The Keeper (Silent Phoenix MC #5)

Chapter 16

SIXTEEN

GHOST

Ivy & Piper’s Guide to Life Rule Number Twenty-Five:

Never date or sleep with someone from work.

I drummed my fingers against the steering wheel, waiting for Piper’s shift to end, which should have occurred—I glanced at the clock on the dashboard—eighteen minutes ago.

“A-ma!” Avery shrieked from the back seat, her little face screwed up in irritation.

“Hang on, princess,” I said, twisting around to face her. “Mama will be out soon.”

She bucked against the safety straps on her car seat, her cheeks turning an alarming shade of red. I sighed, knowing exactly what that look meant. I’d learned it well over the last week.

Baby girl needed a distraction and fast.

I unbuckled my seatbelt. “Tell you what? How about we go inside and get you a little snack while we wait for Mama? How’s that sound?”

“A-ma!” she agreed, bouncing excitedly as I busted her out of her car seat prison. Getting her to hold still long enough for me to get her jacket zipped up took a little more convincing.

The jingle of the bell over the door to the bakery might as well have been a fucking air raid siren with all the attention it drew. Customers tensed, and conversations halted mid-sentence.

It felt as if the entire shop froze, eyes locked on us like we were some freak show.

Some tried to hide their stares, burying their noses in their phones or suddenly finding the pattern on their paper coffee cups interesting. Others didn’t even bother to be subtle, openly gawking at my kutte and the bandages on Avery’s forehead with pinched expressions.

It was why I’d avoided bringing her anywhere other than the park. People took one look at me and immediately jumped to all the wrong conclusions.

I shoved down the familiar mix of anger and shame and squared my shoulders, refusing to let the judgmental assholes know they’d gotten under my skin. But deep down, an ache bloomed in my chest. This wasn’t solely about me anymore. It was about Avery too.

Would she always be seen as the biker’s kid? The one parents whispered about at PTA meetings and warned their precious angels to stay away from?

“Co-ku,” Avery said, oblivious to the tension around us. Her chubby fingers released my kutte to reach for the display case.

I forced a smile, trying to focus on her and not the whispers spreading through the bakery. “Let’s see,” I said as we approached the case. “They’ve got cupcakes. You want a cupcake?”

She shook her head. “Co-ku.”

“All right. Not a cupcake. What about—” I went down the menu, rattling off anything that sounded remotely close to what she was saying. “Cheesecake? Cake Pops? Ooh, how about a cinnamon roll?”

She pushed her pink lips into a pout and mashed her forehead to mine. “Co-ku,” she repeated, slower this time since I was clearly a moron in her eyes.

“Cookie?” I guessed, bracing myself for a meltdown.

Avery’s mouth lifted in a grin that showcased her little teeth before nodding. “Co-ku!”

“Could we get a chocolate chip cookie and a cinnamon roll?” I asked since they were Piper’s favorite thing to make, and I’d yet to try one .

The guy behind the register was probably the only person in the joint who didn’t look at me like I was a threat. He rattled off my total, giving me a chin tip when I told him to keep the change.

“Where do we want to sit?” I asked, so focused on finding an open table I damn near collided with a delivery guy as he came through the front door. “Sorry, man. I didn’t see you there.”

“Nuh, no, owie!” Avery growled with a furrowed brow that looked almost comical on her small face.

“What’s your deal, sassy pants?” I asked, tickling her side before moving out of his way toward an empty table near the back.

She arched her back and squawked when I tried to put her in a highchair. Not willing to draw even more unwanted attention, I settled her on my lap and broke off a small piece of cookie for her.

“Co-ku.” She snatched the cookie from my hands and crammed it into her mouth like she hadn’t been fed all day.

“Little bites, remember?” I said, cutting off a piece of my cinnamon roll in demonstration. “See? No, that’s Daddy’s.”

I managed to catch her grabby hands before she could snatch my dessert, smacking my lips loudly against her cheek until she was shrieking with giggles.

A clean-cut guy in khakis and a polo shirt emerged from the back, making a beeline for our table.

“Hey, folks,” he said with a smile that didn’t quite reach his eyes. “I was wondering if I could grab a couple of to-go boxes for you.”

“Nope. We’re good. Thanks, man,” I said, keeping my voice level despite the anger bubbling up inside me.

“Nuh-no,” she repeated, wagging her finger sternly before reaching for her cookie.

He glanced at Avery, then to my kutte, and his lips curled in barely disguised disdain before he caught himself. “Listen, I’m cool with y’all being here,” he said before lowering his voice like we were buddies sharing a secret. “But your presence is making some of the other customers uncomfortable. I’m sure you can appreciate the position it puts me in as the owner.”

I clenched my jaw, fighting the urge to tell him exactly what position he’d be in by the time I was done with him. But Avery was watching, her green eyes wide and curious. I couldn’t lose my shit in front of her.

“Look,” I said, leaning in. “Piper wasn’t even scheduled to work today, but here we are. I’m sure you can appreciate the position it puts me in when my girl was supposed to be off a half-hour ago, and my kid missed her naptime because she wasn’t.”

The guy’s eyes widened at the mention of Piper, and his composure slipped. “You—you’re Piper’s boyfriend?”

“Dane,” I said, breaking off another piece of cookie for Avery before extending my hand. I didn’t give a fuck about niceties, but he was Piper’s boss. I wouldn’t disrespect her or set a bad example for our daughter, even if the guy’s face was begging for a fist. “And you are?”

“Derek.” He reluctantly placed his hand in mine, his gaze lingering on my kutte. “Kinda ironic, isn’t it?”

I tightened my grip before releasing him. “What, me and Piper?”

He yanked his hand back, hiding a wince. “N-no. Ghost,” he blurted out, nodding to my kutte. “I mean, look at you. You’re kinda hard to miss. It’s the exact opposite of a ghost.”

“Yeah, that’s not why they call me Ghost,” I said, pausing to wipe a smear of chocolate off Avery’s mouth before turning back to him with a bemused smirk. “But good guess.”

The story behind my road name wasn’t all that intimidating or interesting. I was the youngest of Wolverine’s four boys and incredibly shy, so it was no surprise to anyone when my old man saddled me with the name Ghost.

But Derek didn’t know that, and I enjoyed watching the color drain from his face.

“Oh, yeah. Of course,” he quickly agreed.

Avery watched our exchange with raised brows before ripping off a chunk of my cinnamon roll and stuffing it in her mouth.

“You know, I always wanted a motorcycle when I was younger,” Derek said.

“That so?” I drawled, sliding the cinnamon roll out of reach. The last thing she needed was a sugar crash on top of the missed naptime.

He nodded. “Yeah, but they’re so dangerous. It’s not just the bike either—you’ve got to worry about everyone else on the road. One wrong move, and it’s game over.”

“No shit? I had no idea,” I said dryly.

Derek shrugged, unfazed by my sarcasm. “Don’t shoot the messenger, Ghost . I’m just saying it’s not something I’d do. Can’t imagine any family man taking a risk like that.”

The implication in his words was clear, and it took every ounce of self-control not to knock his teeth down his throat.

I ran my tongue over my teeth with a low chuckle before pushing back my chair to stand, using every inch of my height to tower over him. “I’ll keep that in mind.”

Derek took a step back, clearly unnerved by my proximity. Good. Because of him, I hadn’t gotten to try a bite of my cinnamon roll before Avery decimated it with her grubby little hands.

“Speaking of risks,” I said, keeping my voice low and even, “Think it goes without saying that threatening Piper with fewer hours or a demotion to get her to come in and cover shifts on her days off won’t end well for you. Am I clear?”

His eyes widened, and he held up his palms. “Sure thing, man. She’s never mentioned you before, so I was under the impression she was doing it all on her own and needed the extra shifts to provide for this little one.”

He reached for Avery, and she jerked away with a whimper, burying her chocolate-covered face against my kutte. “Nuh-no!”

“She doesn’t like men,” I growled, pulling her closer. “And for future reference, Piper’s personal life is none of your goddamn business.”

“Hey, no problem, man,” Derek said, a condescending smirk tugging at the corner of his mouth. The guy was slicker than a boiled onion. “My employees are like family. But if she’s got someone looking out for her now, that’s great.”

His placating tone only served to piss me off even more.

Keeping my upper body turned to the side to shield Avery, I stepped closer, invading his personal space. “Stay the fuck away from my family.”

The door to the back swung open, and Piper emerged, her cheeks flushed and wisps of dark hair escaping from her ponytail. Her eyes went wide when they landed on us. “Dane? What’s going on?”

“Hey, darlin’,” I said, trying to keep my tone light. “Your shift was supposed to end a while ago, so we were having a snack while we waited for you.”

“Didn’t you get my text?” she asked, her gaze darting between the two of us in suspicion. “I said I was staying a little later to finish up an order for tomorrow.”

“A-ma!” Avery squealed, nearly toppling out of my arms to reach for her mama.

Piper’s face softened as she scooped up our daughter, using her thumb to wipe the chocolate streaks off her face. “Hi, baby. Looks like you missed your mouth.”

“Fuck!” Avery bellowed with a giggle.

Shit.

Piper’s green eyes locked on mine like a missile, the muscle in her jaw ticking. “Where’d you hear that word?”

“Is that a word?” I asked. “Didn’t sound like a word to me.”

“We’ll talk about this later,” she muttered, shifting Avery to her hip.

The tension in the air was thick enough to choke on when she turned to Derek with a forced smile. “Sorry about that. I’m just finishing up and should be out of your hair in a few minutes.”

His earlier nervousness was gone, replaced by another smarmy grin. “No rush. Family comes first, right?”

I clenched my fists at my sides, biting back the urge to wipe the smile off his face. Piper must have sensed my rising anger because she quickly handed Avery back to me.

“Why don’t you two wait in the car?” she suggested through clenched teeth.

Derek cleared his throat. “Nice meeting you, Dane. I’m sure we’ll be seeing more of each other.”

I sensed a hint of challenge in his tone but simply nodded, not keen on digging my grave any deeper than I already had. The bell jingled again as we left, and I could feel the weight of everyone’s stares on my back.

Once we were settled in the SUV, I glanced in the rearview mirror to see Piper having what looked like a heated discussion with Derek. Her cheeks were flushed, and she was gesturing animatedly with her hands.

“A-ma?” Avery’s small voice pulled my attention back to her. She was watching me with wide, worried eyes.

I faked a smile, reaching back to smooth her hair. “Mama will be out in a minute.”

True to my word, Piper stormed out of the bakery moments later, her face a thundercloud as she yanked open the passenger door and slid inside.

“What the hell was that?” she hissed, keeping her voice low so Avery wouldn’t hear.

“Look, I’m sorry if I overstepped?—”

“Overstepped? You threatened my boss, Dane. Do you have any idea how that makes me look?”

“Didn’t threaten him, per se,” I argued, gripping the steering wheel tighter. “I just made it clear he can’t keep jerking you around with your schedule. That’s all.”

Piper huffed out a laugh. “Oh, is that all? Look, I’ve been handling things just fine on my own for years. I don’t need you swooping in to save me like I’m some damsel in distress.”

The words stung more than I cared to admit. “Not trying to save you, darlin’,” I gritted out. “I’m trying to help.”

“Well, don’t,” she said, turning to stare out the window. “I can take care of myself.”

The rest of the drive home was tense and silent, save for Avery’s occasional babbling from the backseat. By the time we pulled into the driveway, my jaw ached from clenching it so hard.

Piper was out of the car before I’d even cut the engine, slamming the door behind her. I sighed, rubbing a hand over my face before grabbing my kutte and Avery from the backseat.

“Looks like Daddy’s in the doghouse, princess,” I murmured, lifting her onto my hip.

She gave a little yip and grinned up at me, oblivious to the mess I’d made.