Chapter Thirty-Two
Ghost
Melissa was all nerves. She hadn’t stopped pacing since she learned Danny and Dante were coming to the clubhouse. Her face was a war of emotions; the fear of losing Dani overshadowed her joy that they were safe.
“Princess, come, sit down.”
“I can’t. They’ll be here any minute.”
I wrapped my arms around her. “They won’t just take her and run. I won’t let them.”
She turned in my arms, but she didn’t step back. Her hands grabbed onto my biceps, clinging to me.
“You can’t stop them. They’re her fathers,” she cried.
“Missy.” We both turned at Haizley’s voice. “It will be ok. I promise.”
“You can’t promise that.” Melissa shook her head.
Before Haizley could say anymore, the front doors opened and the two men stepped inside. Ellie slammed into Danny, happy her friend was here. Ryder had been concerned the stress of not knowing where he was or if he was ok would affect her pregnancy. But both Bane and Patch assured him everything was fine.
Dante rushed over to Melissa and pulled her in for a hug. Unlike Ryder when Danny showed up the first time, I didn’t get jealous. I didn’t try to pull her away.
She needed this.
Melissa squeezed Dante as she cried, “You’re ok.”
Dante pulled back. “We’re ok. Where’s Danika?”
“She’s sleeping upstairs.”
“Dr. Jefferson.”
Melissa turned to Danny, and the transition from joy to rage was instant.
“How fucking dare you!” she snarled. Danny pulled back at her voice, and she continued, “You abandoned her. Less than two weeks with your daughter and you up and fucking leave.”
“Missy.”
“No, Dante. He needs to hear this.”
She marched over to Danny and got in his face. She was fucking pissed and was determined to let him know.
“How could you do that? What was so fucking important that you left your daughter? What was so goddamn urgent that the club needed you more than your family did?”
“Missy,” Haizley hissed. She reached out, trying to pull Melissa back. She looked over at me for help, but fuck that. My woman was hurt, and she needed to work through it.
“Less than two weeks, Danny,” Melissa began again. “Less than two fucking weeks and you left. Then Dante left. You both abandoned the one person who was supposed to mean the world to you, and you left her with a fucking stranger.”
“You weren’t a stranger! You were her therapist. You had been working with her every fucking day.”
“I wasn’t her parent!” she yelled back.
“No, you aren’t!” Danny stepped forward, and so did I. I didn’t really know him, mostly by reputation. Ellie trusted both him and Dante, but fuck if I did. I stepped up behind my woman. I didn’t touch her. I didn’t need to. I knew she could feel me there.
“I left for her!”
“Bullshit! She needed you to be present. She needed her father. Did Dante tell you how she cried for days?”
“Dr. Jefferson—”
“Fuck you, Danny!” Melissa stepped forward. “Fuck all of you! Goddamn bikers. You don’t think of anyone but yourself.” She spun around, pointing at everyone.
She stood in front of Danny again. “I told you how important you were to her therapy. I explained how integral you and Dante were to her healing. You didn’t fucking care!”
“Don’t tell me I don’t fucking care. I was trying to save the whole goddamn world.”
“It’s not your job to save the world. Dante and Dani are your fucking world. They should come first!”
The two of them went back and forth, both of them getting louder and angrier with each word they said.
“IT WAS ALL FOR THEM!” Danny screamed. I pulled Melissa back against my chest. She inhaled deeply before letting it out slowly.
“That’s always the excuse, isn’t it? I did it for them. I left them to keep them safe.”
“That’s exactly why I fucking left. You don’t know what I went through for them. You don’t know what I had to sacrifice,” Danny said.
“Sacrifice?” Melissa scoffed. “Sacrifice means putting them first. It means giving up your own dreams, your own life, to make sure theirs is everything it can be. You don’t walk away from them in the name of sacrifice.”
“Missy, please, let Danny explain,” Haizley tried again.
“Explain what? What could he possibly say other than, oh wait, Fucking. Club. Business?” She pulled away from Haizley. “Isn’t that the standard line?”
Melissa looked around the room. Everyone was quiet while she went on her tirade. Danny quietly seethed as she spoke the words we all used time and time again when we kept important things from our loved ones.
“Where were you, Danny?” she asked, deepening her voice when she answered her own question. ‘ Club business .’ What were you doing, Danny? ‘ Club business .’ When are you coming home, Danny? ‘ Club fucking business .’ Fuck your club. And fuck you for putting the club before your family. It’s always the same fucking line, isn’t it, Gunner?”
Melissa spun on her brother. “Isn’t that what you told me? You had to walk away to keep me safe? Had to abandon the only family you had because of the club?”
“Mellie, that’s not—”
“That is what you said. That’s exactly what you said!”
“I didn’t want you involved in club shit.”
“Well, you fucking failed! Because here I am in the middle of the fucking club shit!”
Gunner walked over, standing in front of his sister. Tears streamed down her face. He took her face in his hands and said, “I was trying to protect you. Like I did when you were seven.”
“You didn’t protect me from shit!”
“I protected you from that asshole standing over your bed.”
“You didn’t. You stopped it from happening again.”
Gunner stepped back at Melissa’s revelation. I didn’t know what the fuck they were talking about, and I wasn’t sure I wanted to. I knew where my mind went, and I prayed to a God I didn’t believe in that I was fucking wrong.
“Princess,” I whispered, trying to pull her into my arms.
“No!” She stood there, panting, watching Gunner as he finally understood what she was saying.
“You’re fucking lying. I stopped that asshole from touching you.”
“Again. You stopped him from doing it again,” she repeated.
Gunner snapped his mouth closed; the room was silent but for the heavy breaths coming from Gunner as he wrestled with the truth his baby sister had delivered.
Shock overcame us all when Gunner, without a word, walked away from Melissa and out the front door.
“See that?” She pointed, yelling at Danny again. “That’s what bikers do. You’re all fucking cowards when it comes to feelings and emotions. Dani needs parents that will be there for her. People who won’t run when things get hard.”
“You don’t know what you’re fucking talking about. I didn’t run from my fucking daughter. I DID IT FOR HER!”
Danny pulled at his hair in frustration. I understood what he was feeling. At this point, I didn’t think anything he said would get through to Melissa. She was in too much pain herself. I wasn’t a fucking shrink like her and Haizley, but it didn’t take a genius to see she was hurting.
“Where is my fucking daughter?” Danny asked, his voice low. I could see he was trying to contain his temper.
“She’s sleeping. And you aren’t waking her up. She’s been waiting three fucking months for you to come home. You can wait however long she needs to wake up.”
“Do not test me, Dr. Jefferson. I can take everything you’ve worked for away with a few keystrokes.”
“Danny,” Dante gasped.
“There is nothing to take!” Melissa threw her hands out wide at her sides. She counted off on her fingers the things she’d already lost. “I sold my practice. I sold my home. I walked away from my entire fucking life for that little girl! And I would do it again with a smile on my face, because she is worth the fucking sacrifice! I just wish you could see that.”
“I do fucking see that. I sacrificed my fucking life for her.”
“Danny, don’t,” Dante said in a futile effort to put an end to the smackdown Melissa and Danny were giving each other.
I understood why Melissa was hurting. She had no idea what Danny had given up for Dante and his daughter. Hell, we didn’t even know the full extent of what happened in New York. Only that he had been hurt trying to end the life of the bitch who was responsible for all the shit that came out of the Trick Pony.
“You want to know what I sacrificed for my daughter? For my husband? I’ll fucking tell you—”
“Mama.”
We all turned toward the small voice. Amber stood in the doorway, holding Dani. Melissa rushed over, taking Danika in her arms. When Danny and Dante moved to get closer to their daughter, I put my arms up, blocking their path.
“Wait,” I growled.
My woman needed a minute with the little girl. This might just break her.
“She spoke,” Dante whispered behind me.
We watched as Dani put her hands on Melissa’s cheeks.
“Mama, tears.”
“Yes, baby, Mama has tears.”
“Sad,” Dani said, her eyes on Melissa.
“No, baby. Happy tears,” Melissa lied. They weren’t fucking happy. Her fucking heart was breaking right before my eyes and I couldn’t do a damn thing about it, but be there in the aftermath to pick up the pieces. And do my best to put them back together.
“Guess what, Dani?” Melissa did her best to smile at the little girl. “Guess who’s home? Papa’s home.”
“Papa?”
Dante gasped beside me and leaned into Danny, who hadn’t said a word since Amber walked into the room.
“Yes, Papa. Look!” Melissa turned so Danika could see Danny and Dante. Her little face lit up like a fucking Christmas tree.
Melissa set Dani on the floor and she ran to her fathers. “Papa,” Dani cried out.
Both men dropped to their knees and engulfed the little girl in their arms. They sat on the floor talking to her, and I walked over to my woman and pulled her to me.
“Princess,” I whispered.
“Don’t, Travis.”
She clung to my cut. Her face buried in my chest for a brief moment, before turning and walking away down the hallway.
“I’ll talk to her,” Haizley said behind me as I watched the woman I loved walk away from me a second time.
“No,” my voice croaked. “I’ll give her a minute and then go to her.”
“She needs me, Ghost.”
Looking down at Haizley, I countered, “She needs someone that is going to put her fucking first for once. Go find Gunner. He needs you.”
“Ghost,” King called, and I raised my hand, cutting him off. I needed to go to my fucking woman. Hold her in my arms and let her grieve.
Taking the steps two at a time, I stood in the room’s doorway she shared with Dani. She laid on the bed, pillow tucked close to her chest and cried.
Closing the door quietly, I slipped off my cut and boots. Then crawled into the bed behind her. Sliding my arm under her shoulders, I pulled the pillow away and turned her into my chest, settling her head on my heart.
“I’ve got you, Princess. I won’t let you down.”
“She’s gone, Travis.”
“She’s not gone, baby. She’s right downstairs.”
“They’ll take her away. They’ll take her to New York and I’ll never see her again,” she cried into my chest.
“I thought you wanted to go with them?” I asked, praying for a different answer. Knowing that if she followed Dani to New York, I would be right there with her.
“Danny will never allow that. Not after the things I said.”
I didn’t know how to fix things between her and Danny. I would need Haizley for that. But I vowed right in that moment that I would walk away from my brothers and the Silver Shadows before I ever put the fucking club ahead of her.