Knox (Dead Souls MC Book 1)

by Savannah Rylan

  There would’ve had to have been multiple attackers to take a man of his stature down.

  “Miss Williams?”

  I jumped at the voice as I spun around on my heels. There was a small woman standing in front of me in a white coat. She was holding a clipboard and looking up at me, waiting for me to compose myself.

  “What happened?” I asked.

  “Your client was beaten pretty badly. Multiple attackers, I’d say. Two, maybe three people.”

  “How do you figure?” I asked.

  “When you work in the prison system long enough, you start to learn how bruising works. One attacker usually means uniform bruises no matter where they are. Relatively same size and shape, though there’s some room for error. But there are three very distinct bruising patterns on his body. From head to toe.”

  “Do you have pictures of all these bruises?” I asked.

  “I have to take them for legal purposes as well as medical purposes. I’m already compiling a folder for you to take with you.”

  “Thank you, Doctor.”

  “He was out cold when he came to me and he still hasn’t come out of it. He’s got a severe concussion. There was stomach vile mixed in with the blood he was coughing up.”

  “I thought you said he was unconscious when he got to you,” I said.

  “Well he wasn’t at one point. And when he was conscious, he was coughing up blood tinged with stomach bile. He’s got four fractured ribs, cuts and scrapes from head to toe, bruising on at least twenty percent of his body, and swelling in his brain.”

  “From the concussion,” I said.

  “That’s what we’re most concerned about right now. If the swelling doesn’t go down, I’m not equipped to drain it. We’ll have to transport him to the nearest hospital for a procedure like that.”

  “When will you know if you have to move him?” I asked.

  “Within a couple hours. The swelling can’t get any worse, otherwise we risk permanent damage.”

  “Is there a chair I could sit in?” I asked. “I want to be here when he wakes up.”

  “Even if he does wake up, he’ll be in no condition to talk. I’ll have to run tests and check his eyesight. Poke around and make sure he’s still stable. He’ll be nauseous and it’ll make it hard to talk.”

  “Doesn’t mean he should be waking up alone,” I said.

  The doctor eyed me curiously and I kept my gaze pinned to hers. I didn’t want Knox waking up alone, but I also didn’t want to leave him vulnerable. Having me in this room provided a witness in case someone tried to sneak in here and pull something else. I didn’t like the fact that the doctor was leaving him alone in this room to suffer while he was unconscious.

  I was staying with him until he was awake.

  “I’ll go get you a chair to relax in,” the doctor said. “Be back in a few minutes.”

  I nodded my thanks before I turned back to Knox. There was so much more he wasn’t telling me. There were so many other things in play that, for whatever the reason, he wouldn’t come clean with. And the thing was, I wasn’t sure he’d come clean with Rose, either. I think he was holding his most important cards close to his chest in case we couldn’t get him out of this situation.

  In case we couldn’t get him out of this hellhole.

  The doctor brought in a chair and I thanked her profusely. I scooted it up beside Knox’s bed, and I watched him as he slept. The way his chest rose and fell. The way his body seemed peaceful, even though I knew the kind of pain he was in. I looked at the fluid bags and tried to decipher what was on them, and I had enough sense to know that they had him on the smallest of painkillers.

  That kind of stuff wasn’t going to touch his pain once he woke up.

  At some point in time I must’ve nodded off, because I was startled by a noise. A grunt and groaning before something started to move. My head shot up and I saw Knox open his eyes. I saw those dark brown eyes bloodshot with pain as his face grimaced. I felt tears of relief fill the backs of my eyes as I shot up, thrusting my hand out to curl around his.

  My touch caught his attention and his gaze fell to meet mine.

  “Knox? Can you hear me?” I asked.

  But all he did was grimace. Like he was about to vomit.

  I heard a door crash open and I removed my hand. I reached for the bucket next to my feet as Knox reared up off the bed. He threw his head over to the side and I placed the bucket up to his face, catching the puke he catapulted my way. The doctor was trying to get him to settle down as Knox continued to growl with pain. His legs were trembling and his hands were grasping the side of the bed until his knuckles turned white.

  “Knox? Can you hear me?” the doctor asked.

  “Uh huh,” Knox said.

  “I need you to lay back. If you cooperate, I’ve got something that’ll help you with the pain.”

  “Seriously?” I asked. “You’re holding pain medication over his head because you think he won’t cooperate? Give him the damn drugs. He’s in pain.”

  “I can’t until he cooperates.”

  “That the jail’s protocol, or yours?” I asked.

  The woman looked at me as Knox fell to the bed. My jaw clenched as I stood, my tall stature looming over hers. She sighed and shook her head before she moved to his I.V., then she uncapped the needle and injected the medicine into Knox’s tubing. After a few seconds of deep breathing and Knox’s heart rate flying through the roof, his body began to settle down. His heart beat evened out and his legs stopped shaking.

  And he stopped gripping so tightly to the bed.

  “Now, you can do your exam. Doctor.”

  I watched as she ran test after test. Asking Knox where he was and if he knew who I was. She flashed a light in his eyes and poked at his toes. She asked him to wiggle certain parts of his body and started feeling around his head. She asked him idiotic questions like ‘how are you feeling?’ and ‘how does your head feel?’.

  I wanted to bash her head into the wall then asked her how she felt.

  “Well?” I asked. “How is he?”

  “For now, he’s as good as he can be. The swelling of his brain hasn’t impacted his memory recall or his response time to questions. The room isn’t spinning for him after throwing up the way he did, which is a good sign. He might not need a hospital, but the next two hours are important.”

  “Thanks,” I said.

  “I’ll be back with more pain medication for him in a little while. In a place like this, we can only give out so much at once,” the doctor said.

  “I’ll be here.”

  “I don’t doubt you will be.”

  I shot her a look before she walked out of the room. I listened as the door shut behind her, then I turned back to Knox. I found him staring at me from behind his bruised eyes. I could tell he was confused, but there was also something else.

  There was a bit of relief in his eyes.

  I reached back down for his hand and took it within mine. I bent over his body in bed, my free hand lightly cupping his cheek. I wanted to make him feel better. Something inside of me wanted to take this pain away from him. I bent closer and closer to him. So close that I could feel his breath pulsing against my nose.

  “Knox,” I said with a whisper.

  “Hello, Miss Williams.”

  My lip began to quiver and my head grew heavy. My forehead fell to his, and he caught it without a second thought. His hand slid from mine and rose to my neck, cupping the back of it to steady the shaking of my body.

  I closed my eyes, trying to choke back my tears as I took in the touch of his hand against my skin.

  “What happened?” I asked.

  “Can’t tell ya that,” Knox said.

  “As your lawyer, I’m telling you to tell me.”

  “You don’t look much like a lawyer right now.”

  “That’s what happens when you interrupt my Friday night plans,” I said.

  “So, you did have plans.”

  I opened
my eyes and found Knox staring at me as my thumb traced his cheek.

  “Not really. I was going to see what kind of nightlife the hopping city of Redding provided. But if all else failed, I was going to get some food and go home,” I said.

  “Pretty dressed up for food,” he said.

  “Pretty dressed up for Redding,” I said with a smile.

  Hearing him snicker was the greatest sound in the world. I pulled back from him and reached for my chair, then sat down next to him. My hand fell to his forearm, draping around the bruising he had on his tattoos.

  Then, I got serious.

  “You need to tell me what happened.”

  “I can’t do that,” Knox said.

  “Doesn’t matter if you can’t. You have to. I’m your lawyer, and if I’m going to keep you safe I have to know what’s going on.”

  “You can’t keep me safe in here, Miss Williams. No one can.”

  “Then you have sorely underestimated me,” I said. “And if you don’t tell me now, I’m just going to find out when they release the security tapes to me.”

  “Then you’ll find out somehow,” he said.

  “Why won’t you talk to me? Why won’t you let me help you?”

  “Because you can’t,” he said.

  “There’s more to it than that,” I said. “Why aren’t you telling me the entire truth?”

  “Because I have to keep you safe, Monroe!”

  The tone of his voice caused me to jump and the doctor slammed into the room. I whipped my head around and saw her readying a syringe, but I stood and held my ground. I shook my head at her, making sure she understood we didn’t need any more of her ‘help’.

  Then I held her stare until she left the room again.

  “It is not your responsibility to keep me safe,” I said as I turned around. “I can keep myself safe.”

  “I don’t doubt that for a second. Don’t mean I’m not gonna try,” Knox said.

  “Talk to me. Let me help you.”

  “No,” he said.

  “Trust me. Please.”

  “No.”

  “Damn it, Knox. Give me something to help you.”

  “I said… no.”

  He was an immovable object. Unwavering in his convictions and his dedications. But this man was about to find out that I was an unstoppable force.

  And when the two of us finally collided, he would find that I could move him. No matter what his convictions were.

  Chapter 13

  Knox

  I spent four fucking days in the infirmary before I was released, and in that time Monroe had been busy. Instead of returning to gen-pop like I thought I was gonna, I was escorted by two guards I didn’t recognize to another part of the jail. I passed by a bunch of inmates barking at me like they were crazy as hell, then we went down a small corridor and walked a block outside. People were out in the courtyard enjoying the sunshine and shit, but as I scanned the crowd I noticed some people were missing.

  Mainly, the three Black Saddles.

  We walked into a separate part of the jail that housed only a few cells. And there was one in the middle that was opened and waiting for me. But instead of heading for the cell, we walked past it and headed for a small room in the back.

  I felt my entire body brace until I saw there was a phone with a chair sitting inside the room.

  “Take your time. We’ll be out here when you’re done,” the guard said.

  Take my time? What fucking twilight zone shit had I stepped into?

  I picked up the phone and dialed Diesel’s number. I sat back into the chair, my body aching as it relaxed. I closed my eyes as the door shut to my side, and I could see the guards’ shadows underneath the door.

  Were they guarding the room I was in while I made some sort of phone call?

  “Hey there, Knox. How are you feeling?”

  “I take it you know about all the changes I’m currently going through, Diesel?” I asked.

  “I do. A lot happened during your stay in the infirmary,” he said. “Ready for it?”

  “I’m all ears.”

  “Monroe is a hell of a woman. She worked tirelessly to get you out of gen-pop and into a safer place until your hearing. That’s going to be in the next couple of days.”

  “I’ll have to give her my thanks,” I said.

  “I also got things solidified with Diego. The Latin Cobras are on your side for protection if you need it, so long as the club helps them clean up whatever messes are made in the name of protection.”

  “Sounds fair enough.”

  “You don’t have yard time with the other guys until your hearing because it puts you at too much of a risk. But I figured you wouldn’t give a damn about that with how you’re feeling anyway,” he said. “Have they transferred you to your new cell yet?”

  “I haven’t been in it, but I’ve walked past it,” I said.

  “Good. It’s a wing that isn’t flooded with gen-pop. You’ll be much safer in there. Monore told me she’s coming to see you today, so be ready for that meeting.”

  “I will be. There anything else?”

  “Yep. We got a rat in the damn club, Knox.”

  I felt my blood run cold as I gripped the phone in my hand.

  “You sure about that, Diesel?”

  “As a fucking heart attack. There’s no way Blaze knew about your sister unless someone from this damn club opened their mouth.”

  “We have a fucking rat,” I said.

  “And we’re gonna smoke them out. Don’t worry.”

  “Smoke them out. I’m gonna kill them, Diesel. That rat bastard isn’t gonna see the light of day ever again once I’m out of this hellhole.”

  “Let’s not say that too loud. You’re still in jail, Knox. I wanted you to know that I’ve all but confirmed it at this point.”

  “Why the hell would someone rat on one of their brothers? Who the fuck would do something like that?” I asked.

  “That’s what I’m trying to figure out now. In the meantime, the Anderson P.D. are still checking in on your mom and Canyon. They’re still okay. I even took a night drive by there a couple nights ago. They’re good. Promise.”

  “Thanks,” I said with a groan. “What the fuck’s going on, Diesel?”

  “I don’t know, but we can’t let anyone know we have a rat. Not the Latin Cobras. Not our own club. Not anyone. The less people know, the easier it’s gonna be to track them down.”

  “When I get out of here, I’m helping you get to the bottom of this. You aren’t doing anything with that asshole until I can help you do it.”

  “Fine by me. The more the merrier. But right now, focus on your meeting with Monroe.”

  “I have to tell her everything, don’t I?” I asked.

  “It’s gonna be better if you do,” Diesel said. “I know you wanna keep things from her, especially with having a snitch in our midst. But she needs to know. You’ve got two days until your hearing and she’s gonna need all the ammo she can muster to get you outta there.”

  “Fuck.”

  “I know it’s a lot, Knox. But you gotta trust me on this. You’re in a safer part of the prison, you won’t have yard time so you won’t be exposed. You’re about to have a meeting with Monroe to talk about where you go from here, and the only thing you need to focus on is filling the holes she still has with your story. Because I know you, and I know you left holes.”

  “What about the rat?” I asked.

  “You gotta let me handle that until you can get out of there. Then, we’ll team up and scorch the nasty little rat out of our ranks.”

  “How are the guys doing?”

  “Missing us already?” he asked.

  “Cut the shit. How is everyone?”

  “We’re good. Trying to get you out of there. Brewer’s doing his thing and so is Rock. Grave’s ready to bust down doors and spill blood to get you out of there. You know how he is.”

  “How’s Mick?”

  “Worried. He always
worries. You know him. But he’s running your position well until you get back.”

  “Making ya good money?” I asked.

  “Not as much as you do, but he’s holding his own. He’s ready to get you out of there, though. Your job plus his job is swallowing him a bit.”

  “He’ll get used to it. Took me three years before I really got the hang of things. He’s only been at it for a little over a year.”

  “You got enough chit chat to feel normal again?” he asked.

  “Fuck you. I gotta go. The guards are shifting outside so it’s probably time for my meeting.”

  “Fill her in, Knox. Give her what she needs to fight for you. She’s the one who got you out of gen-pop so quickly. Trust her. I know I do.”

  “I do,” I said as the door beside me opened. “I trust her.”

  “Good. Talk to you soon.”

  “Yeah. Talk soon,” I said.

  I hung up the phone before the guards helped me from my chair. My body was starting to ache more, but the guards were being surprisingly gentle. The door down the hallway opened and I saw a bunch of men pouring in from yard time. But the moment their faces came into view, a shit-eating grin spread across my face.

  The Latin Cobras.

  I was in a separate wing surrounded by Jesús and his godsent goons.

  My eyes connected with his as the guards ushered me past him. He shot me a wink and I shook my head, relief flooding my veins. Better late than never, but at least I could sleep comfortably at night now. Being out of gen-pop and surrounded by protection meant it would be hard for anyone to get the sneak on me again. And now that I had numbers over The Black Saddles, it was gonna be hard for them to turn the guards of this wing against us.

  Especially since I had a feeling Diego and his crew had these specific guards in their pockets.

  They led me back down the hallway and out into the courtyard. There was no one out there but me and the guards, and I felt an ominous cloud hanging over me again. I looked over to the building and saw Jesús and his guys looking out from beyond the small window they were afforded in their rooms.

  I braced myself for another fight even as my body throbbed with pain.

  “Sit,” the guard said.