Chapter 28 Skylar #2
“Knox.” The look Jett levels him with is pleading. Pathetic. “You’re my—”
“My nothing.” Knox’s arm flexes as he slams Jett onto the hook viciously.
The barb goes right through Jett’s back, pushing an indignant cry out of him. Satisfaction rolls through me with each blood splatter flying out of his filthy mouth.
“No. Hell, no.” His chest heaves, his mouth going slack as shock takes over. He can barely breathe, his speech slurred. “This ain’t right. This wasn’t supposed to happen.”
“No one to blame but your own damn self,” Knox grits out. “You were dead the moment you set foot into my home.”
“Ma. Papa.” Jett’s pleas come out gurgled, drowned in blood and pain. No one’s going to hear him. “Help me. Help.”
Knox turns to look at me, his dark gaze roaming over my body. A low growl reverberates in his chest.
He’s tortured, agonized over what was done to me. For all the horrible shit that could’ve followed had he not woken up when he did.
“Trouble.”
“Yeah, she’s fucking trouble, all right—”
Knox silences his idiot brother with a fist to his chest, not even bothering to turn around for the beating.
“Skylar.” Knox’s hand drops to his side, fist clenched still. He dips his chin, looking at me in that broody way of his. “You want to finish it? He’s all yours.”
“Yes.” I spin on my bum to offer him my bound wrists. “Please.”
I hear his familiar footsteps. His warmth closes in on me.
“And to think”—Jett coughs—“you’re going to kill your brother over a dry, ugly bitch.” He spits, coughing again. “The ugliest I’ve ever seen.”
“Changed my mind about you killing him,” Knox growls from behind me, his lips at my ear. “Sorry, Skylar. Can’t let him talk to you like that.”
“Okay.” No part of me feels indignant. No part of me feels cheated on.
If Knox wants to avenge me, I’d never tell him no.
I’m too slow to turn back before a sickening crack rattles the basement.
When I finally manage to spin around, Jett’s already gone. His head hangs at a grotesque angle. His feet dangle, shoulders slumped.
Knox doesn’t linger, doesn’t mourn his brother.
His long strides eat up the distance between us as he comes for me.
He kneels in front of me, big palms cradling my face.
“Knox,” I whisper.
“I’m so sorry.” His eyes flare, growing wilder and more possessive with each passing second. “He touched you. He fucking touched you, and I was over there. Sleeping.”
“You’re here now.” I’m not nearly as brave as I thought. The comfort he gives me breaks the dam inside of me. My face crumples, chest tightening. “Don’t worry about what he did. It’s over. I’m fine.”
I’m not. But I won’t let Knox take the blame, won’t let him carry guilt for Jett’s crimes.
“Don’t lie to me. Don’t coddle me. He hurt you, and it’s my fault.
” A brush of his lips to my forehead. My nose.
Then his mouth claims mine in a long, searing kiss that melts every neuron I have.
“His breaking in here shouldn’t have been a surprise.
Our family has taught us how to be stealthy from the moment we were born.
Gotta outsmart the living-hides. I’m so sorry. Fuck, I’m so sorry.”
Knox threads his fingers through my hair, tugging on it. Forcing me to offer my neck for him to lick, suck, and bite.
“Really, it wasn’t your fault.” My panting fills the air between us along with Knox’s low, possessive grunts. “You were asleep. I couldn’t make a sound. It’s no one’s fault but Jett’s.”
“Yes, it is my goddamn fault.” He lifts his head, hazel eyes boring into my soul. “I should’ve barricaded the basement.”
“He had no reason to come down here,” I demand, scowling at him. “Stop blaming yourself. I won’t let you.”
“I was such an idiot for oiling the door hinges. I wasn’t thinking,” Knox groans, forehead pressing to mine as he unties my wrists from behind my back. “I was acting like prey. And worse, I turned you into one. You were assaulted because I. Failed. You.”
The rope is gone. He brings my hands forward, cradling my palms between his much larger ones.
Violence hums beneath his skin, a storm close to breaking. And yet he stays tender. The contradiction steals my breath.
“Please.” I choke on his affection as he feathers kisses over my reddened wrists. “It’s really okay. You came for me.”
“Don’t, Trouble. I know better. I was raised better.
When one of the family fucks up, the others are in danger.
Ma and Papa can’t fail at skinning, that’s how we make our living.
Jett had to keep the website running and the hospitality act alive, or the money dries up.
And if Reese or Grandpa don’t reel in the ones who manage to slip away like you did, we’re all at risk of being caught.
” His jaw twitches, shoulders tight as he stares at me.
“And you, you were my responsibility. The only one. And I almost lost you. I let someone hurt you, the most valuable thing out here. More than money, more than freedom. You.”
Knox kisses my knuckles one by one. Slowly. Reverently. Taking away my pain. Then I’m being swept into the air by the most powerful, most devoted man I’ve ever met.
A man with thundering eyes. With a body that was built to protect me. To love me. To worship me.
A man who’s drowning in guilt.
For no reason whatsoever.
They’re the ones who should be ashamed.
All of them.
Grooming their children into being murderers. Forcing them to stay in this shithole where there’s only death.
Once again, I realize what an idiot I’ve been. Taking my life for granted instead of appreciating it.
As we climb the stairs, I ache for him more than ever. I reach up, fingertips grazing the sharp line of his jaw. “Knox…”
“Don’t.” We’re out of the basement, and Knox flicks on a light in the hall. From there, he takes me into the bathroom with its blue tiles and oversized tub. “I fucked up. I’m going to spend the rest of my life making it up to you. Starting now.”
My eyebrows draw together. “You don’t have to. It’s really okay.”
“Enough of that, Skylar.” He switches the light bulb on. A dim light, and nothing else. “None of this is okay. That’s why we’re here, in the bathroom.”
He slams the door behind him, putting me down.
His fingers clasp around my chin, and he leans in slowly until our faces are level.
“Where I can claim your last virgin hole to myself.”