Knight_A Steel Paragons MC Novel

by Eve R. Hart

  I was alone, watching my once best friend enjoy this monumental time in his life from afar. He didn’t even seem to notice me as he laughed and joked with everyone.

  Everyone except me, that was.

  It hurt me. It sliced me so deep I felt there would be a scar on my heart forever. Every time he turned his gaze from me. Every time he pretended we weren’t in the same room. Every time he passed me without looking, it cut a little more of my heart away.

  The last two years I had gotten him for one day and one day only. And even then there were no words exchanged. Only silent comfort as we both mourned the anniversary of the day that the most amazing woman we’d ever known left this earth. He brought me fries topped with mashed potatoes and sausage gravy, like all the previous years. We ate, both lost in memories, some of them probably the same ones, as we tried our best to remember and forget all at the same time. That was it. Other than that, there were miles of separation between us no matter how physically close we were.

  Today was the worst by far because it set our end in stone. No more watching from afar. No more running into him at the clubhouse. No more chances to see him at all. Because I knew—I fucking knew—that once he left, he wouldn’t look back. He wouldn’t come for a visit on his breaks. He wouldn’t return to celebrate holidays. Once he climbed onto his custom Harley, he would tear out of here leaving my shattered heart in the dust.

  I took one last long look in his direction wanting to burn the image of him into my mind. The way his hair hung long on the one side of his head. The way the shaved part seemed so soft and fuzzy. The way the light danced off of his hair as the sunlight faded. The way his crooked smile tipped up on the left side more than the right. The way he would randomly touch the leather band around his wrist. And how that one gesture alone told me that he wasn’t really listening to the conversations around him. I wondered if he was just as lost in his thoughts as I was at that moment.

  I took in a deep breath and held it for a long second.

  “Goodbye,” I whispered into the wind as I hopped off the table and walked away. From him. From this party. From any hope that I might have had about the future.

  I walked away before I could see him leave.

  CHAPTER ONE

  Knight

  It had been almost a year since that night we took down Savage and his club. I couldn’t believe it was that long ago. A lot had happened the past year. I felt like I hadn’t really slept or taken a break the whole time. We were working hard on getting the new chapter set up and before I was voted in for the new table, I felt like I’d spent more time down on the coast than I did at home. And then when I did go home, it felt like I was turning around and heading back as soon as I stepped into the clubhouse. But all the hard work had eventually paid off.

  Wilmington was a decent sized city on the coast of North Carolina. It was butted up to a major river and was surrounded by beaches. Too many of them to list off. In truth, there were two main ones, the rest were so small you might miss them if you blinked. The city itself was divided off into its own sections. The downtown area, which spanned the side of the river, had an old town charm to it. If any of us headed outside the compound to do anything, we usually headed there.

  I had really come to like the city the more time I’d spent there. So much that it wasn’t that hard to accept the new patch I was offered. I knew I’d miss home but the honor of being offered a chair at the table was something I simply couldn’t pass up.

  The first two months we spent looking for a location to open up a mechanic shop, bar, and tattoo shop. We also needed a place for the compound. That had been the hardest thing. There were options, but nothing felt right. We looked at warehouses, an old school, and even a long forgotten strip mall. Nothing that we came across had that “feeling” of being right.

  Then we hit the fucking jackpot. Loch, Diesel, Ky, Brand, and I happened to be on this search, so we were the first to see the place.

  It started with finding the rundown mechanic shop. Right next to that was a building that could have been some sort of convenience store at one point. Neither place was amazing, but the fact that they were right next to one another was a plus.

  The interior of the mechanic shop wasn’t in horrible condition but definitely needed an update. My guess was the place hadn’t been closed that long. It only had four bays and by the way the brothers had been carrying on, I could tell they wanted more. But the place had room to add on.

  The empty building next to it was nothing but a shell. With a good gutting and cleaning, I could see it as the perfect set up for a bar. It wouldn’t be huge, but it would be perfect for what we had in mind.

  The two buildings shared a giant paved lot, which was full of cracks and potholes. I knew the river was not far from where we were, given that I could see the huge bridge that led into town. We were close enough to the bridge that you could faintly hear the traffic crossing over it.

  While we were walking the back lot, which was surrounded by a thick line of trees, Ky noticed a trail between the trees. And being the adventurous and overly curious guy that he was, decided to take a little walk.

  Come to find out, there was a mostly built motel behind all that foliage. To say that we were all shocked and ecstatic would have been an understatement.

  Fucking jackpot, right?

  Two days later, we had someone showing us the place. Turned out that some big developer had grand ideas of turning the area into a new tourist section of town. He wanted to target the middle class on vacation. Hence the motel and not a high-end hotel. It seemed like the guy was someone that had a lot of money but no idea how to execute his plan. And when he couldn’t buy out the old man that had owned the mechanic place, he gave up and moved on, leaving a partially built motel behind.

  It also seemed like the guy didn’t know what he was doing. Who would build something so far back where it couldn’t be seen? And not to mention the fucking forest he’d left there keeping it completely hidden.

  Couldn’t deny it was all fucking perfect for us though. Two buildings of rooms with outside access. Each room had its own bathroom. Both buildings were two stories and the one in the back had a view of the river from the top floor. The front building had been set up as the main one. It had more rooms and in the middle had a huge area that served as the lobby with an apartment on the top floor.

  Needless to say, we took it and were currently still working on making it ours. Half the rooms had been done and were filled by the brothers. Since we didn’t have that many members yet, it wasn’t a big deal. The main area we turned into a common room with pool tables and a few TVs. There was also enough room to put in a kitchen and a few long tables and still keep the laundry room.

  The upstairs had been split into two parts. Iron, the club’s Prez, took half the space and made it his home. It wasn’t huge but he swore it was enough. The other half housed two rooms—an office and a huge meeting room.

  So far, this chapter was coming along nicely. I had my own place but sometimes stayed at the clubhouse. Most of the time, it seemed like a handful of guys would end up back at my place, though.

  There wasn’t much surrounding the shop and bar. That was a blessing and a curse. It took a while for word to get around that we had the shop open, which now housed added on bays.

  I felt like we’d really come a long way. I was happy with the way everything had turned out and with how well the club was running. We had good men, a collection of brothers from all over as well as a few new faces who’d put in the time and had already gotten their patch. We had a bunch of decent prospects. The businesses were up and running, including the tattoo shop that Brand ran on the outskirts of downtown.

  Things were good. I had my place in the club and took it seriously. I had the docks to keep watch on and a place at the table. I couldn’t have wanted for more.

  While the table was incomplete, only because we didn’t have VP yet, I had hope that things would work out soon enough. It wasn’t ide
al but we weren’t going to put just anyone in that position. Iron, the prez, had mentioned a few times that he had a plan in the works but he wasn’t going to bring it to the table just yet. I had no idea what that plan was but I had enough trust in him that I didn’t worry about it.

  There had also been talks about bringing in an additional enforcer. With all that we had going on, I didn’t think it was a bad idea.

  So to say that we were still new and trying to figure it all out was a very true statement. As much as we were able to hide that from the outside world, all of us sitting at that table knew the truth. However, I believed we all worked together well enough that things ran smoothly. We’d get there, I had no doubts.

  CHAPTER TWO

  Gwen

  What did I hope to find by picking a college across the country from the place I had called home all my life?

  Well, the answer was just not that simple.

  I had no real reason to leave. I had an amazing dad, like, I wouldn’t trade him for the world. Being so far from him made me miserable. And the club, I missed everyone there. They were my family. One huge, rowdy, overprotective family. They all loved me like I was their own and there wasn’t a day that went by where I felt lonely, that was for sure.

  You see, my dad was the president of the Steel Paragons Motorcycle Club, Gray Fort chapter. I was a club princess, a title I wasn’t all that happy with. While I was a girl, I wasn’t a huge fan of what princess usually implied. Maybe that was a big part of why I flew the coop and went so far away. I wanted to spread my wings and prove to myself, and others, that I could make it on my own.

  After three years the only thing I proved was that I just felt incomplete without the club life. I learned that I was different. And while I was alright with that, it didn’t exactly make it easy for me to fit in. Some people looked down on me because there was no way I was going to hide the fact about where I’d come from and who my family was. Others were too afraid that a motorcycle club meant bad news, outlaws, and bloodshed.

  So, after three years I was just done. I wanted my people back. I wanted that feeling of familiarity surrounding me. I wanted to be closer to home. I felt like a failure but I was tired of being unhappy. I was tired of feeling alone and on the verge of crying myself to sleep just about every single night. That made me feel incredibly weak, which was something I hated. While I’d always had a backbone, I had my limits.

  It took one call to my dad—just one hard, emotional call—for him to tell me it would be alright and that we would figure something out. At the end of my junior year, Dad flew out, packed up my stuff, had it shipped back home, and took me back with him. I spent the summer back at the only place that wrapped me in warmth every time I walked through the doors.

  Which was weird, because the clubhouse was anything but homey. It was like one giant man cave hotel. Nothing matched, nothing was new, and there was a constant smell of working man around.

  To me, it was perfect.

  “Princess, you gotta minute?” Dad said as he poked his head into my room.

  We lived in an apartment built onto the back of the clubhouse. We had lived there since my mom passed away. It was just easier for both of us. The house reminded us too much of what we no longer had in our lives, and being at the compound meant that there was always someone to help look out for me.

  “For you, dad, I have all the time in the world,” I replied with a huge smile.

  “So I was thinking,” he said as he moved to sit on the edge of the bed. “You know how there is a new chapter down on the Carolina coast?”

  I hummed an affirmative answer. I knew that it was a new development, but I didn’t really know the chapter that well given that I’d been away all this time. I had an idea of a few of the members that moved down there, but that was about it.

  “Well, I was thinking that you could transfer down there. I know you have this need to be independent but I also get that you need to have this connection to the club. I’m not saying that I want you to go, I mean, I love having you here. But I want you to be happy. So if what you need is some space from your old man to live your life and figure things out on your own, I get it.”

  He looked at me with a pinched expression. I almost wanted to laugh. This big strong man, who was my hero and my idol, looked a bit confused and scared right now.

  “It’s still roughly nine hours away from here, but I figured I’ll be down there a good amount. And when the boys travel up this way, maybe you can tag along. Or if you would rather stay in Gray Fort, we can see about getting you transfered to one of the colleges here. I just thought I’d give you some options. I know you want to finish school, and being that you only have one year left, if you went there, it wouldn’t be that long if you hated it. You can always come back here when you’re done.”

  He scratched the back of his neck like he was nervous. I looked at him a good long while, holding no expression on my face. I was just messing with him like I often loved to do. Hey, he was my dad, it was my job to keep him on his toes. He always said that I kept him young that way.

  “You know what,” I said pushing my long hair behind my shoulder. “I actually think that sounds like a great idea. And you’re right, if I hate it, it’s only a year.”

  The beach and my club, it sounded perfect to me.

  He eyed me for a long moment and I got a feeling like there was something he wasn’t telling me. I could see it in his eyes. But that man was a lock box when it came to secretive information. I could tell he was contemplating on whether he should spill the beans or not, but in the end, he shook his head and patted me on the knee.

  “Sounds like a plan,” he said as he took to his feet. “Let’s go to the diner for dinner in a bit, yeah?”

  Oh, the diner! I had missed that place. Best fries, ever.

  “Yes!” I squealed and bounced with excitement.

  He chuckled at me as he walked out of my room and it felt as if I hadn’t been gone three years.

  CHAPTER THREE

  Knight

  It had been one fuck of a day. I had been going since before the sun even came up. What I should have done was headed to my place, washed the day off, and passed out in my bed. But what I did instead was head to the bar. It was like I couldn’t help it. Maybe after such a shit day I just needed to be around my brothers for a bit. I needed some good company.

  The day started off with me nearly avoiding an accident with a distracted driver. The bitch was looking at her phone as she pulled out in front of me. I had to swerve off the damn road to avoid shoving my tire in her bumper and ending up face first in her back windshield. Thank fuck I had been doing the speed limit and knew how to handle my bike. She didn’t even stop after she ran me off the road. I shouldn’t have been surprised, though.

  One thing I’d learned about this town was that the insurance rates were high for a reason. People couldn’t drive for shit here. And forget trying to get anywhere when it was raining, it seemed a light drizzle turned people into clueless idiots behind the wheel. Oh, and I quickly learned that stop signs were optional.

  Fucking idiots.

  Truthfully, that had to be my biggest complaint about this town. Other than that, it was a good place to call my new home. At first, I wasn’t so sure about leaving the chapter I had been born into, but the longer that I was here, the more Wilmington grew on me.

  So after I narrowly escaped becoming trunk splatter, I arrived at the docks only to find out that one of the shipping containers that held one of our own shipments had been lost at sea on the way here. That was not news I was thrilled to call the prez with, and by his tone, it wasn’t something he was happy to hear.

  Then one of the cranes started to fuck up and eventually quit working altogether. Which was a huge problem because it happened to be a busy day for incoming. That backed everything up for the entire day. Granted it wasn’t really my job to handle the loading and unloading, but I still felt the need to make sure everything ran smoothly. And anytime
something messed up, I was the first to put it on my shoulders, get in there, and try to get the situation handled as quickly as possible.

  While we ran the docks, we hired a company outside of the club to handle the actual work. A few of the brothers did have jobs there, but it was separate from the club. That didn’t mean that we weren’t there patrolling all the fucking time. We wanted to make sure nothing slipped by us. So there was at least one of us there every second of every day.

  I was tired and irritated, to say the least. I also could have used a shower and some fresh clothes. But I said ‘fuck it’ as I parked my bike and walked up to the door of the bar. It wasn’t like I had anyone to impress. Half the brothers were probably in the same state of cleanliness that I was currently in. And I could have given half a shit about the women that might have been there that early. I wasn’t there to pick one of them up, no matter how hard they tried.

  Come to think of it, I couldn’t remember the last time I had taken someone home, or back to my room at the compound to be more accurate. It wasn’t like it mattered anyway. Sure, maybe I had been a little more on edge lately because it felt like my dick was going to fall off from lack of use, but something about the little satisfaction I’d had in the last few quick fucks left me feeling like my hand could do a better job.

  Inside, I headed to the left after noticing a few of the brothers right away. I didn’t even stop at the bar, knowing whoever was behind there would bring me a beer. Ky gave me a chin lift when he looked up and saw me coming. I returned it as I parked my ass in the only empty seat at their table.

  Brand and Charming were sitting there looking as tired as I felt. Blade, who wasn’t part of the club but worked at the tattoo shop with Brand, was lazily throwing darts with his back to the table.