Jamie Begley - Knox’s Stand

“You need to eat more.”

“My appetite may be coming back. Let’s go raid the kitchen.”

“Sounds good to me.” The thought that she might have been the reason he had lost a few pounds had her stomach doing flips.

They dried off and Knox put on a pair of sweats before giving her a large t-shirt that fell to her knees. Searching through his drawers, he then managed to find a robe that fell to her feet.

“I didn’t think you would own a robe,” Diamond joked.

Knox grinned back. “It was a Christmas present last year from Beth. She gave all the brothers one.” Diamond laughed.

She had expected the party to be over, but there were still several members and hanger-ons downstairs.

Heading towards the kitchen, Rider gave her a sideways grin when he saw how she was dressed. Blushing, she went into the kitchen to see Evie and Cash sitting at the table eating a sandwich.

“Take a seat, I’ll fix us something,” Knox said.

As Diamond took a seat next to Evie, the silence at the table was uncomfortable. “I’m sorry, Evie. I lost my temper when I went in the bedroom and thought Knox was there, which is no excuse, but I’m sorry.”

“Your sister is a bitch,” Evie retorted, not ready to accept her apology.

“I know, but to be fair, she was going to walk away. I’m the one that egged it on.” Diamond accepted full responsibility for the fiasco upstairs.

“You did?”

Diamond nodded. “I didn’t know I could get that angry,” she confessed.

“That kind of happens when you care about someone, don’t you think?” Evie probed.

“Yes, but I still had no right. Knox hasn’t made any promises and I was wrong to take it out on the women. I should have just kicked his ass.”

Cash and Evie both shared a glance. Evie started to say something, but was cut off by Knox setting a sandwich down in front of Diamond then sitting down with a plate for himself.

They obviously didn’t want to continue the conversation with Knox there, so the topic switched to a big order The Last Riders had going out next week and how much the new employees hired from Treepoint helped with the grueling schedule.

“When did the Blue Horsemen start caring about what Sex Piston and her crazy assed friends did?” Cash asked, changing the subject again.

“The Destructors became a charter of the Blue Horsemen. I think Sex Piston and her crew are going to be in trouble for helping me get in to see Knox. Stud didn’t look too happy with them.”

“They broke a big rule going into another clubhouse,” Cash explained.

“They weren’t inside ten minutes,” Diamond took up for her sister and friends.

“I don’t think it’s going to matter to Stud,” Cash said with a grin, as if the thought of Sex Piston getting in trouble was a good thing.

Diamond didn’t say anything else, she merely gave Cash a dirty look, which he ignored. Picking up her sandwich, she was about to take a bite when the basement door opened and Jewell and Raci walked out, both flushed with red faces, wearing t-shirts that made it obvious they had nothing on underneath. Shade followed behind them, his hair also wet, and he was wearing nothing other than jeans. His whole upper body—to his neck and dipping below his waistband—was covered with tats.

His eyes met Diamond’s open-mouthed stare with the sandwich halfway to her mouth as he closed the door behind him.

The silence in the room was tangible as the two women went towards the refrigerator to make their own snacks and Shade walked to the liquor sitting on the counter. He grabbed one of the bottles then went to the cabinet to get a glass, coming to take a seat across from Diamond who had managed to take a bite of her sandwich. Chewing it slowly, she felt the startlingly blue gaze on her and Knox. She could almost feel his mind at work while she barely managed to swallow the bite of sandwich.

“You going to need my vote?” Shade asked, his gaze on Knox.

Knox stared back. “Yes.”

“Then handle it,” he said, getting up from the table, taking the whiskey and glass with him. Looking back at Evie, he asked, “Coming?”

Evie grinned, standing up to take her dishes to the sink before going to Shade who was waiting. She went down the stairs, giving Knox a final stare.

“I’ll take care of it.” Knox must have said what Shade wanted to hear because Shade left the room, closing the door behind him.

Diamond took another bite of her sandwich.

Raci and Jewell both sat down at the table with their plates of food. “I guess we all have the late night munchies,” Raci said, picking up her peanut butter and jelly sandwich.

Diamond took a drink of her water, unable to take the chance of strangling on her food. She had already managed to make an ass of herself once today and having the Heimlich performed on her at two in the morning would have been more than her pride could take.

“Finished?” Knox asked.

“Yes. I couldn’t eat another bite.” Diamond got up, taking their plates to the sink before they said goodnight to everyone and returned to Knox’s room.

“Tired?” Knox asked.

“Yes.”

“Get in bed. I’ll take you by your house for some clothes when we wake up.”

Diamond turned and climbed into bed, not wanting him to see her expression. She had been worried he would take her home now, and she hadn’t wanted to leave him yet. Knox turned off the light, getting in bed beside her with his hand on her stomach as he pressed her back against his naked body.

Diamond sighed, relaxing against him.

“What?” Knox asked, half-asleep by the sound of his voice.

“Can I ask you a question?”

“Go ahead.” From the tone of his voice, Diamond knew he was aware of what question she wanted answered.

“I thought Shade had a thing for Lily.”

“He does.”

“Then why all the women?”

“Do you think Lily has a thing for Shade?”

Diamond knew that Shade was Knox’s friend, but she wanted to be honest. “No.”

“That’s why all the women. He knows Beth and Lily both want her to finish school.”

“So he’s waiting?”

“Yeah, he’s waiting.”

“What was he talking about when we were at the table?”

“He wants you to keep your mouth shut about seeing him with the other women. If you do, he’s willing to give you his marker if you decide to become a Last Rider.”

“What does that mean?”

“That you’ll get his vote without having to fuck him.”

Diamond mumbled under her breath.

“What did you say?”

“Tell him I’ll keep my mouth shut.” Diamond’s fingers laced through his on her stomach. “This feels good.”

She wouldn’t have said anything anyway, she had learnt from her father’s club that certain things weren’t to be talked about. Inevitably, sticking your nose where it didn’t belong could get you in trouble, and Diamond didn’t want trouble with Shade. She had seen how he had looked at Lily and was smart enough to know Lily was going to have to fight that battle on her own.

“Can I have one of these?” Diamond asked, picking up the tiny flashlight no bigger than her forefinger with a beam which was remarkably strong.

“No.” Knox put one in the package they were putting together for a customer.

“Why not?” Diamond asked, clenching and unclenching the flashlight in her hand.

“Because you already have two other flashlights,” Knox said, checking for the next item on the packing list.

“But this one charges when I squeeze it,” Diamond said. “The other one is solar powered and the other one takes batteries. What if we lose power and there’s no sunlight and I don’t have batteries?”

“I’ll get you one,” Knox relented.

“Cool.” Diamond helped him fill two more orders. Then, collecting the items for another order, she sat down on the stool at the table looking through the items.

“Can I have one of these?”

Knox didn’t bother to look at what she had in her hand. “No.”

“Why not?” Diamond asked. “I really need one of these.” Knox looked sideways at the backpack in her hand.

“No, you don’t. I already bought you one last week. Why do you need another one?”

“I already made my bug-out bag, but I have to make yours now.”

“You can have it. Now let’s finish getting these orders out.” Knox gave her an exasperated look, which she ignored. The Last Riders’ survival business was more than successful, it was booming. He had volunteered for a couple of extra shifts while Viper and Winter interviewed new employees. Diamond had begun sitting with him while he filled the orders over the last month, but she often was more of a distraction than help.

“I have everything we need now except, Knox, I think we need to buy a small island,” she said, picking up a pocketknife.

“A small island?” Knox turned toward her, taking the knife out of her hand.

“Yes.” Diamond nodded enthusiastically. “Did you know that you can buy small islands? They’re kind of expensive, but if we save, we could buy one in a few years.”

“Diamond…” Knox started to say something, but closed his mouth. “Why an island?

“Because zombies can’t swim,” she answered, placing another item in the box.

Knox just stared at her. “They can’t?” Knox tried his hardest not to laugh when he saw she was serious.

“Can they?” she asked, looking at him with a quizzical expression.

“I don’t know, but no more zombie movies for you for a while.” Knox checked the list before taping the packaging closed and then taping the address onto the large box.