He was sexy as hell.
He leaned down to kiss her, his lips gently moving over hers. His hand skimmed her cheek, and that light touch sent shivers down her spine and lit a fire in her belly. She opened her mouth to allow his tongue to mingle with hers. There was usually urgency in their kisses, but this one was slow and savoring.
His hand drifted up her back, his fingers running along her spine, only pausing at her bra to unhook it. His fingertips danced across her skin while his mouth lazily trailed down her throat.
She leaned her neck back to soak it all in, concentrating on the feel of his lips and hands on her body. Her hands slid under his shirt to feel the warmth of his skin and the tautness of his muscles.
She loved his body—every angle, every strength, every scar. When he used it to protect her, it was strong and unyielding. But now, when he used it to love her, it was giving.
He pulled her shirt over her head, then eased them both down to lie on the sleeping bag. He trailed kisses along her collarbone, then sucked gently at each nipple until they were hardened buds. She bit her lower lip and tossed her head to the side.
She’d experienced it before, but every time with Knox felt so new, like the first time. Every feeling was unlike any she’d felt before.
When he got down to her belly, he unbuttoned and unzipped her pants so he could continue his path. He tugged her pants down and ran his tongue along the inside of her quivering thighs.
She breathed out his name as he pulled her pants all the way off, then quickly shed his own shirt and pants.
“I—” His mouth swallowed her words. I love you was what had been on the edges of her lips. But maybe now wasn’t the time for words.
She would just have to show him.
She tugged at the elastic of his boxers, pushing them down. He took her lead and stripped them off. Then he quickly slipped on the condom.
He settled between her thighs, and she rocked her hips up to meet him. He held back, though, and entered her slowly, so agonizingly slowly. She gripped his hips, but he maintained control of the pace. With his slow, careful thrusts, she could feel every inch of him touching every inch of her.
Being with him was always intoxicating, but this was a sensuality she had never imagined.
The heat within her built slowly and powerfully. She bit her lower lip to keep from crying out, and then when she couldn’t take it anymore, she cried out his name.
“Baby, you’re everything,” he whispered.
I love you. The thought ran through her head, but she couldn’t speak if she tried.
She gripped his hips again, and this time he adhered to her request, his thrusts gaining speed.
Up and up and up she went until she exploded.
His body tensed for a moment, then he shuddered and groaned, crushing his mouth to hers.
Knox lay awake with Natalie curled up next to him, fast asleep. Every once in a while, she’d let out a little snore.
He never thought he’d ever consider snoring cute.
God, he was so gone for this woman. In such a short amount of time, she’d become his everything.
How was that even possible? He didn’t know, nor did he care. All he cared about was keeping her by his side.
He pressed his lips to her forehead, and she let out another contented little sound. If they weren’t on the floor of a falling-apart house in sleeping bags, he’d think this was too good to be true. But this was just a quiet moment before the shit storm of their lives started up again.
Natalie was one step away from taking control of her future. All she needed was five minutes with that board and she’d have them drawing up papers to give her full control of the Farrington fortune. She was stressed about it, but he knew better. She was going to get the job done.
Yet he was nowhere close to breaking free of X. Yeah, he was physically gone, but as long as X was around, he’d never be free of him. He needed more leverage. His visit to X’s office had yielded nothing.
And that goddamn fight that X had told him to throw, the request that set this whole thing into motion, was tomorrow night. Part of him didn’t give a shit, but a larger part of him was curious about who he was supposed to lose to. All X had told him was that it was a new guy.
X didn’t like to lose any more than Knox did. Although X didn’t pay as much attention to the fighters as he used to, he sure puffed up his chest like a damn rooster at every fight, sitting in the front row. He always gave an inspirational speech in the locker room. Which always happened right after he . . .
Knox sat up straight, jostling Natalie awake. “The bag.”
Natalie rubbed her eyes and cracked one open. “What bag?”
“X’s bag. He brings it to every fight, and he doesn’t ever open it. Just locks it in the same locker every time.”
“Okay.” Natalie pulled herself to a sitting position, but her shoulders were slumped and her eyes were only half open. Normally, he’d feel bad for waking her, but not this time. Not when he’d figured out the solution for X.
He knew how to get X out of their lives.
“That’s when the drop happens. He leaves money and his dealers replace it with cocaine. It’s quick, it’s easy, and it keeps the deal on neutral territory.”
“Okay.” She yawned. “So X is dealing coke. Do we turn him in to the cops?”
“No.” He paused, taking an extra second to fully process the idea. “I’m going to steal it.”
Natalie’s eyes popped open. Did Knox just say he was going to steal X’s shipment of cocaine? Did he have a freaking death wish?
“Care to run that by me again?” Surely she’d misheard him.
“It’s perfect.” Knox hopped to his feet and started pacing. “We can’t kill X ourselves. It creates too many complications. But if I steal his stash and flush it, he’s fucked. He doesn’t have the money to replace it.”
Natalie ran a hand over her face and uneasiness settled in her stomach. “So let me get this straight—you want to go to the fight where every shady person in this town will be in attendance and steal a buttload of coke.”
He frowned. “It’s not as crazy as it sounds.”
“I don’t think that’s a good idea.” She would have laughed at the irony of saying the exact same thing he’d said to her time and again if the situation weren’t so serious. They’d been trying to avoid these people, and he wanted to march right into their territory.
“No one will expect me to show my face there, and I know the building well. I can get in and get out and no one will know I’m there.”
Natalie took a minute to think. He was right that no one would be looking for him there. He knew the lay of the land, and the fights would provide a distraction.
Then there was the matter of the coke. She didn’t like the idea of having it in their possession at all, but it would only be temporary. The right thing to do would be to turn the evidence that X was dealing over to the police. But this was another one of those gray areas she’d been wading in lately. With all their rules and regulations and red tape, the police might let X slip through their fingers. And hell, they’d be in possession of the coke, so that could implicate them. She didn’t know enough about police procedure to understand the ramifications of turning in the evidence. Stolen evidence. Plus, they were already fugitives, not the most trustworthy status to have in the eyes of the law.
No, if they were going to take the risk to steal the coke, then they needed to make sure X would face the consequences, even if they weren’t legal ones.
It was far from perfect, but they were grasping at straws where X was concerned. At least as far as her inheritance went, they had a plan. They’d made no progress in freeing Knox from X, so this was as good a plan as any. As least it was taking some sort of action.
She hated to admit it, but his plan made sense. Crazy sense, but sense. “Will the locker room be empty?”
“During the fights it will be.”
“What kind of lock is on the lo
cker?”
“I don’t know. I never paid attention to that. It’s not built-in or anything.”
“I guess that doesn’t really matter. It would be better if it were a key lock. I could pick that in no time. But there are tricks to cracking a combination lock as well.”
“Wait.” Knox frowned and crossed his arms. “You won’t be picking the lock. You’re not coming with me. Do you know how many dangerous people will be there?”
Natalie stood and crossed her arms, mirroring his stance. She narrowed her eyes at him. “That’s exactly why you need me. Lock picking isn’t hard, but it takes practice. If the fight is tomorrow, you don’t have enough time to learn that.”
“I’ll get into it another way.”
“How?”
“I’ll cut the damn lock off.” Knox was getting exasperated.
She resisted the urge to roll her eyes, which would only make him dig his heels in deeper. Knox was one of the most stubborn people she’d ever met, especially where her safety was concerned. The way he reacted made it seem like she wanted to get herself into trouble.
“There are two things wrong with that.” Natalie held up a finger to count. “The first is: how are you going to do that? We don’t have any heavy-grade bolt cutters. And second, it’s better not to cut the lock off. That would alert someone that the locker’s been tampered with. The more time we have to get farther away from the arena—and X—the better.”
He shook his head. “I don’t want you getting hurt again.”
His fingers rose to touch the bruise below her eye where Harding’s driver had hit her. She knew there was a nasty looking abrasion on her forehead from her skirmish in the alley, not to mention the bruises on her body. “I’ll heal. It’s not a big deal.”
“It is a big deal. No one should ever lay a hand on you. I’m going to do whatever it takes to keep you safe.”
“Even keeping me locked away? I’ve been locked away for over a decade.”
His eyes hardened and he took a step back.
She sighed. Comparing him to her father was a low blow. But damn it, though his intentions were honorable, no one was going to tell her what to do. Otherwise, what was the point of all this?
She closed the distance between them and wrapped her arms around him. He didn’t return the gesture.
“Don’t shut me out,” she said quietly.
Other than her bartender friend, Kat, who she only saw when Kat was working at an event she was attending, Knox was the only person in her life who treated her as an equal. She couldn’t bear for him to pull away from her now.
She understood his protective nature. Or at least she thought she did. It ran much deeper than she had realized. For every external wound she endured, he received an internal one.
Finally he wrapped his arms around her, tightening the embrace and burying his face in her hair.
“I can’t lose you.”
“You won’t.” She brought her lips to his, hoping the physical comfort would soothe him where he needed it most: his soul.
His mouth was hot against hers, the kiss all-consuming. His fingers raked down her back to her ass and he pulled her close. She ground her hips against him. He groaned and deepened the kiss, his tongue tangling with hers.
Knox nipped at her lower lip with his teeth, sending desire shooting through her.
When the kiss ended, Natalie was left breathless and wanting more.
But most of all, she was left with the knowledge that she wasn’t alone anymore. Whatever happened, she and Knox were in this together.
Chapter 18
Knox pulled the trucker cap down on his forehead, feeling more than a little ridiculous. But he definitely didn’t look like himself, which was the point. Although, since it was a fight night, it was probably safer for him and Natalie to be moving about the city because X and all his men were occupied. They only had to worry about police and Kent’s guards.
They hadn’t seen any of Kent’s guards in days. That didn’t mean they were out of the picture, though. More than likely, it just meant that Kent didn’t have the same resources as X, whose men seemed to be everywhere.
There were no lights on the outside of the building and no indication that anything was happening inside. Even still, it was amazing that the fights had been happening in the same place for the last decade and never once been raided by the police. Maybe they knew and just didn’t give a fuck. Why would they care if some south side guys pounded the shit out of each other a couple times a month? As long as it didn’t bleed over to the swanky north side, the cops probably had more important things to worry about.
It felt strange to bypass the door he normally used—the one the other fighters had gone into about an hour earlier. His gaze lingered on the metal door with its red paint chipping off. His days of using the fighting entrance were over. He pulled his eyes away and led Natalie around to the maintenance gate, the one that was rarely, if ever, used.
The venue was actually an old warehouse that had been converted into an arena. The cage had been there the whole time he’d been fighting, but the bleachers and the locker room areas had been added over the years. In the beginning, the fights were X’s sole business, and he worked hard building a name for himself and his arena. What had started out as back-alley brawls had turned into a virtual underground empire.
Eventually though, it wasn’t enough for X. He moved on to bigger things.
The chain-link gate let out a high-pitched squeal when Knox opened it, and he tensed, looking over his shoulder and half expecting someone to come running. They were on the opposite side of the building, so it was doubtful anyone heard it, but his nerves were on edge.
Natalie shouldn’t be here.
Not only was she putting herself too much at risk, but he was also exposing her to his old lifestyle. He wasn’t sure if that was something he wanted her to see firsthand.
The door was locked, so he gestured Natalie forward, and she knelt in front of it. After inspecting the knob, she pulled some tools out of her backpack and set to work.
She had the door open in under a minute.
He had to admit her skills were impressive, especially considering she’d lost her original lock-picking kit and was making do with a hodgepodge set.
They crept inside, closing the door behind them with a soft click. Darkness enveloped them, and they waited a few moments for their eyes to adjust. Then Knox motioned her forward with a flick of his fingers.
The hallway that ran along the west side of the building was rarely used. It led to the access room for the catwalk area high above the main floor. Once the fights began, spotlights would illuminate the cage, leaving the upper area near the roof dark.
And that’s where they would be—fifty feet above the cage in the shadows.
At the other end of the catwalk was a ladder that would take them to the hallway just outside the locker room. It was perfect. They could get in and out undetected.
The access room was unlocked. Knox closed the door behind them and flipped on the lights. There was no lock on the door, so he wedged a metal folding chair under the knob to secure it. That wouldn’t keep anyone out for long, but it might buy them some extra time if they needed it.
He hoped to God they wouldn’t.
The only problem with this plan was the possibility of getting trapped on the catwalk. They were putting themselves in a position where they could be cornered with no way out besides a suicidal fall, but the likelihood of that happening was slim. They were much more likely to be discovered if they stayed on the ground.
The ladder was covered in dust and grime. Knox wrapped his fingers around the highest rung he could reach and shook it. Though old and rusty, it seemed secure enough.
Knox helped Natalie up onto the first rung of the ladder, which was several feet off the ground. She looked over her shoulder at him with wide eyes before disappearing into the hole in the ceiling and the darkness above.
His nerves gnawed at his gut the min
ute she was out of his sight.
That was the other small problem with the plan—there was a small section they had to climb that would be in complete darkness. The lights from below didn’t reach this far, but the use of a flashlight was too risky.
Knox had been up on the catwalk before, but it was years ago and he hadn’t been forced to navigate in the dark.
He climbed up behind Natalie, staying a few steps below her in case she slipped. She was taking it slow and steady. Good. There was no reason to rush. Once they got to the top of the catwalk, they’d likely have to wait a few minutes until they could cross the arena.
Natalie reached the top and crouched down on the metal grated walkway. Knox joined her, keeping one hand on the wall and another on the floor. It was dark as fuck. After a few minutes his eyes adjusted and he could make out shapes in the blackness. There was light up ahead and Knox crept toward it to stare down at the arena floor.
It looked a lot smaller from up here. Funny. For so long it had been his entire world. But now, looking down on the gray metal chain-link, he saw it for what it really was.
A cage. X had used that cage to keep him a prisoner. And Knox had allowed it. But that was okay. X was about to get what he deserved.
The fighters trickled into the arena and spectators drifted toward their seats. Big crowd tonight. From this vantage, it was easy to see the money that exchanged hands. The lights blinked, signaling last call for placing bets.
Beside him, Natalie peered down. He wished he could see her face and her reaction. What did she think of this underground arena that used to rule his life? Whether he liked it or not, it was a large part of his past, and it had shaped him into the man he was today.
The announcer’s voice came over the speaker to give an overview of the evening. Knox had heard it all before. When he started to go through the order of the fights, Knox listened intently.
The fight he was supposed to throw was the headliner. Hector was replacing him, which wasn’t a big surprise. Hector was the next best fighter in his class, and more importantly, he bowed to X’s every command. X might not have even had to bribe him to throw the fight.
Fight for Me Page 17