Knox Read online

  “You didn’t storm in here just to tell me something I’m already well aware of,” he remarks with his blue eyes narrowed in anger.

  “I just…I wanted you to know that I’m well aware of what goes on in here.”

  “You know what goes on in here?” Knox repeats. Crossing his arms over his chest, he says, “You raided us, didn’t you?”

  “No,” I answer, which is only a half lie. “I wasn’t part of the raid, but I may have suggested to my superiors that drugs and prostitution was running rampant in here. Too bad it wasn’t enough to shut the hellhole down.”

  “In that case, you’re the reason my ass is stuck here every night trying to straighten everyone out.”

  “Bullshit!” I scoff. “You’re here because you want to be.”

  “I’m here because Ivan doesn’t have anyone else who can run it!” Knox argues.

  “Why can’t he do it himself? Too busy running two crime organizations to deal with whores?” I ask.

  “He can’t run it because it would be disrespectful to his wife to be here every night. Maylin hates this place as much as you do, especially since her dad used to work here,” he explains.

  “And there’s just no one else capable of managing this place in the entire city but you?”

  “No one else Ivan trusts. And it’s not like I have anything else to do,” he replies with a shrug of his shoulders.

  “Whatever,” I grumble.

  Blowing out a breath, Knox asks, “Can I show you something?”

  “Show me what?” I ask.

  “It will only take five minutes. I swear. Please?” he begs as he lowers his arms to his sides.

  It’s nearly impossible to refuse Knox anything when he looks so sexy in his three-piece suit. The outfit makes him seem more authoritative and confident, even if there’s darkness under his eyes like he hasn’t been sleeping much.

  “Fine,” I reluctantly agree. “Five minutes and that’s it.”

  “Thank you,” he says as he strolls past me and grabs my hand before I have time to react. “This way,” he tells me, keeping his grip on me tight enough that I can’t pull away. I have no choice but to follow along behind him out the door, down the hall, and to a closed door on the left. Knox turns the knob and goes in without knocking, then we’re standing in a dark room with several squares filling up a big television screen. It’s apparently the security room, because there are scenes from all over the club taking place in real time.

  “Steve, can you give us a minute?” Knox asks the man sitting in a rolling chair in front of the desk that holds the panel.

  “S-sure,” he replies, removing his headphones and scurrying out of the room.

  “This is what you wanted to show me?” I ask as I look more closely at the various images. “Voyeurism on a bunch of disgusting private rooms?”

  Sliding the chair out of the way, Knox urges me toward the desk until I’m so close the front of my thighs are pressed against the wood. He finally lets go of my hand and stands right behind me so close that I can feel his warm breath when he says, “Look closely and you’ll see that there is nothing going on but dancing in those rooms. No touching allowed for any price.”

  I do look at each of the nine squares, six of which are the views in private rooms. And while the girls are grinding their asses on men’s laps and thrusting their bare breasts in their faces, it doesn’t appear that anything more is taking place.

  “I still don’t approve,” I tell Knox.

  “Everything going on is legal. I bet you would find more action happening on the dance floor of any club in town than in those rooms. And we cleared out all of the drugs from the dressing rooms, warning the girls that, if they brought any more in, they would be fired,” Knox tells me, not giving me any space. His intoxicating cologne or aftershave surrounds me, and his body heat warms my backside. I’m such an idiot for not moving or pushing him further away.

  “This is why I’m here,” he says softly. “To make sure that everyone adheres to the rules and we stay off the RPD’s shitlist. But if you’re still camped out on the street in that green Mercury, then I guess we haven’t earned any trust yet.”

  When he speaks of trust, I know he isn’t just talking about the club and the police, but the trust between me and him.

  Wait a second…

  “I didn’t tell you which car I was in.”

  “Didn’t have to. I’ve known you’ve been out there for two hours. Steve told me before I even pulled up in the parking lot tonight,” Knox says. Reaching around me so that the front of his body is pressed against my backside, he types on the keyboard and clicks on the mouse to zoom in on one of the camera views, the one of our undercover car where Rodriquez is still sitting in the passenger seat. The image is so clear that I can tell he’s reclined his seat and is napping. So much for backup.

  “Your partner isn’t good for shit,” Knox grumbles, echoing my sentiments. He straightens but doesn’t move, leaving zero space between our bodies.

  “Guess I should be glad my life’s not in danger,” I joke.

  “No shit,” Knox agrees. “And just so you know, he’s on the Italian’s payroll. Or maybe it’s the Irish. Either way, he wouldn’t be much help if you decided to shut us down tonight.”

  “Great,” I mutter. “Thanks for the heads-up.”

  “No problem.”

  “Who else on the force is taking money on the side?” I ask him, not only out of curiosity, but because I’m not ready to leave the warmth of Knox’s much bigger body.

  As if he can sense the sexual energy building between us, his hands come down on either side of my waist, holding me flush against him as he whispers in my ear, “You would have to ask Ivan for the list, but I’m pretty sure it’s a long one.”

  “Wow,” I gasp when Knox’s hips tilt forward just a little on the end of his sentence and I feel the part of him that’s growing thick and long. A part that my body has missed since the night we spent together because it doesn’t care about what my heart or head says.

  Trying to extinguish the lit fuse, I tell Knox, “It must be hard to keep that down with all the tits and ass constantly walking around here.”

  “It’s only hard to keep it down when you’re around,” Knox replies smoothly as he continues rubbing himself against my backside in ways that I can’t ignore because it feels too good. I don’t even have time to call bullshit when he adds, “You still own my dick even though I tried to tell him you don’t want him anymore.”

  “It’s not that I don’t want it, or you,” I stupidly respond.

  “Then let me take care of you tonight,” Knox offers with his damp lips making contact with my neck and one of his palms slipping over my belly where he caresses my bump for a moment before lowering it to cup me between my legs.

  “I-I can’t,” I tell him, even though contrary to my words I lean over and plant my hands flat on the desk, pushing my ass even harder against Knox’s crotch.

  Since I can’t seem to verbally express that this is a bad idea, I try reaching for Knox’s hand to remove it and end up covering it with my own to press it harder against my throbbing flesh through my clothes. Not even a minute later, embarrassing enough, I’m coming.

  My head is still hanging as I catch my breath when I hear Knox grumble out a, “Goddamn it!” and then he’s gone, leaving the security room door open behind him and me still hungover from my orgasm.

  I’m trying to figure out if I did something wrong when movement draws my attention to the screen in front of me. I recognize Knox as the figure who enters one of the rooms with the girl and college-aged kid. Unable to hear what’s going on, I watch as Knox jerks the guy up by the front of his shirt and then tosses him in the direction of the door.

  There’s a commotion out in the hallway, and I hear Knox cursing as he tells someone to throw the guy out and check his ID for his name to put him on the banned list.

  “Fuck, I’m sorry,” Knox says when he comes back into the room. “A
sshole grabbed Cass’s titty.”

  “Oh,” I mutter in understanding, feeling oddly jealous of his protectiveness for these women. Which is ridiculous since it’s apparently his job now.

  “I should’ve been paying more attention. Let me get Steve back in here, and we can go to my office if you want?” he asks.

  “Ah, I probably need to get going,” I tell him, watching the disappointment cloud his face. “Sorry. Everything is just calming down, and I don’t want to give you the wrong idea or lead you on.”

  Knox’s disappointment is quickly replaced with anger.

  “Don’t worry, I get it. You want to fuck me but not deal with me being in your life, which you’ve just realized is impossible. So fine, I’ll make you a deal. Quit coming around this fucking club and you won’t have to see me!”

  “Knox, that’s not–” I start to say, but he’s already gone. And I can’t blame him for being mad at me. I was giving him mixed signals, letting him touch me, enjoying it, and then ending it without doing the same for him.

  Knox is young enough to still mix wanting someone with loving them. He thinks he cares about me because we’re great in bed together, but I need more than that. I need him to want more too, like want to be a father and show me that we have more to offer each other.

  The problem is, I just don’t see that happening.

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Knox

  When the last drops of the bottle slide down my throat, there’s not even a tingle or burn. My throat and chest are numb, so I don’t feel it until it lands like a boulder in my empty stomach.

  It’s Monday morning, and I don’t have to go to work today, thank god.

  After Jade left me with the worst case of blue balls on Friday night, Cass told me she was tired of dealing with customers groping her and wanted to give management a shot. A quick call to Ivan, and he easily agreed to let her try it out since we’ve known Cass for years. She’s a woman who has never touched drugs or stepped a toe out of line because she’s just trying to be a good mother. I spent Saturday and Sunday training her, which turned out that she knew a helluva lot more about the club than any of us, and now I’m a free man. Although, I certainly will miss the money. It’s been nice to buy all the shit I need, and the car comes in real handy.

  But back to Jade. Don’t get me wrong, the blue balls weren’t the only reason I got pissed at her Friday night. The problem was that I realized she’s never wanted anything from me but a good time or information to help her case. Sex is all I’ll ever be to her, and it fucking sucks.

  The worst part is that I don’t even blame her for not being able to see past a romp in the sheets with me. Maybe if I didn’t have this big hole in my chest I could figure out a way to show her there’s more to me and how I feel about her. The fact that I don’t know the first thing about being in love with someone or have anything else to offer apart from what’s on the outside is all on me.

  The front door of the apartment opens and shuts again, so I assume it’s one of my former roommates coming to pick up their shit since I doubt many thieves are breaking into houses this early in the morning.

  “Knox?” Ivan calls out when he comes down the hallway. “Are you drunk at ten a.m.?” he asks after he barges into my bedroom. Just because he still has a key doesn’t mean he can come and go whenever he wants. He lives with Maylin now, and this is my place.

  “So what?” I ask from where I’m laid out sideways on the bed.

  “So it’s ten fucking a.m.!” he grumbles when he jerks the empty bottle of vodka from my hand. “Why are you drinking this damn early?”

  “Whuddu want? I’m sure you came over for a favor, not to talk about my drinking habits.”

  “I don’t need a favor. I need to talk to you.”

  “‘Bout what?”

  “About the, um, ‘request’ I received this morning.”

  “Why would I giva shit?” I ask with my eyelids falling shut.

  “It was an anonymous one left in Liam’s mailbox. A hundred grand to hurt a certain LEO.”

  “Lotta people hate cops,” I grumble since I’ve never been much of a fan of them. Well, only one, and she hates my guts. But she does seem to love my cock.

  “True, but they were very specific about how to hurt her.”

  “Her?” I repeat as I spring into a sitting position and watch the room spin around us as my chest tightens.

  “Yeah, they don’t want her harmed except…”

  “Except what?” I demand.

  “Except to, ah, end the pregnancy.”

  The next second I’m off the bed and slamming my best friend into the opposite wall by the front of his dress shirt. “Who? Who wants to hurt her?” I demand through gritted teeth.

  “I don’t know, Knox. It was anonymous with a number to call to accept the job and get paid half upfront.”

  “You didn’t call them, did you?”

  “Yes, but only to buy some time to warn you and her,” he quickly clarifies when I slam him into the wall again. “No one answered. I left a message asking when the deadline is.”

  “Why? Why would someone want to hurt the baby?” I growl.

  “I don’t know. Maybe it’s some asshole she arrested and now he’s out? I’m sorry, man. I’ve got four guys on the way to her place right now to keep an eye on her.”

  “Does she know?” I ask when I finally let his shirt go. “Wait. How do you know where she lives?” I ask. But rather than waste another second waiting for his answer, I spin around and grab my phone off the dresser to call her. Of course, she doesn’t answer like all the other times I’ve called the last few weeks because her phone is still disconnected.

  “I thought you would want to tell her,” Ivan says when I end the call. “And the address was with the request,” he informs me. “Want a ride over? You shouldn’t be driving when you smell like a distillery.”

  “Yeah, yeah, let’s go,” I say, not caring that I’m only wearing sweats and a ratty tee with no shoes.

  A few minutes later, we pull up in her driveway across town, but her car’s not here.

  “Thank God she’s not home,” I mutter in relief.

  “We’ll stay here until she comes home,” he assures me, knowing that I have no plans to leave.

  …

  Jade

  An unfamiliar black sedan is sitting at the curb of my house when I pull up. I’m just about to reach for my gun that’s tucked in my shoulder holster when Knox climbs out of the passenger's seat. Sheesh, he about gave me a goddamn heart attack.

  “What are you doing here?” I ask when I get out and he comes over. I recognize his mafia friend, Ivan, when he comes around and leans casually against the back of the sedan to watch the show in a three-piece suit similar to Knox’s the other night. Must be the uniform of mobsters.

  “I tried to call you. You need to turn your damn phone back on. You’re in danger!” Knox says, or at least that’s what it sounds like when my head is in the trunk grabbing grocery bags. “Here, let me take those. You shouldn’t be carrying all this shit.” Knox reaches for the bags, but I don’t release my hold on them.

  “I’ve carried plenty of groceries before. It’s fine,” I tell him.

  “God, you’re so damn stubborn,” he grumbles, and the smell of alcohol wafts off his breath and hits me smack dab in the face like a hammer, reminding me of my worthless father.

  “Jesus, Knox. It’s a little early to be drunk, don’t you think?”

  “I’m not drunk,” he declares. “Maybe I was on the way when Ivan showed up, but listen, Jade, this shit is serious. Someone wants to hurt you. Well, not you exactly but the baby.”

  “What are you talking about? Who would want to hurt the baby?” I ask as I walk past him with my hands full and start toward the front door of the house.

  “I don’t know!” he shouts as he follows behind me. “Maybe…maybe someone you locked up. Could be Mario or some thug trying to get back at you.”

  “I’
m pretty sure they would just kill me, not try and hurt the baby,” I assure him. “Where is all this coming from anyway?”

  “Ivan got a request…”

  “Ivan, huh? Mr. Mafia Man over there takes hits on innocent women now? I knew he was bad news.”

  “He didn’t take anything. He just came to warn me. To warn you to be careful. I think I should stay with you tonight…”

  “Oh hell no,” I tell him. I drop the bags to pull my keys out of my pocket and unlock the door to push it open. “You keep your ass with the sluts. I’m trained in self-defense, and I’ve got a gun. I’ll be just fine.”

  “Come on, Jade. Please let me stay, just so I know you’re okay. I’ll sleep on the porch.”

  “No, Knox,” I tell him over my shoulder as I gather up the grocery bags and start inside. “But I did want to talk to you about Friday night,” I start. “You were right to get upset for my mixed signals. That wasn’t fair to you, and I’m sorry, okay? It won’t happen again,” I finish and glance back over my shoulder at him.

  “Fuck!” Knox yells before he shoves me so hard my shoulder ricochets into the wall of the foyer. I lose my balance; and with my hands full of grocery bags, I can’t throw them out to catch myself before I go down to my knees.

  “Dammit, Knox!” I shout angrily at him. But then I look up and realize that while I was falling, Knox was scuffling with a man in the middle of my living room. Not just any man, but a stranger in a black ski mask who must have broken into the house and was waiting for me with a metal bat in his hands that he’s now trying his best to swing at Knox’s head.

  “Oh my God,” I mutter in disbelief as I drop the bags to pull myself up on the wall. The two of them crash into my side table, sending it over and smashing the lamp that was sitting on it. Then they’re both rolling on the floor with Knox on top, his hands gripping the bat and pressing it into the masked man’s throat. The guy gives up and lets the bat go, so Knox hauls it back and swings it at his face.

  Knox is so intent on hurting him that he doesn’t notice the intruder slipping his hand into his pants pocket and pulling out a gun until it goes off. I can’t tell it if it hit Knox at pointblank range or went wide.