Chapter Thirty
Ghost
My hand found her lower back. That spot just above her ass, the curve with the dimples hidden by the clothes she wore. The ones that haunted my fucking dreams.
I led her outside, and as soon as we stepped off the porch, Dani squirmed. Melissa set her on her feet and the little girl ran.
“She’s changed so much from when she was here last,” I observed. “You did that.”
She took a heavy breath. “Dani did that. I just showed her how to get there.”
“Don’t do that.”
“Do what?” she asked, looking up at me.
“Don’t diminish yourself. You worked hard to get where you are. It couldn’t have been easy.”
“It wasn’t.” She turned her focus back on Dani, who walked around the compound looking for something.
“What is she looking for?”
“Bugs,” Melissa said with a big smile that lit up her face. The way she looked at Dani had me concerned. It was clear she loved the little girl, and I wondered what would happen when Sypher and Pippen returned.
“What is your plan?” She looked at me again and I wanted to find a way to keep her focus on me forever. “When they come back?”
“To go with them,” she replied, her manner serious.
“I don’t understand.”
“When they come back to get Dani, they will move her to New York. I’ll move too. I’ve already sold everything I had in Oklahoma. I’ll start over in New York and build my practice there. New York has millions of people, which means there are a lot of children. And let’s face it, it’s New York. Those children have trauma. Many of whom have never had any help dealing with what they have gone through.”
She wasn’t wrong.
New York was a hotbed for crime. That crime spilled out onto kids, whether it was absent parents who had been killed by any number of incidents, drive-bys, muggings. Those are just the ones you couldn’t control.
Then you had the families that were involved in crimes being thrown in jail or disappearing without a trace because a Mob boss, or let’s face it, the Soulless Sinners, made them disappear.
The men and women who were kidnapped and trafficked. Not to mention the sexual assaults on children every day. People like Melissa were needed. But they were needed elsewhere too.
Including Diamond Creek, Nebraska.
Tabby would benefit from working with Melissa. Ryder said she had started using a few words here and there, but she was still as silent as a mouse at the clubhouse.
I knew it was a figure of speech, but it made no fucking sense. Mice weren’t freaking quiet. The damn things got in the walls and scurried around, making more noise than a whore in a brothel.
“Maybe while you’re here you could help Tabby,” I offered, hoping she would get just as attached to her and never want to leave.
It was a fool’s errand, because I know she saw herself as Dani’s mom, for good reason. And well, Tabby had two parents now. But I could fucking hope.
“Why doesn’t she speak?”
“Her mother abused her.”
“Ellie?”
“No, Ryder’s ex-wife. Ellie wouldn’t hurt those girls. She has trouble fucking disciplining them. It all falls on Ryder to keep those girls in line. Ellie loves them so fucking much she lets them get away with murder.”
“That’s not good for them. Children need discipline and boundaries. That’s how they learn.” She slipped her hands into her pockets. “It’s the parents’ job to teach them right from wrong.”
The furrow in her brow told me what she was thinking as she looked at Dani.
“Hey,” I said, turning her to face me. “The girls know right from wrong. Ellie is a great fucking mother. She loves those girls as if she gave birth to them. You don’t know her childhood trauma. She grew up in New York. Her and Jingles both. Their parents were shit.”
I let go of her arm when I saw her wince. Not realizing how tense my hand had gotten. “I’m sorry.”
“It’s fine,” she said, rubbing her bicep.
“It’s not fine,” I conceded, running my hand through my hair. “It’s just, Ellie is special. She’s so fucking sweet and she’s gone through a lot recently. The whole clubhouse has.”
“Are you involved in whatever Danny and Dante are doing?”
“Not directly, no. But Ellie and Danny are close. Dante too. She’s worried about her friends and their daughter.”
“I get it. The entire situation is fucked up.” She paused and looked at me. Lust swirled in her eyes. I let her see the hunger in mine as her gaze roamed over my face. Taking a step forward, I reached for her and she stepped back. “My priority is Dani.”
Swing and a miss.
“Mama,” Dani cried, and Melissa spun around, searching for the little girl. Dani was sitting on a pile of snow. Melissa rushed over, pulling her up. “Cold,” the little girl said.
“Snow,” Melissa said, picking up a handful and letting Dani put her fingers in it.
“No,” Dani repeated.
“SSSSSSS,” Melissa made a sound like a snake hissing and I watched in awe as she taught Dani a new word.
Dani repeated the hissing sound but when she said snow again, it still came out no. Melissa praised her attempt, then turned to me.
“I need to take her inside. She’s all wet from the snow. It’s crazy to me how warm it is, yet there is still snow on the ground.”
“Yea, we tend to get a few really warm days mixed in with all the snowy ones. Is this the first time you’ve seen snow too?”
Like the rest of the guys who moved here from Arkansas after growing up in the south, that first winter was my first experience with snow. Couldn’t say I loved it. But it sure was fucking pretty after the first storm of the season.
Melissa laughed. “No, I attended some lectures in New York when I was in school. The first time I went to hear Dr. Scott, I almost didn’t make it because I was so caught up in the falling powder.”
“You heard Malice speak?”
She furrowed her brow and asked, “Malice?”
“Gideon Scott. His road name is Malice.”
“Dr. Scott is a biker?”
I rubbed the back of my neck. “Uh, yeah.”
Fuck!
“Jesus Christ!” Melissa stormed off, muttering, “Is there anyone in my freaking life who isn’t a goddamn biker?”
“Princess, wait.”
I caught up to her just as she turned and narrowed her eyes at me. “Why do you call me that?”
“What?”
“Princess.”
She stood there, Dani on her hip, and in that moment every thought in my head was gone. Replaced by a fantasy. Melissa standing in front of the clubhouse, baby on her hip, her belly round with another one.
Fuck, I knew I wanted her to be my old lady, but until this moment I hadn’t thought beyond that. Never gave much thought to being a dad. I never knew mine.
But damn, if I didn’t want to be a father to her children.
I reached over, taking Dani from her and holding her in my arms. Looking back at Melissa, I smiled. Yeah, I wanted to knock her the fuck up.
I kissed Melissa’s forehead and walked inside with Dani, ignoring her question. I wasn’t sure she would like my answer, and I didn’t want her mad at me.
Anger was the biggest cockblocker of all.
When I walked into the clubhouse, Tank was on the couch with the three girls. Looking at the TV, I was surprised it wasn’t playing My Little Ponies . Charlie had gotten the behemoth hooked. Today it looked like... Fuck, was that Tinkerbell ?
“What the hell are you watching?”
“Tinkerbell and friends,” he answered without looking at me. I swear it was like this man had never experienced cartoons before.
Tank was lying on the couch. Tabby laid in front of him with his arm around her like he was preventing her from rolling off. She was sound asleep with her teddy bear tucked in under her head like a pillow.
Charlie and Chrissy sat on his hip and legs; their eyes glued to the animated show on the screen.
“Got room for one more?” I asked, walking over to where the girls were piled on top of him.
“Sure,” he said. I set Dani on his waist next to Charlie, who immediately put her arm around the little girl so she didn’t fall.
“What are you doing?” Melissa cried and moved to take Dani.
“Easy, Princess. The girls love Tank. He watches cartoons with them every weekend. There is no one in this clubhouse they are safer with.”
Dani’s eyes went to the screen, and I watched as they widened with the vivid colors and fast-paced movement.
“Has she watched cartoons before?”
“Not often. I try to limit her screen time. I knew growing up with Danny and Dante, computers would be a huge part of her life, so I try to limit it now while she’s learning all the things she should have already learned.”
“Well, a little time watching TV with the girls won’t hurt. Come sit at the bar with me. We won’t leave the room.”
Melissa and I talked while Dani watched cartoons with Tank and the girls.
“You never answered my question,” she said, bringing the glass of wine the prospect gave her to her lips. I watched as she took a sip. She was so fucking beautiful. Her tongue darted out to erase any trace of the fermented grapes left on her lips.
I reached down, adjusting myself, not trying to hide it in any way. What was the point? She knew I wanted her. Knew firsthand how her body affected mine.
She raised an eyebrow at my crass display, and I was reminded of the heat in her eyes that night we met. How her gaze was locked on mine while I eye-fucked her without shame.
“What question was that?” I asked, stalling by playing dumb as if I didn’t remember.
“Why do you call me princess?”
I looked out over the room, seeing my brothers with their old ladies. I smiled and turned back to her.
“That night we met, I noticed you the moment you walked through the door. The designer jeans, the pristine cowboy boots, and the expensive leather jacket.”
She dropped her eyes to the glass in her hand. Setting it on the bar, she faced the mirror hanging behind the bottles of alcohol on their shelves.
“I get it,” she murmured.
“No, you don’t. I knew as soon as I saw you, you weren’t the type of woman to walk into a seedy dive bar. I knew you weren’t someone who would look twice at a guy like me. And yes, I judged you. I assumed you were stuck up. A princess looking to get down and dirty for one night.”
“Boy, were you wrong,” she scoffed.
“I wasn’t. The way your body moved with grace had me completely enchanted. It was what got me off my stool to prowl around the edge of the dance floor, watching you.”
My hand reached up and I took her chin in my hands, turning her to look at me.
“I knew you were too good for me. But I didn’t give a damn. I needed to be inside you. And when that guy put his hands on you, I wanted to rip his arms off and beat him to death with them for daring to touch what was mine. Then you hitched your eyebrow at me, silently asking what I was gonna do about him. And I knew right then. Not only were you a princess. You were my fucking queen.”
Leaning in, I kept my eyes open, waiting for her to pull back. When her eyes fluttered closed, I knew I had her. My lips barely brushed hers in a featherlight whisper when King yelled into the room.
“Everyone. Listen up!”
Fuck. My. Life.