Chapter Three
KNOX
Friday evening, I stroll into the clubhouse and nod at my brothers, who have already rolled in.
We usually meet on Mondays and make an evening of having everyone in the same spot.
The girls do their chick thing with the dancing show they go crazy over while we have church, and afterward, G feeds the masses her famous homemade pizzas.
It’s become something we all look forward to, even though most of us won’t admit it.
We put up a front that we’re going along to keep the peace, which is total bullshit.
Thorn complains all week long about having to sit through an hour of “pussies dancing around,” but you can bet your ass he’s the first one out the door when Viper dismisses church.
"Let’s go!" Sparrow shouts through the common room, motioning for everyone to pick up the pace. I start to follow behind the pack but switch directions when I spot Easy wiping down the bar. I need him to keep an eye on my phone in case one of my kids needs me.
"Easy, need you to watch my phone for me while I’m in church.” He cocks his head when I hand him the device. “If it rings and it’s one of my boys, you knock on that door and get me." I nod toward the hallway.
"Um." He rubs the back of his neck, glances toward the hall, then turns his uneasy eyes back to me.
"If one of my sons calls, I need to know immediately," I repeat. I don’t give a fuck what his hangup is. I gave him an order, and he'd better follow it.
Blowing out a heavy breath, he nods. "Yeah. Okay."
"Good." Shoving past him, I jog down the hall and slip past Sparrow to take my spot at the table.
Once the last few members trickle in, Thorn shuts the door and takes his seat. Everyone turns to Viper, waiting for him to fill us in on what this meeting is all about.
Viper's gaze travels from brother to brother with that ever-present frown on his face. Well fuck. That look means I’m going to have to dole out some punishment because someone isn’t following the rules.
I start to wonder what the fuck is going on when his frown slowly begins to transform into a shit-eating grin.
"The coffers are full, baby." He laughs.
"Fuck, yeah!" We all cheer. We’ve been working our asses off to get away from the illegal ventures we’d been forced into. None of us liked seeing a brother get pinched when it was 100%. avoidable.
Don’t get me wrong, the money is amazing, but the risks aren’t worth it.
"Quiet down," Sparrow shouts over the noise, motioning for Dex to go ahead.
"You'll all want these,” Dex smirks, tossing envelopes around the table as he goes over the numbers from the previous month. Thank fuck. It’s all good news.
“The club’s making money, and our profits will continue to increase once we take our pot business legal,” he adds. I didn’t know the first thing about becoming a legal distillery, but the right people were making moves, and that was enough for me.
"Alright, boys. Let’s discuss our upcoming ride.
” We were gearing up for a ride that would take us on a scenic trip from here to Jacksonville.
It’d been a while since we’d all taken a ride together that didn’t have anything to do with business.
I made up my mind last night that I was going to ask G to ride down with me.
Now that I knew the truth about her and Rock, I was done waiting for things to progress on their own.
I was taking the bull by the horns and going to make that woman mine.
“Okay,” Dex says as his fingers fly across the keyboard.
In seconds, a map appears on the wall, and Thorn starts to explain the route that we’re taking.
It extended from Miami to Daytona Beach.
He details that we’ll ride through a few scenic spots along the way before checking into the hotel George has booked for everyone.
This has me perking up just as Sparrow jumps in, explaining that we’re going to spend the rest of the weekend at Daytona Beach for Bike Week. The room explodes with excitement.
"Okay! Calm the fuck down. We still have one more thing to cover before anyone can leave," Viper shouts, nodding for me to get to it.
Clearing my throat, I address the room. “It’s a formality at this point, but it has to be brought to the table all the same.
Kidd and Easy… Easy has my full support for the way he handled himself when shit went down at G’s.
I’ve never once doubted his ability or his loyalty to this club.
Kidd has put in his time and never second-guesses doing what’s in the club’s best interest. I don’t have any doubts about his ability or loyalty to the club, either. That being said, we gotta vote."
"They deserve it," Sparrow says, showing his support. He felt strongly that Easy was going to be one hell of a brother.
"Those in favor of making Easy a fully patched member?"
A chorus of ‘ayes’ goes up around the room, and it’s unanimous — Easy’s in.
"All those in favor of making Kidd a fully patched member?" All hands go up again, and everyone’s in agreement.
"Well, there we have it," Viper says before turning to Sparrow and asking, "You have their patches?”
"Yeah, in the office."
"Good. Don’t anyone say anything to ‘em. We’ll wait until the weekend and do it then."
Viper grins mischievously as he bangs the gavel. We all laugh, knowing what it means — he’s going to fuck with them before he gives them their patch.
"Come on. Let’s grab a beer," Sparrow says, clapping me on the back.
Easy’s waiting when I step out into the hall. “Any calls?” I ask.
“Nah. It was all quiet.” He hands over my phone.
“Thanks.”
He nods, then takes off back behind the bar.
"What was that about?" I open my mouth to tell Wrath that Crystal had been pulling her usual shit when my phone starts to ring.
Braydon.
"Hey, buddy," I answer, making a conscious effort not to jump to conclusions. Maybe he’s just calling to shoot the shit.
I look at the time — 3:30. They just got home from school. Surely nothing’s popped off just yet.
"Hey," he says quietly. I sit up straighter. Bray is a confident kid; he doesn’t whisper.
I listen for anything going on in the background that might sound off. I can hear the twins fussing about being hot. Was their AC out?
"Where are you?" I ask, trying to stay calm.
"Home." Braydon is my oldest son — twelve going on thirty. When he doesn’t say anything else, I know something’s wrong. My boys are just like their old man. They hate having to ask for help.
"I’ll be there in ten," I growl.
Brows raised in question, Wrath asks, “You good?”
“I’m gonna kill that fucking bitch.”
"I’ll tag along so you don’t do anything stupid.” That’s probably not a bad idea considering this is the third time in a month one of my boys has called because their mother is fucking off somewhere and has left them to their own devices.
Wrath and I pulled into Crystal’s driveway ten minutes later, and my hands started to shake.
“Wow. What a shithole.” Wrath throws his hands up when I narrow my eyes. This is where my fucking kids live, and the place is falling apart. It’s all starting to make sense now — why she always wants to bring the boys to me and why she always has an excuse when I ask to stop by.
She didn’t want me to see that the house my kids are living in is falling apart around them.
This fucking bitch.
“Jesus.” The yard looks like a jungle, the carport’s starting to sag, and I count three broken windows.
"What the fuck is she doing with all the money you give her?" That is a good fucking question. One I plan to ask as soon as I see her.
"Daddy!" I swing my head around as Brantley and Bentley barrel off the porch at full speed with big smiles on their faces.
As Brant and Bent get closer, I quickly realize they’re not wearing shorts; they’re running around in their boxers. What the hell is going on?
“Boys, where are your clothes?” I ask, climbing off my bike.
"Better yet… why are you all wet?" Wrath asks.
"Mom forgot to leave the door unlocked,” Bentley shouts.
“It was hot. We got out the water hose," Brantley adds like that explains everything. I turn to Bentley, and he’s nodding like they’re making perfect sense.
Wrath shakes his head and laughs, but I’m not finding anything funny. The temps have soared over a hundred degrees the last few days, this shit ain’t okay at all.
I take a deep breath to rein in my temper. No need to let my kids see me upset.
"They were spraying each other with the water hose. Mom will ground them if they mess up their school clothes," Braydon, my oldest son, explains as he steps down off the porch.
I tilt my head when he refuses to make eyes contact. That ain’t like him.
"Bray?"
When he finally turns his head in my direction, my heart starts to beat rapidly, and I see motherfuckin’ red.
He has a fucking black eye that, judging by the coloring, is a few days old.
"Wanna tell me why nobody thought they should call and tell me about that?" His shoulders stiffen when I cup the back of his neck and tip his chin up so I can get a better look.
"It’s nothing," he grumbles, trying to pull away.
Wrath jabs me with his elbow and nods just as Crystal’s black Escalade pulls up at the curb.
"What are you doing here?" That’s the wrong fucking thing to say. “Knox?” she presses, giving away the nervous tremor in her voice as she rounds the back of her truck. It’s not lost on me that she keeps wiping at her nose.
For whatever reason, she thinks I don’t know about her coke habit even though I’m the one who keeps sending her to rehab.
So yeah, I know all about her dirty little secret and the fact she spends a couple hundred dollars a day on it.
"I was just wondering why you weren’t," I reply calmly.
Her eyes shift from me to Wrath and then back again. "Uh… I… I had just run up the road." She points over her shoulder, but I already know she’s full of shit because I can see the powder residue on her nose from here.
I run my finger under my nose and pointed at her. "This shit’s gotta stop, Crystal."
Wrath doesn’t even try to hide his laughter when she rushes to hide the evidence on her face.
It’s like watching a switch being flipped as Crystal’s back straightens, her eyes narrow and her whole fucking scaredy-cat demeanor changes.
That’s always been her out when shit gets real.
Pretend to be scared and when that doesn’t work, she flips her bitch switch.
This right here is the Crystal I know — the one who knows how to play a role when there’s an audience.
Wrath notices the change too and moves back to the bikes. He’s pretending to give us some privacy, but it’s not necessary. I’m sick of her shit.
"Who do you think you are, rolling up to my property and trying to tell me how to live my life?" There’s the bitch that knows exactly how to piss me off.
Game fucking on!
"You’re responsible for my sons, Crys. You can’t look after them if you’re fucking high," I snarl, instantly regretting it when my boys step toward their mom.
When Crystal gets that sly smirk on her face, it only adds to my ire. It never ceases to amaze me how it doesn’t bother her to use our kids to her advantage. They’re nothing but a means to an end for her.
Sucking in a calming breath, I look at each of my kids and nod. "I’m sorry, boys."
When they visibly relax, I feel like a real asshole. “Go inside and cool off, yeah? I need a minute to talk to your mom.” They look from her to me, then grab the keys from here and thankfully do as I ask.
Once Bentley closes the door behind him, I turn back to my ex-wife and really look at her. I’m not sure how I missed how far she’s fallen, but she’s a fucking mess.
"What are you doing? That shit is going to kill you. Have you even thought about what that will do to our boys, Crystal?"
"I’m working on it," she snaps back.
We both know that’s a bunch of bullshit, but then again, Crys has always been selfish, putting herself before anyone else. It’s the reason I divorced her ass right after the twins were born. It was a miracle I was able to keep her nose clean through her pregnancy.
"Crys—" I sigh.
"We aren’t married anymore, Holden. Haven’t been for ten years. You don’t get to make demands of me, and in case you need me to spell it out for you… I don’t answer to you anymore."
I scoffed. "I need you to listen and listen good. This is the last time one of my boys calls me because you’ve fucked up.
We may not be married anymore, but you sure as shit like spending my fucking money.
I’ll cut all that shit off if you don’t start taking care of our kids.
You hear what I’m sayin’?" I was tired of mixing words. She was either going to take care of our kids, or I’d move them in with me.
This was her last chance to get her shit together.
"Before you go… The boys need some new shoes, and I’m a little short on money." Her face lit up when I pulled out my wallet. I counted out four hundred dollar bills and handed them over.
"Boys better have new shoes when I see them next."
"Yeah. I hear you." Without a second glance, she stuffed the bills between her tits and headed inside. I shook my head. What the fuck had I ever seen in her?
"Please tell me why in the hell you gave that junkie money. You know she’s going to put it up her nose," Wrath says as I climb on my bike.
I ignored him and fired up my bike.
As we pulled off, I realized I didn’t have an answer other than she was the mother of my children, and it was my job to make sure my boys had what they needed.