HARD KNOX Read Online Free Page B

E
minor to G, not a hard transition if you know what the fuck you’re doing, but
when I saw Ana, I fucked up and dropped my hands. The band covered for me; it
was something I did from time to time, dropping my hands and saying fuck it to strumming the guitar.
    My eyes trailed Ana as she hurried
with a drink tray.
    Her tits were beautiful, even from
my distance, pushing against a white shirt. Her hair was pulled back tight,
leaving that pretty face of hers for the world to see. It filled me with
jealousy. I knew she was taken by some street prick named Porter. He and his
boys ran backdoor deals through a family owned car dealership. They were all well
connected and dangerous. Fuck, they were part of the reason the MC got tossed
away. They were all clean cut, no tats, and could control their anger when
needed. Outlaws like us, but they had a different appearance.
    Fuck me …
    When the guitar solo hit, I was
able to break away from the mic. I just stood there, staring out to the crowd.
The crazy fuckers on the floor were grabbing at my damn boots, screaming for
me. Women, men, whatever, they were all crazy about the music. I could have
been bigger and worldwide famous, but this was better. The devil was better off
hiding and striking when he wanted. I preferred the darkness to the day, get
it?
    Ana emptied her tray and then
looked at the stage.
    Fucking finally.
    Our eyes met - just like that first
day when she got out of the goddamn moving truck - and time slowed.
    We stared at each other, knowing
there was nothing we could do at that moment.
    So I walked back to the mic and
finished the song.
    I finished the entire set, my eyes
trying to keep up with her as she worked the club.
    What the fuck was she doing there?
She worked at a club?
    It pissed me off a little but then
I got a jolt of hope. Maybe she and Porter were fucking done finally and I
could check up on her. That was it. Just a check up. See how she was doing.
    Shit, her mother died from cancer
while I was out on a run with the boys. We had gotten an offer from another MC
to help them move some stuff. The money was great and it was nice to get out of
town. By the time I got back home, I heard the news and couldn’t believe it. I
knew her mother was sick but didn’t realize it was that bad.
    It bothered the fuck out of me. I
always had a crush on her mother. She aged too fast though. She lived too fast.
Christ, she chain smoked ever since that first night. And if that wasn’t enough
bullshit for two people like me and Ana, my old man had an affair with Ana’s
mother.
    No lie.
    Not that I could blame my old man
though. Hell, it made me a little jealous that he got to tear up Abby’s ass and
I didn’t.
    When Ma found out Pop was fucking
the neighbor, that was the end of it all for them. By then my grandmother was
long dead and the house was falling apart. I was out on my own, patched in and
moving up the ranks in the Reaper’s Bastards. Next thing I knew, Ma took off
and never wanted to be found again. Pop told me it was for the better. Then the
shit just kept unraveling.
    The set came to an end and I put my
guitar down right on stage and gave a quick wave. I got to the side of the
stage when I jammed a smoke between my lips and lit it up. Yeah, a security
guard bitched at me about it but I threw him the finger and kept walking. I was
on the tightrope again on whether to talk to Ana or not. I had sort of made
some kind of shit promise to myself to stay the fuck away. That if she was
happy and good to go, why bother. But she wasn’t fucking happy. Even at the
distance from the stage to the drink tray I could see it. Those were the same
dreadful eyes from the day I met her. When she opened up about her father
leaving. How she felt unloved. She always felt unloved. Even when I loved her
it was like my love wasn’t good enough. That was my flaw in life.
    I punched the backdoor to the club
and needed to get some fucking air. I was on edge, seeing red, and I was