Page 65 of Knuckles

Fuck, the woman believes he’s started a family.

If she believes he’s moved on, then she will try to move on too. He knows she values family.

“You can’t give up now,” I finally speak, gaining his attention, “You love her, you have since you were a teenager, and yeah, you made one hell of a fucking mistake, one that you can never take back, but don’t fucking give up now, if anything, fight dirtier.”

“How?” Crusher asks and Tray answers, “Get Trick to tap her mom's phone,” and I nod.

It’s something we hadn’t thought of, not until Trick realized Belle accused him of tapping hers to get out of the shit with Clark.

Crusher's eyes widen as Cage chuckles, “I’ll message Trick and get him on it now,” and I smile, but it soon disappears when Crusher points at me and states, “You’re not leaving the club, you still care.”

I shake my head and remind him, “It’s not about me caring, brother, it’s about the trust and fuck, the club lost mine when the old generation fucked my mom in front of me.”

He winces, and I look down, not wanting to see his hurt or disappointment because I still don’t know what I’m going to do. Fuck, I’ve even made a pros and cons list at the insistence of my woman.

My head is still scrambled. I love the club, I love the sense of family it’s supposed to give you and all the good we do. I love my generation of brothers, they are my family, but years of being abused and no one noticing, it’s a lot and don’t get me started on my mom dying trying to protect me.

Everything has fucked with my head, so I’ve been focusing on my fights and Kodi and not allowing myself to think about the club. I’m currently trying to convince her to let me and her dad help her buy a building for her own gallery, to showcase her own art, which I one hundred percent believe will sell – I’ve seen everything she’s done in the basement of our home.

Do I try again and see if I can learn to trust the brotherhood?

Or do I sell the gym and start a fresh elsewhere?

“Brother,” Cage sighs, and I look his way just as the door to the gym opens, and I raise a brow because the place is closed today, only to narrow my eyes as Marshalls walks in, which is extremely fucking ballsy.

I’ve managed to stay civil, but only with my girl as a buffer, and now this fucker is here unprotected.

I don’t give a fuck if he’s the chief of police, I don’t give a fuck if he’s my girl's father, he fucking hit her. He backhanded her all because she wouldn’t end things with me and marry that fucktard who my girl had no choice but to kill.

“Chief, to what do we owe this pleasure?” Cage asks, then mentions, “Kodi isn’t here at the moment.”

“I know, she’s currently handing in her badge and collecting her things, even though my son and I tried to convince her to stay,” he answers, and I lock my jaw.

“Her calling isn’t the force, it’s owning her own gallery with her own creations inside it,” Cage grunts, and Marshalls nods in agreement before his eyes come to me.

He doesn’t flinch at the hardness, but he does tense, ready for anything.

This fucker hit my girl, my fucking girl!

Don’t kill him, I repeat,don’t fucking kill him.

Fuck, I want to kill him.

“Look, I’m here because, I owe you a well overdue apology, Knuckles. I, fuck, my wife had an affair,” he grunts as he runs a hand through his hair, “she was my whole fucking world, but loved the fast lane in life. She liked the thrill of getting caught when fucking, she loved the money and high spending, but the more she spent, the more I had to work. She got bored at home because she refused to work herself, and then she met Cans.”

I nod because I already know this, while Cage confirms, “He sought her out?”

“He did, knowing she could help him keep his men out of prison and inadvertently, I helped because my wife asked but I never questioned why. I just said fine whatever, I was busy, I was fucking tired but when my sixteen-year-old, who had just handed me my ass when she confirmed her art was worth it after I spent years telling her it wouldn’t support her financially, walked into our family home to find her mother being fucked, everything changed. I thought Kodi kept it from me out of spite. I thought she thought it was perfectly fine what her mom was doing.”

He sighs, “After my wife was brutally raped and killed when I refused to release Cans after she begged me to. I was sent information about her affair and Kodi knowing, what I didn’t know until just before she was taken, Kodi was threatened not just by a dangerous man but also by her mother. She looked up to and aspired to be like her mom for years. I not only wanted to keep her from repeating her mom’s actions, something I believed she was doing when I had found out about you two. I also wanted to punish her, so I forced her to leave her dream. I forced her into the precinct, doing a job I knew she would hate and over the years I have slowly lost my daughter. I decided to bring all the blame on you, Knuckles, and for that, I am so fucking sorry, especially when I have seen the love you hold for my little girl.”

Cage nods in understanding, and yeah, I get it, it was probably hard for him, but right now I don’t give a shit about his excuses because nothing and I mean fucking nothing excuses hitting my girl.

“You hit her,” I grit, and the man winces while Cage looks at him in shock, and Crusher growls loudly.

“I did,” he admits, “She wasn’t willing to bend to my will. I was panicking because of what happened with her mother, and I lost control and backhanded her.”

I can’t help my reaction with my girl not here, and I get in the man's face, Cage quickly putting his arm on my chest to hold me back.