didn’t ask me about my music, or my tour, they just asked about my interests and told me a bit about them. I’m not used to that. The only thing I’m used to is people who constantly have questions about what I’m doing with my career. It’s nice to just talk to people like a normal human being, not as a rising star.

  They all treated with me respect; they didn’t ask or want anything from me. If that isn’t a breath of fresh air, then I don’t know what is.

  Finally, I’m led to the room that Elena is in. When Butch opens the door, I see that it is indeed an office, there’s a desk at one side and a big leather couch against a wall, directly across from it there is another and a few random chairs sitting in the room. This much seating tells me that there seems to be a bit of company in the room when Reed is in here.

  “Hey,” I say to Elena, who is bundled up under a blanket on the couch. She responds back quickly, and I hear Butch step into the room behind me. Immediately I turn around, walking straight into him. “You can leave me alone with her, you know, it’s not like she’s going to kill me. not a little lost dove,” I whisper, annoyed.

  He chuckles, planting a kiss on the root of my hair and goes straight out the door, shutting it closed behind him.

  “He already made a move on you, did he?” Elena asks, smiling as I turn to face her.

  “Well, he’s made plenty of moves,” I joke.

  Elena’s face forms into an “o,” and she laughs. “How are you doing?”

  “I should be the one asking you that.”

  “They told you?” she questions.

  “No. More like I demanded to know.” I shake my head, “I’m not exactly the kind of girl who doesn’t bother to find out what’s being hidden from her, and between you and me – those two suck at keeping secrets.”

  “I suppose I could’ve sent others with tighter lips.”

  “No, I’m glad Slash ended up telling me. You shouldn’t have to keep it to yourself. I understand what you’re feeling,” I add, and I do, but my story wasn’t quite the same as Elena’s. From the looks of it, she had been trying to have a baby. I wasn’t. I had been reckless one night with Zac which resulted in a pregnancy, and then we broke up and he did what he did. I found out the day after my nudes were plastered across the Internet, I was pregnant. I knew I wasn’t ready to be a mother, and I’m still not. I was faced with a tough decision, a decision that I had to make. It seemed that fate had other plans for me, I ended up miscarrying very early. Now, I think it was an act of God. He knew what I was going to do, and instead of letting me go through with that decision he showed mercy, for myself and my unborn child.

  In the end, it worked out the way it was supposed to, and I know that.

  “So, where shall we start?” I ask, sitting down on the couch next to my sister. We have so much lost time to make up for, we won’t make it all up in one night, but I’ll try to get to know her as much as I can.

  CHAPTER 22

  What we find in a soulmate is not something wild to tame, but something wild to run with. -Robert Brault

  Butch

  I haven’t been this excited for a Halloween party in a long ass time. Something about this time makes it so much different. Maybe it’s because Bellamy is around, or maybe it isn’t. I doubt I’ll ever truly know. The fact of the matter is that I was suffocating before, slowly drowning myself in the bottle day after day. That is until she came into this bar like she was walking on water. Bellamy has no idea what she did, and I don't know if she ever will; she's my salvation. She’ll never know how much her presence truly
affects me. I’m not the kind of man who ever says that kind of shit anyways.

  I sit at the bar, draining my beer as I wait for her. She’s been spending a lot of time with Elena, and I’ve barely had time with her besides when she’s in my bed. The girls wanted to get all dolled up and arrive at Bubba’s together. I didn’t dare argue, hoping that by her spending more time with the girls it would make her feel more comfortable, and I think it has. The last thing that I want her to feel is uncomfortable with any of us. If she thinks I don’t realize how different we are, I do. It’s plain as day every time I look at her. I’m just thankful she doesn’t focus on our differences.

  “You knew what you wanted and went for it, that I’ll give you,” Reed chuckles, taking a seat beside me.

  “He only went for her after I said I wanted to,” Slasher adds, causing Reed to break out into laughter.

  Suddenly he stops and stares at me. “Please tell me that you being with Bellamy is not a pissing match with Slash, that you actually want to be with her.”

  “I will say this once, and only once. That woman has been mine since the day she walked into this bar. That is the day I fucking claimed her. No one forget that.”

  Both Reed and Slash stare at me, neither uttering a word. “Damn, and here I thought you wanted her ‘cause I called dibs.”

  With one look Slash stops horsing around. He knows when to push my buttons, and oh does he do it well, but never will he push my buttons with Bellamy. I am not okay with that. The moment he crosses the line, my fist will be down his throat pulling his heart out so quick that he can’t even say ‘sorry’.

  “What drew her to you?” Reed asks me, curiously.

  “What drew you to Elena?” I ask.

  He laughs, “It must run in the family.”

  “I can agree with that. Somehow they just seem to suck you in.”

  “Oh, that they do, and quite well I might add,” Reed seriously mutters. The three of us crack up laughing at his joke.