Page 4 of Knox (The Devil’s Luck MC #6)

CAROLINE

I recognized the cocky bastard from the second he walked in like he was considering buying it in cash. Hilarious. Half the Devil’s Luck were piss poor.

The game had been going according to plan effortlessly. At least until that dolt Asher let his careless drinking and obsession with winning override the plan. And, of course, my own unhealthy habit of causing chaos by outsmarting men with equally unhealthy vices.

Then Royal Flush ruined fucking everything. Everything.

It was my job to know every detail about the members of the Devil’s Luck MC down to the moles on their backs.

The Wolverines had been dealing with them for a while, and they kept cropping up like weeds.

They all had their roles, but Flush? There wasn’t much on him.

After what just happened, that made him a threat.

And a suicidal pain in the ass.

A tall, leanly muscular, dark-haired, strongly blue-eyed pain in the ass.

“Yeah,” he said with a bemused expression as if he wasn’t afraid of who I was—as if he wasn’t afraid of who my father was.

“It did feel pretty damn good. Guy’s got a strong skull.

” He held out his hand to show off the split knuckles.

“Normally, I’m not that sloppy, but it was a small place. Not a lot of room to improvise.”

Sloppy ? I thought scornfully. You all but went in for the kill. You were nothing but controlled.

He tilted his head curiously, looking me up and down. “I can put an end to you, too, ice queen. Right here, right now, and you won’t even know my name.”

I stormed up to him, putting mere inches between us, curved my lips in a wicked smile, and hissed, “Nathaniel Knox, also known as Royal Flush of the Devil’s Luck MC.”

Flush’s grin faltered for the briefest moment, the humor in his eyes flashing toward something dangerous.

“And I can end you just as easily,” I said. “Send another Devil back to hell.”

The switchblade hiding in my sleeve slid out into my hand and just brushed the waistband of his dark jeans. Move a little to the left, put some effort into the forward thrust, and bye bye, baby-maker.

Knox’s jaw ticked, but he remained still. Men’s bodies were so delicate. “Sneaky. That tiny thing was a gamble against the size of those chuckleheads.”

I tilted my head to the side slowly, the kind of sultry motion that made lesser men’s brains short circuit. Men’s minds were filled with only violence, the need for power, and the desire to abuse women. It was easy to outwit them once you cracked that code.

I made my voice simpering. “Do you have a tiny thing, Royal?”

Before he could react, I kneed him in the balls.

Knox dropped to a knee on the cracked pavement with a grunt, hands covering his crotch. “Fuck, woman,” he groaned. “The fuck?”

I switched the blade closed and stuck it in the inside pocket of my jacket. I was taller now with him kneeling, and I enjoyed the powerplay of bringing a member of the Devil’s Luck to his knees with one move—something my father could never do so quickly.

“What do you mean, the fuck ?” I snapped. “You deserved that! You have no idea what you just did.”

That infuriating smirk returned as Knox pushed to his feet, dusting off his jacket. It was just a plain old leather cut, no Devil’s emblem to be seen. How had he even heard of the Lair? Why did he go? What was he after?

Who was he after?

“Saved your pretty ass, for one, Miss Bates.”

I considered punching him in the dick again. “No,” I said with my best attempt at patience. “You just put a target on your back. You’re a Devil, for fuck’s sake. Did Black Jack send you? My father is going to hear about this, and when he does? You’re dead. Your whole club is dead.”

I waited for Knox to balk, to show some sort of hesitation, regret, guilt, something . But he just kept grinning, unfazed by the threat of the full might of Walter Bates and the Wolverines.

“Yeah?” He chuckled. “I’d love to see him try. He’s been hiding in a hole for months. I’m sick of all this shit.” Knox gestured to nothing in particular. “Someone has to put an end to it all.”

And then his smile shifted into something that made my blood run cold when he rumbled, “Why not me?”

I crossed my arms. “Sounds like you’re going rogue, Flush.”

“I prefer Royal.”

“Pickers can’t be choosers when you just got kicked out of a poker den, Nathaniel.”

That made his grin go away—fast and sharp like a gunshot, but his voice was a deadly whisper. “Do not call me that.”

Nathaniel “Royal Flush” Knox was a threat, sure, but he had yet to give me a real reason to fear him. I narrowed my eyes. “Then don’t call me sweetheart , or I’ll stab more than just your pecker.”

Knox bent down slightly. The move was meant to be intimidating, a motion to pair with the lethal gleam in his gaze. “I’m not afraid of you, Miss Bates. Or your father.”

I almost staggered back in shock. He had to be bluffing just to be charming. Everyone was afraid of Walter Bates. How could Knox not be afraid of my father when he had almost killed half of his MC? I could barely list the shit Father had done to destroy the Devil’s Luck.

There. That was the reason to fear him. That was what made Knox truly dangerous. Because in this world of metal and blood, being fearless meant being reckless, and that was what got men killed.

I mentally shook my head. I wasn’t so easily rattled, not after everything I’ve been through. “You’re an idiot to think so. And a selfish asshole. You put me in jeopardy?—”

“Yeah, and? Why should I care?”

Anger rushed me so powerfully that I didn’t know what to do. The curse I had inherited from my father—quick to anger, quick to draw a weapon. But I didn’t show my switchblade again because Knox wouldn’t blink at it.

“You’re right,” I snapped. “No clue why I’m wasting my breath on you. Get the hell out of my sight.”

“Why? Is this your property? Let me guess: your buddy Asher is going to report to your Daddy, and then you’ll have to explain why you didn’t kill me where I stand? Go on. Give him a call. I’d love to hear your excuse. I don’t need to be anywhere else tonight.”

The weight of the switchblade in my pocket grew heavier.

I wanted to use it so badly . Knox wouldn’t be intimidated by it, and he would make quick work of disarming me.

I knew I was capable of drawing blood before he could, but the Devils were quick, cunning bastards.

Black Jack was one of the deadliest men in Reno. And like a damn cockroach.

When Father got it in his head to end someone, he never failed—except where the Devils were concerned.

Maybe that was part of the reason I could only feel angry at Knox—that his president was unkillable, and by default, his whole club was unkillable.

The last thing I thought to do—the last thing I wanted to do—was call my father. Knox closed in on my hesitation like a predator on easy prey.

He shoved himself into my personal space, and I had no choice but to back up until my back bumped into the warehouse exterior.

My shoulder blades dug into the brick as Knox towered over me.

Suddenly, all I could focus on was his warm breath that plumed in the cold night air and my pulse pounding in my ears.

With chilling accuracy, he murmured, “You’re scared.”

I couldn’t remember the last time I let a man get this close. But I did remember kneeing him in the balls, too.

My jaw clenched. “I’m not.”

“Liar.”

I hated how fast he fired back. With so few words and so few movements, he had gotten under my skin. Just as fast as he had stopped and brought down Asher. I felt myself start to unravel?—

No. Fuck that. I was Walter Bates’s daughter. My skin was tough as cow hide, and no Devil’s Luck egotist was going to threaten me.

“Get away from me.” I shoved at his chest, but he barely budged. “You’re an idiot. You just picked a fight with a Wolverine in a room full of criminals while I was trying to keep it all from boiling over. Now my father is going to think I’m the problem.”

Knox raised a brow, his intensity giving way to simmering amusement. “You are the problem. Just not for the reasons you think.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” I demanded. “No, I don’t have the patience to?—”

“Means I saw you in there, princess,” Knox interrupted. “Playing everyone. You might be loyal to Daddy, but you’re looking for a way out. You want this whole thing to burn down, don’t you?”

The last thing I expected was my heart to lurch at the words. I played it off. “You don’t know a damn thing about me.”

Knox stepped closer. Even in the dim building lights, I could see the flecks of different blues in his eyes. He lowered his voice as if to make me feel the weight of his following words. “No? Then tell me why you told Asher not to move.”

I shoved him with such sudden force that he took one stumbling step back. I slipped out from between him and the wall. The only thing I needed to do was get out .

I had taken an Uber here. I whipped out my phone and barely opened the app before the screen showed an incoming caller.

My feet rooted to the spot.

Behind me, Knox called teasingly, “Daddy?”

I shoved all emotion down into an inner box within me. Anything other than revenge was not welcome in the Wolverines MC.

I tapped the screen. “Father,” I answered flatly.

“Caroline.” My father’s voice was smooth, but there was an underlying edge that had been there for months now. “Where are you?”

It was a question but he already knew the answer.

I kept my voice equally smooth. “Concluding the meeting.”

A slow, amused chuckle came through the line. “That so? Because I just got word that my little girl let a Devil put his hands on one of my men. That you are outside right now talking to him. You wouldn’t be lying to me, would you, sweetheart?”

As casually as I could, I twisted to search for cameras or anyone peeking through the boarded-up windows. He has eyes somewhere.

“I’m threatening him, Father. It’s handled.”

“Handled?” he mused. “I’ll decide if you handled it. Come home. Now.”

The line beeped and went silent.

I didn’t mean to catch Knox’s eye, but unfortunately, I did, and his expression had changed. No snark, no danger. But I didn’t stay to decipher what was there.

I turned to walk toward the road and schedule an Uber.

Then, a large hand caught my wrist. Not rough but firm enough to make me stop.

“You go back to him now, and he’s going to make an example out of you.”

I didn’t look at him. Just stared ahead. “I don’t have a choice.”

Knox tightened his grip. “Bullshit. You always have a choice.”

The impossibility of the statement, spoken with unexpected intensity, made me bark a derisive laugh.

I glanced over my shoulder to see him watching me.

My father caught us both on camera. Nathaniel Knox just fucked himself and his club over just for interacting with me.

And once Father saw that a Devil put his hands on me too? It was a death sentence.

I pulled free with little effort and murmured, “Not in my world, Royal.”