Page 14 of Knuckles

“A few. I needed him secure in what he was doing, so he’d lose his cool in public.”

Knuckles jerked back like I’d struck him. “You were baiting him?”

“I guess you could say that. I already knew what he’d done to Carol. And one of the other women I mentioned? He killed her. Said it was a boating accident and she got washed overboard.”

“Pretty sure we’d all agree the fucker needed to die. That’s not in question. I want to know why you got involved. And I got a feeling this isn’t your first time out.” His hard, knowing expression let me know I was busted. I didn’t care about getting caught, but I didn’t want it to be Knuckles who put the pieces together. Or Gunnar. I kind of expected it would be my dad who’d figure it out.

“Again, not your business.”

“Yeah?” He stood so abruptly his chair tumbled backward and skidded across the room. “I’m makin’ it my fuckin’ business.” The hard, angry words almost made me flinch. Not out of fear, though. Knuckles was many things, a killer among them. But he’d never hurt a woman unless she needed it. Then it would be as quick and painless as he could make it. No. I wasn’t afraid he’d hurt me. I was afraid of the disappointment I’d see in his gaze.

It was always hard enough to take it from Dad. But, even if I never acknowledged my feelings to myself, I’d basically had a crush on Knuckles from the first day I met him. If I looked like a fool in front of him, I wasn’t sure I could bounce back. There was something about Knuckles that drew me to him. Probably his loyalty to the people he cared about.

“Sorry, Knuckles. You don’t get to make that choice.”

“I do when I have to watch you stand there and take a punch.” His reply was clipped. Angry. He had to close his eyes and take a breath which I kind of found amusing. “You probably don’t know much about me, Hannah, but I killed three men to get to go to prison. They raped and murdered my sister. So seeing someone hit my cell mate’s sister is a huge fuckin’ trigger for me.”

“I didn’t go to that club with the intention of you being there. While I respect that people have triggers, I didn’t have you in mind when I went out last night.”

“Didn’t say you did. But I was there. And there was no way I couldn’tnotinterfere. Didn’t matter if it was you or someone else. I will never stand by and see someone strong hurtin’ someone weaker just because they can. The fact it was you made it that much worse.”

It was my turn to stand and pace away. “Christ,” I muttered. “Look, if it’s about this happening in your city, I get it. You don’t want blowback. I only went after Dillon because Carol is my friend.”

“OK. We’re getting somewhere now.”

I’d walked to the bar in the kitchen area. It was the only thing separating the kitchen from the living room. When I turned around, Knuckles was right behind me. I sucked in a breath as he caged me in, his hands flat on the bar on either side of me. The look he gave me was that of a man who expected to be obeyed. Unfortunately for Knuckles, my father had given me that look many times, so I was immune. No, my reaction to Knuckles was all about his close proximity and the scent of clean sweat and gasoline and the heat coming from his big body that had me weak in the knees. This was definitely a bad time for my fucking hormones to kick in.

“You afraid, little girl?”

I tried to scowl at him but wasn’t sure I pulled it off. Especially since my heart was hammering in my chest so hard there was no way Knuckles would fail to notice how my pulse fluttered at my neck. “I’m not afraid of anything.”

“Oh, I think you are.”

“Am not.” Fuck. I actually stuck my chin up. What was it about Knuckles that made me want to stand up to him like a teenager to a parent?

He slid me a grin. “Yeah?”

“Yeah.”

“All right. Tell me what this is all about. You’ve killed before. Not only did you not flinch when you stabbed that motherfucker, you committed to the kill before you approached him.”

“Why wouldn’t I? He was a bastard who preyed on the people he was supposed to love.”

“I don’t give a fuck about Dillon or anyone else in that situation. I care about you. So, I want to know why you’re putting yourself in this kind of danger. More than once, apparently.”

“It’s just my thing, Knuckles. This is my contribution to society. I take scumbags off the street.”

“Vigilante justice, huh.”

“I suppose so.”

“No.” His snarl was a surprise. My gaze snapped to his where I’d been looking anywhere but at him. His closeness was distracting. Knuckles was larger than life. And I didn’t mean only his size, though he was a big-ass motherfucker. Standing over me now, the man oozed sex. The carnal, nasty kind. I wanted to jump him, to make him take what his gaze was promising.

I wasn’t a virgin by any stretch of the imagination. I was thirty-two years old, for Christ’s sake. But I had never wanted to have sex like I wanted to have sex with Knuckles. Maybe it was the violence from earlier. Maybe it was the man himself. Or maybe, it was because this was the first time I’d ever truly wanted to have sex with a man. It wasn’t happening, but that didn’t mean I didn’t want it to happen.

“No, what? I didn’t ask a question.”

“You’re not settin’ yourself up to be beaten and probably raped out of a sense of justice, though I’m sure that’s what you tell anyone who knows about what you do.”

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