Chapter 14
FOURTEEN
KNOX
I wake before dawn. The house is quiet except for the soft sound of Ainsley's breathing beside me and Jax's low snore from the other side of her. Owen's baby monitor sits on the nightstand, silent for now.
I should get up, check the perimeter, run through my mental checklist of security protocols. But I don’t move. Instead I lie here in the dark, staring at the ceiling, thinking about how different my life was just a few weeks ago, before her, before Owen, before everything changed.
Jax and I used to be different men.
Playboys, the club called us. The Carter brothers who shared everything, bikes, business, women. We had a reputation. A rotation. An endless parade of willing bodies and forgettable faces.
It wasn't love. It wasn't even affection most of the time.
It was just… easy.
No strings. No expectations. No one getting hurt because no one expected anything more than a night or two of fun.
We'd pick up a girl at Perdition, sometimes two, take them back to our place, fuck them until we were all satisfied, and send them on their way in the morning. Sometimes they'd come back. Sometimes they wouldn't. It didn't matter.
We didn't get attached.
We didn't want to get attached.
Freedom was the whole point. No one tying us down. No one demanding more than we were willing to give. Just us, the club, the business, and whatever woman caught our eye that week.
I thought that was enough.
I thought I was happy.
But looking back now, I realize how hollow it all was.
How empty I felt, even surrounded by people.
There was always noise, music, laughter, moaning, the rumble of bikes, but underneath it all, there was this silence. This void.
I'd wake up next to some woman whose name I couldn't remember and feel nothing.
No satisfaction. No connection. Just… nothing.
Jax felt it too, even if he didn't say it out loud. I could see it in the way he'd go quiet sometimes, staring off into space like he was searching for something he couldn't name.
We were good at pretending. Good at playing the part.
But we were fucking miserable.
And then Ainsley showed up on that highway with her busted car and her terrified eyes and her baby boy, and everything I thought I knew about myself went up in flames.
I glance over at her now, curled up between me and Jax, her dark hair spilling across the pillow.
She's beautiful.
Not in the flashy, obvious way the club girls are. Not trying to be noticed or admired.
Just… real.
Soft curves. Warm skin. The faint scent of her shampoo mixing with the smell of us.
She's ours.
Completely, utterly ours.
And I will never let her go.
Jax stirs beside her, his eyes blinking open in the dim light.
He sees me watching and smirks. "You're doing that thing again."
"What thing?"
"That brooding, intense stare thing. You're gonna freak her out if she wakes up and sees you looking at her like that."
I flip him off, but he just grins.
Carefully, so as not to wake Ainsley, Jax slides out of bed and jerks his head toward the door.
I follow him out into the hallway, closing the bedroom door quietly behind us.
We head to the kitchen. Jax starts the coffee while I lean against the counter, arms crossed.
"You good?" he asks, not looking at me.
"Yeah."
"Liar."
I exhale slowly. "Just thinking."
"About?"
"About how different things are now."
Jax glances over his shoulder at me, his expression serious for once. "Different how?"
"Different like… I don't recognize the man I was a month ago."
He nods slowly, turning back to the coffee maker. "Yeah. I know what you mean."
"Do you ever miss it?" I ask. "The way things were before?"
Jax is quiet for a long moment. Then he shakes his head. "No. Not even a little."
"Me neither."
He pours two mugs of coffee and hands one to me. We stand there in silence, sipping our drinks, both of us lost in thought.
"I used to think freedom meant not being tied down," Jax says finally. "No commitments. No responsibilities. Just doing whatever the fuck we wanted."
"And now?"
He looks at me, his green eyes steady. "Now I think freedom is knowing exactly where you belong. And who you belong to."
I nod. "She's it for me, Jax. For us."
"I know."
"I don't want that life back. The endless rotation. The meaningless hookups. I don't want any of it."
"Good," Jax says. "Because neither do I."
We clink our mugs together, a silent pact.
We're done being playboys.
We're done pretending we don't need more.
Ainsley changed everything.
And we're never going back.
Later that evening, Perdition is packed.
It's Friday night, and the bar is buzzing with energy, club members, Old Ladies, locals who know better than to cause trouble. Music pounds through the speakers, and the air smells like beer and leather and smoke.
We're here for couples night, something the Old Ladies insisted on after the chaos of the past few weeks. Ainsley deserves a night out, a chance to relax and just be with the people who've become her family.
Our group claimed a large corner booth near the back: me and Jax with Ainsley between us, Hadley sandwiched between the twins Weston and Wyatt, Tessa practically in Cole's lap, and Steele with his arm around Erica.
Lucy and Tiny are watching Owen tonight, which means Ainsley can actually let loose without worrying.
And she has.
She's laughing at something Tessa said, her cheeks flushed from the beer she's been nursing, her hair falling loose around her shoulders. She's wearing jeans and a simple black tank top, nothing fancy, but she looks fucking incredible.
Jax has his hand on her thigh under the table, possessive and casual all at once.
I'm watching her, unable to look away.
"You're doing that thing again," Jax mutters, leaning close so only I can hear.
"What thing?"
"That brooding, intense stare thing. You're gonna scare off the locals."
I smirk. "Good."
Tessa stands suddenly, grabbing Ainsley's hand. "Come on, we're dancing."
Ainsley laughs, letting herself be pulled to her feet. "I don't really dance, "
"Bullshit," Hadley says, standing too. "Everyone dances. Erica, you coming?"
Erica grins and slides out of the booth. "Hell yes."
The four of them head toward the makeshift dance floor near the jukebox, and I watch Ainsley move, loose, relaxed, smiling in a way I've never seen before.
"She's happy," Jax says quietly.
"Yeah," I say. "She is."
We watch them for a few minutes, Tessa spinning Ainsley around, Hadley laughing, Erica swaying to the beat.
Then I see him.
Some local asshole I don't recognize steps up beside Ainsley, saying something that makes her take a step back. He's too close. His hand brushes her arm.
My entire body goes rigid.
"Knox, " Jax starts, but I'm already moving.
I cross the room in long strides, my eyes locked on the guy who doesn't seem to realize he just made a very bad decision.
Jax is right behind me.
The guy says something else, leaning in, and Ainsley's smile falters.
That's all I need to see.
I reach them and don't say a word. I just step between Ainsley and the stranger, my hand sliding possessively around her waist and pulling her against my side.
"She's taken," I say, my voice low and dangerous.
The guy looks up at me, then at Jax who's now standing on Ainsley's other side, and his face goes pale.
"Shit, man, I didn't know.”
"Now you do," Jax says, his tone deceptively calm. "Walk away."
The guy does, fast.
Ainsley looks up at me, her eyes wide. "Knox, I was handling it.”
"I know," I say, turning her to face me fully. "But I'm done watching other men think they have a chance with you."
Jax steps closer, his hand finding the small of her back. "We both are."
The music is still playing, but the people around us have started to notice. Tessa is grinning like a maniac. Weston and Wyatt are watching from the booth with matching smirks.
"What are you doing?" Ainsley whispers, her cheeks flushing.
"Claiming you," I say simply.
"In front of everyone?"
"Especially in front of everyone," Jax adds, his voice rough.
I frame her face with both hands and kiss her, deep, possessive, claiming.
When I pull back, Jax turns her toward him and does the same, his hand sliding into her hair.
The bar erupts.
Steele raises his beer from the booth. "Fucking finally!"
Cole laughs. "Took you long enough, Carters!"
Tessa is cackling, and Hadley is clapping.
Ainsley buries her face against my chest, embarrassed but not pulling away.
I slide my hand down her side, possessive and deliberate, and press a kiss to her temple.
"You're ours, baby," I murmur in her ear, low enough that only she and Jax can hear. "And we want everyone here to know it."
"Both of ours," Jax adds, his lips brushing her neck.
She shivers between us, her fingers curling into my shirt.
"Knox… Jax…"
"Say it," I command.
"Say you're ours," Jax echoes.
"I'm yours," she whispers.
"Louder," I demand.
"I'm yours," she says, her voice stronger now. "Both of yours."
"Damn right you are."
I kiss her again, slower this time, savoring the taste of her while Jax's hands stay possessive on her hips.
The bar is still cheering, but I don't care.
All I care about is the woman between us and the way she's melting into both of us, surrendering completely.
When we finally pull back, her lips are swollen and her eyes are dark with need.
"Let's go home," Jax says, his voice rough.
She nods, breathless.
Tessa wolf-whistles as we guide Ainsley toward the door, and I flip her off without looking back.
We're taking our woman home.
And everyone knows exactly who she belongs to.
By the time we get home, the tension between us is unbearable.
Owen is already asleep at Lucy's place, she offered to watch him for the night, and I wasn't about to turn that down.
The moment we walk through the door, I'm on Ainsley.
I pin her against the wall, my hands on either side of her head, my body pressed against hers.
"Knox—"
"You're mine," I growl, my voice rough. "Say it."
"I'm yours," she gasps.
"Again."
"I'm yours, Knox. Yours and Jax's."
"Fucking right you are."
I kiss her hard, my tongue sliding into her mouth, claiming every inch of her.