HARD KNOX

by Jaxson Kidman

  “You think of this, kiddo?” Larry asked.

  I fucking hated being called kid or kiddo. Unless it was my father calling me that.

  “I did,” I said.

  “Good for you.” Larry then pointed across the table. “Now these fucks owe me some cash. Pay up!”

  That’s when things started to take a turn.

  The customer was led by a guy named Will. His right hand man was Artie and he had a big mouth.

  “So they call you tool man,” Artie said. “Heard you have other names.”

  “We’re here to discuss business,” my old man said. “Leave the chit-chat for the bar.”

  “You owe a hundred grand, Will,” Larry said.

  “That I do. That I intend to pay. When my shipment arrives.”

  “I don’t do that,” Larry said.

  “Look,” I said, “we get our shit where it has to go. End of discussion.”

  “I’m not talking to you, son,” Will said.

  “Call me son again and I’ll rip your fucking throat out.”

  “Everyone relax,” the old man said.

  “So what tool is it?” Artie asked. “Are you the wrench? The needle nose pliers?”

  Artie laughed.

  Nobody else did.

  I reached for my leather cut to get a smoke and all hell broke loose.

  Larry stood up, rage in his face. He leaned over the table and reached into his suit jacket. The crazed son of a bitch pulled out a screwdriver and drove it into the skull of Artie.

  Then he looked at Will. “What do you think the tool is?”

  I sat there and muttered, “Jesus Christ…”

  Larry took the screwdriver out of Artie’s skull. Artie slumped over the table.

  Funny enough, Will quickly paid up. We set the protection run. We got our payday for the work. Life went on. Well, for everyone but Artie. Larry had his guys grind him up and take him to the dump.

  That was just a friendly reminder of living life on the edge.

  Sometimes you were Larry’s screwdriver and sometimes you were Artie’s brain.

  twenty-five

  (knox)

  *NOW*

  You’d think such an important meeting would be conducted indoors. Instead of that, we were in a parking lot east of town. I stood next to my ride and watched as two black cars came down the road. The first car stopped and out came two men.

  Anthony and Tony. They were greased up, looking like out of a movie, and they refused to shake my hand.

  “You put Vinny in a corner,” Tony said. “He’ll fucking kill you.”

  “And I’ll be in charge of hiding your body,” Anthony said.

  “Thanks for the advice,” I said.

  I stepped forward and Tony grabbed my arm. “Hold up, tough guy. Weapons. Now.”

  I took out my gun and my knife and handed them back to Ari.

  Anthony then patted me down to make sure I wasn’t hiding anything.

  I was then clear to approach the other car.

  I did so without an ounce of fear. Shit, as far as I was concerned, if you had to hide behind thugs and tinted windows, how powerful were you? My old man never stayed away from a confrontation or a good fight. Ever. People knew who the President of the Reaper’s Bastards was. Hammer was everywhere.

  I’d live the same way.

  The window slowly went down and I saw a set of eyes. Crow’s feet in the corners. Brown eyes. Eyes of power and pain.

  “I’m not talking to a fucking set of eyes, man,” I said.

  The window then went down some more. It was a skinny man with a very defined face. A scar at the corner of his lip. He looked pissed off, but that wasn’t my problem.

  “I’m Kn-”

  “Knoxville,” Vinny said. “The son of Hammer. The son of a man serving a life sentence. The son who decided to bring his MC to life again. Yet he wears the wrong patch.”

  “Trust me, Vinny, I’m wearing the right patch,” I said. “Can we just get to our business?”

  “Of course,” he said.

  “I’m not looking to start a war,” I said. “The Reap and your family has existed for a long time. I know some relationships go deep. I’m fine with that. I’m here to just get a face to face.”

  “Speaking of faces,” Vinny said. “I know one of my men has a problem with you. Porter.”

  “That’s another reason why I’m here. What happened I couldn’t prevent. I did it with my bare hands and I would do it again. What he did…”

  Vinny waved a hand. “Personal stays personal. Porter is a hard worker. Not the smartest. A little bit rogue sometimes. You hurt his pride.”

  “Good,” I said. “I don’t give a shit.”

  Vinny half smiled. “You remind me of your father, Knoxville. But I don’t want to discuss memories or two men fighting over a woman.”

  “I’m warning you, Vinny, that if Porter comes near me, I will kill him,” I said. “I’m not fucking around with that.”

  “It takes balls to stand there and speak like that to me,” Vinny said. “Normally, I’d just give a nod and your brains would be splattered all around.”

  “Thanks for the hospitality,” I said.

  “But you’ve come with more information.”

  “I have. I have a piece of paper with information about men you had taken out. Their names and exact locations where they were buried. To the rest of your family these men went missing. They were casualties of a war. But you and I both know you killed them on your own. For your own benefit.”

  Now that got Vinny’s attention. His lip started to curl and I was half sure he was going to pull a gun on me and shoot me.

  “Here’s the thing,” I said. “I’m not going to tell you the names or the places. I’m sure there’s more people so you can think about it. I’m not going to blackmail you in a corner over this, Vinny. I’m not going to hold you hostage for money or favors. I’m just making it known the Reap is here. We’re not leaving our town, or our city. We can exist peacefully or we can wage a war. That’s not up to me.”

  “Oh, Knoxville, that’s where you’re wrong,” Vinny said. “Every word we speak is a decision. Everything we touch, taste, fuck, hit, kill… it’s all a decision. Now you’ve made your decision. I respect that. Your father made his decision, didn’t he?”

  “Yeah, he did. He’s not here, but I am. I want an open line of communication between us, Vinny. I’m not going through your thugs. I want to contact you if there’s a problem. The same for me.”

  “Don’t worry, Knoxville, if I have a problem, you’ll know about it.” Vinny paused and puckered his lips. He then slowly reached out the window, offering me his hand. “I offer you my respect. As long as you understand my position.”

  I felt something shift in me. I could see it in Vinny’s eyes that while there was respect, there was a great sense of hatred brewing between us. That was good though. Hatred made respect thicker, stronger.

  I took his hand and shook it.

  “I always keep my word,” I said. “I’m sorry it’s come to this. The Reap should have never slowed after my old man got popped. His life sentence isn’t going to be a life sentence for the MC.”

  I wasn’t sure if Vinny gave a shit about what I had said, but it felt good to say.

  The window then went up and the meeting was over.

  I walked back to Ari and took my gun and knife back.

  Anthony and Tony stood with their arms crossed.

  I got back on my ride and sat there, taking it all in. The black cars cruised away and Ari walked his motorcycle next to mine.

  “What are you thinking, brother?” he asked me.

  “I’m thinking this isn’t over,” I said. “Too much weird shit is happening.”

  “You don’t trust him?”

  “Fuck no. I just hope the message was clear.” I looked at Ari. “My old man put his ass on the line to do this.”

  “Should I give Uncle Jakey a call?” he asked. “We can arrange something
.”

  I stared at the horizon. I felt a deep burning inside me. It was hard to explain. The world was changing, again. My world was changing. I couldn’t explain the feeling because I never felt it before.

  Then my cell rang and Ana was on the other end.

  She changed my life again.

  I then understood the feeling.

  twenty-six

  (ana)

  *THEN*

  Lightening lit up the bedroom as we sat on the bed next to each other. Less than a second later came a crack of thunder that shook the house. I was tucked tight into Knox’s arm. He loved storms like this. I didn’t understand it. We already lost power, which I hated. But Knox was happy. He was such a weirdo sometimes, but I loved him.

  “I hate this stuff,” I said.

  “Darlin’, you’re shaking.”

  “I don’t do storms.”

  “What do you want to talk about?”

  “I don’t know,” I said. “Tell me about your day.”

  “You really want that?” Knox asked. He grinned, knowing half the time I didn’t want to know and the other half he couldn’t tell me.

  “Fine.”

  Knox took my hand and opened it. He started to trace lines down my fingers and circles at my palm. It sent a tingling feeling through my entire body. It made my toes curl and made my panties soaked. Seriously. It was almost aggravating how attracted to Knox I was.

  He traced my hand a couple times before I pulled away.

  Another crack of thunder rolled through the sky.

  “Hey, it’s okay,” he said. “A storm is good. It cleans things up. The rain. The air gets cooler. It keeps us off the streets. I have a night off.”

  “That’s one way to look at it.”

  Knox laughed. “What are you going to do, Ana, find a town that never gets thunderstorms?”

  “Exactly,” I said. “With a white house. Two stories. A point at the top with one attic window. A wrap around porch. A red door. Red shutters. A white fence. And a black mailbox at the end of the driveway.”

  “Nice,” Knox said. “Two car garage with a basketball hoop attached to it?”

  “Of course,” I said. “I thought that was implied.”

  “So a house that big means you’d have some kids running around, right?”

  “Sure,” I said.

  Another flash of lightening. Another crack of thunder.

  I swallowed hard. I was going into some touchy waters here with Knox.

  “Where do you think this town is?” he asked.

  “I don’t know, Knox. I’m just playing…”

  He touched my face. “Darlin’, I fucking love and hate hearing that shit. You know why?”

  “Why, Knox?”

  “I love hearing it because of the way your eyes light up. The way you smile. I know it’s completely genuine. But I hate it because I can’t give you that life, darlin’. I’m here. I have to be in this town and I have to stay with the Reap.”

  I knew that already. It pained me to think about. Would I leave this town? Would I never end up with Knox for the rest of my life? Those were questions that I tried to avoid facing. It wasn’t easy to do though.

  They were storms in my mind that wouldn’t go away.

  Maybe that’s why I hated real thunderstorms so much.

  We were in silence for a few minutes.

  More lightning. Another wicked crack of thunder.

  It made me cringe.

  “Ana…”

  “Knox, it’s fine,” I said. “We’re still young.”

  “What does that mean?” he asked.

  “I don’t know.” I looked at him. “I thought it was the right thing to say.”

  “We’re not young,” he said. “Young was when we first met. We are who we are right now, darlin’. If you ever find that house with two car garage and basketball hoop and all that shit… and you find a man that’ll put you in that house…”

  I touched Knox’s lips. “He’d never be my outlaw, Knox. You are. I can sit in this room, in the dark, in a thunderstorm, for the rest of my life, and I’d be happy.”

  “That’s a complete lie,” Knox said. “But I appreciate you saying that. I’ll always work hard for you, for us. That’s the truth of what I can offer.”

  Thunder boomed again and I jumped.

  Knox’s hands touched my back and he leaned into me.

  We quickly started to kiss and even quicker, we started to strip each other down.

  He thrust deep inside me and I arched my back. Lightning flashed outside the window as my nails dug into his muscular back. For some reason I had a sudden vision of Knox coming inside me and leaving a piece of him for me. Something that we’d create, I’d carry, and then we’d have a family.

  I cried out his name as he fucked me harder, chasing that image away.

  From that night on… I loved thunderstorms.

  twenty-seven

  (ana)

  *NOW*

  I paced. I bit my nails down to nothing, to the point where they hurt bad. My bottom lip kept quivering. My eyes tried to fill with tears but I fought them off. I wasn’t sure how it would all play out. This was a really big deal. Not just for me, even though it was my body and the rest of my life that would forever change. But it was a big deal for Knox, the Reap, and even Porter and the family.

  I managed to mutter the words to Knox over the phone.

  “I’m pregnant.”

  It didn’t make sense. No, it did make sense. It made a lot of sense. I was super late. I had been getting fucked by Knox two, three times a day, every single day, unprotected for weeks now.

  No shock there.

  But to me… after everything that had happened…

  The apartment door blasted open. Knox took two steps in and stopped. He shut the door and stared at me. I dropped my hands to my sides and my eyes filled with tears again. This time, I didn’t hold them back. I slowly pointed to the table, where the pregnancy test was.

  There was no denying this test. It was full-on-double-lines-you-are-fucking-pregnant.

  I shook it like it would change or something.

  But I didn’t want it to change.

  I was carrying Knox’s baby!

  His seed… my body… the rest of our lives.

  Knox walked to the table and stood there. He made fists and put them on the table as he stared at the pregnancy test.

  I looked at the logo on his back. He was a mile wide.

  Reaper’s Bastards MC.

  Notorious bad boys in town and in the city. They all had a criminal record. Knox’s father was in a prison with a life sentence. His one friend - King - was in prison on death row.

  Yet, to me, they weren’t bad guys.

  They were guys who did bad things for the greater good.

  That didn’t justify breaking the law, but to them, they were outlaws. They didn’t have laws. They had their own set of rules to live by.

  “Knox…”

  He looked over his shoulder. “Darlin’, I have to ask this. I need you to not get mad.”

  “What?”

  “This… definitely mine?”

  “Yes,” I said. “I swear.”

  Knox slowly turned. I had no idea what to expect. I should have been the one on the pill. Knox had enough on his plate. He shouldn’t have to worry about sex. And a man like Knox should never have to cover up his dick when he wanted to fuck.

  Was I blaming myself for getting pregnant?

  Knox stepped toward me. “Fuck, darlin’…”

  “Please say something.”

  Knox came closer and put a hand to my belly. “Mine.”

  “Yours,” I whispered.

  “Ours,” Knox said.

  When our eyes met it was an intense flurry of emotions I never thought possible. Next thing I knew I jumped up into his arms. I wrapped my legs around him and we started to kiss. His hands spread across my back. He had the biggest hands I’d ever felt in my life.

  Knox turned
and walked me to the table. He plopped me down and swatted the pregnancy test off the table. He grabbed a chair and threw it like it was a toothpick. It slammed into the wall. He pulled me tight to his body and started to kiss down my neck. I put my head back, groaning with pleasure and relief. I tried to touch him but he grabbed my hands and made me grip the edge of the table.

  It was so fucking hot. He always took complete control. I loved losing myself to him every chance I got.

  His eager hands tore at my pants and ripped them down my legs. His hands came right back up and grabbed the sides of my panties. I lifted my ass up and he tore so hard I heard them start to rip. I let out a shuddering cry and had no idea what to expect.

  Here I had thought for a second that maybe Knox would be mad at me or something.

  The second my panties hit the floor, it was like time stopped.

  Knox put his right hand to my stomach and gently pushed, forcing me to my elbows. I opened my legs, showing my sex. I was tender, dripping wet, almost shivering from the heat that raged for him.

  His eyes locked to my eyes for a second.

  Then he spoke one word.

  “Mine.”

  I nodded.

  Of course I’m yours, Knox. I’ve always been yours. I’ll always be yours. We created life together.

  His free hand reached forward and his thumb pressed to the hood of my clit. He started to peel me back but stopped, only to twist his thumb, sending an electric shock of pleasure through my body. Pins and needles attacked my legs and I thrust forward on impulse, letting out another whimper.

  His thumb slid down and sank into my pussy.

  “Fuck, darlin’,” he said. “My seed… my future…”

  I took a hand off the table and reached for Knox’s face. My fingertips grazed the scruff on his face. “Yes, Knox. Ours. Together. The way we always wanted.”

  His hand on my belly squeezed just a little. I could see in his eyes he was really feeling the emotion and connection. That was the greatest gift I could have ever gotten in my life. Right then I knew he’d be a great father to our son or daughter. I’d never worry about it again.