Page 15 of Knox (The Devil’s Luck MC #6)

KNOX

I woke up to the late afternoon sun shining in my face through the window, whose blinds I had forgotten to pull down. The trailer was warmed by it, and my sides began to feel sticky with sweat. But the real warmth was from the woman asleep in my arms.

Caroline was facing me, looking unguarded for the first time since I first encountered her—and probably ever.

She was never allowed—couldn’t afford—to ever be anything but guarded, her walls up and ironclad.

But she had cried herself to sleep in the arms of a Devil, and that meant more than I could describe for both of us.

Strands of hair had come loose around her ears, and her bangs had been freed.

The headbutt bruise was already lightening.

Her brows were well-groomed and looked even better when they weren’t furrowed in defensiveness.

And her lips? Damn, I wanted to kiss them, the way they were parted just slightly, soft, even if the lower one was still split.

It looked a hell of a lot better. Kissable.

Just as I reached to brush a stray hair off her cheek with a knuckle, my phone buzzed in my back pocket.

Caroline immediately stirred. “Who’s calling this early, like you’re so damn important?”

I snorted softly. “Go back to sleep. I’ll talk outside.”

“No. Stay.” One hand grabbed my shirt while the other rubbed at her eyes, blinking at the sunlight. It made a hazy glow around her blonde hair like a halo. “It’s fine. I’m up.”

The buzzing was insistent. I looked at the screen, annoyed. It was Grant.

I answered and put the phone to my ear. “Toke. What’s up?”

“Not much,” he said from the end of the line. “Your voice is all scratchy. Did you smoke a few packs last night or what?”

“No, I’m just waking up, dildo.”

Caroline sat up, stretching luxuriously, arms above her head. My eyes wandered. If she noticed, she didn’t berate me.

“Can I hear sheets rustling in the background?” Grant asked. Then he whistled. “You dirty dog. Tell me you didn’t.”

Caroline must have heard Grant’s banter because she shot me a reproachful glare.

“I didn’t sleep with Caroline,” I said defensively.

Grant clearly didn’t believe me. “Hey, Gabe! Knox fucked Caroline Bates.”

I bolted from the bed to the other side of the trailer. “Keep your fucking voice down,” I snarled, glancing at Caroline. If she heard, she didn’t show it. She just tugged the rubber band out of her hair, wincing when it threatened to yank her whole head off, to fix all the strays.

Grant just laughed at my expense. “Panties in a bunch? If you’re still wearing ‘em. Definitely sounds like you’ve been a bad boy. Fuck. If Jackson ever found out you?—”

“I didn’t ,” I growled. “Besides, she’s leaving town tomorrow. I have a plan to get her out without anyone knowing. She’ll have two thousand miles between her and Bates by tomorrow night.”

“And we’ll put this whole thing behind us before Black Jack finds out.”

I didn’t hesitate to answer, “Yeah,” but mentally, I hesitated big time. I met Caroline’s gaze. She was sitting cross-legged on the bed. Either she was waiting for me to come back and join her, or waiting for me to move so she could escape the trailer.

“Damn, must’ve been a good fuck in order to buy her that kind of Uber.” Gabriel snickered, closer to the speaker, clearly in on the conversation now.

“Are you on speakerphone, you dicks?” I asked Grant sharply.

“Nah,” said Gabriel, “I just have super hearing. So, was she a?—”

“I’m hanging up.”

“No!” Grant damn near yelled. “Hold on. Sorry. Get out of here, Gabe.” I heard some pushing and shoving, and a few laughs. “He’s gone, Knox. I called to make sure she didn’t gut you while you slept.”

I smirked at Caroline. She gave me a suspicious look. “No need to worry about that, Toke. She’s got claws, but she’s a tame Wolverine once she sheathes ‘em.”

Caroline purposefully inspected her still-perfect nails. It warmed my trauma-scarred heart to see her playing along.

“Just keep you and Joker’s blabbermouths shut for the day, and I’ll tell Jackson everything once Caroline is at least a couple of states away. Okay?”

“Okay,” Grant agreed, but there was a note of doubt in his voice. “I haven’t heard anything from him today, but he’ll expect all of us to show up at the Well tonight as usual. You better show up, ‘cause I don’t have an excuse not to dredge up suspicion.”

“I know, I know. It’ll work out.”

“It better, Knox,” Grant said darkly. “Your loyalty is to the Devil’s Luck, not a wayward Wolverine princess.”

I thought about Caroline’s warning that Bates would go after the Devils in retaliation for me helping her escape. Dread made my skin prickle. I shoved it aside. “I know. I promise, it’ll turn out fine. I trust you guys to cover my ass until then.”

Grant was silent for a second, then let out a long-suffering sigh. “Yeah, all right. It’s like I like you or something.”

“I should hope so after almost ten years.”

“Ah, fuck off.”

The line beeped and the call ended. I snorted.

For all Grant and Gabriel’s teasing, I knew I could count on them to keep a secret—even one as big as this.

So much had gone screwy in just two days, to say the least. Never in five years could I have imagined I would be helping a Wolverine.

Almost six years ago, Bates killed William Black, and I swore, just like the rest of my brothers, to bring him to justice. To death . A life for a life.

I padded back to Caroline like it was meant to be. She scooted over to make room. Our knees were almost brushing.

“How’re you feeling?” I asked, catching a glimpse of her wrists when she rolled up her sleeves.

“That’s a complicated question,” she answered, hiding the rope burns. “You?”

I shrugged. “I don’t feel like a total giant bruise. Still a bit hungover, probably.”

Caroline offered a fleeting smile. “Yeah, same here.”

My next question, I approached carefully. “Can we talk about?—”

She held up a hand. Now she was anything but smiling. “No.”

I grinned and leaned back on my elbows. “Aw, come on. You wanted to raw dog me just a few hours ago, spitfire.”

“Will you be punished for not telling Black Jack what you’re doing?”

My jaw tightened at the perfect deflection question. She didn’t want to talk about our kiss or the fact that she wanted to have sex with me after going through one of her most traumatic experiences? Fine. I couldn’t expect her to open up like a clamshell.

“Don’t worry about me, spitfire,” I said. “Jackson won’t tie me to a chair and beat the shit out of me. I can handle anything.”

Caroline rolled her eyes. It was a theatrical eye roll, all show, no spite. “Sound more overconfident while we’re here.”

“Aw, you do care.”

“Don’t flatter yourself, Royal Flush. I don’t want you getting in trouble over me.

I still think you shouldn’t have saved me.

It was a mistake.” Caroline’s voice was harsh, but the more she spoke, the softer she became.

More distant. Her following words were a whisper.

“But that doesn’t mean I’m not grateful.

I would rather be here than at that warehouse with… him.”

Vane . The name alone made my blood boil.

The mention of him made me feel like I could finally ask the question that was burning a hole in the back of my mind ever since I found her in that shitty office.

“What did he do to you? You don’t have to talk about it if you don’t want to,” I added quickly. “You’re as guarded as the Pentagon.”

She wrinkled her nose at me. It was adorable. “I’m not emotionally stunted. I can talk about my feelings. I just don’t want to.”

“All right, then. What?—”

“I was lucky.”

I blinked. She was plucking at a loose string on the hem of the shirt— my shirt—and looking at the muddy tile floor.

“You showed up before Vane had a chance to…” A shudder went through her. My hands tightened into fists. “The look in his eyes…” Her voice hardened. “I’ve met the eyes of many bad men in my life, but him? He’s a different breed. And my father left me alone with him.”

The betrayal in her tone was like a punch to the gut. Caroline Bates was a smart woman. She thought fast and hard. She might have allied with her psycho dad for her whole life, but she wasn’t fooled by his cruelty. And she was finally deciding she didn’t want to be his shadow anymore.

“Caroline…”

I felt the urge to take her hand, but I stopped short. If she didn’t like talking about her feelings, she definitely didn’t want to hold hands.

You’re just a stupid teenage boy, Knox, I thought.

She tucked her hands in her lap, pulling her legs in, still not looking up. “I’m not blind to my actions, either. I know I did terrible things to your club. And I never regretted them until my father killed Kyle. That was the turning point.”

“Not when he roped you to a chair?”

I was glad my teasing tone made her lips twitch toward a smile, but it was small and brief. “Okay, maybe that. But the point is, I’m done with blind loyalty.”

Caroline finally lifted her head. Her eyes were stupidly pretty in the sunlight.

They were defiant as hell, too. “You Devils have been trying to get rid of my father for a long time. My relationship with him is over. When you told me what your father did and how it seems you’re better off without him…

it’s giving me courage to want a better life for myself, too. ”

I was at a loss for words. Then I found a few, even if they stumbled out.

“You… you’re using my shitty dad Harlon’s neglect of me to give my MC permission to off your dad?

I mean, I told you all that hours ago! It can’t be that easy to change your mind.

We just met, basically, two days ago. No way you turned over a new leaf that quick.

Why the hell am I trying to talk you out of this? Why am I rambling?”

I clamped my mouth shut, abruptly feeling very unlike myself. “Woman, you’re flipping my whole damn reality inside out. I don’t want to be the one who—Oh, shit.”

Caroline’s eyes were glassy. She was trying not to cry. She had floodgates inside her keeping all traces of emotion locked up, and with just some help from little old me, I put a crack in them. And now they were about to burst. Again. Fuck.

Her lower lip started to wobble. She clapped her hand over her mouth as if to stop a sob.

“I don’t know who I am without him.”

The words hit harder than any punch Vane could land.

Caroline angrily swiped at her eyes to get rid of the tears that hadn’t fallen yet.

“Every decision I’ve ever made… Every plan, every move…

it was all shaped around what he needed.

What he wanted. What would earn me one goddamn scrap of approval.

And now? Now I’m free, I guess.” Her voice cracked, bitter.

“But it doesn’t feel like freedom. I still feel his shackles around my neck.

There’s still a leash. He’s just not holding it anymore. But it’s still fucking there .”

My chest tightened with an ache that was old and familiar. I felt the same way once. Harlon was a shadow I’d spent years trying to get out of, even after his death. The Devil’s Luck got me out of it.

Maybe it would get Caroline out, too.

I couldn’t stand the way she was holding herself—rigid, as if she was bracing for something bad. Like she was expecting me to treat her like her father treated her.

I leaned toward her slowly, carefully.

“Caroline.”

She winced slightly but didn’t pull away when I rested my hand on her knee. My hands slid up her thighs, then her hips, then her sides. Her eyes never left mine as they went glossy with tears again. I crooked a knuckle under her chin, lifting her face to mine, and then I kissed her.