Page 15 of Protected By Saint

Mine.

I tug the covers over her shoulders before walking across the room to the closet. I slide into a pair of gray sweatpants and pull on a white t-shirt before making my way to the window, pulling back the curtains to peek out. The harsh glow of the bike's headlight cuts through the darkness, lighting up my driveway. I let out an annoyed sigh when I spot Knox straddling the bike, staring right at my bedroom window.

The fucking asshole owns a phone, and I imagine he knows how to use it, but I guess he just wanted to annoy me by showing up.

With another sigh, I push away from the window and turn to Jade. I promised her I would not leave her alone, which means whatever Knox has to say will have to be summarized into as few words as he can. It’s tempting to walk back to the bed and kiss Jade, but I don’t want to risk waking her so I simply leave.

There is a smug look on Knox’s face when I finally make my way to him. “Is it your life’s mission to annoy me?” I say in greeting, and he raises his middle fingers at me. I notice the bruised knuckles and the blood on his hands when he does so. I nod toward his hands as I close the distance between us. “What happened to your hands? Run out of bullets?”

“Thanks for the concern, Prez. I really felt it when you ditched us back at the club.”

“What I am hearing is that you did not have everything under control and needed me there to manage things?”

“Oh, Fuck you!” He raises the middle finger again, but this time, it’s followed by a chuckle. “I thought you would want an update on what happened tonight.”

“You have my number.”

“I’m more of a face-to-face kind of guy,” he snarks. “Anyway, while you were in the back with the chick you bought—”

“Jade,” I grit out. “I didn’t buy her. Show some respect.”

Knox stares at me for a moment before nodding once in understanding. “While you were in the back with Jade, Priest’s boys arrived and we cleaned house.”

“Just like that? You take anyone out?”

“Not exactly—”

“There were casualties? Don’t tell me it’s our mark!”

“Not him!”

“Good because Derrick Halpin is mine to deal with. A bullet to the head is too quick for someone like him. We don’t need the attention a bloodbath would bring anyway.”

“I figured you would say that, and that’s why I used these instead of my gun.” He nods at his bloody knuckles. “Otherwise, I would have finished him off at the club. We did get into a shootout with the security team, but none of our boys was hit.”

There’s more, otherwise he would not have come all this way to see me in person. Well, that’s not true. Knowing Knox, he would still have come out here if only to annoy me, but this time, I sense that there’s more to it. I know him well enough to read him.

“Tell me,” I say, sliding my hands into my pockets.

“They want her.”

He doesn’t need to clarify what he’s talking about. There isn’t any other woman in my life for him to have to clarify what he means byher.

“Explain.”

“When we were at the club, one of the men we…detained, the club manager, got a call from an unknown number. We didn’t answer of course, but after they kept calling back, I told the man to pick up and put it on speaker. The caller said that he knew we had the girl and that we owed him the payment on your bid. He said if we don’t want any trouble with the law, then we’d better return the girl.”

For the first time, I question if we’ve been taking it too easy as a club. Minding our own business too much and leaving people to believe that they can make demands of us. The fucking cops don’t even play with us, not if they don’t want to see the city go up in smoke. We’re not called the Rebels for no reason, but maybe I’ve kept the men on a tight leash too long if outsiders think we can be messed with.

That someone can just call and make demands.

“Close it down,” I say, my blood boiling at the thought of Jade setting foot in that place again. I promised her that she is safe with me and would never return to that place ever again. I’ll be damned if I don’t keep my promise.

“Or, hear me out,” Knox chuckles. “We could send boys to raid the place—”

“Clear it out and close down, then station a few men to guard it. No one goes in or out. Get Gray and Blaze looking into the club. I want to know who owns it.”

Knox shakes his head at me. “You got it, boss. What do you want us to do with the manager and Halpin?”

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