Chapter 29
MAREN
Morning comes to me in fractured pieces.
The first thing to hit me is the way Knox has me pinned to him. His arms are wrapped tightly around me. My thigh between his. And my head rests just below his chin.
His breath rises and falls in slow and steady movement, and the hairs on his chest tickle my cheek as he does. I see shirtless Hollywood actors in movies, all smooth chested and buff. But I much prefer Knox’s hairy chest and solid muscle built for survival, not aesthetics.
I blink, disoriented for a second, and the roof of the clubhouse comes into focus. There’s the quiet hum of the air conditioning, and I feel…
Shit.
The memory of everything else floods in.
Oh, God.
What did I do?
My brain rattles through everything that happened. From the men in my store, the car chase, the decision to slip out of Knox’s room, and…
My cheeks flame with heat, and I scramble out of bed.
“What?” Knox mumbles, his voice thick with sleep.
“I gotta go.”
He pushes himself up onto one elbow, shoving his dark hair back off his face, watching me as I dash about his room, trying to find my clothes.
“I’m late.” God. “I’m not just late. I’m catastrophically late.
The kind of late that means there may be customers outside my shop right now waiting for airboat tours.
And…I was robbed. Maybe. Those assholes could have taken my laptop.
And I never locked up.” The stricken feeling ricochets through me.
“Someone could have stolen all my inventory.”
Knox huffs out a laugh as I try to pull on my drawstring pants and shove my panties into the pocket.
I whip around and look at him. “This isn’t funny.”
Knox sits up and rubs both hands over his face. “It is a little bit.”
“It’s not,” I snap. “I’m about to do a barefoot walk of shame through your clubhouse, which contains a large group of men, some of whom saw me orgasm…in an open-air garage where anyone could have seen me. And now, I’m going to arrive at the shop and find it emptied out and—”
“Maren.”
I ignore him and continue. “Customers are going to get bored of waiting, and walk down the street to one of the million other airboat tour companies in this godforsaken town, and because I’m dressed like this, they’ll all know why I wasn’t there.”
I gesture with my hands up and down my body. No bra, and a pair of flimsy drawstring pants. I press my lips together as heat continues to flame my face. “God.”
“Maren.” This time my name is said firmly.
“What?”
There’s a beat, and Knox offers me his hand. I look at it like it’s poison. He doesn’t say anything until I capitulate and take it.
He tugs me down onto the bed on top of him. “I sent four prospects over there the minute I left you in here last night.”
I blink at him. “What?”
“To your shop. Four prospects.” He pushes my hair back from my face with both hands. “Told them to sit on it all night.”
“You…what?”
“They’re still there. Place is fine; they would have called if there was anything they couldn’t handle.”
My shoulders drop, and some of the tension in them seeps away.
“Oh.” It’s all I’ve got while I process what he just said.
The last twelve hours have been a lot. And I felt a certain amount of guilt when Knox told me that before I saw him, Pax had said the two men had leaned on him, had found out all the illegal things he was into, and that’s why he told them about Jackal’s location.
A location he only knew about because of the conversation I had in the store.
Intellectually, I know that was a coincidence, but I can’t help but feel bad.
Knox’s mouth curves into a satisfied smile. “You’re welcome.”
He kisses me, then. It’s quiet and soothing and not at all like last night.
“I’m still going to have to walk barefoot through your bar,” I mutter against his lips.
That earns me a full grin. “Yeah. You will. What happened to your shoes?”
“I’d kicked them off under the desk while I was working. Didn’t think about them in the panic.”
He shakes his head. “Right call, given those men were quickly gonna hurt you. But maybe leave them on next time you’re in the store.”
My walk of shame is worse than I imagined. Because in the cold light of early morning, when bright sun is flooding in through the clubhouse windows that have been opened wide to let the air in, I feel like I’m on display.
Some of the men look up as we pass through, but there are no lewd comments or remarks.
“Prez,” one of the men says as we pass.
Knox just tips his chin.
It doesn’t make up for the fact I’m disheveled, barefoot, and clearly leaving Knox’s room after staying there all night.
There’s a strange neutrality to it all. Like this happens all the time here.
But because this never happens to me, I find it mortifying.
And I thought that was as bad as it could be until Vandal stands and starts singing that old Hall & Oates song, “Maneater”, about how Knox is going to have to watch out because I’ll chew him up.
He does the whole chorus with his whole heart and a raging grin on his face.
It breaks the ice, and everyone starts to laugh and join in.
“I’m never living this down,” I mutter.
Knox threads a hand into the back of my hair. “You’ll survive. It’ll be one of those things that’ll be talked about in years to come. The legend of Maren Caldwell and what she was prepared to do for the president and the club.”
We make it outside, and I’m about to make the tentative walk on the gravel when Knox…bends.
One moment, I’m standing there regretting my life choices. The next, I’m hauled up into his arms as if I weigh nothing.
“Knox,” I cry, and wrap my arms around his neck for safety. “I could have walked.”
“And no woman of mine is going to cut her feet up when I’ve got two arms to carry her. So, shut up, Maren, and let me be a gentleman.”
I kiss the corner of his mouth. “You, are no gentleman.”
He sets me down in the seat of my truck that…
“Did you have people fix up my truck overnight?”
Knox grabs the belt and reaches across me to fasten it. “What we could do without ordering supplies to the garage, yeah. But it’s safe, for now. Got rid of the shattered glass and shit. The rest of the parts will arrive in about four days.”
I place my hand in his. “Thank you. If you tell me how much I owe you, I’ll—”
“Don’t make me mad before I’ve had coffee, sweetheart. I’m not taking your money. Now, pull over by the gate, and I’ll ride home behind you.”
I roll my eyes and sigh as I take the metal structure that’s bent out of shape. “Knox, you don’t need to—”
He slams the door shut and walks away without argument. And he and I both know I’m going to wait by the damn gate.
I ride to the shop slowly, not only because I don’t want Knox to crash into the back if I brake too hard, but because I’m scared of testing just how well the truck is held together.
I’m sure Knox wouldn’t have asked anyone unqualified to fix it, but when I pulled in last night, I thought it was going to fall apart like one of the cartoons, where all the walls collapse outwards.
When my store comes into view, my chest tightens, then loosens just as fast.
The lights are on, the building is intact, and I can make out two of the very bored sentries.
Leo’s car is in the lot, as is Jamie’s. And one of the boats is already gone from the dock.
Life just carried on without me, and my gut tells me there’s a lesson to be learned in all that.
I pull into the lot, and Knox parks next to me just as Leo hobbles out of the shop. “Maren,” he calls out. “They told me what happened. Are you okay?”
I step down onto the asphalt, which is already hot beneath my feet. “I’m fine. I can fill you in once I’ve gotten dressed.”
Leo reaches for my hand and grips it. “You should stay home, today. We can fix this.”
“New window should be here about three,” Knox says suddenly.
“It will?” I ask.
“Had it measured last night.”
“Of course, you did,” I reply.
He tries to hide his grin and fails. And I’m glad. Because there’s something about the way Knox smiles at me that makes my stomach trip and fall.
“I’ll need about fifteen minutes to shower and change and then I’ll—”
“She’ll need an hour, Leo. I’m gonna make her breakfast while she’s in the shower because she hasn’t eaten this morning.”
“Are you okay with that, Maren?” Leo asks. The glance he gives Knox is not welcoming. He knows of the family history between Knox’s family and my father.
“I’m fine. Honestly. Knox has looked after me.”
Leo’s shoulders drop a little in relief that all seems well, and he nods before heading back into the shop.
Knox puts his hands on my hips, turning me from left to right, as if inspecting me. Then, he dips his shoulder to my stomach and hauls me up into a fireman’s lift.
“Knox.” The word comes out on a squeal. “What are you doing?”
He pats my ass. “Not sure carrying you in my arms would work on this narrow wooden staircase.”
I hear the chuckle of the men he’s asked to keep watch. Heck, I can feel the laughter ripple through him.
And then, it turns to shit when red and blue flashing lights appear in my peripheral vision just before he’s even taken the first step.
I’m about to tell Knox to put me down, when he starts to lower me to the ground.
“You saw my father too?” I ask.
Knox nods. “Go upstairs.”
I shake my head. “I’ll let you carry me because I have no shoes, but I don’t need you to deal with my father for me.”
The squad car pulls into the lot, gravel crunching as he brakes too hard. “Well,” my father says as he pulls himself out of the driver’s seat. “Isn’t this a fucking sight.”
Knox’s hand settles on my waist, solid and grounding.
“Dad—”
“Don’t.” His gaze flicks over me, taking in my messy hair and rumpled clothes, and the way Knox has a possessive hold on me, and something ugly settles in my father’s expression. “Don’t you dare.”
Heat crawls over me.
“You show up, finally,” he continues. “You look like this after a night doing God knows what with him. After I hear from witnesses saying your truck was shot at. After coming here to find the place with signs of violent entry. And you not answering your phone.”
“I didn’t have my charger,” I explain, then realize nothing I say is going to make any difference to my father.
“You just threw your life away. You arrive back here, with him, let people see you like this. People aren’t going to come around the bait shop if they think they’re going to have to deal with a bunch of no-good criminal bikers.”
“Fuck you,” Knox says. “You knew she was broken into, shot at, but I don’t see you here, cleaning the place up, helping her get it running again. You didn’t need to find her to do any of that.”
My father points his finger in Knox’s direction. “And you just fucked with a crime scene. Stay out of this. It’s between me and my daughter.”
“Your daughter?” Knox’s eyes harden and he steps forward. “You say that like you know what it means to be a father and not just a fucking sperm donor.”
“Fuck you,” my father says.
Knox huffs. “You know, if I didn’t know better, I’d think this was all your doing. It embarrasses you that Maren runs this place. The only person who really benefits from what happened last night is you, if it scares Maren into selling her business.”
“Don’t you dare turn this on me. Maren told me you were interested in buying this place. Maybe you’re doing all this so you can take it off her hands at a discounted price.”
I squeeze Knox’s wrist. “When you came to talk to me on the dock that day, I needed to give him a reason.”
Knox drops his lips to my ear and whispers, “Shouldn’t turn me on that you lied for me.”
My father’s face flushes red with anger. Spittle forms at the corners of his mouth. But for once, he keeps his anger contained. Because deep down, he knows he’s no match for Knox.
“You promised me breakfast,” I say, tugging on Knox’s wrist.
The tension in Knox’s body eases. “I did.”
With that, he picks me up again, and neither of us acknowledges my father left standing in the lot.