Road to Victory (Dogs of Fire Book 5) (6 page)

She gave a disbelieving giggle. “Knight, don’t be an idiot. I know you want me. Now’s your chance. No strings.”

He looked at her again and sighed. The problem was, he wanted strings. Badly. “Not gonna happen.”

“Aidan,” she whispered.

“Fuck me,” he breathed out.

“I’m tryin’ here!” she teased.

“No, Kim. No.” He watched in both fascination and horror as her face changed. She went from open and sexy to closed and emotionless in zero point two. “Honey? You okay?” She continued to shut down in front of him and his heart raced. “Kim?”

She tapped his chest, stepped back, and walked to her front door. “Goodnight.”

He chuckled. “Babe.”

“If you’re not out of my apartment in twenty-five seconds, I will call the police.”

He narrowed his eyes; unsure she saw him... she didn’t look like herself. Jesus, she shut down far too quickly for his liking. “Do you even know who I am?”

“Aidan, get out of my house.”

“Just checkin’,” he grumbled as he pulled on his boots, grabbed his jacket, and made his way to the door. “I’ll call you tomorrow.”

“Don’t bother.”

“Kim, what the fuck just happened here?”

She checked her watch. “Four seconds.”

“Lock up, yeah?” Knight had barely gotten his feet out of the door before it was closed on his ass and he heard the clicks of the locks.

Shit.

He shrugged on his jacket, pulled out Mack’s keys, and headed to the garage. He’d give her a couple of days to calm down and smooth it out with her at the pig roast on Saturday. One thing he could bank on was his ability to get a woman to forgive him.

He had no idea how wrong he was and how far he’d have to go to “smooth it out.”

* * *

Kim

I came awake with a raging headache but feeling a whole hell of a lot better than I had the night before... well, other than the fact I’d been shut down by Knight. My phone buzzed on the nightstand, and my heart raced a little, hoping it was him. I snatched it up and frowned. It was Mack. “Hey, honey.”

“Hey, Kim. Just callin’ to check on you.”

“I’m better.” I slid from the bed and walked into the kitchen for coffee. “Just a little groggy.”

“I bet. Hey, I’m doin’ some checkin’ on your stalker.”

I groaned. “Don’t be so melodramatic, I don’t have a stalker.”

See? He takes everything to a level that’s absurd.

“Not sure why you lied to me, Kim, but before it was just letters and shit... now they’re startin’ to get weird, right?”

 “Damn it! Dani told Booker, didn’t she?”

“What I don’t understand, Kim, is why
you
didn’t tell
me
.”

“Because it’s no big deal,” I rushed in defense.

“Yeah? If that’s the case, you’ll gather all the shit up and have it waiting for me when I swing by to check on you in an hour.”

“I don’t know if I have it, honestly.”

He groaned. “You didn’t dump it, did you?”

“Some of it,” I admitted. “Some of it’s in my trunk.”

“Shit.”

I swallowed back the bile threatening to spill. “Mack, is this really a threat?”

“Yeah, babe, I think it is.”

“Oh,” I whispered. “Was it the guy who attacked me last night?”

Mack sighed. “No.”

My heart sank. “You know that for sure?”

“Yeah.”

“Ohmigod,” I rasped. “What did he want? The guy who attacked me?”

“Still workin’ that out, Kim. But you’re covered, yeah?”

I nodded. “Thanks for being a serious pain in the ass, Mack.”

“Back atya, babe.” He chuckled. “Box it up; wear gloves when you do that, yeah?”

“Aye, aye, Captain.”

“See you in an hour.”

He hung up and I immediately called Dani.

“Well, hello there, favorite best friend in all the world,” she said in her happy, sing-songy voice. “What can I do for you?”

I took a deep breath. “Um, filtering would be a good start.”

She giggled. “I’m sorry?”

“I get that you tell Booker everything, honey, but I really need you to filter, because he tells Mack everything which means, now I have a really pissed off biker coming over to “check on me” and pick up the creeper’s gifts.”

“Good.”

“No, Dani, it’s not good!” I countered. “If I wanted Mack to know, I would have told him.”

“At some point you have to learn to trust people, especially those who love you, and this guy is freaking me out. You might not be as concerned as I am, but there’s something not right here, Kimmie, and if Mack can figure it out, then I’ll have less to worry about.”

“Stop it,” I whispered. “Please.”

“No. I love you, Kim, so, no. I won’t stop if it means keeping you safe, especially from yourself.”

I let out a frustrated squeak.

“Love you, honey,” she said, her voice low and serious. “Don’t ever doubt it, but know that sometimes I have to show you a little tough love in order to get through to your
stupid, big
fat,
hard-headed brain
!” she snapped. “And don’t think I don’t know about what happened last night! I can’t believe you didn’t call me.”

“I didn’t want to worry you,” I whispered, waffling between regret from keeping something so huge from her and irritation that my secret had been spilled.

“If I haven’t earned the right to worry about you, then you and I have a problem.”

I sighed. She was right. She cleared her throat, probably from emotion. Damn it, now I’d made her cry. I really was a bitch. “I’m sorry, Dani.”

“Now, even with your apology, I can envision you staring at the knife block, trying to decide which one to use on me, so I’m going to let you go for the moment,” she said.

I looked quickly away from the knife block, annoyed she knew me so well.

“I will call you tomorrow and we’ll figure out another girls’ night.”

“That actually sounds really good.”

“I know it does.” The smile was back in her voice, so I relaxed. “I love you, Kim.”

She hung up before I could say another word and I flopped onto my sofa. Gah! My friends made me crazy!

One Week Later...

K
NIGHT STOOD BY the wall behind the pool table, beer in his hand, eyes on the door, waiting. He was always fucking waiting.

Knight took another swig of his beer and saw Kim before she saw him and he relaxed. Well, until she took off her coat. Then his body locked and he scanned the room, wondering which of his brothers he’d have to kill first. Kim wore dark, tight jeans, a Harley T-shirt she’d cut to hell, making it a low V-neck with strategic slits that gave tiny peeks of her flat stomach. A pair of high-heeled boots made her already gorgeous legs look fuckin’ incredible.

Kim glanced at him and then immediately looked away, reaching for Flea’s hand and pulling him in for a hug... an intimate one.

What the fuck?

She’d come alone. Dani and Booker weren’t there yet, so Knight headed toward her, setting his beer on a table as he passed. She’d ignored his calls since the night she was attacked, and he knew she fucking got them. Knew she got his texts too, but she was shutting him out.

Flea caught his eye and gave him an apologetic grimace. He was obviously just as surprised by Kim’s move as Knight had been. Flea disengaged himself from Kim, and Knight wrapped an arm around her waist, guiding her toward the kitchen.

“Wha—what are you doing?” she demanded. “Let me go.”

He dragged her through the kitchen, past the kids’ playroom, and to the meeting room at the back of the compound.

“Knight!” she snapped.

Closing the door behind them, he pushed her against the wall, keeping one hand on her hip to anchor her, then sliding his other to her neck. God, she smelled amazing. “You look beautiful, sugar. How’s your chest?”

“It’s fine.”

“Yeah? Any scarring?”

Kim blushed and shook her head.

“You feeling better?”

“Yes.” She stood straighter. “I’d like to leave.”

“You gonna behave?”

She scowled up at him and pushed against the hand holding her to the wall. “You don’t get to talk to me like that, Aidan.”

“You don’t think?”

“Let me go,” she whispered.

He smiled and leaned down, getting nose-to-nose with her. “You gonna behave?”

She licked her lips and he hardened at the sight of her pink tongue peeking out between her lips. She didn’t answer, so he ran his tongue over her perfect mouth, then he kissed her... mostly because he
had
to taste her.

Kim opened her mouth, sliding her tongue to meet his. Knight deepened the kiss, only to find his lip bitten hard enough to draw blood. “What the fuck?” he bellowed, pressing his hand against his mouth. She didn’t say a word as she stormed out of the room, slamming the door behind her.

“Fuck!” he yelled again, forcing himself not to follow her. If he reached her in the state he was in, he’d say or do something he’d regret. He needed to calm down before they spoke.

“Are you fucking kidding me?” Mack bellowed.

Knight shook his head at the sound of Mack’s anger.

“Where the fuck is he?” Mack demanded.

God damn it!
He wasn’t afraid of Mack, but he didn’t really want to deal with more drama than Kim.

“Mack, calm down.” This came from Ace. “I’ll handle my little brother.”

Ace walked into the room and shook his head. “What the fuck did you do?”

“Just wanted a little time with my girl,” Knight retorted.

Ace crossed his arms. “Against her will?”

“I’d never fuckin’ hurt Kim and you know it.”

He pointed toward Knight’s face. “Looks like she doesn’t feel the same way.”

“Somethin’s wrong,” Knight admitted. “I just can’t put my finger on it.”

His brother relaxed. “Aidan, you gotta go slow with her. Don’t make the same mistakes I did with Cass.”

Knight dragged his hands down his face. Cassidy Dennis had been Ace’s best friend since they were kids (back when Ace went by Carter). A series of mistakes and rash judgments pulled them apart for years, but they’d reconnected and realized they still loved each other more than ever. They were married now and happy, but it had been a bumpy road for a while.

“I won’t, Carter.”

“In the meantime, stay the hell away from Mack. You know how he feels about Kim. You piss her off; you got bigger issues if Mack decides he doesn’t like it.”

Knight knew Ace was right. Mack and Kim were tight. On top of that, and since Dani was her best friend, it meant Booker was Team Kim, so Kim was well guarded.

Knight just had to remind her who she belonged to, and he had to do it without pissing off his brothers and their old ladies.

“You goin’ home for Mom’s birthday?” Knight asked.

Ace shook his head. “You?”

“Nah, man, I’m on Cassidy’s side on this one.”

“Cassidy wouldn’t want you to alienate yourself from Mom because of her.”

“I’m not,” Knight said. “Mom’s a total bitch to Mel too, brother. I don’t know why Josh doesn’t handle it. Just didn’t really notice it until the shit went down with Cass, so I’m not draggin’ Kim into her demented world.”

Josh was their eldest brother and had been married to Melanie for what seemed like forever. Matt, Jaxon, and Luke were still unattached, but Ace and Knight had joined the MC and found their women.

Melanie was the first woman ushered into the Quinn family, but the cracks of the boys’ relationship with their mother didn’t really start to show until Ace reconnected with Cassidy again. Come to find out, their mother had hidden letters Cassidy had written to Ace back in high school, and hatched a plan to keep them apart. Because of that, Ace never went home anymore, and he wouldn’t until their mother pulled her head out of her ass (his words). Jaxon managed to straddle the peacekeeping line, while Matt and Luke “didn’t have a dog in that fight,” so they took their mother with the grain of salt necessary not to commit matricide.

“You’re so sure about this thing with Kim?” Ace asked.

“Were you sure about Cassidy?”

“Point taken,” Ace said.

“You think Mack’s calmed down?”

Ace shrugged. “Crapshoot, but Booker was on it.”

Knight followed his brother down the hall and out into the common room. Kim stood in the corner with Dani, a glass of wine in her hand and a smug look of triumph on her face. Mack and Booker were nowhere to be seen, so Knight headed straight back into the fire.

“Hi Knight,” Dani said sweetly.

“Hey babe.” He smiled. “Just gonna borrow your girl for a bit.”

“Better make it quick,” Dani said. “Booker can only sidetrack Mack for so long.”

“Dani!” Kim snapped.

“It’s all good, though,” Dani continued, ignoring Kim. “Jenny’s up next for distraction. That one’ll take a while, so have at it.”

Knight laughed as Kim hissed something rather un-Kim-like and scowled at Dani.

“This is all good to know, babe. Thanks,” Knight said.

“No problem. Just remember, if you hurt her, you won’t need to worry about Mack. I will rain down terror upon you unlike anything you’ve ever seen.”