Chapter Sixteen #2
That he’s a target because of me, that he’s still a target. Because. Of. Me!
And I don’t think I can survive watching that realization.
“I don’t know,” I say instead, and I hate how easily the lie leaves my mouth. “I have no idea why those men had a picture of me.”
Sin holds my gaze for a long moment. Long enough that my pulse starts creeping into my throat.
He doesn’t call me on it or tell me he knows I’m holding something back.
He just nods once before looking across the table.
“Ghost.” Ghost looks up from the laptop balanced in front of him.
“Find out who sent them. Everything you can pull. I want names. I want who’s paying them.
And I want to know why Sage was sitting in the middle of it. ”
“Already pulling everything from the highway cameras,” Ghost says. “I’ll have the SUV’s route within the hour.”
Sin nods once. “Good.” The room falls quiet.
“I get why you did what you did back there.” Ghost doesn’t say anything.
“You protected one of ours.” Sin’s voice stays calm, but it carries enough weight that every conversation around the table dies without him asking for silence.
“I’d expect every brother in this room to do the same. ”
Ghost meets his eyes. “They were there to take her out.”
Simple facts.
Sin nods. “I know.” He leans forward, resting his forearms on the table. “But the second those two hit the dirt…” he taps the tabletop once with a finger, “… we lost our only chance to ask them who sent them.”
Ghost’s jaw tightens. “I know.”
“Do you?” Neither of them looks away. “Because the next time somebody comes after this club, I want the bastard behind it just as much as I want the one pulling the trigger.”
Ghost lets the silence sit for a beat before answering, “If I’d waited…” his voice is quiet, “… they’d have had another shot at her.”
Nobody in the room argues with that.
Hell, nobody can.
Sin’s expression softens by the smallest amount. “I’m not saying you made the wrong call.” His eyes don’t leave Ghost’s. “I’m saying next time, if there’s another option, I need you to leave me something to chase.”
Ghost drops his gaze for a second before giving a single nod. “Understood.”
I catch the flicker that crosses his face before it’s gone again.
Frustration, like he’s replayed every second of that highway in his head a hundred times already and still comes back to the same conclusion.
If he had to choose between answers or me, he’d choose me every single time. The thought settles heavily in my chest.
Because I know it.
And somehow, I don’t think anyone else in this room doubts it either.
Sin lets the silence hang for another beat before pushing back from the table.
“Until we know who’s behind this, nobody rides alone.
Church, work, grocery store, I don’t care where you’re going, you move with backup.
” His eyes land on me. “That includes you.” I nod.
“Good.” He looks around the room. “Let’s get to work. ”
Chairs scrape back across the floor as the brothers stand. Conversations start up in low voices, plans already forming before anyone reaches the door.
Ghost closes his laptop, waiting until the room has mostly emptied before he gets to his feet. By the time we reach the doorway, it’s just the two of us.
“Ghost…”
He stops, but he doesn’t turn straightaway.
“Thank you.” He looks back at me, and my throat suddenly feels too tight. “Out there…” I shake my head, trying to find words that don’t seem big enough for what happened. “You didn’t even hesitate.”
His eyes hold mine. “No.”
One word—absolute—and it steals the rest of the air from my lungs.
“You could’ve…” I can’t finish it.
I don’t need to.
You could have died.
You killed for me.
You make me feel things I have never felt.
He closes the distance between us before I even realize he’s moving.
Every step measured until he’s standing so close I can still smell the sharp bite of gunpowder clinging to the leather of his cut beneath the familiar scent that’s become so unmistakably him.
His hand lifts slowly, giving me every chance to pull away, and his palm settles against my cheek.
Warm and steady.
My eyes flutter closed for the briefest second, leaning into the touch before I can stop myself. When I look back at him, something in his expression has changed.
The walls are still there, but they are just… not quite as high.
His thumb brushes slowly across my cheekbone. “You really don’t know…” His voice is rough enough that I almost don’t hear it.
“Know what?”
The corner of his jaw flexes like he’s arguing with himself. Like every instinct he has is telling him to swallow the next words before they ever reach me.
He loses the argument. “How much I care.”
My breath catches.
Neither of us moves.
My heart is beating so hard I’m certain he can feel it beneath my ribs.
His eyes search mine with an intensity that makes everything else disappear. It’s just…
Him.
Me.
And one impossible heartbeat that feels like it’s asking both of us the same question. Kiss me.
His gaze drops, just enough to find my mouth.
Mine follows.
I don’t even realize I’ve leaned toward him until there’s barely enough space left to breathe.
Then Ghost blinks, almost like he’s remembered where we are.
His thumb strokes my cheek one last time before his hand slips away.
“I should’ve told you sooner.” The words are barely above a whisper. Then, he takes a step back.
And another.
The distance between us returns all at once.
“I’ve got work to do.” His voice has found its control again, and he turns before I can answer, heading for his workstation, already reaching for his laptop as the familiar toothpick finds its way back between his teeth.
I stay exactly where I am.
My fingers lift to my cheek, tracing the warmth his hand left behind.
He cares.
Somehow, that doesn’t make any of this easier.
It makes it worse.
Because the guilt that’s been sitting quietly in my stomach since I lied to Sin finally settles in for good.
Ghost thinks he just saved me.
But he has no idea I’m still keeping the thing from him that might get him killed.