Page 37 of Hard Knox

My heart tightened, anger and thanks twisting inside me. Eliza had started to speak the lingo. “Is he?”

“He’s locked up now,” she cut in quick, the worry in her eyes smoothing out.

I gave Rocky a look, and he hung his head. I’d wanted the fucker dead.

“It’s over, Knox. He can’t touch us anymore,” Eliza said.

Nodding, I felt relief flooding me, though the need to protect her never faded. “You’re coming to the clubhouse with me,” I said, laying it out there soft but firm. “Emma too.”

Eliza didn’t blink, just bowed, her trust in me cemented by the hell we’d walked through. But then she paused, a thought nagging at her. “Maybe we should hit my place tonight,” she murmured low. “Emma… she’s got no clue anything was messed up. She thinks her dad was just playing, and the whole damn showdown was a game.”

“You’re right,” I agreed. “Let’s head to your place. She should sleep in her own bed tonight.”

The ride over was in her car, since my Harley was still impounded. We were quiet, both of us chewin’ over the mess we’d just crawled out of. When we pulled up, her house was dark and quiet, like the storm had never hit. We walked in, and the place, familiar and still, seemed to wrap Eliza up in a bit of peace. I hoped like hell it’d do the same for Emma.

Her friend Birdie showed up with Emma, who was already deep in dreams, blissfully blind to the chaos that had swirled around her. Eliza took her in her arms to take her to bed. Watchin’ them, a surge of emotion choked me up—their toughness, findin’ peace in the middle of a storm, it was somethin’ special.

“We’ll bunk here tonight,” I murmured to Eliza as we lingered in the doorway of Emma’s room. “We’ll sort out the next steps come morning.”

Eliza nodded, leaning into me a bit. “Thank you, Knox. For everything. I don’t know what we’d have done without you.”

Drawing her in close, I wrapped my arms around her. “You’ll never have to find out,” I promised her.

Birdie spied on us from the hallway. “You two are too cute,” she said as she gathered her purse to leave.

As we settled down for the night, a feeling of security wrapped around us tight. Despite all the hell, we were together, and that counted for more than anything else. Tomorrow might toss us whatever it had, but tonight, under the roof of her house, with Emma snoozin’ sound, Mark behind bars, we’d found our safe spot. Here, with Eliza and Emma, was where I was meant to be, and I was ready to throw down with whatever came our way to keep it like that.

The first light of dawn sneaked through the curtains as I woke up, findin’ Eliza still curled up in my arms, her breathin’ calm and even. The quiet of the moment was nothing like the roar of the past few days. I gently brushed a strand of hair from her face, watchin’ her stir softly under my touch.

“Mornin’,” I whispered as her eyes fluttered open.

“Mornin’,” she murmured back, a soft smile ticklin’ the corners of her lips.

I held her gaze, the weight of my thoughts heavy on me. “You ain’t goin’ to work today,” I told her. “After all that’s gone down, you need a break. We’ll drop Emma off at school, but after that, I wanna keep you close all day.”

Eliza’s eyes widened a bit, but I could tell relief was washin’ over her. “Okay,” she agreed, her smile growin’. “I think I’d like that. Mr. Cats will have to understand.”

We got up and got dressed quietly, the routine bringin’ a little normalcy back into our frayed edges. Together, we walked Emma to preschool, her happy babble a soft backdrop to the strain that still hung under the surface. As we walked the quiet early morning streets, I sensed the burden of the town’s stares, their eyes sharp with curiosity and judgment anytime someone passed. The news of my release hadn’t spread around yet. But I was used to people judging me, so didn’t give a fuck.

And Eliza, feelin’ the weight of those stares, she’d stared not givin’ fuck too. She tightened her grip on my hand, inching closer to me. “I don’t care what they think,” she whispered, squeezin’ my hand tight.

“Neither do I,” I said back, my focus only on her and the road we walked together. “I don’t give a fuck about nothin’ but you and Emma. The club notwithstanding.”

Once we got back to her place after droppin’ off Emma, the quiet of the house wrapped around us. It was there, in the calm of her living room, that I laid out what had been churnin’ in my mind since they cut me loose. “I want you and Emma to move in with me. At the clubhouse, or wherever you feel safe. My apartment, the cabin. Your choice. As long as we’re together.”

Eliza took a pause, mullin’ over my words. “I love how close we are to Emma’s preschool here, and everything she needs is just around the corner. My job, the elementary school is close, too.”

Her reasoning felt like rejection. “You won’t live with me? I understand I’m a biker, but I promise you and Emma will be safer than you’ve ever been.”

“It’s not that,” she said, meeting my eyes. “What if… what if you moved in with us instead?”

Her idea caught me off guard for a sec. My life had always been tangled up with the clubhouse, with the brotherhood that’s been my family forever. But lookin’ at Eliza, seein’ the hope sparkin’ in her eyes, I got to thinkin’ that maybe my notion of family was shiftin’.

“I got my spot at the club. I’m Prez so that’s not going to change, but I reckon I could let go of my apartment. This place could turn into my home away from home,” I threw out there, gettin’ used to the idea.

Eliza let out a little laugh, light and easy. “Any other time, I’d say this is rushin’ things.”

Feelin’ a weight lift off my chest, I cracked a smile. “You can take more time if you need. I just… I can’t stand the thought of you and Emma being alone, not with all the messed-up stuff we uncovered about Mark. I don’t want y’all in any danger.”

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