Page 5

Chapter five

Knox

M ia squeals in delight when she makes the shot, and I have to contain the wide smile that threatens to burst from me. She turns to me with a grin bigger than I’ve ever seen on her face. Her eyes hold a slightly dazed look. I’m not sure if it’s because she can’t believe she made a shot or if she can’t believe the way she reacted to being so close and me calling her a good girl .

The way she melted into me had my dick half-hard in an instant. I had to back away; otherwise, she would have felt it. And honestly, I'm not sure how she would have reacted.

The way she shoved that fucking tart in my chest when she showed up with her grandmother was surprising and pretty funny, but I didn’t dare laugh at her. It’s obvious she’s nervous around me, has been since I saw her a year ago at Thorn and Thistle, but that’s not the reaction I want from her. I much prefer the response she gave moments ago. The way she relaxed instantly when I told her to breathe. Then, when she followed directions so perfectly and I told her she was a good girl…hell, I was not expecting that. I’d considered it a possibility, so I may have been testing the waters a bit to see how she responded. It was everything I hoped for.

One thing I’ve always prided myself on is my ability to judge any situation or person for their subtle—or not-so-subtle—cues. It’s a skill that went hand in hand with spending a handful of years in a house that could be wildly unpredictable. Being in the MC has made it necessary to hone that particular ability. Mia has spent her life taking care of everything and everyone around her, maybe even people who don’t deserve that kind of care. I see it in her eyes. She’s of the mind that if she wants something done right, she's going to have to do it herself.

Never in a million years would I want to take that fierce independence from her, but some of that control? Yeah, that’s something I think she needs to let go of sometimes. I’ve been around her plenty of times in the last year since she’s been back. Watched her far more than someone like me should. She’s wound so damn tight. There’ve been times when it looks like the weight of the world rests on her shoulders, and she’s doing everything to stay afloat. Lucky for her, I like taking that control. When she allows it. If she’ll allow it. But I think I’m on the right track with her.

“You did good, honey,” I tell her, and she beams as I hold her excited gaze.

“If you two are done eye-fucking each other, Mia, you get to take another shot.”

Fucking Lucy.

I shoot Jude a look and he holds his hands up in surrender, indicating that he has as much control over his woman as any of us—none. It’s not that Lucy means harm. But she tends to say whatever she thinks the second it comes to her mind—which is all well and good, except right now because she just embarrassed Mia and broke our connection. To Mia’s credit, she simply rolls her eyes at her friend's antics and plays the comment off before she takes another shot.

I allow myself a brief glimpse at her delectable ass and appreciate the way those tight jeans make her legs look a thousand miles long. The thought of what it would feel like to freely run my hand up the back of her thighs, over her curves, and wrap my large hands around her slim waist makes my mouth fucking water. I have to tear my gaze away. Otherwise, everyone in this clubhouse is going to see what nothing more than the mere thought of touching this woman does to me.

Mia misses the next shot, then it’s Wyatt’s turn. He takes a shot, sinks it, then misses the next. Honestly, Lucy is a damn good pool player. She learned when she was on the run and used her natural talents to con people out of cash at the tables. But having Wyatt on her team is a disadvantage, and when I’m up next, I make every shot he leaves wide open, eventually sinking the eight ball.

Mia fucking giggles and holds her hand up for a high five. I huff out a chuckle and slap my palm to hers. But instead of letting go, I link our fingers together. I want to bring my mouth to her knuckles and swipe my lips across them, but before I can consider that thought further, Lucy butts in. Again.

“I want a rematch,” she says.

Mia drops my hand, clearing her throat before looking at Lucy. “You’re on,” she says with a saucy smirk.

Girl’s got a little fire under there. I like it. A lot.

Jude laughs as Ozzy and Freya walk over to where he’s sitting. “I think I need a refill,” he says and vacates his seat, gesturing for Freya to take it.

Truth be told, Mia is pretty terrible at pool. It’s obvious it frustrates her to no end, and that’s where a big part of her problem lies. She’s too caught up in her head. It all leads back to her wanting control and doing everything “right.” God, what I wouldn’t give to seize that control and show her what it’s like to be taken care of. At least a little, by someone who deserves that kind of trust. But the little voice in the back of my head is again telling me that she’s too good, too sweet for someone like me.

“Wow, Knox, I didn’t realize you were so good. I never see you play,” Freya says.

“We were two brats who grew up in a clubhouse. Me and Knox used to play all the time,” Ozzy says, standing behind her.

“Ah, the good old days,” Linc says.

“They aren’t that old, asshole,” I mumble as I rack the balls on the table.

“Someone gets a little touchy around his birthday,” Linc says with a smile.

I’m not necessarily irritable around my birthday. I’m just not a fan of celebrating them. Linc is too young to remember, but the last birthday I had before coming to Shine was in a roadside motel with a gash across my forehead and a terrified mother who was running from her abusive ex. I think my mom has spent the last twenty-five years of birthdays making up for that one where all we had was a vending machine cupcake and bruises. That’s why I let her make a big deal out of it—and why I don’t walk out and go on a ride like I’d rather be doing. Well, maybe not this birthday. I’m pretty happy where I am right now.

“You two must have been heartbreakers in high school,” Charlie says with a laugh. “I can only imagine all the girls fawning over the football players.”

Mia swivels her gaze toward Charlie with wide eyes and a look I can’t quite decipher.

“I only had eyes for one girl in high school,” Ozzy says, kissing the crown of Freya’s head. “Linc, on the other hand…”

Charlie turns and looks at my brother with a raised brow. “Oh, a bit of a ladies’ man, were you?”

“I don’t know.” He shrugs. “I don’t remember any woman before you.” He gives her a cheesy smile, and she laughs before kissing him on the mouth.

“Good answer,” she tells him.

“Trust me, all the girls wished Knox and Ozzy would give them a second look. But they just left broken dreams in their wake when they walked the halls,” Freya says with an exaggerated despondent tone to her voice.

Ozzy shakes his head and laughs. “You have a very active imagination, pretty girl. There were no breaking hearts anywhere.”

The girls at Shine High, especially the cheerleaders, barring Freya of course, liked to have plenty of fun in the dark, but as soon as the lights were on, I was persona non grata. Not that it bothered me much. I was a dumb high school kid who couldn’t care either way as long as I had a girl to make out with at a party or in the back of my truck.

“You went to school with them, Mia. Was it as tragic as Freya is making it sound?” Lucy asks as she shoots the break for the game of pool we’re supposed to be playing.

A blush covers Mia’s sweet cheeks as she studies the balls. “I don’t really remember. I was only in school with them for a year before they graduated.”

“But you were at most of their games, right? I’m sure there were plenty of girls with their jersey numbers painted on their faces,” Charlie says.

“Not that I remember,” Mia says, still looking at the balls on the table.

“Trust me, no one was cheering for two biker brats in front of their parents and the rest of the town.” Ozzy isn’t the least bit perturbed by his statement. It’s simply a fact, but Freya’s mouth tips down in a small frown.

“I hated the way so many people in school used to treat you guys,” she says, and Ozzy squeezes her shoulder.

“I know, pretty girl. It was a different time back then. Plenty of people hated having the club call Shine home. Thought we were going to corrupt their kids or some shit.”

“Unfortunately, there’re still some assholes like that around,” Mia says.

“Doesn’t matter. Fuck those people,” Lucy chimes in.

Jude lifts his beer bottle. “Hear, hear, Lucifer.”

An hour passes of playing pool, talking shit, and filling Charlie and Lucy in on a few high school stories.

“You should have seen Freya,” Ozzy says. “Seeing her ready to knock Trevor Adam’s head from his shoulders was a thing of beauty.”

“I got a good shove in until you stepped between us,” Freya says with a laugh. “Then you had to go and steal the glory for yourself,” she teases.

“Freya’s a scrapper. Good to know,” Lucy says with a smile toward the woman.

“Half those guys are reliving their glory days with their buddies at a Wednesday night bowling league—divorced and paying child support and alimony out the ass now,” Linc says. “Especially if their wives meet with Freya.”

My prez’s old lady has made quite a name for herself as a family law attorney in Shine. She usually takes on as many pro bono cases as she can manage, especially for the wives of men like Trevor Adams.

“Didn’t your brother play football with the guys, Mia? Was he team Ozzy or team dickhead?” Charlie asks.

Ozzy, Linc and I share an uncomfortable look. Nolan hung out with Trevor, but he was always on the outskirts. After graduation, he would come around the clubhouse on his piece-of-shit bike every once in a while, but none of us really liked him. We discovered at one of the parties that he was dealing coke. Me, Linc, and Ozzy stepped in and made it abundantly clear that shit wasn’t tolerated at our clubhouse or in our town. Last I heard, he left Shine not long after Mia went to college.

“He did, but we don’t really talk anymore. My parents hear from him every once in a while, but after I left Arizona, I haven’t tried to contact him.”

Interesting that she says she hasn’t tried. Does that mean he has? Mia doesn’t seem like the type to cut someone out of her life, especially if that someone is family.

“What happened? You never talk about him.” Lucy asks, nosy as fucking ever.

“Maybe she doesn’t want to, love. Leave it be,” Jude says.

Mia sets the end of the pool stick she’s holding on the floor, leaning into it a bit as though she’s using it as support.

“It’s okay.” Her other hand grabs the drink she has sitting at the edge of the table, and she takes a healthy swallow. “My parents sent him out to Arizona to live with me. They paid our rent, and I worked and went to school to pay for bills and food. Nolan did…nothing, which was pretty typical. He’d go out at night and usually wouldn’t come home until I was getting ready to leave for class or to go to my shift at a coffee shop on campus. One day, I got home early and he was passed out on the couch with a bunch of baggies of white powder in front of him on the coffee table. I woke him up, and he said he was holding it for a friend. Of course, I was furious and threatened to kick him out, but he swore up and down it would never happen again. Then I started getting bills from credit card companies with my name on them. The only thing was, I’d never signed up for them.”

“Jesus,” Charlie breathes out, and Mia nods with a pinched look on her face.

“Yup. I threw him out and told my parents what happened. They didn’t try to defend his actions or anything, but I know they started sending him money. They’d ask me to go to whatever friend’s house he was staying at to try to talk to him but never flew out to do it themselves. It was a mess, to be honest. And, as usual, I was tasked with cleaning it up.” She shrugs and looks at Lucy. “Are we still playing, or what?”

Lucy perks herself up and nods. “Yeah, it’s your shot.”

Mia sends her a tight smile and takes the shot, no one bringing up her asshole brother again.

Mia and I win another game, then Lucy and Wyatt win the other. Our two teams are tied neck and neck when the clubhouse door opens and a few girls from the strip club show up.

“Heard there’s a birthday boy here tonight,” one of the girls says, walking up to me at the pool tables. “It’s been a minute, Knox.”

The woman smiles and tosses her red locks over her shoulder as she comes to stand next to me.

“Hey, Heather,” I say, giving her a pleasant smile.

Heather and I used to have fun together. She’s been working at the club for a couple years and likes to consider herself as more than a stripper who takes her clothes off for men who shove money into some barely there G-strings. Heather likes to give a performance, an experience, and occasionally that includes using ropes. When I saw her perform for the first time, I was impressed, and she made it known to me that she likes to play off the stage as well.

“I’ve missed seeing you around. You know, I came up with a new routine. I’d love to get your thoughts on it.” Her hand brushes my forearm, and I subtly move my arm just out of reach.

Heather and I have never had a relationship or rather, any sort of commitment. Neither of us is in a place where that’s what we want. She does her thing, and I do mine. And sometimes, we meet up to scratch an itch. But I’m also not an asshole who’s going to make her feel uncomfortable and give her a rude brush-off.

“Been busy,” is all I say, but I try to keep my tone as neutral as possible. Mia is on the other side of the table, pretending she isn't paying attention, but I am. The way she stiffened and her hand went to her necklace as soon as Heather touched me did not go unnoticed.

“Well, let me know if you have a free night,” she says and smiles before going to the bar where the rest of the girls are getting drinks from a very captivated prospect.

“It’s getting late,” Mia says before she hangs her stick back on the wall. “I’m going to head out.”

“Oh, come on, it’s barely eleven,” Lucy says. “We need our final match so I can claim victory.”

“I’m getting pretty tired too, actually,” Charlie says, giving Mia a small smile before turning to Linc. “Take me home?”

“That’s the best offer I’ve had all night.”

“It had better be your only offer,” Charlie says, swatting him in the chest.

“Lead the way, Charlie Pie.”

Charlie groans with the use of my brother’s nickname for her, but we all know she loves it. “Come on, Mia. We’ll walk you out.”

Mia gives Charlie an appreciative smile while Lucy pouts next to her.

“Lame,” Lucy gripes.

“I’ll play you, Lucifer.”

“As long as you promise to keep the crying to a minimum,” Ozzy interjects.

“I do not cry,” Jude retorts with an air of offense.

Mia gives Lucy a hug, promising that they’re still on for working out in a couple days. When she passes me on her way to the door, her smile is once again tight. “Happy birthday,” she says, then brushes past me, following Linc and Charlie.

Jude reracks the balls, and I head to the bar to get myself another beer.

Fuck, I did not like the look of disappointment on Mia’s face. And I hate that I care about what she could be thinking about what is or isn’t going on with Heather. Just when I thought she was relaxing around me, it all got shot to hell, and now she’s back to being stiff and uncomfortable around me.

“Another beer, Knox?” the prospect asks.

“Yeah. And a shot.”

He sets the beer and a small glass in front of me, filling it with my favorite Irish whiskey.

When he moves to put the bottle back, I grab the base. “Leave the bottle.”

Fuck it. It was nice while it lasted, but if tonight proved anything to me, Mia’s too sweet for this life. And for me.

Happy fucking birthday to me.

The next morning comes way too damn early. When I peel my eyes open, I let out a groan of discomfort. Looking over to the other side of the bed, I’m relieved no one is sleeping next to me. The events of the rest of the evening after Mia left with Charlie and Linc are a bit hazy, which means the whiskey did exactly what it was supposed to. I sit up in bed and rub the ache in my temples. Shit, maybe a little too well.

My shirt is off, but I slept in my jeans, which always leaves me feeling like I haven’t gotten a good night's sleep. Although I suppose that could be due to the copious amounts of whiskey I poured down my throat. The last thing I remember is Lucy throwing money at the girls who were giving the prospect the time of his life while he sat tied to a chair. I may have had something to do with that little idea.

Climbing out of bed, I make it into the bathroom and turn on the shower as hot as I can stand it. After brushing my teeth, I step under the scalding spray to wash this hangover from my body. There’s shit to do today, and I don’t need to be riding around smelling like a distillery. Braxton and I are going to head into Boston and take inventory of the guns we’re set to run to Michigan next week.

Several of the guys are sitting on the large black leather sectional, eating giant breakfast sandwiches when I emerge from my room.

“Your mom dropped these off this morning,” Jude says through a mouthful of food.

I grunt my response and head behind the bar to grab a cup of coffee.

“Place doesn’t look half-bad,” I say to the room, noticing that all the trash, glasses, and beer bottles from last night aren’t anywhere to be seen.

“Ozzy woke up the prospect a few hours ago to clean up,” Wyatt says.

Everyone has a little chuckle. Listen, if someone wants to patch in, we aren’t going to let them nurse a hangover like a little bitch. They knew exactly what they signed up for.

“From what I remember, he had a good time last night,” I say.

“Not so much this morning,” Ozzy says, coming from the hallway with a grin on his face.

We had to do the same shit when we wanted to patch into the club out of high school. And I seem to recall Trick and Gramps being just as pleased about watching us do the grunt work when we were hungover as much as Ozzy and I enjoy it.

My attention turns to the large TV hanging on the wall. There’s a reporter talking about the authorities finding the body of a dead girl just outside of Boston.

“The victim has not been identified by police, who, at this time, are still investigating the cause of death. Sources say the woman was found in a shallow grave with carvings over her stomach. We are also told that they are looking into the possibility that the woman could have been reported missing last year after authorities uncovered the bodies of three missing women in New York. We will report more as information becomes available. Back to you in the studio.”

I turn to Ozzy and raise a brow. “New York?”

Several months ago, Jude and his brother were involved in dismantling a sex trafficking ring with the Monaghans. The asshole in charge was the head of the Bratva in New York. He went after Eoghan Monaghan’s woman, who was also the dickhead's daughter. They caught up to him and wiped him from the planet with the help of his son, Nikolai, who now runs shit in New York. It could be nothing, or it could be something. But if someone is selling women this close to us, there’s no way in hell we’re going to let it stand.

“I’ll give Finn a call and ask him to check in with Nikolai. If this shit didn’t die in our state with Farina, I want to know,” Ozzy says.

Braxton comes out of the kitchen and sees me, shoving the last bit of his sandwich in his mouth. “Goddamn, if your mom wasn’t living with Trick, I’d ask her to marry me today,” he says, rubbing his stomach.

“And I’d be committing patricide tomorrow,” I say. “Ready?”

“Yup, let’s go.”

Nothing like a long ride to rid me of the remnants of this hangover.