Page 17 of Knuckles

The skinny fucker takes a step forward, and I cock my gun this time, and I warn, “I’m all for spending time in prison for murder. Maybe I can finally kill your sick leader, so please, I dare you, take another step forward.”

The men glare at me just as several echoes of bike rumbles surround us, and all three pale, making me grin just as the door opens within seconds.

“Well, well, well, what do we have here?” Crash says as he strolls inside the gym with my dad, Cage, Trick, and Crusher.

“Three soon-to-be-dead men, by the looks of things,” Cage says, and the men look ready to piss themselves as they eye him circling them.

Cage's reputation as the underground cage fighter precedes him.

I notice a patrol car through the one-sided window, and I put my gun away along with Blaze as the beefy guy grunts, “We were just looking for a gym to join.”

“Well, you’re not joining this one now, are you? So, turn around and fuck off,” Trick sneers and all three tense but nod and do as he says but just as they reach the door I call, “I’d look over my shoulders if I were you because your little scare tactics has just put you onmyradar and if you think Cage is scary, you haven’t seen me in the ring.”

All three tense before they leave, and the patrol car slows as it drives past.

“Fucking cops,” I mutter, and Cage curses, “I’ve fucking had enough of that guy.”

“Why is Andrew no longer a prospect?” my dad asks suddenly as he looks at his phone, and I roll my eyes as Blaze snaps, “Because he’s a fucking pussy who got knocked out by Scar yet again!”

Dad looks at him with a brow raise, but Blaze isn’t fazed, and he growls, “Your son told you not to sponsor the fucker, and instead of listening, you went against his word, and we’ve spent weeks trying to fucking train him, and I have never seen a man go from terrible to fucking worse.”

Dad looks my way, but I shake my head as I grab my phone off the front desk, then call, “Tray, close up for me,” and I storm towards the front door.

“You’re going to have to talk to me at some point, son,” my dad says as I walk past him, and I mutter, “No, I fucking don’t, Splinter,” and storm out of my own gym just to get away from the fucker.

Years he’s never had my back, never saw how Mom was treating me, or didn’t want to see it. And now instead of saying alright and paying the ten-grand penalty since his sponsored prospect fucking sucked, he’s questioning me.

I don’t know why I even bother staying in the fucking club.

***

Three hours, that is how fucking long I’ve been ignoring the club for, how long my phone has been switched off after several missed calls. Three hours and I’ve managed to find those three fuckers high off their asses and watch them burn inside thatcrappy sedan they were driving after I lit it up like a fucking bonfire and I watched them die without remorse.

Three hours and I suddenly find myself sitting astride my bike and waiting for Kodi to return home, to where she lives with her father, who is still at work.

I may have turned my phone on for ten minutes so Trick could find all the details I needed before I went radio silent again.

I gently rub my bottom lip as car lights from a bright red jeep light up the night sky, and my heart suddenly flutters, my stomach tightening.

I’m fucked up, I know this, yet I can’t seem to walk away from this girl. She’s all I’ve fucking thought of since meeting weeks ago.

Kodi pulls up next to my bike and looks at me with a guarded look, which I know I deserve, and I watch as she climbs out of her jeep.

“Hey,” I rasp as I take in her summer dress hugging her figure.

“What are you doing here, Knuckles?” she asks with a bit of grit, which again I know I deserve.

Not ready to answer her question, I instead deflect and ask, “How was your day with Clark and Willow?”

Trick mentioned she left the park hours ago, yet she’s only just gotten home.

Was she with someone else?

Did she listen to me and fuck others already?

Fuck that thought makes me itch…

“Fine, I won’t ask again, Knuckles!” she snaps, anger burning in her deep hazel eyes that make her look completely innocent, though her personality says otherwise.