Page 2 of Knight's Last Chance

“Fancy seeing you here, Red,” my brother says with a shit-eating grin on his face, and it’s enough to have my eyes filling with tears.

“Priest!” I yell, dropping my bags and flinging myself at the massive man. He catches me with a chuckle, and just like that, all my reservations about coming home melt away. A part of me mourns the brotherly love I was robbed of as a kid, but we’re here now. It took me seventeen years, but I found my family. One who would never try to sell me for drugs.

“I missed you, Red.”

“Stop calling me Red.” I sniff, pulling back from the embrace and brushing my fingers over my tear-stained cheeks and through my red hair, mock glaring at him. “You’re so unoriginal.”

In the past, I thought of coloring my hair just to get everyone to stop calling me “Red,” but my hair is the one good thing I got from my mother. She gifted me plenty of mental scars and traumas I’m still working through, but at least I got gorgeous hair.

The unbidden memories of my mother almost dampen my mood, but I quickly shrug them off, turning to the silent figure beside my brother, and a laugh breaks out of me. Priest is built like bull, and his appearance is very much at odds with the stunning beauty standing beside him. I can’t help but notice she is about my age, too.

“Rhea, this is my girlfriend, Sky,” Priest says, and the shy girl extends her hand for a shake, but I ignore it, going in for a hug.

“Nice to meet you, Sky. My brother won’t stop talking about you every time we talk on the phone,” I say with a wide smile, and Priest doesn’t even bother denying it.

In the two years I have known Priest, he’s never brought up being involved with a woman, and I’ve never seen him with anyone. I thought he was a bit of a softie with me, but around Sky, he is basically a melted marshmallow. It’s comical to see.

“How about we go inside, and you can say hi to the other guys. Everyone has missed you.”

His words bring me pause, and I fight to retain my smile. “Uh, sure,” I say, picking up my purse as he grabs my other bag. “So, you told everyone that I was coming?”

“No, I wanted it to be a surprise.”

“Not even . . . um, your best friend?” I say, hoping Priest doesn’t catch the tremor in my voice.

“You mean Knight?”

“Oh, yeah. Is he still around?” I ask, trying for nonchalance, as if his name isn’t tattooed on my heart and any attempt to move on has only brought me excruciating pain.

“Of course he is. Hey, do you still use that expensive camera he gave you for your eighteenth birthday?” Right before he shattered my heart to pieces.

“Oh, right. I’ve been so busy with school that I forgot all about that. I still have it, but don’t get a chance to use it much,” I tell him, forcing a chuckle I don’t feel. When I look up, I am met by a confused set of dark eyes that look like mine, but it’s the knowing glance his girlfriend gives me that leaves me feeling exposed.

It’s almost like she knows, but . . . no one knows.

My palms begin to sweat and panic swells in my throat at the thought of someone finding out the truth of what happened between Knight and me, and what that could mean. Would Priest be forced to pick a side between the best friend he’s known his entire life and the younger sister he met only two years ago?

It would be all my fault if that happened.

My eyes shoot up when I feel a hand on my shoulder to find that we’ve stopped, and Sky is watching me with a knowing smile.

“Red, are you okay?” Priest asks, concern lacing in his voice.

“I . . . I’m sorry, I’m just tired. The flight was long, not to mention the half-hour taxi ride here,” I offer weakly.

Priest’s dark eyes narrow, as if he doesn’t believe me, but it’s his girlfriend who comes to the rescue.

“How about we take her home first and let her get settled in, then later, she can see the guys,” Sky suggests, placing her other hand on my brother’s arm, and he melts. I watch with humor as his features soften when he stares at his girlfriend, and just like that, I’ve become invisible.

“You’re right,” he says with a nod, and I can practically read the hearts in his eyes. I snort out a laugh and follow them to their car, bypassing the clubhouse altogether. Priest used to live in the master suite in the big house, but shortly after I’d arrived, he’d bought a house in a quiet neighborhood nearby, wanting to put some distance between me and the club’s less-than-legal activities. When I’d left for college, he’d moved back into the clubhouse, but he’d told me that he recently moved back into his other house again shortly after meeting Sky. I’m only visiting for a few days, but I can already tell it’s going to be a painful couple of days.

Sharing a house with these two lovebirds is no doubt going to chip away at my sanity, but despite it all, I am happy that Priest found someone.

I know that will never happen for me.

Don’t think about him. Don’t think about him! I chant in my head as I follow them into the house, and I am quickly distracted from my thoughts when my eyes lock on a gorgeous flower arrangement on the entry table. I take in all the subtle changes to the place that have it feeling and looking warmer.

“I like what you’ve done with the place,” I say, smiling at Sky. I know Priest wouldn’t be caught dead near a flower shop, but then again, maybe not. When I turn to find him watching Sky like she holds all the answers to the universe, I know there is little he wouldn’t do for her.

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