Worth It (Forbidden Men 6)

“And then he...he...he just raped him,” Reese said. “I mean, just like that. Not that I expected foreplay or anything, but one second Knox was struggling on the floor with that monster kneeling behind him, and we were cheering for him, almost expecting him to break free, fight back, and kick all their asses. Then the next second, that asshole yanked down the back of Knox’s pants, pulled himself from his own, spit in his palm to lube himself, and just...rammed it in.”

I flinched and slapped my knees together as I wrapped my arms around myself.

“Sorry.” Reese winced and rubbed my arms. “But that’s where I stopped watching.”

“The other two just keep beating the shit out of him,” Mason murmured. “When Knox started to scream for help, the one—not Jeremy—kicked him in the throat. Man...” He closed his eyes and touched his own neck. “I thought it crushed his windpipe, because he started struggling less and choking more. For a minute, I thought he died, while that asshole leader just kept...going to town.”

I wiped at my wet cheeks. But they only got wetter. Soon I couldn’t even see through the tears. Reese cried with me as she swayed us back and forth.

“I don’t know if he just passed out for a minute or what, but suddenly he had this burst of energy. It had to have been pure adrenaline, because I don’t know how he could still function after the way they wailed on him. But he turned his head to the side, launched his face at the guy who wasn’t Jeremy and freaking bit him, right in the calf. It must’ve been hard too, because the dude screamed like a girl.”

“Good.” I fisted my hands and clenched my teeth, everything in me cheering Knox on.

“So the guy jammed his shank right into the back of Knox’s shoulder blade. And I mean deep, like it probably stuck out the other side.”

Nausea rose as my stomach churned. Mason was right, the blade had gone all the way through, because I’d seen the scar from the front. “Oh God,” I moaned, squeezing my eyes shut.

I didn’t think I could hear any more, and I almost told Mason to stop, but next he said, “And then he did the most badass thing I have ever seen. It was like something straight from a Chuck Norris movie. He reached behind him and freaking pulled the blade out...of his own body.”

My mouth fell open as Reese whispered, “Holy shit. But...how...how is that even possible? How could he reach back there, much less—”

“I have no idea, but I wouldn’t have believed it either if I hadn’t seen it with my own eyes.”

“Damn.”

I couldn’t speak. My own throat had closed over as I listened to how Knox swung the blade around and caught the unknown minion in the gut. It shocked the other two enough that the leader pulled out of him and Jeremy skipped away, leaving Knox free. But he’d left his only form of defense in the other man’s belly. So Jeremy slashed at his face, which had created the scar he now had there.

Knox managed to wrestle the blade from Jeremy and stabbed him with a kill shot in the chest. Then he stabbed the leader in the throat when the idiot charged at him. Knox’s rapist and Jeremy both died almost immediately, but the third guy started to crawl away, so Knox let him go. Realizing he didn’t have to fight anyone else, he dropped the bloody shiv and fell to his knees, then he collapsed face-first on the concrete floor.

“When two guards finally arrived and found the mess, they thought Knox was dead too. They nearly pissed their pants when he moved and gasped, reaching for them.”

I outright wept, nestled in Reese’s arms.

“They weren’t going to call for an ambulance at first. He was so messed up they didn’t think he’d survive long enough to make it to a hospital. They argued back and forth until one of them heard Knox trying to say something. I’m pretty sure his voice box was mangled because the guard had to get on his hands and knees, lean down and put his ear right by Knox’s bloody mouth to hear him.”

Mason looked sad as he met my gaze. “I think he might’ve tried to say your name because all the guard could make out was the word City.”

A low, keening wail left me. I didn’t know it could hurt this much just to listen to a story, but my skin felt as if a million fire ants were attacking me, stinging and burning away my flesh. My chest constricted too tight for me to breathe, and a pulse of pain echoed between my temples. All I could picture was a bloody, beaten, half-naked Knox on the floor, whispering my name on what he assumed was his last breath.

And to think, I’d given up on him after that, believing thirty years was more than I could wait.

I was going to be sick.

“Bathroom,” I gasped, lurching to my feet and grabbing my stomach.

“That way,” Reese pointed toward a hallway. “First door on the right.”

I barely made it to Reese and Mason’s bathroom in time before I heaved up the contents of my stomach. I’m not sure how long I was in there, but Asher, and Ten and his wife Caroline, were in Reese and Mason’s living room when I stumbled out, my eyes so swollen from crying I could barely see out of them.

“Holy shit. Felicity? What’s wrong?” Asher’s voice in my ear as warm arms wrapped around me made me start crying all over again. I checked out for a bit after that, burying my face in his chest, unable to think about anything but how much this hurt.

“What the hell did you two do to her?” I think I heard Ten demand.

And then Aspen was there, murmuring my name. “Felicity? Sweetie, are you okay?”

“No.” I peeled myself away from Asher’s chest and blinked at her, but she still looked blurry. “I want to go home.”

I wanted to see Knox. I wanted to hold him and never let go.