Chapter 19 Ghost
GHOST
I was so fucked.
Absolutely fucked.
More than fucked, honestly.
Because had I not left, I would have answered.
And I never wanted to answer that question with anyone before.
I stormed down the hall and shoved Ranger’s door open without thinking.
A deep, thunderous bark exploded from inside the room.
Before I even got my bearings, something black and fast lunged toward me. Smoke.
All black fur and muscle and teeth, ears pinned forward, hackles up as he planted himself between me and Ranger’s bed.
“Easy!” Ranger snapped.
The dog froze instantly but didn’t move away from me. Just stood there, massive chest rising and falling, eyes locked on mine like he was weighing whether I was worth tearing apart.
“You better fucking knock next time,” Ranger growled as he moved past Smoke and shoved me back into the hallway.
Behind him, I caught a glimpse of the room — rumpled sheets, a shadow shifting near the bed — and Smoke gave one last warning rumble before Ranger shut the door behind him.
There was a soft whimper from inside. Not the dog.
My brow tightened.
“Is that—?”
“What do you want?” Ranger cut in.
His voice was sharp, fractured. I’d heard him angry before. This was different. This was territorial.
Smoke slipped out into the hallway at Ranger’s heel, pressing his shoulder against Ranger’s leg like he could feel the tension vibrating off him.
“Laptop,” I said. “How’s it going?”
Ranger blinked at me like I’d asked him about the weather. “Are you serious?”
“Yes.”
“I’ve had it for less than five minutes, Ghost.”
“And?”
He threw his hands in the air. Smoke flinched at the sudden movement but stayed planted. “I just got the program running to sandbox her system. It’ll be at least fifteen before we even think about cracking it.”
I dragged my gloved hands through my hair. “Fuck. Fine. I’ll find something to do.”
“What, you can’t entertain yourself?” Ranger shot back. “What’s going on with that woman anyway? What are we doing with her?”
Smoke’s ears flicked toward me.
I felt the growl before I heard it. “Her name is Jasmine. Use it.”
Ranger smirked. “Ah, Jasmine. Pretty name for a pretty girl.”
Smoke shifted slightly, sensing the shift in me now.
I wanted to tell him to keep her fucking name out of his fucking mouth, but I was the idiot who’d given it to him.
I turned to leave. “Come find me when you’re ready.”
“Or maybe I’ll just go find Jaaaaasmine,” Ranger teased. “Since it’s her laptop and all.”
I spun back around, and Smoke stepped between us instinctively, head low, watching.
“You come find me,” I said quietly. “That’s a fucking order.”
“Ooooh,” Ranger mocked, lifting his hands. “I’m terrified. Since when do you get bent out of shape over women?”
I stepped forward. Smoke didn’t move.
“Since when do you start fucking helpless little deer that wander onto our porch?”
Ranger’s face changed instantly.
Smoke’s ears flattened.
Ranger shoved me hard in the chest. “Take that back.”
“Make me.”
“I said take it the fuck back!” he roared, fist coming up.
Smoke barked sharply, not at me — at Ranger.
Like he didn’t like where this was headed.
Before the punch could fly, Cap’s voice boomed down the hall.
“That’s enough!”
Ranger’s fist hovered midair. Even he seemed startled at himself. He slowly unclenched his hand and dropped it, muttering something under his breath.
Smoke leaned into his leg again, grounding him.
I grinned because I couldn’t help myself. “Never thought I’d see the day you get twisted up over a girl.”
His lip twitched.
Cap stepped in and clamped a hand on my shoulder. “Take a walk, Ghost.”
Smoke’s eyes tracked me as I backed away.
I wiggled my fingers at Ranger and tossed him a wink before turning down the hallway.
Yeah.
Fresh air sounded real good right about now.
I marched through the clubhouse, all eyes on me as I slammed out the front door. A bike ride. That’s what I needed. Wind in my hair. Whipping around my body. The sun, just barely cresting the horizon.
I threw my leg over my bike before I heard someone trotting up to me.
“Gotta take a buddy,” Cap said.
I just scoffed and cranked up my bike.
He reached over and toggled the kill switch.
“Hey!” I barked.
But when I looked over at him, he leveled me with a look that said, ‘I’m your president.’
That got me to shut it.
“You need a buddy if you’re leaving,” is all he said.
I sighed heavily as I turned my eyes back to the horizon that was just barely twinged with sunlight. “She’s fucking pissed, Cap. Everything I do, it just makes her angrier.”
“Well, she’s got every right to feel that way right now.”
“I did what I had to do! At your orders!”
He didn’t flinch when I yelled. “Doesn’t mean she can’t be upset.”
I growled as I raked my hands back and forth in my hair. “I don’t know what to do.”
“What do you want?”
“Huh?”
“What do you want from all this?”
I looked over at him. “I’m not following.”
He shrugged. “Then maybe that’s the problem. If you’re working toward a goal, but don’t know what that goal is, of course you’re going to fuck it up. You’re upset that she’s mad. Why?”
“Because I don’t want her to be fucking mad, Cap.”
“But why? Why don’t you want her upset?”
“Because she doesn’t deserve to be upset. She deserves better than this.”
He nodded slowly. “So give her better.”
I threw my hands up into the air. “Oh, thanks. I’ll make sure to get right on that.”
He walked around in front of my bike, straddling the front wheel. “And usually, giving a woman better starts with a hell of a lot of honesty.”
I held my hand out to the clubhouse. “I already told her about the cameras, Cap. Why I did it. How I did it.”
He just snickered and shook his head before turning back toward the clubhouse. “If you leave, take a buddy.”
“Wait, Cap!”
“I’m serious! Buddy system!”
“Wait a second! I thought we were talking!”
I scoffed as I watched him make his way back into the clubhouse. The front door whipped open, and there was that little redhead of his, greeting him with a kiss. My heart clenched and I turned away. I’d never be able to do that with someone. Not without them recoiling in horror.
I slid my hand under my mask and massaged the tight scar tissue that lined my mouth and lower jaw.
I watched the sun rise as I sat on my bike.
My home, illuminated by a sun that felt tainted somehow.
This place had always felt like home at least. Even with the home I grew up in, Redd Valley always claimed me as its own.
But right at that moment? The place didn’t deserve brightness.
Not with everything going on inside of it.
And I sure as fuck didn’t deserve Jasmine.
I wanted to deserve her.
The problem was, I didn’t.
And I wasn’t sure I ever would.
“Seriously,” she said from behind me, and I felt my shoulders tense before I even turned around. “You always sit out here brooding like this?”
I glanced over my shoulder, ready for another round.
But when she stepped in front of my bike, she was smiling.
Not wide.
Not mocking.
Just… soft.
The sunrise hit her from behind, outlining her in light, and something in my chest pulled tight in a way I didn’t like examining too closely.
“For what it’s worth,” I said, forcing my voice steady, “I’m sorry for how all this turned out.”
She folded her arms loosely across her chest. “I know.”
“If you believe nothing else I say,” I continued, “believe this — you’re safe here.”
She nodded again. “I know.”
That shouldn’t have felt like a punch to the ribs, but it did.
“And before you ask,” I added.
She tilted her head. “Before I ask what?”
“I wasn’t sitting there watching you like some creep,” I said. “The cameras were on entry points. Doors. Windows. Anywhere someone could get in or out.”
I held her gaze.
“I needed to know if someone came for you.”
That was the truth.
I didn’t tell her about the moments I lingered longer than I should have. I didn’t tell her about the way I memorized the way she moved.
She studied me for a long second, like she was deciding whether to believe that version of me.
“Okay,” she said finally.
I blinked. “Okay?”
“It makes sense,” she said. “If someone broke in, you’d want to see it.”
Relief moved through me before I could stop it.
“Yeah,” I muttered.
She turned toward the horizon, quiet now.
“Is my father okay?” she asked.
Shit.
“Yeah,” I said quickly. “He’s fine. He’s not even in town.”
Her head snapped toward me. “What?”
“The facility took them on a weekend trip,” I explained. “Grand Canyon. You didn’t know?”
Something flickered across her face — shame, maybe — before she looked back toward the sunrise.
“I’m glad he’s not here for this,” she said softly.
I wanted to ask why she hadn’t known.
But the yawn that split her jaw wide made the decision for me.
“We should get you inside,” I said. “You’ve been up all night.”