Chapter Forty-Five
Ghost
“Princess, we need to talk.”
I knew it was a shit way to start the conversation, but I needed her to be alert. We had been lying in her bed, her head on my chest, basking in the afterglow of our fucking. When she didn’t answer, I waited silently. When she sighed, I knew she was still awake.
“Do you know a Detective Andrew Henderson?”
Melissa sat up quickly. Narrowing her eyes at me like just the mention of his name from my lips might have her leaving me again.
“Yes,” she growled.
“Ok, I wasn’t expecting that reaction,” I murmured, sitting up against the headboard.
“He’s an arrogant, misogynistic asshole.”
“He’s the one who trashed your office.”
“WHAT?” Turning around, she sat on her knees on the bed, facing me. God, she was gorgeous, and I was having trouble remembering what we were talking about with her tits staring me in the face. I reached up to pinch her nipple, and she slapped at my hand.
“What are you talking about?”
“You need to get dressed. I can’t have this conversation with you naked. I can’t focus on anything but your fucking body.”
Melissa shook her head at me, but the smirk on her face said she loved hearing how much I wanted her. She hopped off the bed and pulled my T-shirt over her head. It hung to her knees, and she was still too fucking sexy to concentrate.
“Maybe you need to put some clothes on to contain yourself.”
She directed her gaze to my crotch, and when I followed, I found my hand stroking my length. Christ, I hadn’t even realized I was doing it.
“Why don’t you come sit on my dick, and then we can talk.”
“Travis.” She crossed her arms over her chest, which only pushed her breasts up further and made me groan. “Get dressed, and I will make some coffee.”
When she walked past me to go to the kitchen, I grabbed her around the waist and pulled her to me for a kiss. It was hard and fast. But when I looked into her eyes, I saw what it did to her.
“I love you.”
Her hand went to my cheek, and I leaned into it. “I love you too, Travis.”
Reluctantly, I let her go. She was right. I needed my dick contained so I could fill her in on what we had learned. I could fill her with me again later.
I met her in the kitchen and sat at the table, watching her make coffee. I thought about all the mornings we could wake up like this. Have breakfast together, get the kids ready for school.
“Do you want kids?”
Her body stiffened at my question and my heart sunk. Did she not want kids? Did she not want kids with me?
She brought two cups of coffee to the table and sat across from me. Adding cream and sugar without a word. On bated breath, I waited for her to speak. To answer my question or maybe ignore it in favor of finding out more about the detective.
“I did. I’m not sure now. I love Dani so much. If I lose her...” She paused, staring at her cup.
“Hey,” I said, grabbing her hand. “Look at me.” Her eyes met mine, and I promised her again. “I won’t let them take her away. We can go wherever they go.”
“What about Henderson?” she asked with a deep sigh. “How do you know it was him? I thought Zach said it could take days for the facial recognition to come back, with just his eyes.”
“Normally that’s true. But Pippen—Dante,” I clarified at her confused look.
“Oh right,” she said.
“Dante did something, and within minutes, we had a match.”
“Danny and Dante are both good with computers.”
“That’s the understatement of the fucking year.” I laughed.
Melissa didn’t smile, and I hated seeing her so upset. “Anyway—”
“Why?”
“What?”
“Why did he do it? Was he that mad that I kicked him out of my office?”
Sitting up, I asked, “You kicked him out of your office?”
“Two days before the office was broken into.” She nodded. “He was asking about a case I worked on.”
“Caylee Meadows?” I asked. Her eyes snapped to mine.
“How did you know that?”
“We think he’s the one following you, but we don’t know why. The sheriff came by with a report accusing you of kidnapping.”
Her mouth dropped open. She opened and closed it like a guppy, but no words came out.
“Hey.”
“I didn’t kidnap Dani. Dante left her with me. He gave me a credit card and documents for me and Dani.” She stood from her seat and paced around the room. “Will I be arrested? I could lose my license!”
Getting up and going to her, I pulled her into my arms. “Hey, you aren’t getting arrested. The sheriff is King’s brother. He wouldn’t just arrest you without talking to us first. Besides, it wasn’t Dani.”
Pulling her head back, the confusion on her face confirmed she knew less than we did.
“Then who did I kidnap?”
“Caylee Meadows.”
Melissa stepped back. “Caylee Meadows? I didn’t kidnap Caylee Meadows. She was removed from her mother’s care. She’s with a foster family that is in the process of adopting her.” Turning away from me, she grabbed her phone.
“What are you doing?”
“Calling Zach. I have the information in my files. I have the foster parents’ names and contact info. The sheriff can call and verify she is exactly where she should be.”
Taking the phone from her hand, I put it in my back pocket.
“Nav has already done that. He went through your files as soon as we found out who it was.”
“He can’t do that!”
“Princess, you were just about to tell him to do exactly that.”
“That’s different.”
“Why? How is that different?” I asked. She refused to meet my eyes.
“Because I didn’t give him permission yet. He can’t just go through my files. My patient’s privacy is important.”
She was so damn cute when she was mad. I knew I would find ways to piss her off in the years to come, just to see the righteous indignation on her face.
“Princess, no one cares more about privacy than Nav.”
“He’s a hacker, Travis. He doesn’t care about anyone’s privacy,” she snarked.
This woman, my princess. The love of my fucking life was so hurt by the man I called brother.
“Princess, you need to talk to him. And Gunner.”
“No,” she said, pulling out of my arms and pacing the room again.
“Princess—”
A knock on the door cut off my plea. I had no idea what I could say to get her to talk to Nav or Gunner. But you didn’t have to be a shrink to know she had some unresolved issues.
Opening the door, I was surprised to see Sypher, Pippen, and Dani.
“Mama.”
Pippen set Dani on the floor and she ran to Melissa, who didn’t hesitate to scoop her up in arms, holding her tight against her chest.
“What are you doing here?” I asked, my eyes refusing to leave my woman. I could see she was trying not to cry. She had only been gone a few hours, but even that short amount of time away from Dani was hard for her.
“Dani was missing her,” Pippen supplied.
“King wants to see you. He asked us to send you back,” Sypher said.
“King can fuck off.”
“Please, Ghost? We need some time with Missy,” Pippen asked.
The look in his eyes told me they needed to talk. But last time had her running out here, and they’d had Haizley there to mediate.
I turned my glare on Sypher. “If you fucking hurt her...”
His hands went up in surrender. “It is not my intent. But we have to talk things out. For Dani.”
“I should stay.”
Melissa and Dani were on the couch. Giggling together. She had taught Dani sign language, and now the two of them were moving their hands around, Melissa’s low voice murmuring the words she was producing with her hands.
“She’ll be ok. I promise,” Pippen said.
Nodding, I walked over and sat on the couch next to her.
“Hey, Princess, I have to go talk to King.”
Concern etched her face when she asked, “Why?”
“I’m not sure. He asked to see me.”
“Are you gonna go back?” she asked, and the tremor in her voice broke my heart.
“Just to see what he wants. Then I’m coming right back here to you.”
“Ok.” Her quiet voice seared my soul. She was pulling away again. She needed to know that I wouldn’t leave her. That I would put her first. It didn’t matter what King said. I couldn’t go back to the club.
“These two are gonna hang out until I get back. Danika was missing you, so they brought her out to visit.”
She looked up at Dani’s fathers. “Thank you.”
Pippen dropped down on the couch on her other side and bumped her shoulder. “She wasn’t the only one missing you.” The small smile she gave him told me she would be ok while I was gone. I kissed the side of her head and walked to the door.
“I was kidding the other day when I said you look like you could take me. You hurt my woman and you won’t have to worry about the war that’s coming because you won’t be around for it,” I said, low enough that only Sypher heard me.
“Understood.”
Walking into the clubhouse without my cut felt strange. Like a piece of my heart had been cut out of my chest. But I would gladly tear out the rest of it out if it meant my woman kept that smile on her face.
She was so happy to have Dani in her arms again. I wasn’t lying when I told her we could follow Sypher and Pippen wherever they went.
“Hey, man,” Jack said somberly, grabbing my hand and pulling me in for a hug.
“I’ve only been gone a few hours, Jack.”
“Too fucking long already. King’s in his office.”
“Any idea what he wants?” I asked, and the look Jack gave me told me he knew exactly what King wanted.
Standing in the main room, I debated walking to his office. He wasn’t my president anymore. I didn’t have to follow his orders.
“He deserves the chance to say his piece,” Colt said from his stool at the bar.
“I know. But I won’t change my mind. I can’t.”
“Just hear him out.”
Nodding, I walked toward his office. This would be easier in church. But I wasn’t a brother anymore. I didn’t have the right to be in there.
Suddenly, the hallway felt longer. A little like walking toward the gallows. Nothing King could say would give me a reprieve from my decision. I hadn’t made it for me. I made it for the woman I loved.
She was the only one that mattered.
Standing in front of the door, I found it hard to lift my hand to knock. Until this moment, I hadn’t wavered in my decision. But knowing I had to stand before the man I admired most in this world and defend my decision to walk away for a woman would not be easy.
Especially when that man wouldn’t let himself have his own woman because there was something standing in the way. None of us knew what it was, but we all assumed it had something to do with the club.
The club was supposed to come first. Always. No matter what. And it had.
Until Melissa.
Until one night, on my way back from a run, when I stopped at a dive bar for a drink to break up the ride home. And I met a woman who knocked me on my ass. A woman who burrowed under my skin like a parasite.
A beautiful, sexy parasite that I wanted under me for the rest of my goddamn life.
Lifting my hand, I knocked on the door, waiting for the order to enter. When I opened the door, King sat at his desk, and Cash stood against the wall. Neither looked happy to see me.