Chapter 10
Iknow I shouldn’t, I know it, and yet with every step, my heart races a little faster. Knox brought me home, and when we stopped, the truck idling in the night, I turned to him and without a word, nodded. He knew what I was asking, I didn’t need to say the words.
The moment we got out of the truck, I took his hand.
Now, we’re walking towards the front door, Harper’s face flashing in my mind. I shouldn’t be with him, I shouldn’t care, I shouldn’t take what isn’t mine and yet my feet are moving without hesitation. Everything inside me wants him, and I can’t seem to make myself stop.
I don’t even want to.
We make it to the door, and the minute it’s shut behind us Knox pulls me into the tiny, dark living area.
The only light is silver-blue from the porch lamp outside and the flicker of lightning through the glass.
For a second I think he’s going to say something smart.
For a second, I brace for the sarcasm, the inevitable pushback.
But he doesn’t. He just stares at me, so many words unspoken, and then he moves.
The crash of his mouth on mine is so sudden it knocks the thought out of my head.
I want to scream for just how good it is, for how much I want it even now, after everything, after every reason why this should never happen.
My hands are in his hair. His hands are everywhere, in my hair, on my back, under my shirt, rough and greedy and sure of what they want.
He kicks the door shut so hard the house shudders.
I barely even notice because his mouth is already on my neck, biting hard enough to leave a mark, and my body just melts into it.
I want to devour him. I want to forget about Harper, about Ralston, about every last fucking thing that tells me this is wrong. He makes it easy. He makes it violent.
He tears my shirt over my head, the cotton catching for a second on my arms, and then it’s gone.
I dig my nails into his back and his hands cup my breasts, squeezing like he wants to brand them with his fingerprints.
He bends me backward, and I feel the cold, hard bite of the front door in my shoulder blades as he drops to his knees in front of me.
He makes light work of my shorts, jerking them down and tearing my panties off.
Before I know it, he shoves his face between my legs and his tongue slides in right where I need it.
I cry out, loud, needy, shameless, when his mouth closes over my clit and sucks hard, so hard I nearly black out.
My hands are buried in his hair, tugging, probably hurting him, and he just growls into me, like it’s the only thing that matters.
Lightning flashes again and for a second the room is white.
Knox’s face is right there, animal and hungry, his hands digging into my thighs and his mouth devouring me.
I try to pull him up, desperate for his cock, desperate to taste him, but he just clamps me tighter and licks until I come, shaking, so hard my knees give out.
He catches me, stands, and crushes my body to the wall, kissing me again, letting me taste my arousal on his lips.
I want him inside me, now, but he doesn’t give me the chance to ask.
He turns me, shoves my face to the wall, and runs his hand down my bottom, squeezing with a pleased growl.
His cock is already out, already so hard it scares me, and he pushes into me in one, brutal, perfect thrust. I gasp, my pussy desperately trying to adjust to his sheer size.
His fingers find my mouth, shove between my lips, and I bite down, hard enough that he groans and mutters fuck, into my shoulder.
He fucks me with the kind of desperation that feels like hate, but I know it isn’t hate.
It’s everything that’s never been said, every fight, every late night and early morning and death and heartbreak.
He doesn’t say a single word, just pounds into me, his hand over my mouth, my cheek pressed to the wall, and I am so fucking alive I swear I might die of it.
The whole thing is fast and perfect. I come again, probably screaming, and Knox follows with a rough, bitten-off curse that sounds nothing like my name, but maybe it’s supposed to.
He pulls out, and he’s shaking, sweat slick and beautiful, and he turns me to face him.
His mouth finds mine again, his cock pressing against my belly, hot with my arousal.
It’s already hardening again, and I gasp when he lifts me, my legs going around his waist.
“You didn’t think I was done, did you?”
My mouth opens, and then he fucks me again by the wall, making sure I come more than once, and by the time we’re done, we’re both panting, coated in sweat and blissfully naked. We sink to the floor, our breaths the only sound except for the rain now lightly tapping against the roof.
For a long time, we don’t speak. Our legs and arms tangle, the wood floor sticky under my back, but I can’t bring myself to move.
For the first time since Harper left, the world feels slightly less jagged.
I know it’s temporary, but I let myself float.
Knox is the one who breaks the silence. “You’re not gonna tell me to leave? ”
I snort, tired and hollowed out. “I should. You want me to?”
He grunts. “Not unless you want a fist through your drywall.”
I push at his chest but don’t actually want him gone. He’s heavy in a way that feels anchoring. “You’re such a child.”
“No, I’m a man who gets whatever the fuck he wants.”
“Dick.”
He pulls me down to the floor, my cheek pressing against his chest, and it feels so good I try to stop the tears that are burning under my eyelids from falling.
We lie there until my foot falls asleep and I kick at him to move, but all he does is roll us in a different direction, his cock resting lazily against my stomach.
“How long until you run, sunshine?”
I hold my breath as his fingers trail down over my hip and cup my ass.
“An hour, give or take...” I tease, lightly. “What, am I just supposed to let you... keep doing this?”
He shrugs. “You want me to stop?”
The answer is immediate, in my chest and my throat. “No.”
“Then we’re fine.” He says it like it’s the easiest thing in the world.
Sometimes, I wish I could hate him more. I wish it was his fault Harper died. Or maybe if he was a bigger jerk, I could stay away from him. It doesn’t matter how hard I seem to fight, I can’t break the chains that are slowly pulling us together. It’s terrifying.
I hear myself say, “Stay.”
He doesn’t answer, just stands, hauling me up as if I weigh nothing and walking to the ratty old air mattress.
We fall onto it together, and stay wrapped in each other as the storm sets in for the night.
I can’t stop the warmth that spreads over me, and sleep takes me before I even get the chance to fight it.
I don’t know what comes after this, but I do know one thing...
I’m ready to find out.
KNOX DRAGS HIS COCK in, then out, his hard body over mine, fucking me with a slow, deep precision that makes me gasp his name.
He’s filling me so blissfully, and having him above me is like every fantasy I ever imagined coming true.
He’s fucking perfect, and his body is so delicious I can’t help but push my head up and run my tongue over his pec.
“I don’t think I can do this anymore,” I whisper, letting my head drop back down. “I’m so sore.”
He rolls his hips, the sting between my legs weirdly pleasurable. “Want me to stop then?”
Fuck.
I don’t, but damn, I’m tender.
“No,” I gasp when he tips his hips just the right way. “But I don’t think I can take one more orgasm.”
He drops his head to mine. “One more for me, baby, and I’ll stop.”
When he calls me that, I tighten around him, immediate pleasure.
He grins, like he knows just what his words do to me, and then he fucks me a little faster, a little deeper, until I am gasping his name once more.
With a low hiss, he pulls his cock out, and I watch in complete fascination as he runs his fist up and down it, his face tight.
Then, he explodes onto my belly, strand after strand coating my skin.
I shiver, the sight fucking exceptional.
“Well,” I say, pushing to my elbows. “I hope you’re going to clean that up.”
Another grin, and he hauls me up and carries me to the bathroom. There, we shower, all soapy hands and mouths connecting. I don’t think I’ve ever kissed someone so many times in all my life. It’s like we just can’t get enough, like perhaps this is the last time we will ever see each other.
It’s as desperate as some broken love story.
It is also an excellent way to wake up for the morning, but now, more than ever, I need coffee.
We finish up and walk into the kitchen, only to be surprised to find Wolfe and Talon just walking in.
I stare at them and quickly pull Knox’s shirt down to cover my thighs.
I wasn’t expecting visitors so early. Talon grins, walking past me with a gruff “mornin’” and Wolfe smirks, sitting on a stool at the kitchen counter.
“Big night, then?”
Knox walks out, shirtless, and notices the guys already in the kitchen.
“Well well,” Talon cuts in before I can answer. “Would you look at what the cat dragged in.”
“Fuck up, Steel,” Knox mutters.
I ignore them and make myself a coffee before taking a seat. As soon as my bottom hits the chair, I wince and stiffen. God damn, he made a mess of me. I am so tender it hurts to sit. Wolfe’s eyes swing to me and a grin spreads across his face.
“Say nothing,” I warn.
“Guess the big guy has still got it.”
Knox shoots Wolfe a glare, which he is completely unbothered by.
“Been a busy night then?” Talon chimes in. “Judging by the way she’s walkin’, you two didn’t get much sleep.”
“Wow. You guys really do have a sense of humor,” I say, then sip my coffee.
“Not a good one, but...” The door slams open before I can finish.
Kael and Zane stumble in, arms so overloaded with random-ass junk that I can’t see their faces.
Zane’s got what’s clearly a propane tank wedged between his elbow and his chin, and Kael’s cradling a heap of glassware and what looks like a whole Home Depot shelf’s worth of cleaning chemicals.
They stagger to the bench and pile it all on there.
“What the fuck is all this?” Knox grunts.
Kael grins. “DIY project.”
Zane, who hasn’t even bothered to sit down, just starts lining up little bottles and jars. “Got a plan,” he says, “figure we set the whole thing up here. Get Ralston and his goons in one spot.”
“And then what, bake him a cake?”
Zane grins at me. “No, darlin’, we’re goin’ to build an entire meth lab in here, and blow him the fuck away.”
I’m sorry...what?
They’re going to do what I stare, waiting for someone to correct him, say it’s a joke, but all I get is Talon rooting around in the fridge for juice. Kael must see something on my face because he sets down the glassware and leans in. “Guess Wolfe hasn’t filled you in.”
Wolfe turns in his chair, facing me. “We’re gotta be careful how we take a man like Ralston down, and the way to do that, is to make it look like he was runnin’ other business through this farm.
Sellin’ meth, to be precise. We’ll set it up, then, create a plan to get him and his men here before we blow it.
When the cops come, they will find a pile of dead bodies, some ledgers leadin’ back to Cupp and nothin’ directing him to you. ”
I blink. “You’re going to blow up my house?”
Zane snorts. “Come on now, don’t act like you like the place.”
I don’t...but...Harper grew up here.
“Unless you got a better plan,” Wolfe goes on. “It’s insured, you’ll get a payout and you can go on with your life, untouched.”
“What about Harper? They will tie it back,” I say.
“No, they won’t. They will assume Harper was workin’ with Cupp, and they’ll be right. They will likely just assume she got in too deep and they killed her. No reason to look further. But, it will give them reason to go after anyone else Cupp is working with, and that will keep them out of town.”
I can’t deny that it’s a good plan, but like all good plans, it can go bad.
“And what if it goes sideways?”
Wolfe shrugs. “Our job to make sure it don’t. Zane will have it rigged so he can blow it manually, but make it look like it blew on its own. Trust us, it’s good.”
I go silent. “I guess I don’t really have a choice,” I whisper, staring around at the old house. “She grew up here...I don’t know how I feel about watching it burn.”
Knox steps up next to me. “Better than watchin’ you burn.”
He makes a point.
I nod. “Well...where do we start?”
“We’ll need to move the gear into the garage.” Zane stands, stretching. “Callie, you wanna help? You know how to make a good batch, right?”
“Fuck off.”
He chuckles, and we move a heap of stuff into the basement.
“How do you know he didn’t watch you guys come in here?” I ask as I help carry a box.
“Got eyes on him, he’s at an auction today,” Wolfe tells me, throwing an empty drum down.
We finish up and I choose not to ask any more questions. Well, except one. “This isn’t going to blow up while I sleep, is it?”
Knox shakes his head. “Nah.”
Well, I fucking hope not. I eat lunch with the boys, pizza and soda, and for an hour we shoot the shit.
I let myself fall into it, because as long as the sun is shining and the kitchen is full of laughter and dirty jokes, all of this, Harper’s death, the coming inferno, my own involvement, feels impossibly far away.
“We’ll keep you updated,” Wolfe finally tells me, as he heads out the door, the guys following him. “Keep doin’ what he asks, don’t let him roam the house, and you’ll be good.”
Right, don’t let him figure out we are building a fucking meth lab in the basement to end his damn life.
“Can I ask one more thing,” I call and Wolfe pauses, turning.
“I know my brother is innocent, and I know he isn’t safe in there...I want you to help me clear his name, to get him out.”
There is a thick silence and Wolfe’s eyes flash in Knox’s direction quickly, before he offers a sharp nod. “We’ll see what we can do.”
Then, they’re gone, leaving Knox and me alone again.
“What now?” I ask.
“Now, we keep fucking,” he murmurs, pulling me to him. “Gotta keep up the act.”
I shove him away with a laugh. “My poor vagina can’t take it. Stay on your side, biker.”
He grins and my heart skips a beat.
God damn, I’m falling for Harper’s man.
Hard.