❥ KNOX'S POV

When Knox finally makes it out front, his brothers are already sitting on their bikes with their ski masks on, ready to go.

"Do I even need to ask why you're late?" Gavin calls out, starting his motorcycle. Knox says nothing while mounting his bike and slipping his mask on. "Yeah, I figured it was the kid."

Knox scowls. "Don't."

Gavin chuckles. "Let's ride!"

They zoom through the property gates like bats out of hell, adrenaline pumping through their veins. Knox tries to keep his mind focused on the task at hand, but with it being an hour long drive to the dock, his mind occasionally drifts back to Everett. Asking little questions like is he okay? Is he tucked away somewhere crying and cursing Knox's guts? Have his feelings changed after their big argument?

And that kiss in the kitchen... What the fuck possessed him to kiss Everett like that?

The look on Josie's face was telling. Everyone knows it by now, don't they? How much of a goner Knox is over Everett, a boy he's known for less than ninety days. A foul-mouthed, stubborn piece of work who repeatedly pushes his buttons without consequence.

Yeah, Knox is a fucking goner all right.

"Fifteen out!" Levi, the road captain, gathers everyone's attention when he speaks through the headset in his Bluetooth helmet—a helpful new gadget that Mason had recently suggested they purchase—alerting everyone that they're getting closer to Hickory Springs.

He holds his right fist in the air moments later before turning right onto an unmarked dirt road. No one questions him. It's his job to know all the shortcuts and hidden entrances and exits inside and outside of town, and especially when they're venturing into someone else's territory. It makes their rides a hell of a lot smoother most of the time.

As they slow to a stop near an abandoned cabin in the middle of a deeply wooded area, the van where Oz's weapons will be temporarily stored for safekeeping, parks behind them. Gavin orders the driver to stick around and watch over the bikes, then Levi leads everyone up a new path a few feet away. It takes them up a steep hill that looks out over the entire area where the shipment is set to arrive, making it the perfect vantage point. 

They're hidden by trees while also being provided with a full view of the lake and dock, granting them access to see The Jackals every move once they arrive. 

"This is a damn good spot, Levi. Remind me to buy you a bottle on the way back," Gavin says, keeping his voice low. Levi grunts his approval in response. "We can't all sit up here. We need to spread out and corner the bastards at all sides. Only one of them will leave here alive tonight." He then says to Knox, "You need to give some kind of a signal after you figure out who the leader of the group is so we can avoid shooting him when the shit hits the fan."

"I'll mark him with my laser," Knox says, flashing one of his modded guns. "You all should be able to see it from up here."

"If they can't, then I will," Harry, the sniper of the group, adds.

"Perfect. Problem solved." Gavin looks around and asks, "Who's volunteering to go down?"

Knox doesn't wait to see who follows him, but he knows Finn isn't too far behind. Wherever Knox goes, Finn usually follows. The two of them decide to take cover behind a fallen tree located a few feet away from the dock, their black outfits allowing them to blend in with the darkness of the night.

"What are you carrying?" Knox asks quietly, his eyes forward and surveying the area still.

"I carry what I always carry—the best of the best shit." Finn smirks, showing off the various guns and knives attached to his body. "Everything has a silencer on it, in case you were wondering. I didn't forget this time."

"Good," Knox mutters.

He spots a handful of his brothers spreading out nearby, some lying low in the tall weeds and others hiding behind thick trees and bushes. They're all wearing bulletproof vests, but Knox remains on edge because that won't stop a bullet to the head.

"So..." Finn starts. "How'd the kid take you having to leave?"

"Change the subject," Knox warns.

"You know you can always come talk to me about these things, right?" Finn continues, ignoring Knox's obvious discomfort with the topic. "Relationships in our line of work can be a bitch to navigate. And it doesn't help when you and your person come from different backgrounds—"

"Enough," Knox snaps. "Change the fucking subject."

Finn rolls his eyes, laughing to himself. "Okay, asshole. How much time we got?"

Knox checks his watch. "Twenty minutes. They should be arriving soon. Don't act until I do."

"Copy that," Finn says. 

The Jackals arrive fashionably late at approximately 10:45 PM.

They come in two small boats, each carrying a total of three people. They're clearly outnumbered, but Knox refuses to call it a win for The Fallen Angels until after he picks out the leader and the rest are killed. His brothers up above and below sit tight as The Jackals secure the boats to the rickety dock, and then they begin to unload several duffle bags that are presumably filled with illegal weapons.

Only one man is yelling out orders the entire time.

He's tall with a wide build and a buzzcut. His weapon of choice is an AK-47, and at the moment, it's slung over his back. Unlike The Fallen Angels, The Jackals are all wearing their cuts tonight. Bikers usually don't leave their clubhouse without it on, but it was a dumbass idea for Russell to send his men out like that because it very easily reveals their identity to the public, aka the police.

Common knowledge states that when one goes out to commit a crime with friends, it isn't smart to advertise the gang that you belong to, hence why Gavin ordered everyone to leave their cuts at home. Russell's stupidity, however, works out in Knox's favor. He can see the SGT. at Arms patch on the back of the man's cut, telling his rank and level of importance. His fate is sealed.   

When the man isn't looking in Knox's direction, Knox briefly points his laser at his back while his men are preoccupied.

The man later instructs his team to pack the guns through the woods and up the same path that Knox used to come down to the dock. For obvious reasons, Knox can't allow that to happen. Gavin is riding on the same wavelength, so he whistles for his men to release hell.

Bullets stream in from all sides, leaving The Jackals with little time to react to the ambush.

They drop dead like flies, but the leader remains untouched. Well, everything apart from his mangled hands, which Knox had specifically been aiming at during the shootout to prevent the man from using his gun. Knox rushes over to the screaming Jackal currently cursing up a storm while down on his knees, tears and sweat streaming down his pale face as he stares at pieces of his fingers on the ground.

"Who the fuck are yo—"

"We'll talk later."

Knox knocks him out with one punch. His brothers flank in and grab the duffle bags while Knox and Finn carry No Name back up the path. They barely make it ten feet when extra shots ring out from behind them.

There was another boat.

"Fuck, I'm hit!" Someone yells from nearby. Knox and Finn exchange a quick look before dropping No Name and taking immediate cover behind a tree.

"I counted five of them," Finn talks fast while replacing the magazine on his gun. It takes seconds for two bodies to fall from somewhere off in the distance, the heavy thump against the ground letting him know they won't be getting back up again. "Three now. I hope they weren't any of our men... otherwise, shout-out to Harry."

"Less talking, more shooting." Knox peeks from around the tree when the opposing gunfire quiets down. He spots one Jackal crawling his way toward No Name's unconscious body, but the two others remain out of sight. "Fuck it." He makes the executive decision to shoot the Jackal that he can see. He raises his gun to fire, but Finn beats him to it. "That was my kill, you little shit."

"Mine now, old man. You move too slow," Finn laughs. It dies quickly when he turns to his right at the sound of movement approaching him and Knox. His response time is slow because he wrongfully assumes it's one of his brothers coming up to check on them. "Shit!" The same reflexes he used to taunt Knox suddenly fail him after identifying the stranger as their enemy. "One on my right—"

Knox doesn't think. He reacts.

He roughly grabs Finn by his vest and tosses him to the ground out of harm's way. Knox raises his weapon on beat with the Jackal glaring at him. Time seems to slow itself as they shoot each other simultaneously, Knox's bullet going between the man's eyes. He ignores the burning sensation coming from his left bicep as he bends down to check on Finn.

Gavin finally calls the all-clear after the last Jackal is killed seconds later.

"You good?" Knox helps Finn up from the ground. He isn't hurt, but Knox looks him over quickly anyway. Whether he says it verbally or not, he fucking cares.

"Yeah, I'm good, but are you?" Finn stares at the blood trickling down Knox's left arm. "I'm so sorry, man. I don't know why I froze like that. I'm so fucking stupid—"

"Calm down. I wasn't hit..." Knox double-checks. "It was just a graze."

"Oh, thank God." Finn exhales a sigh of relief, some tension leaving his shoulders. "The kid would've killed me if you had died on my watch. Hell, I would've let him do it, too."

The thought of seeing Everett again has Knox moving with a newfound speed.

After helping arrange the deceased Jackals into a pile on one of the boats, Gavin douses them in gasoline. Looking like he doesn't have a care in the world, he lights a match and tosses the flame that sets the bodies on fire.

No Name remains comatose while being carried back to the van with the weapons. Gavin snaps several pictures and sends them to Oz. If the man had ever questioned The Fallen Angel's abilities before tonight, he wouldn't dare make that mistake again.

"How many injured do we have?" Knox asks after catching up with Gavin.

"Only three, but it's nothing we need to call Doc in for," Gavin says. He goes on to make an announcement after they all return to the van. "That third boat nearly fucked us over by surprise, but you all held your own out there. I'm proud of every single one of you." He pauses for a moment, allowing everyone to get their rowdy cheers out of the way. "I'm certain Oz will bring us on as his new partners, which means more money for us and less for The Jackals, but we can get into all of that during church in the morning. For now, let's go home and rest up." He looks at Knox. "If you aren't up for it tonight, you can get to work on that Jackal tomorrow. I'm sure you're itching to see your boy—"

"I'll handle it by tonight."

"You sure?"

Knox nods, ending the conversation there.

The ride back to the clubhouse feels unnecessarily long. Knox's mind is so stuck on Everett that he hasn't even begun to process the fact that he earned his fiftieth kill tonight. That means absolutely nothing in comparison to seeing if Everett is okay.

It's been almost three hours since their big fight, and Knox is still kicking himself over that outsider remark. True or not, his emotions had gotten the best of him, resulting in him being too brutally honest. Regret hit him like a slap in the face as he stood there and watched the light disappear from Everett's eyes, evidence that he had taken Knox's careless words to heart.

If he isn't passed out from a food coma thanks to Josie, Knox will man up and apologize for being such a dick earlier. They'll kiss—a lot, hopefully—and make up, then everything will go back to normal. That's the story that Knox sells himself during the rest of the ride. 

It's eerily quiet when everyone eventually passes through the gates of the clubhouse.

After the members disperse, now maskless, Gavin and Knox check on No Name. The man is still passed out cold in the back of the van, his blood making a mess all over the floor. Gavin points at the SGT. at Arms patch on the back of the man's leather cut. "Makes sense why Russell would put him in charge for tonight. The bastard has to know where Russell is."

"Don't stress it. I have a million different ways to get him to talk."

"Oh, I know you do. And I meant what I said before, if you aren't up for it tonight..."

Gavin's words become background noise to the sound of a door opening and slamming shut, porch steps creaking, and a pair of feet hitting the ground at full speed. Knox's pulse takes off like a rocket. His heart identifies Everett's presence before his mind can.

Knox turns around just in time. "Hey—"

"Thank God you're still alive!" Everett crashes into Knox's opens arms, hugging him as tight as he can. "You don't even want to know how many cookies I ate while stressing out about you."

Knox chuckles, lowering his voice while caressing the back of Everett's head with one hand. "I told you I'd come back to you, didn't I?"

"Yes, but—" Everett pulls back enough to notice they aren't alone. He blushes and tucks himself into Knox's side after locking eyes with Gavin. "Sorry. I didn't mean to interrupt."

Gavin smiles, shaking his head. "I'm the one interrupting." He shuts the doors on the back of the van before Everett has a chance to look inside, and then he walks away whistling a cheeky tune.

"Everett, about what happened before—" Knox starts.

"No, me first," Everett interrupts. "I know you can't tell me anything, so I won't ask about what happened while you were gone..." He moves to stand in front of Knox, his tired eyes scanning his filthy body. "But at least put my mind at ease and tell me whether you got hurt tonight or not." 

Knox obliges, showing off his left arm. Thankfully, the wound is no longer bleeding. "It looks worse than it feels. The bullet only grazed me—"

"A bullet?!" Everett shrieks.

"I don't need stitches, so you don't have to worry. I'll clean it up, throw a bandage on it, and it'll heal in a few days. I'll live, kitten." Knox smiles, but what he really wants to do is kiss Everett's tears away. "If it'll make you feel better, I'll let you play nurse. Deal?"

Everett nods, sniffling. "I want to clean it right now."

"I'll meet you inside. There's something I need to take care of first," Knox says. Before Everett can open his mouth to form a question, No Name awakens and screams from inside the van.

"W-who..." Everett stumbles backward, all of the color gone from his pretty face. "Why is there a man locked inside your van, Knox?"