Page 28 of Knox (The Devil’s Luck MC #6)

KNOX

T he reunion was going about as well as I expected. That was to say… not well.

The Well had emptied out, wise enough to avoid club business. Now it was just a standoff between me, Jackson, Caroline, and Sam—our one hope at a chance of peace, however temporary.

It was only a matter of time before the rest of the Devils came out. They might be gathered around the fireplace on the other side of the stone wall, which separated the dining area from the more private setup for Devil meetings and the like.

But for right now, it came down to Jackson caving to his woman’s request or not.

He tried stern reasoning first. “Baby, you can’t be serious.”

Sam shot him a withering glare. “I might have pregnancy brain and can’t remember to put on both socks, but I sure as hell remember who burned down my father’s bar, but I’m also sure as hell that I know what regret and redemption look and sound like.

I know when someone needs a second chance.

And I’m not so blinded by male ego and so-called honor to ignore a plan to finally end the man who tried to kill all of us at least once. ”

Jackson had the sense to look humbled by Sam’s rant. I knew I sure was.

I glanced at Caroline and hated that she was making herself so small.

But I knew it was on purpose, too. She couldn’t look like a threat to any of the Devils.

If she strode in with heels, her pristine pantsuit, and hair slicked back in a high ponytail—she was immediate danger.

But dressed down in the flannel and jeans I found for her, her hair in an old claw clip, she blended right in. Not a threat. A second chance.

Sam came around the bar, wiping her palms on her thighs. “Come with me,” she ordered Caroline, gesturing to follow, then heading toward the private section. As she passed Jackson, she swatted his arm. “Back down, tiger. This is my bar. I decide who’s banned and who’s not. Got it?”

I almost snorted seeing Jackson try not to react to being scolded by a pregnant lady. Then he stepped aside for Caroline and me to pass. He growled like an easily provoked pit bull as she hurried by.

Voices came into earshot. Caroline stopped short when she saw the big round table where every Devil’s Luck member was sitting sipping ale and shit. As soon as they saw us, the room went dead silent.

Then they all looked like they wanted to do something really bad to Caroline.

Mason jerked to his feet, hand going to his empty gun holster at his hip. “Murderer,” he spat.

Susan, who sat beside him, looked to Sam to gauge the situation. As soon as she saw Sam’s peacekeeping expression, Suzie grabbed Mason’s sleeve and yanked. “Sit down, gunslinger, for fuck’s sake.”

All the other men tried to shield their women, especially Abel, who put his hand over Elle’s big belly. “What’s she doing here?” he demanded. “She’s going to lead Bates right to our doorstep again.”

“I’m not,” Caroline said before I could get a word out.

Everyone reacted like she’d cursed them out or something.

“Witch,” Abel muttered.

Brody, ever the doctor, was focused on me. He stood and stalked over to assess my bruised face. I let him fuss like a mother hen, winking at Andy across the table, who only flashed a tense smile.

“You’re damn lucky nothing’s broken.” Brody sighed in exasperation. He looked at Jackson. “As a doctor, I highly advise against wailing on your own club member. I won’t say that a third time.”

Jackson just grunted and waved a hand.

Sam, annoyed with his attitude, rolled her eyes. “We established no acting like dicks to each other. Here, Miss Bates.”

Sam pulled over an extra chair. I set it next to my spot at the table. Brody, Jackson, and Sam all took their places.

I was oddly proud of our table. It made my inner child excited, as I pretended it was King Arthur’s Round Table, but with guns instead of swords and bikes instead of horses.

Caroline looked to me for guidance, as if I needed to tell her what to do at every step. I was happy to guide her—anything to keep the peace. I laced my fingers with hers under the table.

“This is ridiculous,” one of the guys muttered. I couldn’t determine which one. I was too busy watching Caroline staring at Sam’s big, round belly. I wondered what she was thinking. Was she trying to understand the scope of what was at stake for the Devils?

Sam slapped her hand on the wooden table to call for attention, as if she were King Arthur and not President Black Jack. “All right. You fuckers remember this is my bar. What I say goes—got it?”

Most of the members nodded reluctantly.

“Good.” Sam turned to Caroline, pinning her with a hard, unreadable stare. “If whatever plan you have to pitch goes sideways, you’ll answer for it—with blood.” She paused for dramatic effect. “Are you sure you want to risk that, Miss Bates?”

Mason snorted derisively and slammed his beer bottle on the table, startling the women, but he didn’t care.

“She won’t pay a price if she’s in on this with her father.

Like I said, this could be the perfect infiltration.

This could have been Bates’s plan all along—find a crack they can wiggle their way into. ”

My VP looked at me. “Looks like she found ours.”

“Mason,” Suzie said in an accusatory tone.

“What?” he fired back. “She ensnares our brother way too quickly, and the next thing we know, Gabriel’s dead. Because he helped you survive.”

He glared a hole in Caroline’s forehead with so much hurt and hate that it made my chest feel like it was stuck in a vise.

A couple of the guys reacted, nodding or muttering under their breath. Grant, however, didn’t move. Just stared at the table like it had all the answers.

A whole slew of emotions clouded my head. All my brothers doubted me. I was loyal to these guys as a person, friend, and club member, and now my own VP was implying I was the weak link that let Caroline sneak her way into our club.

It was a damn ugly accusation.

And it got under my skin.

Even worse, what if it was true?

What if Caroline was just a plant, and this whole thing was set up from the beginning? It could have been a perfect act, a perfect play, winning the award of ending the Devil’s Luck once and for all from the inside out.

Not only all that, but he was blaming Gabriel’s death on her. I had spent a week trying to convince her it wasn’t her fault. There was no way I would let it be unraveled by Mason’s insinuations.

Caroline’s fingers squeezed mine. I didn’t know if it was in reassurance or in warning not to do something stupid, but I didn’t look at her. I couldn’t, when I was wondering if this was all just one big lie. Could I have been duped that easily?

“No in-fighting,” Sam suddenly snapped, glaring at Mason, who was so surprised that he sat. “We’re not like the Wolverines. We’re not animals. We talk like adults and figure shit out civilly to protect our own.”

Sam’s hand rubbed her belly. She tipped her head toward Elle’s. Poor Elle looked ready to bolt.

Sam turned her glare on Jackson. “I’m still mad at you for punching Knox. Look at the bastard’s poor face. You’d better feel guilty for hitting your own club member, or you’re sleeping on the couch.”

Some of the guys hid snorts behind their hands. Damn, it was funny seeing Sam boss big bad Black Jack around like he wasn’t the shit.

Jackson’s look turned murderous. Everyone sat straight up like they were kids scolded by a teacher. But he didn’t make eye contact with me or Caroline. “Sam, baby,” he said measuredly, “our second biggest enemy is sitting in our midst?—”

“Yes, and?”

“ And— ”

“I have an answer to your question, Miss Lye.”

Everyone whipped around to look at Caroline.

She was sitting ramrod straight, chin lifted, confidence burning in those gorgeous blue eyes.

She had bought some cheap makeup from the thrift store, but she made it look good.

Classy. Badass, but not like she was trying to make herself look like a whore with a smoky eye or some shit.

Sam sat up straighter, even if she winced from the pull on her stomach. “I would love to hear it, Miss Bates.”

Tension crackled between them like lightning. I gripped Caroline’s fingers tightly, avoiding looking at my brothers.

“Please,” Caroline said, firm but not unkind. “Call me Caroline. I no longer want to be associated with Walter Bates from here on out.”

Jackson and Mason looked ready to lash out, but Sam held up a hand, silencing them. I blinked in surprise. Since when did she hold all the power? Not that I was complaining at all. I’d follow her into battle any day.

“Caroline,” Sam corrected warmly. Then her hospitality smile faded. “You’ve got a lot of explaining to do and not a lot of time to do it. Or patience. You know men, they think with their fists and dicks before common sense.”

The guys all bristled, but the women smirked.

Caroline nodded. “You don’t have to trust me. I came to offer you leverage—against the man I used to call my father.”

She paused, making the room hold its breath like a badass bitch, looked each Devil in the face, and said, “I know the monster you’re up against—because he made me. That’s why I’m the best weapon you’ve got to wipe him off the face of the planet.”

The silence that followed was intense as all fuck.

Grant, surprisingly, was the first to speak. He looked like hell; grief was taking its toll on him the worst.

“Why should we believe you?”

Caroline looked at him sharply, but I knew it wasn’t because she thought it was an offensive question. No, it was a trigger to conjure all the shitty things that Bates had done to her just recently—and over the course of her life.

“I’m not asking you to,” she said flatly. “I’m not asking you to blindly follow me, either.”

She glanced around the table at each club member, lingering on Sam, Suzie, and Carrie. She’d done the worst damage to them. Like the badasses they were, the three women met her gaze unflinchingly.

“Walter Bates made me a monster,” Caroline continued. “Every order I followed, every threat I delivered, every scar I created… All of it was blind loyalty to a man who saw me as a disposable tool, not a daughter.”

Caroline paused to let the words sink in, then said, “The last thing you all want to hear is apologies. Nothing I can do or say will atone for Walter’s crimes. But I want to help you put an end to them. I want him dead just as much as the rest of you, and if I have to burn with him, then so be it.”

That wasn’t part of the plan we decided on. “Caroline,” I barked.

She ignored me coolly.

Jackson opened his mouth to speak, bristling even more than usual, but Sam spoke first again. “I think she’s right.”

Jackson recoiled. “You think fucking what ?”

Sam calmly rested one hand on Jackson’s knee with the other still on her belly.

“We are all dealing with grief. We are weak now. But we can’t afford that.

We have to put aside our ego and pride. Vengeance.

Justice. We’ll get it if we’re smart. Jackson,” she pleaded.

“This is our best chance to bring our baby into a world that doesn’t have Walter Bates in it. ”

Jackson’s jaw clenched. The wheels were turning in his head a million miles per second. Was his love and trust in Sam stronger than his mistrust of the daughter of his greatest enemy?

After what seemed like forever, Jackson said, low and dangerous, “I’ll hear your plan. But if you betray us, Caroline , I will end you personally.”

Caroline was unfazed. She nodded once.

Then he turned to me. “You’re responsible for her. Her betrayal will also be yours.”