Page 29 of Rocky Top

That’s how we did things. Never in a rush to ruin a good silence unless the devil demanded it.

Finally, he said, “Eliza told me somethin’.”

I flicked ash off the end of my smoke. “Yeah?”

He nodded, jaw clenchin’ just once. “She said Birdie had been seeing someone. Said one of Mark’s boys.”

My spine straightened.

“And she didn’t tellus?” I said, sharper than I meant to.

“Didn’t want to drag us back into that mess if it was nothin’. Eliza only brought it up ‘cause she’s worried. So am I.”

I stared hard into the trees.

“Any idea who itwas?” I asked.

“Eliza didn’t say his name,” Knox said.

I growled low in my throat. “And you didn’t ask?”

“No,” he said. “Which is why I’m tellin’ you. I need you to find out who it was. Quietly. I don’t want Eliza spooked any more than she already is. I acted like it meant nothin’. That it couldn’t have anything to do with what happened to Birdie in the woods.”

My hands curled around the railing. “You think it’s revenge?”

He looked at me. “When you throw a rock into a pack of dogs, the one that hollers is the one you hit.”

“You think they know?” I asked, real quiet.

His gaze was steady. “If they don’t now, they will soon.”

A beat passed between us, heavy as sin.

“I did what you asked,” I said finally. “He’s gone.”

“I know,” Knox replied. “But that doesn’t mean the rot didn’t spread before we cut the root.”

I nodded once. “You want me to run the names?”

“I want you to do more than that,” he said. “Track his old crew. Anyone left standin’. Find out who’s got somethin’ to gain from stirrin’ up shit.”

“And if I find ‘em?” I asked, turnin’ toward him.

Knox met my eyes, and I saw the fox flash behind them. “Make sure they don’t ever get close to my girls again.”

I took one last drag and ground the cigarette out under my boot. “I’ll handle it.”

He clapped a hand to my shoulder. “I know you will, Rock.”

And with that, gears were already turning in my mind. I would start diggin’ through names, faces, old whispers from Mark’s circle. If Birdie had been seeingsomeone from that world, we were sittin’ on a powder keg.

And I’d be damned if I let her light the match without me knowin’.

Chapter 6

Rocky

I stepped back into the Wild Dog, stalking through the main room, boots thumpin’ against scarred floorboards, eyes cuttin’ through the smoke and shadows. My gut was still twisted over Birdie, the rogue in the woods, and the way the whole damn world felt like it was changing under my boots. But I needed a moment to breathe. To keep eyes on the pack.

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