Page 41 of Knot My MC
Glaring back at him, she takes one step inside. “Don’t call me Kiks.”
“Why not?” Knox asks.
I step toward her, and she stumbles away from me, moving farther into the apartment to avoid being close. Her scent grows sour with fear. The organ in my chest clenches, but I ignore the pain. She’s pissed, and she has every right to be, but to be scared of us? That won’t do. I shift to the side so I’m not directly in front of her. Knox and Jag come in, and Jag closes the door behind them. He drops his back against it and stares at her, looking every bit the degenerate that he is.
She probably deserves better than us… but she sure as shit doesn’t fit with any other pack the way she does with us.
“You know why,” she snarls, turning away from us and crossing her arms.
Drumming my fingers on my pants to keep from going to her, I sigh. “Can we talk about it?” If we can only tell her what happened, maybe then she’d realize we never left her by choice. Maybe she’d trust us again.
She spins on her heel and those piercing blue eyes cut through me. “Sure. Why don’t the three of you tell me why you called the cops on me? Why don’t you explain your stupid little game where you fooled me into thinking we were friends?” She sucks in a shaky breath, hands trembling as she lifts them to her heart. “Explain how you could leave me like it all meant nothing.” Heat flares on her cheeks but she doesn’t look away. That’s almost worse.
The pain we caused all those years ago is deeper than I thought. It’s written on her face, lines of sadness and hurt and betrayal. Indignation flashes over her face. We’re fucking trash for leaving her. We should have fought harder. We should have… but we couldn’t without risking her. We couldn’t without risking a fight with Kiren.
Her lip wobbles slightly. I’ve never seen her this vulnerable, but with the auctions and what happened to Kiren, it’s a miracle she isn’t crying.
I glance at Knox, but he’s staring at her with a pained expression.
Jag runs his hand through his hair, eyes a little wild at the sight of her pain.
Fuck. Guess I’m the one who has to start this conversation.
“That night when you went to get the bike, Axel showed up with a few guys from Wrecker.”
She grinds her jaw, eyes burning with wariness.
“They wanted to warn us away from you.” I pause, wondering if I should tell her everything. I can’t lie to her, not even by omission. “They beat us to hell, Kiki.” I gesture to my leg. “It’s how I got this.”
I don’t need to say what. She noticed the way I walk. Flinching a little, her gaze drops to my knee with worry. Her eyebrows pinch together. She doesn’t believe me. I was hit in the hip with a bat and it had hurt so bad I didn’t want to get back on my bike once they were done with us, but Knox forced me onto the Harley. Ensuring Kiki was safe from Axel kept me on the damn thing. It wasn’t until we got back to the club when I realized something was seriously wrong. Surgery mostly fixed the issue, but if I work out too hard or do something that aggravates the area—like the fight we had with Wrecker MC only a few days ago— pain flares up and affects my gait.
Before she can protest, I continue. “They told us to leave you alone. Axel said something a little different to Knox.” I cut my gaze toward the Prez and nod.
Knox curls his fingers into fists. “After he kicked my ass, Axel grabbed me by the collar and told me if we didn’t leave you alone, he’d force you to take his knot.”
A soft growl fills the room at that. “We didn’t leave you by choice, Kiks,” Jag manages through gritted teeth. “We did it to protect you.”
She scoffs. “And you thought leaving me with the man who threatened to do that was a good idea? You didn’t think to warn me?”
“Your dad was with you, Kiki. We knew he’d keep you safe,” I say. “What did you expect us to do? If we came to get you, it would have started a war. He could have died. You would have hated us if it came to that.”
“I don’t—” She cuts off and takes a deep breath. “I don’t know what I expected.” She rubs a hand over her face, then her features crumple and tears fill her eyes.
Damn it.
I move toward her, but she shakes her head and pins me with an angry stare. “Don’t.”
That word stops me in my tracks. “Kiki,” I murmur.
She swipes at her cheeks and pinches her eyes shut. “It’s been a really long day and I want to sleep.”
“You’re not hungry?” I hedge. It’s been a long time since I last cooked for her.
“No.” She shakes her head. “I don’t want that.”
She doesn’t want me to take care of her is what she’s saying.
“You can have my bed,” Jag offers. “I’ll sleep on the couch.”
