Chapter 5 #5
“That would give you an alibi you don’t need,” Ranger argued. “Unless you’re prepared to have someone come with you, there’s no logical reason for you to check into a hotel in the middle of the night.”
Toni winced, because she should know that. “I don’t have anywhere else to go. I can’t stay at my parents’—”
“Until we figure out where your mom is and why your father was robbing you, I don’t recommend it,” Ghost interrupted from behind her.
Shit, she kept forgetting about her mom.
What sort of daughter was she? “I think she might have been in the house,” Toni confessed, looking at Ghost and Lucky.
“I’m not positive. I only saw my dad and I didn’t hear anyone leaving…
. I think it was just a sense of someone else,” she added with a guilty shrug.
“I’m sorry. I wish I could remember more. ”
“If your mom was in the house when your father was ransacking it, that’s all the more reason to find her and for you to stay elsewhere,” Ghost told her sternly.
Great. She couldn’t look back at Ranger as she confessed, “I don’t have anywhere else to go.”
“That’s not a problem,” Ranger answered, drawing her attention back to him. “We have trailers on the club property for this sort of thing.”
Toni blinked. “You have trailers on your property to hide attorneys who shoot their fathers in the middle of the night?”
“The fact that you’re being so blasé about what happened tells me you’re still in shock,” Ranger said, his gaze steady. “When it hits you, you’re going to crash hard, so we need to get moving.”
“Oh, it’s already hit,” Toni muttered, thinking of her waterworks all over his shirt.
But Ranger shook his head. “Not yet, baby, and I’ll be there for you when it does.
The trailers on our property are there for emergencies.
We use them to hide people or offer them to community members who need a home.
They’re secure and private. No one will know you’re there, and not in your home.
Your cage is at our garage, which is good.
It gives you plausible deniability why your cage won’t be seen driving up and down your road. ”
“You’re way too good at this for not being a lawyer or a criminal,” Toni muttered to him, eyes narrowing.
Chuckling, Ranger stood. But he did not move to put her down. “Come on. Let’s get you upstairs. Rest your head on my shoulder and close your eyes so you don’t see anything.”
“I’ve already seen it,” she reminded him.
“Doesn’t mean you have to see it again,” he threw back at her.
He waited for her to situate herself, even going so far as to cover his hand over her eyes, before he started walking into the house.
All the while, keeping his cut wrapped around her hips so she wasn’t flashing anyone.
Maybe in the midst of all this madness, Toni had somehow found one of the last decent men on earth.
* * *
Ghost watched in silence as Ranger carried Toni into the house. Fucking hell. Why her? Why of all people for Ranger to attach himself to right now, did it have to be her?
Lucky raised an eyebrow. “How long has that been going on?”
“Hours,” Ghost confessed dryly. “Her cage broke down earlier tonight and he got called out on the tow.”
“And that somehow became that,” Lucky pointed through the open doorway, “already?”
Ghost nodded, jaw tight. “She’s lying to us. She knows about the drugs.”
Lucky pulled his phone out and started scrolling through the pictures Scar had sent him again.
Ghost had only looked at them briefly, not wanting to draw suspicion in front of Ranger.
Pictures of glass pipes, butane torches, aluminum foil with burn marks, used syringes, razor blades, and small, empty zip lock baggies.
“It’s meth, not heroin,” Lucky said softly, almost suggestively. “And Keys says she’s clean. Never had a history of drug problems, always passed her drug tests at work.”
Ghost still shook his head. “I don’t know what to do. I don’t want this around him.”
“It’ll be worse if he finds out later.”
“She lied for a reason,” Ghost reminded him. “Let’s get her back to the trailer and try to keep them separated.”
Lucky put his phone away and stared at Ghost intently.
“There’s no evidence that she uses or deals.
How about we gather evidence before we do anything that could potentially impact their future, good or bad?
” When Ghost didn’t reply right away, Lucky added, “He has a right to be happy, Ghost. And that,” Lucky pointed to the swinging bench Ranger had just vacated, “is the happiest I’ve seen him in a long time. ”
Fuck a duck, but Lucky was right. It wasn’t just happiness either. It was contentment, a serenity Ranger had been missing in his life.
“Fine. We leave it for now, but I do want to question her without him in the morning.”
Lucky snorted and headed back towards the front door. “Good luck with that. When was the last time you allowed your woman to do anything without you?”
Grumbling, Ghost followed behind his VP, praying to a god he didn’t believe in that he wasn’t leading his best friend further down a dark path he was just starting to crawl his way out of.