Chapter 33 Knight #2
“This,” I say, finally releasing my hold on Trystin and watching as he falls to his knees, still clutching his broken hand, weeping in agony, “is about the woman that you fuckers left for dead in that alleyway.”
Trystin shakes his head. “We didn’t do shit.”
I slam my foot into his chest, kicking him with such power that he skids across the kitchen floor and slams into his friends like a fucking bowling ball. I begin to stalk them, slowly creeping closer. “Are you saying that my girl is a liar?”
Pizza Guy’s eyes widen, clearly recognizing a trap when he sees one. “Nah, he didn’t say anything like that,” he panics, nudging his friend. “You’ve got the wrong guys. It wasn’t us.”
“Trust me when I say that you don’t want to find out what happens to assholes who try to bullshit me.
Her car is parked right in the fucking driveway,” I say.
“What the fuck is wrong with you morons? You didn’t even attempt to hide the evidence.
Were you trying to brag about it? Showing it off like some kind of badge of honor to let all the other pieces of shit know that you were an even bigger piece of shit today? ”
“You’ve made your fucking point,” Trystin spits, clutching his hand from the ground. “Now fuck off.”
I laugh, closing the distance and stepping right in front of him before crouching down and letting him see the pure evil within my stare.
“You put her in the hospital, left her for dead in an alleyway with severe internal bleeding. She just spent hours in emergency surgery. She’s fucking lucky to be alive, and you think a few broken bones in your hand is going to settle the score?
” I laugh. “Oh no, Trystin. I’ve barely even begun.
Let me make this clear, when I am through with you tonight, you’ll be drinking through a straw for the rest of your miserable fucking life. ”
He clenches his jaw, glaring at me as though this scrawny piece of shit could somehow intimidate me, and I reach forward, grip him by the scruff of his shirt and pull him to his feet.
“Now,” I say as Ace and Diesel creep closer, their fists already locked and loaded. “Let’s give these assholes a taste of their own medicine.”
My fist slams across his jaw, coming at him with the force of a freight train, and I watch as his head violently jolts to the side. Blood sprays out of his mouth, somewhat cinematically, and before his head has even finished rebounding, I hit him again, this time from beneath his chin.
Blood spurts from his mouth, and it takes me a moment to realize that he must have bitten through his tongue, almost severing the thing, but I don’t hold back, hitting him again and again, letting him feel the same agony he forced on Harper, only worse.
Diesel and Ace go hard, beating Pizza Guy and the other one in the same brutal way they attacked Harper, taking every last ounce of their dignity.
I feel bones snap beneath my knuckles and skin tearing open.
Blood splatters across the rundown kitchen, and with every hit, I picture Harper’s bruised body, her swollen eyes, and the split straight through her lip.
Grabbing Trystin, I pull out the old chair at the shitty dining table and throw him into it. He slouches, barely able to keep himself upright. I grab his wrist, take hold of his pinky finger, and snap it with ease. “That is for even looking at my girl.”
Trystin roars, desperately trying to pull away. “This,” I say, taking his next finger and squeezing extra hard. “Is for making her feel uncomfortable in her workplace.” I bend it straight back, letting it break as well.
Tears stream down his pathetic face, but I don’t dare stop, taking the next finger and snapping that too. “This is for having the fucking audacity to even approach her on the street.”
Finally, I take his pointer finger and rejoice in the feel of it crushing in my palm.
“This is for every fucking hair that was touched on her head. And this,” I add, shifting my hold and gripping his arm, one hand at his wrist, my other braced at his elbow, and with everything I have, I slam my knee up, snapping his radius and ulna like a fucking twig.
“Is for leaving her for fucking dead in that alley.”
Trystin screams in agony, and I have to admit, I’ve done a pretty good job, especially considering his radius is now protruding from his body, and both of his hands are littered with broken bones, making it one hell of a mission to call for an ambulance.
He quickly passes out from the pain, falling straight off the chair and slumping heavily to the ground.
Did I take it too far and wave my reddest flag?
Possibly. But when it comes to Harper-Rayn Madden, there’s not a single thing I wouldn’t do, no mountain I wouldn’t climb, even if it means throwing every fucking moral I’ve ever lived by out the goddamn window.
When all three of them are out cold, we all step back to survey our handiwork.
“Shit,” Ace says, grabbing the dish towel from the kitchen counter and wiping the blood off his knuckles. “I love a good fight more than the next guy, but that one particularly felt good.”
“You’re telling me,” Diesel murmurs, nudging Pizza Guy with his foot, double checking that he won’t be getting up anytime soon. “You, ahhh . . . You think we took it too far?”
I crouch down, looking over Trystin’s face. Hurting people doesn’t satisfy me. It doesn’t get my blood pumping, and now is no different, but there’s no denying that this bastard has been taught one hell of a lesson, and he’ll think twice before ever raising his hand against another woman.
I shrug and stand to my full height before taking Harper’s bag and keys off the counter. “Considering this bastard is going to have to have one of his friends hold his cock just to take a piss for the next few months, I think we took it just far enough.”
Ace nods. “Couldn’t agree more.”
And with that, I toss him the keys to my truck, and the three of us take off, but not before Ace confirms that there really is a turkey sub waiting for him in my console.
Thirty minutes later, I pull up at the hospital, eyeing Ace and Diesel as they pull up behind me.
We just dropped her car back at her apartment, and not wanting to break into her home and leave her keys, I figured I’d come back here, sneak in while she’s sleeping, and leave them beside her bed.
But the moment I mentioned coming back here, Ace and Diesel couldn’t help themselves.
They follow me into the hospital, not one of us saying a word as we stride through the long halls. Harper’s keys rest in the palm of my hand, and the closer I get to her room, the more my stomach knots.
I can’t walk in there, not even if she’s asleep. She doesn’t want me there. She made that crystal clear, and I’m not about to shit all over the boundaries she’s put in place.
Reaching her door, I pause, my lips twisting into an awkward cringe. “Uhhhh,” I say, glancing at the boys. “One of you is going to have to go in there for me.”
Diesel’s face scrunches. “The fuck?” he mutters as Ace narrows his stare. “What the fuck did you do?”
How am I supposed to explain this?
I let out a heavy sigh. “I might have had a theory about something and instead of keeping my fucking mouth shut—”
“You fucked a good thing right into the burning pits of Hell, and now she wants nothing to do with you,” Diesel finishes for me, shaking his head and snatching the keys right out of my hand. “Fucking idiot.”
I nod, dropping down into the very chair I spent a good portion of the night in earlier. “Sounds about right.”
Diesel looks at me as though he’s never met anyone as fucking clueless in his life, then he turns on his heel and stalks through the door of Harper’s room, making intense jealousy course through my body.
“Get fucked,” Ace says, hurrying after Diesel. “If he gets to meet her, then so the fuck do I.”
I lean back against the wall, knowing this is about to turn into one hell of a shitshow and not a moment later, his moronic voice cuts through the silence of the quiet hospital. “Well shit. Somebody’s gotta warn a man when he’s about to walk into a room of beautiful women.”
I’m gonna fucking kill him.
“Fuck me,” Izzy’s familiar tone responds, sending a ray of happiness through my chest that Harper had the good sense to call her and ask her to come.
“Christmas has come early. Please for the love of all that’s holy, tell me you’re candy stripers who’ve come to give me a sponge bath because I’ve been such a filthy girl. ”
Ace chuckles, and I shake my head, willing him to keep his dick in his pants for just five minutes. He’ll be eating this shit up. Izzy is exactly his type, which by default means that she’s Diesel’s type too.
I hear a loud smack, and I can only assume that Diesel has already had to intervene with Ace. “We’re Knight’s friends,” Diesel says. “Just dropping off your keys.”
“You got my car?” Harper asks, the soft tone penetrating right through my chest and making me wish I could melt straight through this wall and find her on the other side.
“Knight did,” Ace says. “We were just along for the ride. We dropped it back at your apartment but figured leaving the keys on your front door wasn’t the brightest move.”
“Wow. And they say chivalry is dead,” Izzy purrs, her voice shifting in the room, telling me she’s moving around, probably putting herself right between my best friends. “You’re both huge. It’s like an Izzy sandwich. How tall are you guys?”
“Down girl,” Harper scolds. “They’re the enemy.”
Ace laughs, and I recognize the tone in his voice from every time he’s been in a bar, working his magic on a woman.
I realize that at some point, he’s going to fuck that girl, which is only going to further complicate things for me.
“You know what they say. Sex is always better with someone you’re not supposed to want. ”
“Literally nobody has ever said that,” Diesel scoffs before I hear the familiar jingle of Harper’s keys. “The car is parked in the underground garage beneath your building. Hope that’s alright.”
“Thanks,” Harper murmurs. “He really went and got it for me, huh?”
“Why the fuck wouldn’t he?” Ace questions. “He also fixed that little . . . janitorial issue you were having. You don’t need to worry about him anymore. He won’t be an issue. Him or his friends.”
“I . . . He’s here, isn’t he?” she questions, making my back stiffen, wondering if she now thinks I’m a little bitch for not having the balls to come in here. I hope she realizes that I’m fighting every impulse within me that desperately wants to cross that threshold and pull her into my arms.
“Uhhhhhh,” Ace says, not able to lie for shit. “He might be in the general vicinity.”
“You wanna see him?” Diesel tacks on.
“No,” she says too quickly, her voice almost panicked and sending a pang of agony right through my chest. “Just, ummm . . . Tell him thanks for me.”
“SHE SAID THANKS,” Ace yells toward the door.
And I reiterate, I’m going to fucking kill him.
His tone lowers again, and I can only assume he’s speaking to Harper.
“He said anything for you because I’m a pussy-whipped bitch, and that you should repay him by giving me this hot little vixen’s number, and if not, can I at least fuck her in the disabled bathroom down the hall? ”
Another smack sounds through the room, and this time Ace grunts in pain. “The fuck was that for?”
“Keep your dick in your pants,” Diesel mutters before his tone shifts. “We’ll get out of your hair, Harper. But uhh . . . I’m glad you’re okay.”
“Thank you.”
“And listen,” he continues. “Just know that while you’re figuring shit out with Knight, you’re family. If you’re in trouble or you don’t feel safe, whether that be at home or work, you can call.”
“I appreciate that.”
I can almost picture the awkward, forced smile that Diesel would offer, doing his best not to seem like the grouchy bastard that he generally is. Only that thought disappears the moment Izzy speaks up again. “Oh, don’t you worry, big guy. I’ll be more than sure to call.”
Fucking hell. There’s going to be another fight between the boys.
“You do that, babe,” Diesel murmurs, and not a moment later, the boys stride out of the room, both Diesel and Ace looking far too impressed with themselves.
“Don’t even fucking think about it,” I tell them, knowing they each have a one-track mind.
“Fuck, you’re such a thirsty little whorebag,” I hear Harper scold her best friend through the thin hospital walls. “What the fuck is wrong with you? Always thinking with your vag.”
“I know,” Izzy murmurs. “I can’t help it. I need to climb them both like trees. I’ve never been so worked up in my life. I’m going to have to excuse myself and take care of business in the bathroom. Holy fuck.”
At that, Ace turns on his heel, more than ready to head straight back in there, but Diesel catches him by the scruff of his shirt, dragging him away from Harper’s room. “Come on, Romeo. It’s just you and your hand tonight.”
We start making our way back down the hall, and while I know I should take off and get home to get a good sleep for work tomorrow, I can’t seem to make myself head toward the exit.
“You guys go ahead,” I tell them, my gaze shifting toward the hall that will lead me back toward the hospital’s security center.
“I’ve got some shit I need to work out.”
Their brows furrow, their gazes filled with curiosity. “You good, boss?” Ace asks.
“Yeah. Just something I need to wrap my head around,” I tell them, and with that, they take off, leaving me to finally figure out what the hell has been going on with Harper lately, and as I turn to the right, heading deeper into the hospital, I prepare myself to meet with Carly for the second time tonight.