Page 21 of Knox (The Devil’s Luck MC #6)

CAROLINE

I was no stranger to gunfights, but I had never felt like this during one.

Under my father, I was untouchable. Uncatchable.

I was heartless, ruthless, untethered to everything except keeping myself alive.

I was a selfish, self-preserving bitch. Surviving shootouts was just another day.

But this one? I had something to lose.

I had never had that before.

In just a few days, I’d lost everything I’d worked toward my whole life. I had nothing.

Nothing except for Knox.

I saw Gabriel’s body jerk with the force of the bullet hitting his back. I saw him fall and half disappear under the ferns.

“ NO! ”

Knox’s roar jolted me out of my thoughts. Bullets were still firing from the men I’d stood by for years. That was the ultimate betrayal.

Knox stopped, whirling, raising his gun to shoot furiously at the pursuing Wolverines. He actually hit a few, as precisely as a sharpshooter. But he was as vulnerable as a fawn in a clearing.

I grasped his shirt, trying to yank him behind a tree, but he wouldn’t budge. Mason, however, threw himself at Knox with a furious shot. They both went down.

But they were up in an instant, Mason shouldering Knox toward me behind a huge pine tree. They immediately used it as cover and kept shooting.

“Knox,” I gasped, grabbing his shirt again.

I flinched when Knox shoved me away. “Get off,” he snarled.

My eyes narrowed, irritation spiking through the fear I hated to admit I was feeling. I grabbed his wrist. “You idiot?—”

Knox whirled, and in a blink, he had my back pinned against the tree, his forearm pressing into my throat. His face was in mine, scarily close. “Keep your fucking hands to yourself,” he snarled inhumanly.

“Knox,” Mason barked. “She’s right. We need to keep moving.”

Knox didn’t miss a beat barking back, “Gabriel?—”

Bullets peppered our tree cover.

I had never felt so useless.

“Knox.” My voice was soft, almost lost in the gunfire. The Wolverines didn’t seem to be pursuing anymore, just shooting. That meant nothing good. They were starving us out, waiting until we ran out of bullets. They didn’t need to chase us. They were just toying with us now that Gabriel?—

I glanced over. His body was face down. Undeniably dead.

I had heard him joking from inside the trailer. I had heard every word he said.

“ I’ll be the first to admit I’m willing to give Princess a shot at not being the worst person we’ve ever met ,” he’d said with a grin.

“ Pardon me for being the only optimistic one. Knox isn’t the only one who knows some people deserve a second chance.

She could be good for the Devils once Bates is dead . ”

And now he was dead, and all I could think was, I’m getting weak.

Knox and Mason were gutted. It was going to make them reckless and lash out.

Like Knox was lashing out.

I knew this rage wasn’t directed at me. He’d put his neck on the line for me several times now, and now I was willing to do the same.

“Knox,” I said again.

He wasn’t hearing my voice.

I knew if I met him with his same intensity, or the intensity I used to bring to situations like this, that I wouldn’t get anywhere. So this time, when I reached for him, it was to cup his jaw. My thumb brushed over his bruised cheekbone. He winced at the contact but still wasn’t seeing me.

“Knox,” I whispered. “Please.”

Seconds felt like hours. Knox’s chest was heaving with heavy, panicked breaths. He was losing it already. Angry, desperate, hurt. His arm was still braced against my neck. I struggled to swallow.

“Nate.”

The haunted, glazed look in his eyes narrowed to jarringly present clarity. We stared at each other like we were the only ones on the planet. Then he noticed he was damn near choking me.

Horrified, Knox released me, stumbling back. He looked like he wanted to chuck his gun far out of reach as if he’d threatened me with it.

Click, click, click .

Mason snarled, “Fuck!” as his gun emptied. He really did chuck his gun. He slammed his fist against the tree. “ Fuck .”

His voice cracked. My throat tightened with tears. The backs of my eyes burned.

Bullets suddenly stopped firing.

Heel chuckled in the near distance. “You Devils are shit shots! We’ll wait you out. We may be Wolverines, but we like to play with our prey like kitty cats. We got claws and teeth. What do you Devil bastards got?”

Humanity, I wanted to shout back. But I didn’t because Knox was hurting and only I could bring him back.

“Survive this first, Nate,” I told him softly, a tone I’d never used before.

The only time I spoke softly to a man was when I was threatening him with death.

It had never been used to soothe before.

How weird. But it still had bite. “Then you can mourn. Take a page out of my book, and be selfish for once.”

Knox’s eyes flashed defiantly. “Not with you, Caroline.”

“Right now you can. I’m a survivor, remember?” I reminded him of his earlier words that I had bristled at. “Acting restless will get us killed.”

I nodded toward Mason, who was looking murderous as he slumped against the tree. I knew he was reliving William Black’s death. I knew he was replaying the moment Gabriel fell. I knew he was thinking of Suzie Black. He had a lot to lose.

Knox and I? We didn’t have much.

But now we had each other.

He was a survivor, too. We’d gone through too many layers of hell to die now.

Suddenly, Knox bent his head forward to rest his forehead against mine. “Caroline.”

His voice was barely a whisper, yet it felt like an arrow to the heart.

I closed my eyes—a dumb idea, but fuck it—and breathed in the sharp, acrid scent of gunfire coating him like cologne.

It was far from a pleasant smell, but it was familiar to me, and that was pathetic, but who gave a fuck?

As long as this fucker was alive, I couldn’t care less what he smelled like.

“I hate to break this up,” Mason snapped, jerking us out of our little world, “but we’re kind of about to die.”

I looked sharply at him. “No, the hell we’re not. I’ll handle this.”

“The fuck?” Knox barked, grabbing my arm and yanking me close. “You’re not going out there. You’re crazy if you think I’m letting you leave the cover of this stupid tree.”

I pulled free, not unkindly, but firmly. “You don’t need to let me do anything, Nate?—”

“Nate?” Mason questioned.

“—because I’m going to fix this. It’s my responsibility to deal with the consequences of my defying my father.”

Knox was furious again. “You think this is heroic, Caroline? That this will redeem you or some shit? Don’t lie. Jackson?—”

“Jackson was right!”

His eyebrows knitted together. “What?”

“‘You destroy everything you touch, Bates’s bitch,’” I quoted stonily.

“I fucked over so many people. I’ve been selfish my whole life.

This is my chance to be selfless for once.

For myself. For you. For you ,” I said, looking at Mason, who stared in shock.

“If I need to turn myself in to save the Devils, then so fucking be it.”

“Caroline,” Knox growled. “Don’t do this.”

“Too late, cocky bastard.”

Before he could grab me, I shouted, “Don’t shoot, Heel!” and moved outside of the cover of the tree. My hands were raised in surrender. “I give in. Take me back home.”

Heel was heading a dozen Wolverines. They all stood around, guns resting at their sides. Half of them looked bored. Others were swatting at the bugs buzzing around their faces.

Heel grinned. “What’s up, baby Wolverine? Good to see you not tied up in ropes.” He clucked his tongue. “Well, I wouldn’t say that. Did Royal Flush give you a good fuck? Bet his dick’s not as big as mine?—”

Bang!

I dropped to the ground, hands over my head. Damn it.

A bullet shot out of Knox’s gun and grazed Heel’s neck. He shouted in pain, hand flying to the wound, falling to his knees.

Some of the Wolverines jumped to action and fired back, but Heel yowled, “Stop shooting, dumbasses! We’re not to harm Princess!”

They obeyed. I dared to glance up through the ferns. Heel’s neck was stained red. Had the bullet hit a vital vein? By the way he had the strength to stand and look murderous, it seemed he would be fine. That sucked ass.

Come on, Devils. Get Gabriel’s text. We need backup.

Knox was snapping at me to get the fuck back behind the tree with him. He didn’t lunge to grab me. Everyone knew he’d get a storm of bullets his way.

“Caroline, I swear?—”

I got to my feet and rushed toward Heel. “We can make a deal.”

Heel and some of the Wolverines chuckled.

“Don’t think so, Princess,” Heel said slowly so as not to agitate the bleeding wound. “You’re going to pay for this, Knox. Expect my hospital bill in a week.”

“Take me back to my father,” I said as if he hadn’t spoken. “And leave the Devils alone. It’s not a difficult agreement.”

Heel rolled his eyes. “In theory, yeah. But Bossman gave the order to butcher every Devil we see. I won’t argue with that at all.” His voice darkened. “You’re coming home, Caroline, and your fuckbuddy Knox is gonna join his brother over there. That was my bullet, by the way.”

Mason and Knox roared but didn’t leave the tree cover.

Heel jerked his chin. “Grab her.”

I bolted.

The Wolverines rushed toward me, but I managed to snatch up Gabriel’s fallen gun and start my own round of shooting. They were impressively good at obeying Walter’s commands to keep me in one piece.

I got a few hits in, but nothing fatal as I reached the trailer clearing. I dodged men trying to grab me. They were all huge, burly bastards, and I was too quick. And a better shot than ever, as I shot at their bike tires, flattening them in seconds.

Just as I was tackled to the ground, the cavalry arrived.

The Devil’s Luck came roaring into the clearing, their bikes falling over as they leapt into action, shooting.

Someone pulled the Wolverine off me, then grabbed my arms and lifted me to my feet easily. I thrashed, but Knox’s voice hissed in my ear, “It’s me, woman. Get to the truck. The bike is too vulnerable.”

I hauled ass, Knox not far behind. I glimpsed Jackson and the other Devils fighting like hell.

“Go!” Jackson roared. “We got ‘em!”

Knox and I jumped into the truck. The engine sputtered when he turned the key. Knox cursed and slammed his palm to the dashboard. Miraculously, it worked, and the truck came to life. Knox yanked it into drive and hit the pedal to the metal.

The tires skidded, jerking us forward. Knox glanced in the rearview mirror and sucked in a breath. His hand moved to the back of my head and shoved it forward just as a hailstorm of bullets came through the windows.

My memory blanked out after that, because the next thing I knew, we were on the highway, speeding back toward Reno. No other Wolverines or bikes around. We had a clear path back.

“The others’ll follow,” Knox panted, more to himself than me. “They have to. They will. Gabe… Gabriel… We left him behind. We?—”

Knox’s voice cracked. He was white-knuckling the wheel. His left knee was bouncing like crazy. He was losing his shit.

“Nate.” I rested my hand on his thigh. He flinched, jerking the wheel. I screamed when we almost swerved into oncoming traffic. “Okay. Pull over, you wreck of a man.”

Knox did, and then he broke down.