Chapter Ten
KNOX
“When will you be back?” Braydon pouts, watching over his shoulder as everyone heads for the door.
He’s pissed off that he’s being left behind with the rest of the kids, but that can’t be helped.
This trip to Daytona Beach was planned before Crystal dropped them off and vanished.
I don’t make it a habit of leaving my boys behind when they’re with me, but this ride has been planned for weeks.
Even with Dex and George looking for their mother, I have no intention of sending them back with her.
I do want to know what she’s fucking up to, though.
I owe that much to my boys, but so far, Dex hasn’t come up with anything.
“Sunday evening.” Like I expected, his face turns red, but he knows better than to spout off. I don’t tolerate disrespect.
“It’s just for the weekend,” G says gently, trying to cheer him up. She’s wasting her breath. Nobody holds a grudge better than Braydon. “When we get back, we’ll do something fun. Anything y’all want,” she tried again.
“Whatever,” Braydon mumbles, storming away.
“Maybe I should stay here.” G bites her lip, probably wondering how she can give everyone what they want.
I tighten my arm around her shoulder. “Not happening, baby.”
There’s no way in hell she’s staying in Miami when the rest of the club is out of town—especially after Dex and George warned me to keep her close at all times.
They’ve been carefully treading into the dark web and have found some crazy shit.
They’re adamant the agents who showed up at my shop are not here in an official capacity and that whatever they’re looking for is personal.
“I’m going to go tell them we’re leaving.”
“G, you’ve told them we’re leaving twice already.” She’s taking us leaving harder than the boys are. Thank fuck the twins don’t give a shit. They’re content to follow the club girls around like lost puppies.
“Saddle up!” Sparrow shouts through the common room.
“Come on.” When she looks up at me like she’s about to protest, I tighten my arm around her shoulders and move us toward the door.
Once we make it outside, I can feel her body starting to relax. She’s been excited for the ride, and truthfully, it’s been a while since I’ve been able to put some serious miles on my bike, and the trip from Miami to Daytona Beach is always a good one.
“Here,” G says, handing me her backpack to store in my saddlebag. Admittedly, I was impressed when I told her to pack light, and she only threw what was necessary in the bag.
“Grab your shades.” I nod to the glasses sitting on top of her head. Once she pulls them free, I go about securing her helmet.
We’d spent over an hour in the Harley store yesterday getting her fitted for riding leathers and a new helmet. My baby has a smokin’ hot body but wrapped up in leather... she could turn the holiest of men into a sinner.
“Remember how to work the Bluetooth on your helmet?” I ask.
“Yeah,” she says, then smirks as she goes about showing me that she does.
“Climb on, smartass,” I tease, offering her my hand. Her feet go to the peg like a pro, and she slides in behind me and wraps around me tight. I’m glad I let Sparrow convince me to put the sissy bar on for her.
Flipping the ignition, I bring the beast to life. My lips twitch when G starts to squirm as the vibrations radiate through the metal beneath us.
“Like that?” I ask through the com.
“Yeah,” the breathy tone in her voice has me popping wood. Fuck. It’s going to be a long ride.
“Enjoy the ride,” I laugh, falling into formation as we pull out of the compound.
An hour into our ride, Viper signals we're getting off at the next exit, and we all move to follow him. Another five minutes up the road, and we pull into the lot of a local steakhouse and park.
“Guess someone was hungry,” G says in my ear.
Viper throws his arms up in the air and shouts, “Kierra’s going to die if she doesn’t eat something.”
G’s body shakes behind me. She always seems to get a kick out of Viper and Kierra’s craziness.
Offering her my hand, she grabs it and slides off, then moves to the side to wait for me to do the same. I can tell she’s getting excited as we follow Viper and Sparrow over to Kierra’s SUV.
Of course — the babies.
As soon as Sparrow has one of the twins unstrapped from the backseat, she pounces.
“Here, hand him to me.” The second Sparrow hands Nolan over, I see it — feel it.
G lights up from the inside out anytime one of the club kids is around. If there’s one thing that I’m sure of beyond a doubt, it’s that the woman was meant to be a mother.
I know it’s crazy; we’ve only been an “us” for a couple of days, but in that time, she’s more of a mother to my boys than their own mom ever has been.
And this, watching her with Sparrow’s baby, has me getting ideas. I grin when she kisses the baby’s chubby cheeks, and the little guy squeals in excitement.
Damn. I rub at the ache in my chest. I wonder if she’d be against me knocking her up because hand to the bible, I want that more than anything.
“I’m going to help Sierra get these guys changed. Will you order me a soda?” G asks as she ducks under my arm.
“You got it, babe.”
She offers her lips, and I gladly accept. I watch as she trails behind Sierra into the restroom before following my brothers into the dining room.
I place our drink order, and minutes later, they’re delivered to the table.
It’s then that I realize the girls still aren’t back and have been gone a little too long.
Looking down at the end of the table, I see Sparrow sliding out of his chair, and I move to do the same just as both girls come around the corner.
The pinched look on G’s face has me going on alert.
I wait for her to hand Sparrow the baby and make her way over before asking, “What’s wrong? ”
Dropping her head, she whispers, “Nik had a total blowout, which was... oh man…”
“G!” Impatiently, I urge her to get on with whatever it is that has her looking freaked-the-fuck out.
“Right. We got the babies cleaned up, and when we came out, there was a guy standing outside the door. It was almost like he was waiting for us. He had a cut on, and it had this,” she waves her hands around, “snake thingy on it.”
Once she’s finished telling me what happened, I push my chair back and stand. This fucker better hope he ain’t still there.
“Knox, no! He didn’t say or do anything. He just gave us the creeps. You can’t beat up everyone who gives me the heebie jeebies,” she says, holding onto my arm like that’ll stop me.
“Says who?” I lift a brow, waiting for an answer.
She smiles, shaking her head. “You’re crazy, you know that?”
“Crazy about you.” I sit back down, giving in to her demand to let it go.
Thankfully, the rest of our lunch goes smoothly except for the mini food fight the babies have.
We barely make it a half hour down the road before we have to stop again.
Not that I’m complaining. I’m content to cruise the rest of the way to Daytona Beach as long as my girl’s behind me.
It’s taking every ounce of control I have not to drag her into the nearest bathroom and fuck her.
She’s doing her damnedest to wind me up, and with the way her hands keep smoothing across my abs and down my thighs, she’s doing a damned good job of it.
The only thing stopping me is that I don’t want the first time I have her to be in a dirty bathroom.
“Woman,” I growl when her hands make another pass, inching closer to my dick.
"Why are we stopping?" she asks innocently. Innocent, my ass.
I point to the SUV as I kill the motor. Holding out my hand, I help her off my bike.
"I'll be right back." I smile when she takes off across the lot to check on the kids.
My smile falls just as fast when a biker wearing a Venom Dealers cut comes out of nowhere, blocking her path.
"The fuck?" I yell, jumping off my bike and eating up the distance between us. Before I can get him away from her, he grips her wrist and tugs.
G cries out, drawing my brothers’ attention to what is happening. Everyone moves in around the asshole.
"Let her go, motherfucker," I yell.
He spins around in my direction with his hand still gripping G's wrist. He must realize he isn’t getting out of here without getting his ass beat, and he shoves G at me.
I dart forward and quickly move her behind me.
"Sparrow," I say, moving her closer to him. I need her out of the way before I beat this motherfucker within an inch of his life. He’s a biker; he knows better than to touch something that doesn’t belong to him. He’s about to get a fucking reminder.
I don’t even give him a chance to ready himself. I rear my arm back and let it fly, my fist connecting with a crunch. The world around me goes dark as I land blow after blow to his face and body.
"Knox! Enough!" Wrath yells as my fist connects with his kidney for the fifth time. When I rear back again, I’m yanked backward by the neck of my cut. My chest heaves up and down from the exertion.
I turn to my brother and nod. Wrath is the only brother strong enough to pull me away.
"You fucked. With the wrong woman. Motherfucker." I growl between deep breaths.
I wanted to kill him for putting his hands on my woman. I felt like I was failing at keeping her safe.
"Where did this fucker come from?" Viper asks.
"No clue. He's riding solo from the looks of it," Thorn says, pointing to the lone bike parked in front of the gas station.
"We need to get out of here before the cops show up," Wrath says, dragging the unconscious prick over to his bike and propping him up against it. After feeling for a pulse, he nods. The asshole is still breathing but knocked the fuck out.
"Knox!" I whip around to see G fighting against Sparrow's hold. I frown at him, not happy about the distress in her voice. Sparrow catches the look on my face and lets her go.
"Knox," she cries out as she flies into my arms and buries her face in my neck. Her little body racks against mine as she quietly cries.
"Shhh. Please, don't cry." I whisper into her hair. Her head moves up and down, but she continues to sob.
"I'm so sorry. It's all my fault."
"Hey, look at me." When she lifts her head, her cheeks are covered in tears. "Are you hurt?" I ask, trying to keep my temper in check.
"No." She shakes her head. "He just scared me."
"I'm sorry, babe. I promised to keep you safe and--"
"No!" She narrows her eyes. "Don't do that. There was nothing either of us could have done differently."
"Saddle up! Let's get the fuck out of here," Viper yells.
“We have to go,” I say, setting her on her feet.
Hand in hand, we rush back to the bike and quickly get back on the road.
The last thing any of us want is to spend the weekend behind bars.