Semua Bab FORBIDDEN AFFAIR WITH THE BIKER I CAN'T HAVE : Bab 171 - Bab 180

Knox's POVShe opened her eyes, and I stopped breathing.For a moment, she didn't see me. Her eyes were unfocused, like she was trying to figure out where she was. Her breathing sped up with panic for a moment, and it broke my heart. Then she turned her head, and her eyes found mine.The tension drained out of her so completely that I could see her relaxing immediately. Her shoulders dropped. Her jaw was unclenched. She exhaled, and the sound of it was almost a sob."You're still here."I had been sitting in that chair for fourteen hours. I watched her sleep through the fever, through the nightmares that made her whimper and thrash, through the moments when she cried out names I didn't recognize and other moments when she cried out mine. I had not moved except to change the cloth on her forehead, to adjust the blanket, to press my hand to her cheek and feel the heat slowly, slowly receding."Where else would I be?" I said.She didn't answer. I shifted in the chair, leaning on my han

ELARA'S POVI woke up alone. The sheets have gone cold, meaning it’s been a while since he stood up from the bed. I lay there for a second, with my heart beating wildly against my ribs, staring at the ceiling. From the way it looked outside, it was already approaching afternoon. I turned my head. The chair where he'd sat through my fever was pushed back against the wall. The door was shut.He was gone. The panic hit my chest so fast it felt like a fist closing around my throat. He'd remembered and held me through the night and kissed my hair like I was something precious. And now the room was empty, and my first thought was that it was just all a messy dream. I was still the maid in the corner of his house, invisible and waiting for the next bad thing to happen. Then the door opened.Knox walked in with a towel slung around his neck, his skin gleaming with sweat, his hair dark and plastered to his forehead. He was wearing a thin gray tank that had no business being that tight, c

KNOX’S POVBreakfast was a quiet war. Maria had set the table in the small dining room off the kitchen, the one with the windows that looked out over the garden. Elara sat beside me, her knee bouncing under the table, her fork pushing eggs around her plate without lifting them to her mouth. The staff moved around us like we were made of glass, eyes darting, mouths shut. The blonde maid…Ingrid, I thought her name was…had stopped glaring. Now she just looked scared. Smart girl.I reached under the table and put my hand on Elara’s thigh. Her knee stopped bouncing. She didn’t look at me, but her hand found mine, her fingers lacing through my knuckles, squeezing hard enough to hurt.We ate in silence. The coffee was bitter. The toast was ash in my mouth. I kept eating anyway, because I wanted every single moment with her.When Maria cleared the last plate, Elara finally looked up. Her eyes were clear. “You caught him,” she said. It wasn’t a question.I nodded. “Ray.”She swallowed. “Is

THIRD PERSON POV Knox stood at the head of the long table in the basement safe house. His palms were flat against the scarred wood. He looked at the men who had answered his call. There were fewer than he remembered. Leaner. Harder. Some had new scars that bisected old tattoos.Some had gray in their beards that hadn’t been there eight months ago. But they wore their cuts…patched, faded, some stitched back together with rough thread…and they wore them with the same straight-backed pride that had once made the Vipers the only family he’d ever known.Jake “Wrench” Malone sat closest to the door, his left hand missing two fingers, his right hand wrapped around a beer he wasn’t drinking. Beside him, Silas “Preacher” Cole had his eyes closed, his lips moving silently around words that might have been a prayer or might have been a promise of violence; no one ever had an idea of what he was saying. Three others stood against the wall: Tommy, who’d been a prospect the last time Knox saw h

THIRD PERSON POVKnox held her hand. His fingers laced through hers, tight, like he was afraid she would slip away if he loosened his grip for a single moment. He led her out of the basement, up the stairs, past the kitchen where the Vipers were drinking and talking, making up for the lost times. Nobody looked up and there was no need to hide anymore . And in a way they understood, they have always understood that they loved each other even if no one wanted to speak up, because doing that would have meant death for Knox. In the hallway upstairs, he stopped. Turning to look at her. The light was dim, just one bulb burning above the stairs, and it made shadows on his face. He looked tired. He looked scared. She had never seen him this scared before.He cupped her cheek. Using his thumb to brush her jaw,he leaned in and kissed her. It tasted like salt because tears were falling from her eyes.He pulled back. His forehead rested against hers. His breath was warm on her lips.“Baby,” h