Chapter Nine
KNOX
I’m going to paddle her ass.
She promised she’d stick close today, and she took off like it was no big fucking deal. I haven’t told her that someone broke into her apartment this morning after Harley left for work. I know I need to, but I don’t want her to worry.
“Better hurry,” Thorn shouts across the lot. I lift my arm and throw up my middle finger, which only makes him and Kidd laugh harder.
“Yeah, yeah. Laugh it up, fuckers.”
I stomp the rest of the way across the lot, and when I push through the door, I quickly scan the lobby.
Where the hell is she?
My eyes drop to Wrath, who’s sprawled out in his usual spot by the door. “Where’d she go?”
Eyes still closed, he leisurely stretches out his legs and crosses his arms behind his head. I know he’s not asleep. I can tell by the rise and fall of his chest.
“Wrath! Where is she?” I growl. “She can’t be running around without an escort,” I remind him.
Lazily opening his eyes, he makes a production of stretching before shrugging his shoulders. Wrath has a soft spot for G, so I’m not sure why I expected him to rat her out.
“Quit interrogating the man.” We both shift our eyes to the office to see G standing in the doorway.
“Supposed to have my back,” I mutter to the traitor chuckling next to me.
“Always have your back, Knox. But I make it a point not to get involved when you boys are chasing after your women.”
“She’s acting fucking reckless, and everyone thinks this shit is funny.” I sigh, scrubbing my hands across my face.
“Knox, what aren’t you telling me?” G asks, coming out of the office with Sierra and Harley behind her.
Wrath sits up straight when he realizes this isn’t a joke. “Brother, she’s safe here. I know you’re worried, but you gotta relax a little.”
“Knox?” G implores, voice trembling.
“We’ll talk about it later, baby.” Her brows furrow.
“Need to tell her.” I look down at Wrath and see the concern swirling behind his stare. I know he’s right, but fuck. We’ve barely had more than a fucking day, and already shit’s going sideways.
Looking back over at G, I blurt. “Someone broke into your apartment this morning.”
I instantly regret it when G’s legs start to buckle.
“Oh my God! Are you okay?” Sierra cries out, grabbing her around the waist as I lunge in her direction.
“Here.” I pull Nikki from G’s arms and hand him to Sierra.
“Come here, baby.” Without a word of protest, she steps into my arms and buries her face in my chest. Damn it. This is what I was trying to avoid.
“Hey. Look at me.” When she lifts her face, I brush at the tears on her cheeks, but they just keep coming. “It’s okay. All that matters is that you girls are safe, right?” She nods her head. “There’s no need for you to worry. I’m handling it. What’s my job?”
She sniffles. “To keep us all safe.”
“That’s right,” I soothe, rubbing her back. “Until we figure out who did this, you’re going to stay with me —”
“No. I won’t leave Harley there alone,” G interrupts, pulling away.
“G…” I sigh.
“Harley can come and stay with me,” Wrath offers, surprising us all.
“Uh…” Harley's eyes shift around the room frantically, which is an odd reaction.
“Relax, girl. There’s an apartment in my basement.” Harley's shoulders drop, this information easing the tension.
“Look. Go back to work, and when she’s done shooting the shit with her girls, I’ll personally escort her back.” When I don’t move, Wrath nods to the door, repeating, “Go back to the shop, Knox. I promise to bring her back to you in one piece when they’re done in there.”
Flexing my hands, I nod. He’s right. She’s safe here. “You wanna stay?” I ask, smoothing my hand down G’s back.
“Yeah.”
“Be good for Wrath.”
“Whatever,” she huffs. There’s my tough-as-nails woman.
Releasing my hold, I point at Wrath. “Don’t let her leave here alone.”
The smartass holds up four fingers. “Scout’s honor.”
“Everyone’s a fucking comedian,” I mumble, yanking G into my chest and crashing my lips onto hers. When she opens on a gasp, I slip my tongue inside and groan at her taste. Fucking perfection. Yanking my mouth away, I peck her lips once, twice, then quickly turn and leave the way I came.
Fuck.
That woman’s going to be the death of me.
Three Hours Later
“Babe.” Sitting on this bike lift with my legs swinging back and forth, I’m getting one hell of a kick watching G’s sexy ass toss paper cups and disposable gloves into the trash.
“This is ridiculous,” she huffs.
“Babe!?” I try again—still nothing.
She directs her attention back to the trash as she runs her hands through her hair.
Backhanding Kidd in the gut, Thorn leans back and whispers, “I don’t remember her being such a little tyrant when she lived at the clubhouse. She’s kinda scary.”
“No shit. She told me I was a disgusting slob.” Kidd laughs.
“Guys, this place is a wreck! How do you expect me to work here with this crap everywhere?” she asks, dropping another handful of used gloves into the trash.
Kidd shrugs his shoulders. “Just ignore it. We do.”
She whirls around so fast her hair fans out, and when those hands land on her hips, I know his ass has had it. “Excuse me?”
“You just had to open your mouth.” I hide my face when Kidd laughs. Trying to reason with a pissed-off woman is never a good idea. You let them cool off, and then you try to talk sense with ‘em.
“Aww, shit.” I look over at Thorn and nod. Aww shit, indeed.
“G!” Her head swivels in my direction, and I damn near fall off the lift when she curls her lip. I’m not used to this pissed-off little kitten.
It isn’t that bad. Looking around the room, my lips twitch.
Okay, so maybe she has a point, but when we get in the zone, we have tunnel vision and don’t see a thing but the build in front of us. Once we finish, then we clean up the wreckage and start the process all over again. It’s how we do things.
“Baby,” I try when she turns away from me.
Fuck. She’s going to have to cut us some slack.
Refusing to look at me isn’t going to solve a thing.
I get that she’s pissed, but I don’t think it’s really about the shop.
She stressed about someone breaking into her apartment and was probably still off kilter over me kissing her in front of everyone when I left her at the scrapyard.
My dick twitches, thinking about how she lit up the second I had my hands on her. I could only imagine how she’ll ignite when I take us to the next level, something I’m planning to do very, very soon.
“Are you listening to me?” she asks, yanking the bag out of the garbage can.
“It ain’t that bad, princess.” When she aims her narrowed eyes at me, I crook my finger, motioning her closer. She comes without complaint, and I inwardly pump my fist in triumph. Once she’s within reaching distance, I grab her hands and pull her between my open legs.
“You good, baby?”
“Yeah.” My dick kicks against my zipper when she slides her arms around my neck and gives me her weight.
“What’s all this fussin’ about?” I slide my hands around her hips, under her shirt, and up her back. Her skin is soft, but there’s no mistaking the feel of scar tissue. I want to ask questions, but I know I need to wait. Instead, I tip my head and kiss her frowning lips.
“We’re just gonna.” Thorn points over his shoulder as he and Kidd move toward the stairs.
“Knox! Look around.” She leans deeper into me. She may be annoyed, but her body has already moved on.
I shake my head and smile at her. “It’s fine, baby. I’ll clean it up.” She’s trying so hard to hold onto her snit and failing miserably.
“Stop smiling, Knox. I don’t like it when you make fun of me.” I open my mouth to tell her I’d never do such a thing when my phone starts to ring. Leaning to the side, I pull it out and glance at the screen.
Dex.
“Yo,” I answer, hoping he has some answers for me.
“LEOs. Coming in hot.”
“What the fuck?” Gripping G’s hips, I move her back and slide off the lift. I hate losing the moment, especially since she’s just starting to get used to what’s happening between us.
“Thorn! Kidd! We got company!” I shout over my shoulder. Turning back to G, I slip my hands under her jaw and lift her eyes to mine. “Go out the back and run as fast as you can to the scrapyard.”
Her eyes widen. “What? Why?”
“Club business, princess.” She knows better than to ask, but I can’t tell her anything at that moment anyway because I don’t know anything.
“But—”
“Now, baby.” Her eyes darted between mine before she jerkily nods her head.
Thank fuck.
Moving quickly, I usher her to the back door. I need her out of here so I can focus on the problem headed our way.
Clutching my shirt in her fist, she drags my attention back to her and begs, “Don’t do anything stupid. Promise me.”
“I won’t. Now go.” I kiss her lips and gently push her out the back door, standing firm until she’s safely inside the scrapyard’s office.
Knowing she’s out of harm's way, I spin around and jog back to the front of the shop.
“There getting out of their vehicles,” Kidd says as I slide in behind the counter next to him and Thorn right as the front doors burst open.
It was just as Dex had said.
Law enforcement officers — DEA, to be exact.
I count one, two, three agents, and judging by the expressions on their faces, this isn’t a social call.
“Have a seat, asshole,” the first prick through the door shouts. When he notices the security cameras mounted throughout the lobby, he tugs on the bill of his ball cap and starts acting shifty.
I cock my head at Thorn, and he winks. Good, he noticed it, too. Kidd, on the other hand, is ready for a fight. He shoots the agent a glare and growls, “Fuck that, I ain’t moving an inch until someone produced some legal fucking paperwork.”
Crossing my arms over my chest, I plant my feet. I’m not moving either. This fucker isn’t about to come into my shop and start barking orders until he ponies up a warrant.
“I don’t know why you keep fucking with us, pig,” Thorn growls.
“We run legit businesses. You know... law-abiding citizens kind of shit,” Kidd adds, making me laugh.
This is the third attempt at trying to catch us with our hand in some shady shit — something they’ll never catch us doing in the first place.
“Keep it up, and I’ll arrest the lot of you,” pig number two yells.
“What can we do for you, officer?” I finally ask, hoping to move things along. Having G out of my sight is making me fucking twitchy.
“We’re here to search the premises,” Baldy says, glancing nervously at the agent to his right. I look back at Thorn, and he’s getting the same vibe as me — something’s off about these guys.
“Of course. That won’t be a problem at all.” Holding Baldy’s eyes, I smile. “Just as soon as you show me your warrant.”
Agent Shifty steps forward. “This should be sufficient.”
Taking the folded papers from his hand, I scan the document. Sure enough, they have a fucking warrant to search our building.
Motherfucker. There’s nothing here, but being on their radar is bad for fucking business.
“It’s legit.” I hand the document to Thorn so he can see it.
Thorn hands back the paperwork and glances at me. I read him loud and clear: none of this is adding up. When I turn to Kidd, he’s got his phone pressed to his ear, and he nods that the cavalry’s on their way.
Good.
“Have at it.” I motion for the agents to do their thing and take a seat. For over an hour, our guests do their worst, turning the shop upside-down. We repeatedly ask what it was they were looking for so we can move them along, but the assholes are dead set on tearing the place apart.
“Find ‘er?” Agent Asshole asks when Baldy comes back shaking his head.
“Looks like you get to avoid a jail cell… this time,” Baldy says on his way out the door.
“Fuck you too, pig,” Kidd shouts as the last agent leaves.
Looking from me to Kidd, Thorn asks, “Did that whole thing seem fucking weird to either of you?”
“Ye —”
“Knox!” Hearing G’s frantic voice, I spin around and barely brace before she’s flying into my arms. I grunt on impact as my hands instinctively grip her ass to keep her from falling.
“I was so scared,” she cries, burying her face in the side of my neck.
“I’m okay, baby.” Her body wracks as I rub at her back, attempting to soothe her. I hate it when she cries.
“Hey, none of that. I’m fine.” I’ve never had a woman worry over me, much less cry. I look to Thorn, imploring him for help, but he shrugs.
Shit.
“Baby,” I plead again. The last thing I ever want is to make her cry.
Slowly lifting her face from my neck, G stares at me with tears streaming down her cheeks. Her eyes flick between mine before closing a second before her lips land on mine.
Tightening my hold, I deepen the kiss, overjoyed that she’s the one who kissed me.
Just as quickly as it began, it ends when G rips her mouth from mine, growling, “You’ve got to be kidding me. The rat bastards made a mess.”
“You’re fucking adorable, woman.” I smile.
Leave it to my girl to go from crying one minute to mad as a hornet the next that there’s a mess to be cleaned.
“It’s not funny, Knox,” she hisses, “I just cleaned this shit up.”
I grin. “Need you to let the mess go and do something for me, yeah?” Carefully, I set her on her feet.
“Anything.”
My eyes close. Damn, that meant everything.
Brushing her hair behind her ear, I ask, “Can you take my truck and pick up the boys from school, then go straight to the house? Kidd will follow you and stay until I get there.”
“Yeah.” She agrees without even hesitating.
That’s my girl. “Thanks, baby.”
“Dex, give me something, brother. You said we weren’t on anyone’s radar,” Viper demands.
“That’s the thing.” Dex runs his hands through his hair, exhaling heavily. “We’re not. I triple-checked. The paperwork they showed Knox isn’t even legit.”
“The fuck?” I look at Thorn, who’s just as confused as I am.
He scrubs his hands across his face. “We thought something felt off, but they had the right paperwork. Fuck!”
Sparrow spins around in his chair and asks us both, “Did they say what they were looking for?”
I shake my head. “Not a word. We even asked.”
“Uh…” Rubbing the back of his neck, Wrath asks the question that has to be going through everyone’s mind now, “You don’t think… Were they even really DEA agents?”
We all sit up straighter when Viper climbs out of his chair and starts to pace.
Viper’s unpredictable on the best of days, something like this…
who the fuck knows what he’ll do. His arms cross atop his head as he struggles to put the pieces of something together.
“Dex, if they’re not law enforcement, I need you to find out who the hell they are. ”
“On it.” Closing his laptop, Dex leaves without a backward glance.
“The rest of you can head out, too. We don’t have shit yet but watch your phones. As soon as Dex and George have something, I want everyone back here.” With that, Viper reaches across the table, grabs his gavel, and bangs it on the table.
I don’t waste a second, quickly following my brothers out so I can go home to my woman and kids.