Death Dwellers Motorcycle Club:: Fifteen Bad Boy Biker Books

by Kathryn C. Kelly

  “What the fuck are you all doing…” Val’s voice trailed off.

  When Christopher turned, he found him looking at Knox with suspicion.

  “What the fuck?” Christopher said on a gasp. Val wore a striped top and matching knee high pants, carrying a beach ball. A fucking beach ball.

  “Aww, fuck man, you giving dudes a bad name,” Mortician complained.

  “This the 20s, right?” Val asked, his brow creased. “Well, this the bathing suits motherfuckers wore back then.”

  “What the fuck Chester promised you to get you to look like that?” Mortician asked.

  “Not what she promised me, Mort,” Val responded with a wide grin. “It’s what the fuck she gave me. She sucked my cock like the world was ending.”

  Glaring at him, Christopher cleared his throat, hoping he took the fucking warning for what it was.

  Val looked away, turning a few shades of red. “You talk about Meggie’s pussy and dick sucking,” he mumbled, almost too low for Christopher to hear.

  “I owe you,” Christopher said with a fake fucking smile on his face, clapping Val’s back hard enough to send him reeling into Digger.

  “Where is Chester?” Mortician asked.

  “She’s coming. She has a gold frilly dress on that look like Roxanne’s. Fuck, wait til you see her. She’s so fucking gorgeous,” Val said with genuine pride, easing Christopher’s anger for his previous comments.

  Just then, Roxanne headed toward the kitchen, where the doors led to the private yard. Most of the kids were out there, so she must’ve been on the hunt for Harley.

  Without a word, Knox broke away from the group and followed behind her.

  Christopher watched him go. It seemed as if the motherfucker had gone and fallen for Roxanne. It was a pity he had to fuck him up.

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Knox nodded to Johnnie as he passed by him, still standing and talking to Megan. When he’d walked in and didn’t see Outlaw anywhere around, he’d gone to her to ask if she knew Roxy’s favorites. Her favorite anything. But he’d never gotten the chance. The couple she was speaking to kept right on talking, then Johnnie engaged Knox and then Outlaw summoned him.

  When Roxy walked up to them, her only acknowledgment of Knox had been including him in asking what they were talking about. Other than that, he could’ve been just a fly on the wall. Why that annoyed Knox so much, he wasn’t sure. He told himself where they stood was a good thing.

  Outside, string lights in the shapes of Jack O’Lanterns, witches, and skulls crisscrossed the area. In the lamps were orange and black bulbs. Kids were everywhere. He picked out Rebel and Harley immediately because Roxy was with them, dancing in her red dress, her fringes shimmying and shaking with her. To Knox, she was the most beautiful woman there. The two little girls, both dressed as princesses, were trying to keep up with her.

  Grant would’ve enjoyed this. A lone figure hung back in the shadows. Every now and then, he fidgeted and his reddish-blond hair caught a beam of light. Knox recognized Johnnie’s son and wondered why the little boy wasn’t cutting up with the rest of the children.

  Circling the edge of the play area, Knox made his way to the kid.

  “You’re Rory, aren’t you?”

  The little boy startled and his gray eyes widened. He seemed to shrink back, but he nodded. “Yes, sir.”

  Knox smiled at him, then held out his hand. “I’m Knox.”

  Rory blinked. “Mr. Knox,” he said after a moment.

  Knox applauded Johnnie and Kendall’s parenting. This boy was younger than that little baby thug. He had better diction and much better manners. He reminded Knox of his own son.

  “Why aren’t you playing with the rest of the kids?”

  “Mother likes me to keep still.”

  “That doesn’t sound like a lot of fun.” Especially for a kid his age.

  “CJ can be with Uncle Chris and Aunt Meggie. Mother told me to come out with the other kids. Glam-ma Roxy wanted me to dance but I don’t know how.” The kid had summed up his evening without taking a breath. “I want CJ, Mr. Knox. He’s fun.”

  “You can have fun on your own,” Knox told him. “If your mother doesn’t mind you playing with CJ, then she won’t care if you enjoy yourself without him.”

  “Dad lets me play with CJ,” he stated, as if that explained everything.

  “Hello, Knox,” Roxy greeted.

  Knox raised his head and offered her a half-smile, the scent of her perfume going to his head. Whatever issues facing them fell away. For a moment, he even forgot his investigation. It was all about her and her missing sparkle. From the day he’d met her, she’d had vivacity. If her son took that energy away from her, put that sadness in her eyes, he did need his ass kicked.

  “Roxy.” Knox raised his hand to touch her cheek, then remembered they didn’t have a real relationship. He couldn’t lose himself in the softness of her skin or the sound of her voice. “How are you?”

  She nodded. “Just fine.” She looked at Rory. “Ready to dance with me, sugar?”

  He shook his head.

  “Son,” Johnnie called, walking up to them.

  Rory’s face lit up in a complete transformation.

  “We’re heading to Uncle Christopher and Aunt Megan’s house,” Johnnie explained.

  “I can play with CJ, Dad?”

  Johnnie nodded. “You should’ve been playing with him now.”

  “Mother said no. She said that all the adults had agreed to let all the kids be outside.”

  Peals of laughter escaped Roxy. “No wonder CJ was glued to Meggie. He didn’t want to be out here.”

  “Before that, he was attached to Christopher,” Johnnie said with annoyance. “Sometimes, they let him get away with too fucking much. Because Megan spoils her son, she’s going to make my wife look like a bad mom.”

  Roxy’s laughter abruptly stopped. “Don’t start being an asshole to her. Outlaw lets CJ get away with things as much as Meggie.”

  “At least Christopher tries to discipline him. She doesn’t. Now, my boy was out here all alone because CJ is spoiled.”

  “Shit,” Roxy said on a sigh. “You two never balance it out, do you? When you and Kendall are getting along, you’re breathing down Meggie’s throat for bullshit. When you and Meggie are getting along, Kendall is breathing down her throat. What’s wrong with that picture?”

  “I’d say Megan,” Johnnie grouched.

  “Wrong.” Some of Roxy’s fire returned, impressing Knox and turning him on. She planted her hands on her hips. “I’d say you and Kendall.”

  “Fuck, Roxanne, what do you want me to do? Kendall demanded I hang around Megan the entire fucking evening to see how I acted and how she reacted. I don’t know if I passed her test or not. It has me on edge.”

  Rolling her eyes, Roxy patted his arm. “This is exactly why you should stand up to Kendall and tell her what not to do. Games are for children and gamblers. What are you two? Children who aren’t ready for a real relationship or gamblers who’ll risk your future together?” She held up her hand. “Don’t answer that. I’m going to get her straight. Just don’t undo what I do.”

  “What do you mean?” Johnnie asked, sounding genuinely confused.

  Knox had to admit he was a little unsure, too. After all, Johnnie’s relationship with Kendall mirrored the relationship he’d had with Callie. Sooner or later, someone would get tired of the drama if they didn’t discover how to repair what was wrong.

  Glancing at Knox, Roxy grabbed Johnnie’s coat sleeve and tugged him to the side.

  “When you know something isn’t right, don’t do it, no matter how upset she gets. It’s better for her to be angry at you for not listening to a scheme of hers, than for her to be insecure and unhappy by following her direction, especially if you know your way is the right way.”

  “Suppose…” Johnnie huffed out a breath. “I feel as if my marriage is disintegrating and I don’t know how to save it. If Kendall sees me d
oing what she wants, that’ll give her confidence and that’ll let her know that I love her.”

  “Doing everything Kendall wants will make you resent her and fracture your self-esteem.” Roxy looked exasperated. “Listen to me, baby, and listen well. I’m only saying this one time to you. I’m not giving you license to mistreat her or abuse her. I’ll be the first one to kick your ass. But…” She cleared her throat. “Kendall can leave anytime she wants. That’s true. She has the money to do so. But emotionally? She has nowhere else to go. If she walks away, she’ll be alone, Johnnie. The girl is spoiled to the core and she knows how to get her way. I’m not taking her illness away. But she’s had to struggle and fend for herself and claw her way up. This club is her protection and her security blanket. Outlaw might hate her—I’m not taking that away either—but he’d die protecting her because she belongs to you. Kendall knows all of this. She knows those girls want to choke the shit out of her, but they let her be her and then still accept her back into the fold. Kendall isn’t going anywhere. She’s smarter than me. She’s not going to repeat my mistakes.”

  Johnnie cocked his head to the side, then shoved his hands in his pockets. “What mistakes could you have possibly made?”

  “I’ve mentioned them before,” she said quietly. “K-P…” Her voice trailed off and she shook her head. “It doesn’t matter. I’m so thankful for all my kids, but I made mistake after mistake by marrying men I didn’t love. I loved the idea of love.” She stepped back. “My son said I was trash. The boy is crazy. I come from good stock. No trash here,” she said with a shaky laugh that made Knox want to take her into his arms and hug her. It made his plans with Charlotte almost hard to stomach. “But, maybe, he was right when he said I was ignorant. I could’ve made smarter decisions.”

  “You’re pretty smart to me,” Johnnie said, swiping at a tear on her cheek. “Kendall adores you.”

  “And I adore her.”

  Johnnie glanced down at his son, who’d been standing silent the entire time, before looking at Roxy again. “You knew Logan, didn’t you?”

  “I did. Why?”

  A look of discomfort crossed Johnnie’s face. “Did he have anything to do with you and K-P separating?”

  Roxy met Knox’s gaze and he lifted a brow, wanting to know the answer. More importantly, he wanted to know about Logan. Whoever he was. Another lover? He should know this. Why didn’t he? Why hadn’t the name Logan come up in his background check?

  “Sugar, Logan’s as dead and buried as K-P is. What he did or didn’t do is no longer important.”

  “He was awful to Mortician and Digger.”

  “The motherfucker was just awful.” Shame crossed Roxy’s face and she hung her head. “I mean, he was a terrible man. To everyone.”

  “Am I like him?” Johnnie asked quietly. “In any way? He…Jesus, Roxanne. He made my grandmother walk the tight and narrow. He…suppose, in my bid to stand up to Kendall, I turn out like him?”

  “Johnnie, baby, you’re so far removed from him, until it isn’t funny. You’re a bright, shining star. He was a cold, dead monster, long before he became a corpse.”

  “I’m his grandson.”

  “Outlaw’s his grandson, too, and the boy don’t have nothing for that man. He’s a real, true leader. This club, this family, would be lost without him.” As she said those words, she looked at Knox. “And CJ would just be devastated if anything ever happened to him. Meggie would be a broken shell.”

  “Look, Dad,” Rory cried. “CJ and Uncle Chris.”

  When Knox turned, sure enough the Thug Twins were heading toward them. Knox tensed as Rory ran and hugged CJ, who grinned and hugged him back.

  “Ant Roxy, MegAnn, Ant Kenda, and Bun-Bun on the way home,” the kid said, holding Rory’s hand.

  “The kids and old ladies are going home,” Johnnie explained. “The Bobs are coming in for the single brothers and the real party starts.”

  “What are Bobs?” Knox asked in confusion.

  “Club ass,” Outlaw responded, unconcerned with the presence of the children.

  “You should stay,” Johnnie offered. “Enjoy yourself.”

  If Knox hadn’t been watching Roxy for a reaction, he would’ve missed the dirty glare she threw at Johnnie. When she noticed Knox’s attention, she pasted a smile on her face.

  Outlaw snickered. “Or, maybe, assfuck, the fuckhead should come to the house with us, so Roxanne don’t fuck him up.”

  “As if I would. I have no control over what he does, Outlaw,” she said, disappointing Knox.

  “Yeah the fuck you do. You need to enjoy it while you can.”

  With that cryptic message, Outlaw took CJ and rounded up Rebel, Rule, and Harley before sauntering away, leaving Knox to stare in wonder after him.

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Over the years, Roxy had worked hard to understand that if she wasn’t accepted as she was, for who she was, then that person wasn’t worth knowing. That worked in reverse, too. If she was too stupid to take a person as they presented themselves to her, then she wasn’t worth knowing. It was so simple. Cut and dry.

  Or, as Outlaw liked to say, end of story. Case fucking closed.

  Except she’d stopped thinking about her words and actions. She’d gone from one extreme to the next.

  Her children were her life. To think that her way had turned one of them against her, shook her to her core. It made it hard to enjoy the music and the conversation going on around her.

  Harley and Rebel wanted to continue dancing at the house as they’d danced at the club. But Roxy felt out of sync and out of rhythm. Her son, her baby boy, hated her. The more she thought about it, the more it crushed her. She could still remember the day she’d found out she was having a boy. After a houseful of girls, she’d been both excited and afraid. More than anything, she’d wanted her marriage to Duke’s father to work out. A boy needed the influence of a man, preferably the one who’d helped to create him.

  “Roxanne?”

  She raised her head and straightened at Outlaw’s call. She’d been standing in the kitchen, leaning her elbows on the center island, thinking.

  Smoothing her hand over her dress and patting her wig, she smiled. “Hey, sugar.”

  He studied her from head-to-toe, as if he took her measure. As if he knew how broken-hearted she felt. “What the fuck you doin’ in here with that motherfucker out there? He more fuckin’ preppy than John Boy and his bitch put together. I’ma fuck him up in two fuckin’ minutes if you ain’t comin’ out.”

  “Knox is sadity,” she agreed, trying and failing to prevent longing for him from surging through her. “But since you invited the mother…him, you can entertain him.”

  “Yeah, well, I invited the motherfucker back with us for your ass.”

  Roxy knew that. Any other time she would’ve appreciated the opportunity to enjoy the game she played with Knox. “I owe him an apology,” she admitted. “Or, at least, his parents. I made a real ass out of myself in their house. I could’ve gotten up and walked out when they insulted me. Instead, I cussed them.”

  Walking to the refrigerator, Outlaw pulled out two beers, opened both, and then handed her one before drinking deeply from his bottle. Roxy sipped hers.

  “I think about my ma a lot around the holidays,” he started.

  Her ears perked up. Immediately, she forgot about her problems to focus on the man next to her. He was strong and tough, but even he needed her sometimes. “I know, baby.”

  He met her gaze, his look inscrutable. Long black lashes surrounded his green eyes, giving them a startling beauty.

  “You knew her.”

  “I’d met her before,” she admitted.

  “She loved me.”

  “She did,” she agreed with a nod, waiting for his point.

  “I ain’t here to talk the fuck about how she was so fuckin’ afraid of Logan, she’d make me do whatever the fuck he said if I ran the fuck across him. My ma was my ma, though. Once her old man left
, she lived the fuckin’ way she wanted to live. If I’da disre-fuckin-spected her, she woulda fucked me up. She protected me inside her for forty weeks, then labored to bring my ass into the world. We ain’t always saw eye-to-eye but I knew my fuckin’ place with her and she wasn’t about to let one of her lil snot-nosed motherfuckers get to her.”

  Roxy swallowed. “Mortician told you about Duke,” she whispered.

  “Yeah. I know that’s your boy and all, but he need to be taught a fuckin’ lesson.”

  “No, he doesn’t,” she said. “He’s just confused.”

  “I ain’t talkin’ about fuckin’ him up. I’m thinkin’ about grabbin’ his old man and buryin’ him. He the motherfucker puttin’ that shit in your boy head and makin’ you so fuckin’ sad. Makin’ you doubt your worth and what the fuck you mean to Bailey, Harley, and Lou. To me, too, Roxanne. You a real bitch. You don’t pull no punches and we know we got backup. Is you a lil rough around the fuckin’ edges? Fuck, yeah. But that don’t mean we ain’t lovin’ you any-fuckin-way. Bailey lend you to all us and we like you just the way you already is. Stop doubtin’ your-fuckin-self. You actin’ like a fuckin’ girl.”

  Roxy laughed through her tears. Outlaw wasn’t big on emotion, so she wouldn’t make a huge deal out of his talk. She was curious about something, though. “Why do you think I’m doubting myself?”

  Sighing, he finished his beer. “Cuz I been where you at. Growin’ up and after I took over here. I know how the fuck that feel, so I know how the fuck it look when I see it on another motherfucker.”

  “I guess you do, sugar.”

  “How about I take you off the case? I ain’t knowin’ who the fuck hired fuckhead Knox but I got what the fuck I need to fuck him up tonight. Holiday shit startin’ and I ain’t lettin’ no club business ruin it this year, so I gotta strike now or wait ‘til after the new year.”

  From the time she’d agreed to help out, she’d known what the fate of Knox would be. But that was before. Before she’d spent time with him and gotten to know him a little. Knox needed to back away. She had to convince him to do so. If she succeeded, then she’d figure out a way to change Outlaw’s mind about killing him…Fuck. She wasn’t one for games. Outlaw was right. She’d gone through too much in her life to reach her happy place to let her son…No, she had to stop thinking about that for now. She’d get to New Orleans soon and have a sit-down with him. Once he saw that she was better, she was sure he’d change his mind and apologize.