Knox Brotherhood

by Knox, Elizabeth

  “Life is too damn short, babe, and I want you with me every crazy ass minute of it. So, I want to know, if you’ll marry me, and make me the luckiest fuckin’ man in the world.” I’m surprised when I feel the hint of a tear dripping down my cheek. Was this what I wanted, to marry Reed? It hadn’t been too long since I was engaged and suffocated and then betrayed. But that didn’t matter anymore. Reed knew me inside and out and still loved me. I didn’t see the point in turning him down.

  I open my mouth to give him my answer as everyone’s watching and waiting.

  Redemption

  A Skulls Renegade Novel

  Book #2

  ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

  CHRISTINE – I say this time and time again, and each time I truly mean it from the bottom of my heart. If it wasn’t for you I wouldn’t even be where I am today. I am so thankful to have you, the best mentor and second mom in my life. Thank you for all your encouragement and love.

  KRISTA – I think you’re going to die when you read this, probably as bad as many of my readers. I look forward to your crazy feedback on Daisy’s story, and don’t worry! Jenna’s is up next!

  CHELSEA – This is the smuttiest book I’ve written so far, I hope you’re ready for this joyride!

  KAIT – I can’t wait for the texts I know I’m gonna be getting soon. I’m preparing myself for bouts of laughter.

  BECCA – You’ve been shipping Daisy’s story since day one and I’m so happy I can finally show it to you.

  MY AMAZING ARC & BETA READERS – There are literally so many of you that I’d be writing an entire three pages worth of acknowledgements for just y’all. You guys help me make my work the best thing that it can possibly be and have no idea how much I appreciate all your support. Thank you so much!

  MY DOPE PA, JENNA – What would I do without you? Seriously. What the hell would I do without you?! You make my life SO much easier. I don’t know how I did it without you! I was on the verge of having a mental breakdown – kidding. But I might have, seriously. You came at just the right time and I’m so happy to have an amazing friend! #Twinning

  ALL MY AMAZING BLOGGERS – Jenna, Shannon, Chasidy, Angie, Heather, Lizzie, Jessica. God, I know there are so many more of you. Thank you all so much for taking a chance on me and my new indie author butt. I appreciate everything that y’all do for me from cover reveals to sharing sales and blasting Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and any other social media outlet there is out there. Thank you SO much for helping me reach a few more readers. I love y’all so much!

  DEDICATED TO BECCA

  You have stood by me since day one when I had this crazy freaking idea to start writing. I looked at you and said “I’m gonna be an author” and instead of telling me I was batshit crazy – which we both know I still am, you supported my dreams. You are the best friend a girl could have. I am so thankful to have my soul sista in my life.

  Playlist

  Losing Grip | Avril Lavigne

  Uncover | Zara Larsson

  Strip That Down | Liam Payne & Quavo

  I Have Questions | Camilla Cabello

  Irresistible | Fall Out Boy Ft. Demi Lovato

  Issues | Julia Michaels

  Say You Won’t Let Go | James Arthur

  Red Lipstick | Rihanna

  Still Falling for You | Ellie Goulding

  PROLOGUE

  Seamus

  2 years ago…

  “We sure this is the place?” I asked, wanting to be sure that we had the right joint. Those fuckers had tricked us before and I’d be damned if we got our hopes up again to find an empty warehouse. It had been three months since they took Daisy; three fucking months of running around, gathering intel, pulling every damn favor that we possibly could to get her back – and it still wasn’t enough.

  The loan sharks wanted money, which Reed gave them. Three weeks ago, a meet was arranged, and they requested two million in untraceable cash to be dropped off in exchange for Daisy. Reed dropped the cash, only, we never got our girl back. Three fucking weeks I’d been pacing the fucking halls, thinking of every way I could get her back until I remembered Lucien.

  He was a fucking whiz and the only reason we were even in the van on our way to get her. Lucien was one of the best hackers in the world. He could do anything – including finding a needle in the haystack, and in this case, our needle was Daisy. I thanked God every day that I grew up with the Steele brothers who always brought bratty little Lucien around. His dorky ass turned into something alright.

  “Relax, brother, we’ve got her this time. She’ll be here.” Enzo was trying to be encouraging, but until I saw her brunette hair and pale green eyes, I wouldn’t believe it.

  “We better fucking have her,” I growled out. I checked my phone; our ETA was any minute now. Lucien tracked the loan shark’s money; he hit them where it hurt the most going into their computers and found every property that they’d purchased over the last two years. He found everything within 100 miles and gave us the highest probability of where they would keep her. They knew if we were willing to pay two million to get her back that she meant something to us. They were smart in that aspect, but God, I hoped those fuckers were there when we busted in.

  I was going to destroy every single one of them for hurting her.

  Every. Fucking. One.

  Reed pulled the van off to the side of the road, and we all shuffled out, careful to quietly shut the doors as I surveyed our surroundings. We weren’t in the middle of nowhere, but it was hardly the city. There was a white rundown warehouse a few hundred meters away. It looked like something out of a horror movie. Right then, I was praying to God she wasn’t there. I didn’t want her to be in a place like that. If she was in there, I could only imagine what she had to endure during her capture.

  “You all know the drill, we split up, search the warehouse. Text if you see anything suspicious or if anyone has Dais. Meet back here ASAP.” Reed ordered out. We all went separate ways, each taking a different entrance into the warehouse. I went east, going in through a ragged old door that the hinges were busted off. Every time I took a step further into the warehouse, I had an eerie feeling that something wasn’t right. I don’t have spidey senses or any shit like that but you know what I’m saying. It didn’t help that the place looked like if the wind blew in the wrong direction, it would just collapse.

  I searched room to room and found nothing. The place looked like it hadn’t been touched in years, and maybe it hadn’t. Still, I kept looking, pushing every door I could open and if it didn’t budge, I sure as hell made it budge.

  I walked further into the building; the last room in the section that I was to clear. Lucien had downloaded blueprints of the joint before we drove out there, a rough two-hour drive from Gainesville. Shit, I was glad he found the blueprints. This place would have been a maze without it. I approached the door, putting my hand on the rusted-out doorknob, turning it. Nothing happened. I grabbed on tightly, jolting the handle until I heard it click. Damn, the place was a piece of shit. Opening the door slowly, I trained my gun ahead of me, prepared for anything – anything except what was before my eyes.

  I quickly holstered my gun, walking swiftly over to her. Her head was hanging against her chest.

  “Dammit, she better be alive” I muttered to myself.

  She was wrapped with rope tightly to a wooden chair. I could see her skin red and inflamed from where the binds were and as I looked over her I noticed the blue and purple marking her skin. She didn’t look like the Daisy that was taken just a few short months ago – she’d aged a decade in less than 100 days.

  Dammit to hell, she was gonna be alright. She had to be.

  “Babygirl,” I spoke softly, afraid I’d startle the daylights out of her.

  “Baby, Daisy, baby, c’mon, wake up.” She moved her neck a little, groaning as she did it. That hurt, seeing her in pain because of her fuckin’ Ol’ man, Kyle.

  He’s Reed’s brother, the Prez of the Skulls Renegade MC until Daisy disap
peared. Then he gave his cut over to his brother and told him he didn’t want any part of it anymore and fuckin’ left. No one knew where he went – not even Reed. It would have been different if any of us had a clue, but we didn’t. We were fucking clueless and while Kyle was out riding around on his Harley doing God knows what his woman had gone through hell. It irked me beyond any belief.

  I was in church with him when Pain came in; the prospect who went to the store with Dais’ to tell us that she was gone, that he couldn’t find her. Then, he confessed what he did – he left Dais’ alone while he went to attend with private, personal matters.

  Pain was fuckin’ prospecting with the club, him and his real-life brother, who we’d given the road name, Chaos. One thing about Chaos is he didn’t fuck up like Pain. Pain would be a prospect for the rest of his fucking life if I had a say about it but I’m not the Prez, so I don’t get to say shit.

  How could a man leave the woman he was going to marry, the woman who had his brand tattooed on her skin, committing herself to him? That took a special type of man to just abandon his woman when she needed him. It was all Kyle’s fault she was in this situation. That was the only thing I could think of while staring at her face. If he didn’t gamble away all his cash, she wouldn’t have been taken, and let me tell ya, it’s a damn good thing that Jenna was managing the club’s cash for all these years. Kyle woulda blown through the lot of it; leaving the club barely holding on.

  “No….you can’t be r-real, you’re n-not real.” Her voice was a croak, a dry, raspy thing that I didn’t recognize.

  “Babygirl, it’s me. I’m here, and I’m takin’ you home. We’re getting you the fuck outta this hellhole” I assured her. She looked up into my eyes, those pale green emeralds staring deep down into mine. I took a step closer to her, bent down and brushed the bottom of my thumb against her cheek.

  “You are going to be alright,” I told her, staring into those glassy eyes. I wasn’t sure what else to do. I didn’t know what she’d been through, what she had to endure with those bastards.

  Dais broke down, her defeated poker face fell and the tears slid down her eyes like a rush of water. She directed her eyes away from me, towards the door I came in for a split second and then met mine again. After she took in a deep breath, she stared into my eyes and spoke “Where is he?”

  I didn’t say shit to her. How the fuck was I supposed to tell her that the day Pain told us all she was taken – er, gone – that Kyle just abandoned her perfect ass. I wasn’t going to tell her, not now when I just got her. I stayed silent, yanked my phone out from the back of my jeans and texted Reed and Enzo.

  To: Reed & Enzo

  I’ve got Dais. Meet u at the van in 5

  When I shot the text off to them, I pulled out my switchblade, going to her side and tried to cut the rope that bound her wrists as easily as possible.

  “You didn’t answer me,” she pointed out, her voice a soft whisper. She was a relentless woman. I should’ve known she wouldn’t give up that easily.

  “Sweetie, you’ve been through a lot. Let me focus on getting you the fuck outta here and we’ll talk about all that other shit later.” I hoped and prayed that she’d let up. Shoulda known she wouldn’t. This is Daisy we’re talking about after all.

  “Tell me where the hell Kyle is!” she snapped it out. Her voice sounded like it’d gone through the blender one too many times.

  I lifted the blade up and it cut right through the rope. Dais groaned. I hated hearing the agony that passed her lips. She grabbed onto the edge of the chair, her knuckles turning white from how hard she was holding onto it. I went around to her other side, sliding the blade under the rope, then looked up at her. Big wet tears were coming out of the corners of her eyes as she looked at me.

  “Babygirl, don’t worry, it’ll all stop hurting soon. Once we get the doc in to see ya, you’ll be as good as new”

  “I’m not fuckin’ crying because this shit hurts, you big idiot,” she sobbed.

  She turned her head in the other direction. I could hear her soft hiccups through her crying, and in that moment, I lifted the blade up, cutting through the last bit of rope on her wrist, then attended to the ropes binding her legs together. At least on her legs, she’d been wearing jeans, so she didn’t have the burn marks on her skin.

  I peeled the rope away from her wrists as she continued to sob. She jolted as I pulled the foreign object from her skin. It looked bad – I wasn’t a doctor or anything, but this shit was bad. The ropes were so tight for so long that they started to mark her skin. The rope had an indentation, it was red and puffy and it some parts was wet. I only thought one thing; infection. I didn’t even realize Dais’ was talking until I saw her mouth moving.

  “What’s that?” I asked, surveying her wrists for more damage. She was clothed, I expected her to be a lot worse under those clothes.

  “I said, I’m cryin’ because he……he’s…not here. I thought he’d find me, out of everyone I – I thought that Kyle, my fi-ance, would….save me.” I looked up to her, rubbed her knee softly and nodded. I didn’t expect to be the one rescuing the princess from the dragon either but here we fuckin’ were. Dais’ was right though, this shoulda been Kyle. He shoulda been the one coming to get her.

  I didn’t say anything to her. There was not a damn thing I could say to make her feel better. I could only be here for her when she needed me. There’s no how to guide on how to help a girl whose man left her after she was kidnapped.

  I rose from my crouching position, slid my arms under her and lifted her up against my chest. She groaned, grabbing my cut and clenching her wrist into a balling fist.

  “Ollie.”

  “Yeah, babygirl?”

  “Thank you for saving me.” I looked down at her as she uttered those words. I looked deep into her eyes, down into the depths of her soul, finally seeing how broken they made her there. I don’t know what these fuckers did to our girl. I could just tell it was bad. It was gonna take a long time to help her. I’d be damned if I was gonna let this strong, witty woman be broken down into that shell ever again. It was the end. I was going to protect her at all costs.

  I would never let anything hurt her, ever again.

  CHAPTER 1

  Daisy

  “Life is too damned short, babe, and I want you with me every crazy ass minute of it. So, I want to know if you’ll marry me, and make me the luckiest fuckin’ man in the world.”

  I stare at Elena’s face so intently, waiting for her answer. Truth be told, we are all waiting. I want to laugh at her reaction; she didn’t see it coming at all. Reed told me this morning he was going to do it and swore me to secrecy. I, of course obliged and didn’t say a damn thing to Elena. She deserves this. She deserves all the happiness that Reed is going to give her. And let me tell you something, I ain’t ever seen Reed so damn happy either.

  They are a perfect fit for each other.

  “Well, what’s it gonna be, Siren?” Reed chuckled nervously. I can’t help but giggle at her mouth hanging wide open.

  “…..yes?” Elena never sounded nervous in anything she’d ever said, but right now she looks just about as bad as she sounds. Like a nervous fucking chihuahua shaking at the vet’s office. “I mean yes, yes, yes, yes!” Elena wraps her arms around Reed’s shoulders, and he grabs her ass and pulls her to him, kissing and touching each other like they just can’t get enough. Watching them makes me think of a time when I couldn’t get enough of someone, someone from my past – and then there’s what I think about the man that I can’t get enough of right now.

  Here’s the funny thing, they are both in this damn bar with me.

  They call each other brothers; they share a bond. Hell, they are even friends, and Kyle has no idea that I have been sleeping with Ollie. Sleeping...if that’s what I should even call it. It’s more than sleeping, it’s so much fuckin’ more than that.

  Reed pulls away from Elena, turning to us all in the room “We’re getting married in 30 day
s, put it on the calendar, people!”

  “There is no way in hell I am marrying you in 30 days,” Elena snaps back, glaring at him. It always makes me laugh how much they’re alike. They both have this distinctive fire in their eyes and in my opinion Elena’s shines a lot brighter than Reed’s.

  “The fuck you aren’t woman. It’s 30 days, or tonight,” he challenges her, and Elena starts turning red, almost as red as her hair.

  “You two are criminally insane,” I laugh at them. A few of the brothers start laughing with me.

  Elena rolls her eyes “I am not insane, but this guy definitely is. 30 days? Who gets married in 30 days? It takes months to plan a wedding, months!”

  “Elena Michaels, you are marrying me in 30 days and that’s the end of this discussion. You have 30 days to rein in all your wedding mumbo jumbo shit, whatever you want, you shall have. It’s about you baby. Whatever you want, wherever you want, hell, you can put the girls in puke green dresses for all I care.”

  “They will not be wearing puke green,” Elena informs him. I agree. Definitely not puke green. I am sure I am gonna to be a bridesmaid, ain’t no way in hell I am wearing puke green. I wouldn’t be surprised if Elena has us in some sorta green though; it is her favorite color. “And we’re not married yet; why are you even calling me Michaels?”

  “We’ve got 30 days, baby. Better get used to that shit now Mrs. Michaels.” The banter between them is adorable and I am not one to eat that shit up. But with Elena and Reed I can’t help it. I just hope that they work out. I’m not pessimistic, but I am a realist – I know that shit happens. Life is ugly and throws us curveballs that we never expect.

  Reed turns to look at me Jenna and Michelle; he even looks at Maria, the latest addition to our posse who is also the girl who they purchased from the Cartel a few weeks back. “You four better help make this wedding happen in 30 days. I need all your assistance, whatever she needs, you all help her. If you work at the bar and Elena needs something, Elena gets top priority. I can put the whores in the bar for the night.” Reed is talking about the few whores who have been hanging around the club since the cartel shooting. Apparently, it won us points with the community and the women just keep coming and coming, figuratively and literally.