Shadow (Ghost Born MC)

Chapter 5

5

Malik

M om answered on the third ring. I was honestly surprised she answered at all, considering she was supposed to be at work. And I knew she was doing a rotation in the emergency room, which usually didn’t leave her much downtime. When she worked ER shifts, I did my best not to bother her, but Rurik was right. I needed to let her know I was going out of town for the foreseeable future.

Fuck all knew I didn’t need her calling to light a fire under my ass for neglecting to tell her I was doing a disappearing act for the club.

She was the one person in this world who could bring me to heel with a single, terrifying look. My mother had an incredible ability to put the fear of God into me.

“Do you need bail money?” she asked in lieu of a greeting.

I snorted, my lips twitching in amusement. “What?” I asked, laughter filling my voice. “No, Mom, I don’t need bail money. Why would you think that?”

She sighed. “Because you never call me when I work the ER shift. Thought something was wrong. And jail is the first thing that came to mind.”

I scratched at my beard. “So much faith in me,” I teased. But honestly, I wasn’t the least bit offended. It was a reasonable conclusion to come to.

“Oh, baby, I’ve got all the faith in the world in you. But I also know you, and I know that temper of yours.”

Growing up, I’d been intimately familiar with law enforcement officers. Because they had such a high respect for my mother, they usually just took me home and warned her to keep me under wraps. And damn, she did her best with me.

My behavior was not her fault. She’d tried therapy for me. Tried anger management courses. My mom did everything she knew to do. Eventually, she had to let me learn my own lessons. And I knew that wasn’t an easy decision for her because at the end of every day, all she wanted to do was protect me.

“We’ve got a… potential problem on the horizon,” I told her. She was the only person outside of the club permitted to know little details, apart from the Bratva. And the only reason she was granted that was because of Rurik. Despite him being a dick, he’d fought for my mother to sort of be in the know. They’d only met one time, but I knew Rurik respected her just as much as I did.

It was one of the only good qualities the son of a bitch had.

“And you have to leave town for it?” she asked. “Who’s with you?”

“Just Rurik,” I told her, my tone filled with bitterness. “He claims I’m a problem that’ll make this problem bigger.”

“Probably not wrong,” she said, siding with him. I grunted. I wouldn’t argue with her, and she knew it. No matter how much I hated that they both thought I’d do something to jeopardize my club family, I knew their fears weren’t unfounded. I was a hot-headed mother fucker, after all.

“The boys need anything at the clubhouse?” she asked me when I remained silent.

An exasperated sigh slipped from between my lips. “They can fend for themselves,” I told her. “Stop babying them, Mom.”

“I’ll do what I damn well want to do, Malik Quinn Carter.” I winced. I hated it when she used my full name like that. Rurik cut his eyes to me, no doubt able to hear her considering she’d raised her voice and used my middle name. “I’ll contact Hyram. Be good for Rurik, you hear me? I need to go. Do not give that man problems.”

“Yes, ma’am,” I muttered, even though she and I both knew I wouldn’t pay attention to her last order. “Love you, Ma.”

“I love you, too, baby. I’ll see you when you get back home. Be careful.”

“Always,” I promised.

She ended the call, her voice being cut off as she shouted at someone to tell them she was on her way and to hold their britches. I locked my phone and set it in my lap. I could feel Rurik’s eyes on the side of my face, but I ignored him. Wasn’t a damn thing I had to say to him.

“Everything good with your Mom?” he asked me.

“Yeah,” I muttered, leaving it at that.

He hummed but didn’t say another word. Turning away from me, he looked down at his phone. After a moment, he grunted and reached into the pocket behind the driver’s seat, pulling out a sleek, black laptop. He flipped it open, then went to his email. I knew he could sense I was watching, but he didn’t say a word or reprimand me for being nosy.

I could never figure him out. One moment, he was as chill as fucking ever, and the next, he was forcing me to my knees and reminding me of my place.

I refused to even acknowledge the part where both sides of him made me hard as fuck. Nope. Never going there. Pansexual or not, Rurik was not my type. He would never be my type.

“He was your cell mate, wasn’t he?” Rurik asked out of the blue, dragging me out of my head. He turned his laptop around to face me, showing me a picture of a white guy with blonde curls, two teardrop tattoos beneath his eye, and a smirk tilting his lips. It was his mugshot, and yeah, he was definitely my cellmate. He was a decent guy. A bit out there, but decent.

“Yeah—Kaleen Jacobs,” I said. “Why?”

“He’s part of the club that’s not happy with the Ghost Born.” He turned his laptop back toward him. “I’ve got someone working on tracking him down. He got out not long after you did. I’m hoping we can use him as an in to begin negotiations for peace.”

“Kaleen’s not one for negotiations,” I warned him. “He runs by his own book, and he doesn’t care whose toes he steps on in the process.”

Rurik hummed. “Maybe. Maybe not. But you never had problems with him, did you?”

“No,” I said. “He owes me one, actually. I took a pen to the arm so he wouldn’t get stabbed in the throat while he was running his mouth.”

Rurik smirked at me. “Good. We’re using that to make him work with us—at least in the beginning.”

I sighed. “I’m guessing I don’t even have a fucking choice?”

“No,” Rurik answered, not even bothering to look at me. He just continued typing rapidly, his eyes never moving from his computer screen. “You’ll do this for your brothers. For the GBMC.” He did look at me then. “And you’ll do it for me .”

My upper lip curled in a sneer. “I’ll never do a goddamn thing for you ,” I snapped.

He turned back to his computer, not the least bit bothered. “We’ll see about that, Shadow.”