Chapter 13 Ghost
GHOST
I fucking knew it.
I knew that if I sat around long enough, something would happen. And now, something did happen.
I had to get her back to the clubhouse where she’d be safe.
Cap and the rest of the guys were already waiting for us. I knew I should have never taken that goddamn food run. I can’t for the life of me figure out why the fuck I didn’t bring food with me, but I figured that McDonalds was only a mile up the road. There and back in a jiffy.
Now I couldn’t stop wondering if someone had eyes on me as well.
Did they see me leave my post?
Is that why she was attacked?
Because I fucking fell asleep on the job again?
I tried not to focus on her, as hard as that was.
With her body pressed against mine, all curves and softness, while we ran for her life.
Gunfire followed us through the trees around the corner bend for a while, but eventually, it all died off.
I expected them to pursue us, so I stuck to the back roads until I knew it was safe.
But if they meant to pursue us, they were shit at it.
I wanted to enjoy the ride with her. I wanted to pretend that she clung to me because it was her first bike ride and she was nervous about it. I didn’t know why I wanted these things, though, so I shoved them to the side. I needed to stay focused, and I knew she wasn’t here for a bike right.
She wasn’t clinging to me because she wanted to.
She clung to me because her life depended on it.
And I wouldn’t fail her.
Not like I failed my men.
It was a long ride back to the clubhouse. Longer than I wished. We were on my bike for over an hour before the clubhouse peaked on the horizon. I kicked it into gear, slinking off the road and picking up the pace of our driving until I skid to a stop in the front yard of the clubhouse.
The guys poured out the front door.
“Aaaahhhh!” she screamed out as she scrambled off my bike.
My eyes were wide and wild as I watched her fall off my bike. “Wait a second, Jasmine. Just—”
She scrambled backward, her blouse untucked. Her brown hair on top of her head, now wild and tangled around her face. Her skin, blotched with dried blood. Tears streaked through it, carrying watered-down droplets all the way to her neck.
“You’ll never take me alive!” she shrieked as she stumbled to her feet.
Her feet were bleeding.
“Jasmine, everything is okay. Doc needs to see you,” I said as I reached out.
Her eyes were wide with fear over my shoulders as she put up her fists. “Come at me, assholes! YOU’LL NEVER TAKE ME ALIVE, DAMN IT! I’M A WOMAN! I KNOW BETTER THAN SECONDARY LOCATIONS!”
“You tell ‘em!” Ariel, Cap’s girl, called out through a window.
That made her pause.
I slowly peered over my shoulder and saw the crew gathered. Okay, so I acknowledged how that would be intimidating. A bunch of massive dudes in leather jackets in the dead of night. Our scars and balled up fists, shadowed by the moon.
I nodded to myself and slowly turned my attention back to her. “Jasmine, we’re not taking you anywhere. You’re safe here.”
She blinked before her back straightened. “Well, that sure as fuck is not what just happened back there, asshole!”
She lifted both of her hands into the air and flicked off all of the guys standing behind me.
“Hell yeah!” Amanda yelled from somewhere behind me.
I heard Wrecker chuckle before the sound abruptly stopped. And I had to admit, I swallowed down a chuckle myself. She was so meek and mild this entire time. Soft spoken. Innocent. All sunshine and no rain.
Fire suited her.
“You’re being followed, Jasmine,” I said as I took a tentative step closer to her, my hand held out in between the two of us, like she was some scared little fawn I had to calm down. I peered over my shoulder. “Everyone move back. Range.”
“Yeah?”
“Go get Doc.”
“On it.”
I turned my attention back to her, slipping my hands up in front of me in hopes that a show of surrender would help the situation.
It didn’t.
“I’m what!?” she shrieked.
“Being. Followed,” I said a bit slower.
She didn’t drop her fists, not for a fucking second. I was weirdly proud of her. “And how the hell would you know that unless you were following me, too!?”
“It’s a good question,” Brutus muttered somewhere behind me.
I raised my fist and flicked him off without removing my gaze from Jasmine.
Fuck, how the hell was I going to get her to understand that she was safe now?
That all I wanted to do was protect her?
I felt someone approaching my side and her attention immediately shifted.
She took a step back, her eyes widening as her strong, fiery stance faltered.
I didn’t like that look on her.
“I’m Cap,” our president said as he stepped up to my side. “My woman, Ariel, is very much cheering you on right now.”
“She’s amazing!” Ariel called out a window from the clubhouse.
Jasmine’s wild eyes darted in between us and the clubhouse behind us.
I hated seeing her like that.
“You’ve… stolen other women here?” she asked with a crack in her voice.
Cap shook his head. “No, we’ve brought them here to be safe.”
Jasmine’s posture faltered for a moment. “Safe?”
Cap nodded. “Yes. Safe. My girl was abducted in much the same manner you were, only she was taken to a sex trafficking ring housing facility deep in the state park woods.”
Jasmine froze at that. “What?”
Cap tried taking a step forward, but my hand shot out. It moved before I could think about it, slamming into his chest. His eyes slowly moved toward me, and I just shook my head.
No one got closer to her unless she gave explicit permission.
Cap stared me down for a while before turning his attention back to Jasmine. “There’s a sex trafficking ring pushing into our town, and you’re not the only woman they’ve attempted to take. We’ve got three other women here who can testify to the exact same thing.”
Her eyes widened. “Oh.”
And in an instant, I watched her legs buckle.
“No!” I barked.
I rushed toward her without a second thought. She wasn’t hitting the ground, not on my watch. All of the strength and fire in her body gave out at a moment’s notice, and I was just barely there to scoop her up before her body slammed into the dusty ground of Redd Valley.
“I’ve got you,” I whispered as I scooped her back against me. “You’re okay. You’re fine.”
She fought against me for a moment, and I threaded my hand through her hair and brought her gaze to mine.
“I am not going to hurt you, Jasmine,” I said with as much conviction as I could muster. “But there are people who are trying to hurt you. Let me help.”
“Let us help,” Cap said behind me.
“Got Doc!” Ranger called out.
Tears filled those gorgeous brown eyes of hers, eyes like the forest, and I pulled her against me. Her hands went from fighting me to clinging to my shirt, and I distracted myself by turning toward Doc.
“Lead the way,” I said simply.
Jasmine sobbed against my chest.
I strolled by Cap and gave him a silent nod, thanking him for the backup. And as we followed Doc, I passed by Ranger before dipping down to his ear.
“Go into my room and shut down my desk,” I muttered.
He looked at me and nodded before taking off back toward the clubhouse.
I walked with her in my arms to Doc’s place on the outskirts of the compound.