Page 33 of Break Me

“Inside. Now,” he repeats.

She looks at me. Her eyes red, terrified, burning with a plea that hits me harder than Knox’s fist.

Don’t let them tear us apart.

Knox finally drags his gaze to her, and something in him cracks. He grabs her by the upper arm, not rough, just desperate, and pulls her behind him like he can physically shield her from the truth.

Then, he turns back to me. “Start talking,” he snaps. “Right fucking now.”

My jaw throbs. Blood drips down my lip. My pulse is a hammer inside my skull. Raven is crying because of me. Her family deserves the truth, even if it destroys everything.

“I love her,” I say, voice rough, unforgiving. “I’ve been with her for months. And I’m not fucking apologizing for it.”

Knox goes still, like the air has been punched out of him.

Jon’s expression darkens into something carved out of fury and fear.

Then Knox slams into me with full force. My back hits the gravel hard, ribs screaming, vision flashing white. Then his fist connects with my jaw, once, twice, fast enough that I barely register the impacts before the pain catches up.

“You touched her?” he roars, knuckles cracking against my cheekbone.

I taste blood.

He hits me again. “Fucking answer me, Wolf.” My road name drips from his mouth like venom.

Raven screams my name, but Knox is past hearing anything.

Another punch and my head snaps sideways.

The world blurs, but I don’t fight back.

I can’t.

Not against him.

Not over her.

Knox grabs the front of my shirt and hauls me halfway off the ground just to slam me back down again, gravel biting into my skin.

“You lying, backstabbing piece of⁠—”

“Knox, stop,” Raven shrieks.

But he doesn’t. He draws his fist back for another hit.

Jon’s voice tears through the air. “Enough.”

Knox is too far gone. His fist still comes down. It lands on my cheek as Jon grabs him from behind.

“Let go of me,” Knox roars, thrashing hard enough that Jon’s boots skid in the dirt.

Jon wrestles him back, muscles straining, and finally slams him against the side of the porch. “That’s enough. You hear me?”

“He touched her,” Knox yells, still trying to lunge for me, chest heaving, breath ragged. “Pop, he fucking touched her.”

I push up on shaky arms, blinking through the blood dripping into my eye, trying to find Raven. She’s on her knees in the grass, hands over her mouth, sobbing.

Knox sees her, and something fractures across his face. A mix of guilt, horror, and more rage that has nowhere to go.