Page 39 of Knot My MC
“I won’t stop him.” Knox. Serious and unfazed.
“This isn’t over,” Axel warns before the engine of his bike rumbles to life and he speeds away.
Footfalls come closer to where Crow has me trapped, but I keep my eyes closed. If I open them, the tears will fall and that can’t happen. These guys would be too happy to watch me break. I fight the pain tooth and nail, roughly swallowing and breathing through my teeth.
“Leave us,” Knox says without an alpha command. Boots stomp across the concrete, his men leaving without needing to be forced.
I sense them closing in. Jag’s chaotic energy settles around me. Knox’s hand brushes over my arm, but I jerk away, opening my eyes to glare at him. My head hits Crow’s drumming fingers, breaking the cage he’s placed around me. I slip out of his arms and put some space between us.
I could run.
Axel is out there though, and while I don’t want to face these alphas, they’re the lesser evil right now.
Knox shoves his hands into his pockets and widens his stance, taking up more space than he needs. Jag tilts his head and searches my face. Crow’s emerald eyes pierce through my soul. He sees too much. They all do.
“Is it true?” I finally ask. “Did you ki—” I suck in a sharp breath and force the words out. “Did you kill my dad?”
“No,” they say at the same time.
I waver. I may not know them like I used to, but I know their tells. Knox would scratch his eyebrow. Jag would tug his earlobe, and Crow would look to the left. They don’t do any of those things. They stare straight through me, and for a second, I’m not twenty anymore. I’m seventeen and they’re my world.
Finally, hesitantly, I nod. “Okay.”
“Do you believe us?” Crow asks.
“About this? Yeah.” Deep down, I don’t think they’d hurt the only person I care about. They were never cruel. They might have betrayed me, but they wouldn’t kill my father.
“But you don’t trust us,” Jag clarifies.
“Why would I? You’re a bunch of rats.”
“We didn’t rat you out.” Knox grinds his jaw and runs his hand over the shorter brown strands of his fade.
“You left me. I came back and the cop was there. He caught me and you were right there. You drove by while I was arrested.”
“We didn’t rat you out,” he repeats.
“You abandoned me.” My voice comes out strong, but my throat aches as the words leave my mouth.
“It’s complicated, Kiki.” Crow steps toward me and his leg gives a fraction of an inch. You’d never notice if you weren’t paying attention.
“Did you beat Axel up today?” I ask Jag, side-stepping away from Crow.
Crow halts and glances at Jag.
Jag’s blond hair brushes his shoulders and the scruff covering his jaw matches the pale color. He’s gruff and grown and a little scary. His lips tip up. “Heard he needed it.”
“And how’d you hear that?”
The three of them exchange looks, something cryptic passing between them. I frown. I used to be a part of that. The longing inside me to belong once more grows stronger with each passing second. The longer they have a discussion via simple looks, the more I want to be in.
Give ’em hell, Kiki.
I don’t have the strength to fulfill Dad’s wishes. Not after everything that happened today. Heat flushes up my neck and my stomach pangs with hunger. I stiffen a little, surprised by the sudden urge to find a bag of Hot Fries and devour it. Vanilla cloys the air and I nearly choke on my own spit when I realize why my entire body feels too hot and ravenous. The signs have been there all day. The sweating. The aches.
Knox sniffs. “Kiki?”
I’m so hungry.
