Trust (Trojans MC Book 6) (10 page)

Chapter Ten

Knuckles entered the clubhouse with a smile on his face. He’d enjoyed a wonderful night, a perfect morning, and this evening, he was taking Beth out to a nightclub. It had been a long time since he’d been to a nightclub, and he hoped to make Beth enjoy it.

Daisy stood from the bar, and he looked pissed.

The club was opened up with windows letting in a breeze. Knuckles was covered in engine grease, and he stank from the day’s work.

“I don’t want any trouble,” Duke said, coming in behind him.

“There won’t be trouble when he stops seeing my sister,” Daisy said.

He sighed. “I’m not doing her any harm.”

“You’re not? Beth doesn’t know what she wants. She came to Vale Valley to escape the asshole who hurt her, and now you’re saying to me that you know what she wants more than anyone else?”

“No, I’m saying that
Beth
knows what she wants, and she wants me!”

“You? You don’t even have any respect for women. You work your way through them like they mean nothing.”

“I could say the same about you, asshole,” Knuckles said, stepping up toward Daisy. “You were fucking women even when Maria was here. Me, I haven’t touched a single pussy but that of your sister.”

Daisy’s fist connected with his jaw. Knuckles saw it coming, and he let him have it. If Daisy needed a fight, then he’d give him one. He wasn’t about to be pushed around, nor was he going to let Daisy think he was hurting Beth. He fucking loved her.

Getting up, he charged toward Daisy, lifting him up, and slamming him down on the nearest table.

“For fuck’s sake, you two are just going to be complete assholes about this,” Duke said.

Daisy kicked out at him, and Knuckles grabbed his feet, dragging him down. Suddenly, something hit his legs, and he went down. Daisy had grabbed a pool stick, and whacked him with it.

Holding a chair, he smashed it over Daisy, and they both rolled away, getting up.

“What do you want us to do?” Chip asked.

“They’re fucking fighting inside, and the old ladies are going to be pissed,” Landon said.

“Make them fucking move,” Russ said. “We’ve not long changed furniture, and I don’t want to take the girls shopping.”

Knuckles slammed Daisy backward, and they hurtled them both into the kitchen. Grabbing the mixer, similar to the one he’d bought Beth, he threw it at Daisy, only for the brother to duck. He grabbed shit, and they started throwing things at each other.

“Get out of my wife’s fucking kitchen,” Duke said, hollering each word.

Knuckles was grabbed and dragged outside. Together they fought until with one blow from him, they both were flung back, separating. Getting to his feet, he glared at Daisy.

“I love her.”

“You don’t know the first thing about love.”

“I don’t? What about you? You’re not known for being Mr. Fucking Love.”

“I love Maria. She’s my other half.”

“Beth owns me, Daisy. She owns my soul, and I will fucking die for her. Do you understand? That’s how much I fucking love her. I’ll do anything for her.” Knuckles dropped his arms. “I won’t fight you. Ask Beth. If she tells you that I’m pressuring her, then I’ll back away, and I won’t try to see her. Talk to Beth, not me.”

Daisy stared, and even as they were panting, bleeding, and bruised, Knuckles saw him nod.

“Fine, I’ll talk to my sister.”

“You stupid fucking asshole,” Duke said, coming outside. “Which one of you is going to call the women here, huh? Which one is going to explain that your fucking pissing contest has just ruined the fucking clubhouse?”

“You could have ended it,” Knuckles said. Duke was a hard ass, and he’d easily defeat all of them. It was what made him a good Prez.

“You wanted me to get between the two of you, and what? Let this shit build up until it became something more?” Duke rubbed his eyes. “Tomorrow morning, Beth comes here, and so do the women. You two can answer to the shit that just went down. Knuckles, out that way, Daisy, out that way.”

Treating them like children being ordered around, Duke took charge and sent them to opposite exits.

“I haven’t gotten changed.”

“Shower at your woman’s place. Right now, I don’t want to see either of you. Tomorrow morning, and this shit will finally get cleared up.”

Knuckles got on his bike and headed toward Beth’s apartment building. By the time he made it to her door, he was hurting, and the bruises were starting to come out. The smile on her lips disappeared when she caught sight of him. “What the hell?” she asked.

“Sorry, got into a little disagreement with your brother. He looks just as bad.”

She helped him toward the shower, and together they removed his clothes. “You look a mess.” She ran her fingers down the back of his thighs. “What did this?”

“A pool stick, fucker grabbed it, and whacked the back of my legs.”

“I can’t believe he’d do something like this.”

“I can.” He turned the shower on and hissed as the cold spray hit him in the face. It was too much, and yet he didn’t even try to move away. “He’s only worried about you, for good reason as well.”

“I’ll tell him. I haven’t seen him for a few days. I’ll make sure I do.”

“We have to go tomorrow morning.”

“Why?” she asked.

“Because Daisy and I, we kind of fucked up the state of the clubhouse. As our punishment, we’re being forced to go and face the wrath of the old ladies.”

She nodded. “I don’t have a washing machine. I’ll go and put these down in the laundry room.”

Knuckles realized she was dressed to go to a nightclub, and he hated the fact he’d spoiled it.

“We’ll go another time to the nightclub.”

“I can wait. It’s fine.” She smiled at him, and he watched her head out.

“Come back as soon as you can.”

“Will do.”

He stayed under the water, washing away the grime. Minutes passed, and he waited for Beth to return. When she did, he smiled. “There’s plenty of room for you here, baby.”

She stepped into the shower, and he tugged her against him. They weren’t going to a nightclub, but he had her all to himself. The night was still young.

****

“Have you seen what you’ve done?” Holly asked. “You’ve destroyed nearly three thousand dollars’ worth of equipment. Ugh!”

Beth was covered in an apron and gloves, and was going helping to clean up the mess of broken glass. Knuckles was in the main room with Daisy, listening to all of the women screaming.

“I didn’t have anything to do with this,” Pike said.

“I know, baby.” Mary leaned over, kissing him deeply. “That’s why you’re not getting yelled at.”

The couple had resolved their differences, and looked close together.

Moving through the main room, Beth caught sight of her brother, and instead of waiting for privacy, she stepped up to him. “You did this because of me?” she asked.

Knuckles stopped cleaning, and she was aware of all the nosy men paying them close attention. She didn’t care. She wasn’t about to stop her rant until her brother was aware of what she felt for Knuckles.

“Beth, you’re not ready for a relationship.”

“And who are you to decide, huh? You’re my brother, not my keeper. I’m grateful for what you did getting Benedict to confess, but this is my life. I know what I want, and I want Knuckles.”

She poked her finger against her brother’s chest. “This is not your decision. This is mine.”

“You see that! She wants Knuckles and you caused all this crap for nothing. Asshole!” Holly glared.

Duke was trying to look just as stern, but Beth didn’t see it. If anything, he looked hungry.

Moving to Knuckles’ side, she wrapped her arm around his waist. “This is my choice, it’s not by force, or anything else. I want to be with him. Please, try to be happy, or at the very least, accept what I want from my own life. I want him.”

Daisy sighed. “This is my fault. Maria, she tried to tell me, and I didn’t listen.” He looked at Knuckles, and then at her. “I’m sorry for behaving the way that I did. I’ll leave you to make your own decisions and to accept them.”

“Thank you. If you’d just come to me, you wouldn’t be dealing with Holly, and she is pissed.”

Beth moved past them, taking a large bag of trash out. When she turned to go back inside, she saw Daisy was there.

“I’m sorry,” he said.

“I am, too.”

“I see a difference in you. Knuckles is bringing that out of you, isn’t he?”

“He is.” She smiled. “Don’t start any more fights because you think I’m hurting or something. I’m not. I’m really happy. I’m the happiest I’ve been in a long time, and I hope you can see it.”

“I do.”

He opened his arms, and she went into them willingly. “It’s kind of hard to cope with you sleeping with one of my friends.”

“Join the club. Maria’s mine, and you still did her.”

They both chuckled. “I guess we should tell our folks that we’re still on good terms.”

“Why? I haven’t told them. I hope you didn’t, unless you called them up to tell on me.” She looked at Daisy and glared. “You didn’t.”

“I may have.”

“Daisy! Now they’re going to want us to visit.”

“They’re coming this Sunday. It’s going to be the whole club. Mary and Holly have it all planned—”

“We
had
it all planned,” Holly said, storming out. “Some asshole ruined all of our equipment. I don’t know if I’ll be ready in time, and I haven’t got to go shopping.”

Holly kept on ranting as she walked into the house. Following behind her, Beth paused near Knuckles, and pressed her lips against his as she passed.

“You okay?”

“I’m great. Never better.” She gave him a quick hug, and then made her way toward the kitchen.

For the next few hours, they were cleaning up the mess. Mary and Holly ordered the equipment they needed online, and throughout it all, they moaned. When the brothers were about to complain about the price, they gave them both a look that had her laughing.

Pike set up the barbeque, and she went with Maria to go grab some food from the local supermarket. On the way inside the clubhouse, she saw Clinton driving in.

Grabbing the brown sacks, she looked toward him. “Is everything okay, boss?” she asked.

“I need to talk to Duke.”

“He’s around back, I think.” Beth made her way toward the back of the clubhouse where most of the guys were sitting, shirts off, and drinking a beer. Knuckles moved up behind her and frowned at Clinton.

“You becoming a Trojan? You’re going to have to wait in line. We’ve got a lot of guys wanting the job,” he said.

Clinton shook his head. “I want to hire you.”

“What?” Duke asked, stepping forward. He held Bell in his arms, and he didn’t look too impressed to see her boss there.

“I’ve got a case. It’s a really serious one.” Clinton turned toward her. “I’ve been keeping it a secret, but she needs some help, and it’s the kind of help I can’t give her.” He handed the file over to Duke.

Beth nibbled her lip as she watched Duke. He opened the file and stared back up at Clinton. “Is this a fucking joke?”

“I wish it was. I can’t offer her protection, but you can.”

Duke closed his eyes, and Holly moved toward his side, taking Bell from him. “What’s going on?”

“Clinton wants us to protect Maya Abelli. The little Italian mafia princess, current location unknown.”

“She’s in protective custody, but they can’t take care of her.”

“Church,” Duke said. “Now.”

Beth watched as Duke grabbed the back of Clinton’s shirt, and started to drag him toward the clubhouse. She watched Knuckles, Daisy, Pike, Landon, all of the men as they made their way toward the clubhouse.

“What the hell just happened?” Beth asked.

“Something bad,” Holly said, glancing toward her mother. “Have you ever heard of Abelli?”

Sheila went pale. “Many years ago, I did.”

“Is this bad?”

“If Abelli never finds out, we’re fine. If he does, we’re all dead.”

“Fuck!” Beth said, looking back at the clubhouse.
Double fucking fuck.

****

Knuckles closed the door and turned in time to see Duke slam Clinton into the seat. “Of all the irritating fucking things I’ve seen in my life, this is really fucking priceless.” He threw the file onto the table, pictures of Maya spilling out. Knuckles winced as her bruises, battered, broken body covered several of them. Pie picked them up and whistled.

“Someone clearly has issues. These are downright nasty. I haven’t seen this kind of shit in a long time.”

“Look, Maya saw a murder, okay? She saw several fucking murders. They killed her friends and her friends’ kids. She couldn’t take it anymore, so she took refuge with a cop. They did everything they could to try to keep her identity a secret. The fuckers used her as a plant, a source of information.”