Chapter 6
GHOST
Phone in my hand, I reread the text message from Xanthe. After our date, I walked her to the door and asked for her number, which she gave to me. That was a week ago, and we’ve been talking ever since.
Xanthe
Do you have any siblings?
A casual, innocent question for most, but it gutted me.
Closing my eyes, I remember my sister’s smiling face.
She would always want to tag along with me everywhere I went.
She’d make me take her to the park on our walk home from school.
I was three years older than her, which felt like such a big age gap when we were kids, but she is still my all-time favorite person.
Losing her just set off a whole series of fucking disasters that made up my life.
I can’t find it in me to reply, to share about Charlotte.
It should have been you.
How many times was I told that throughout my life? My father basically drilled it into me, like it was my fault she drowned. As an adult, I see that he was merely projecting that shit on me. I hope that miserable bastard stays in prison for the rest of his days.
“Ghost, are you listening to me?” Haze asks, running his hand through his hair. The silver rings on his fingers give me something else to focus on.
“What?”
“I need a favor. It’s a big one. I’ll owe you my marker,” he says, his amber eyes pleading.
“What do you need?” I ask, leaning forward in my chair and resting my elbows on my thighs.
“I need to find out if Daisy’s baby is mine, and Scorp said I can do it if I get some of Daisy’s blood. She’s refusing to do a paternity test. I don’t think the baby is mine,” he explains, looking stressed the fuck out.
I mean, I’d be too if I thought Daisy was having my child.
“What are you asking me to do, exactly?” I ask, but I think I already know.
Everyone in the clubhouse knows how I like to play with my knives.
And while I haven’t touched Daisy, she’s hinted that she’s wanted it.
I’m a private man, and I’ve told the women that they aren’t to discuss what happens in my bedroom, but Daisy has made it known that she’s caught wind of it.
“Take her upstairs at the party tonight and do what you do. I just need a sample. I need to make this work with Luella, and I can’t until I know for sure.”
“Fucking hell, Haze,” I groan, the knife in my pocket now feeling heavy.
“I know. Like I said, I’ll owe you.”
“Yes, you fucking will,” I grit out.
I haven’t touched another woman since that day in the clubhouse when Xanthe first saw me. I haven’t wanted another woman.
But I’ll do this for my brother so he can pin down his old lady, and we can find out the truth once and for all.
But I’m not going to fuck her.
No way in hell.
I grit my teeth when Daisy runs her hand down my arm. “When are you going to give me a chance, Ghost? Am I not your type? I promise you, I’ll make it good for you.”
“Will you?” I force myself to reply, gritting my teeth at her touch. It feels wrong. I’ve never liked the women touching me, but now it feels dirty. She can make it good for me by giving me some of her blood and then leaving me the fuck alone.
“You want to take me upstairs? The party is getting boring.”
I stand up and start walking, knowing she will follow behind me. Haze fucking owes me for this. My only saving grace is that Xanthe said she wasn’t coming tonight. We aren’t together, but this still feels like betrayal.
This is the last time I’m going to help the brothers if it involves shit like this. I’d rather he ask me to kill someone for him.
I’d enjoy that more than this.
Not wanting to take her into my room, I open the door to one of the empty rooms and step inside. She comes in behind me, closing the door and starting to undress.
“Keep your clothes on,” I command.
I sit back on the bed and watch her. I don’t know how Haze got himself into this situation, and it’s bullshit that I’m going to have to get him out of it.
There’s a reason I usually let the club girls give me head only, because I don’t need to bring any children into a loveless situation.
And when I do fuck them, I don’t like eye contact.
Sliding my knife out of my pocket, I switch it open and stare down at the blade. Daisy walks over to me, swaying her hips as she stands in front of me. She knows better than to make a move before I give her permission.
“Is this what you want?” I ask her, running my fingertip along the blade.
“I want to know what Brandy was whispering about,” she admits, licking her lips. “She said you made her feel so good.”
At least now I know who has been talking about me. Normally, I’d punish her, but I think that’s exactly what she wants. That, and I don’t do repeats. One and done, no attachments are more my style.
“Lie back on the bed, lift your dress, and touch yourself,” I demand, turning to my side and keeping my eyes away from what her hand is doing. Knife play is a psychological thrill for some, the women getting off on the sensory stimulation. It usually requires a lot of trust and consent.
“Please, Ghost, cut me,” she mewls, and I grit my teeth.
A lot of the time, I use my knives to cut off clothing or trace the skin, not actually cut into skin, but this time, I’m going to have to make an exception.
Hating myself even more, I lean over her and give her what she wants.
“You didn’t even touch me. I got myself off,” she pouts, letting me lead her out of the room. “And you didn’t even finish in my mouth. Did you not like how I give head?”
It wasn’t as easy as just cutting her without a little foreplay, and I ended up having to let her choke on my cock a few times to let her think I was really into it. I deserve a fucking Oscar for that performance.
“You play how I want it. Those are the rules,” I reply, shrugging.
Her lipstick is smeared all over her lips from where I covered her mouth with my hand when she came.
I got what Haze needed, and now I want to get rid of her.
She stops me just before we reach the stairs and undoes my jeans button before I grip her wrist, stopping her.
“Don’t,” I snap.
Stepping toward the stairs with her behind me, I reach down and redo my button. Glancing down, I see the bastard himself, Haze, standing there with Lu hanging over his shoulder.
And then I hear her before I see her.
“Don’t leave yet!” she calls out to Lu in her sweet, sultry voice.
I stop in my tracks as our eyes connect and hold. My jaw tenses as Xanthe looks at my fingers still on my button, then at Daisy behind me.
Motherfucker.
My eyes snap to Haze, and I want to murder him right here and now.
By helping him clean up his mess, I’ve gotten into my own.
“I told you I’d have to look elsewhere if you weren’t going to give it to me,” Daisy calls out to Haze as she walks down the stairs, her hips swaying.
My eyes return to Xanthe, who is looking at me with a hurt expression on her beautiful face.
Goddammit! I never wanted to hurt her.
“Put me down, Haze,” Lu says, seeing Xanthe’s expression.
As soon as her feet touch the floor, she entwines her arm with Xanthe’s and pulls her away toward the kitchen.
I pull out the small piece of cloth, protecting the blood-soaked one in the middle, and he opens a plastic sleeve to slide it in. He then puts that back in his pocket.
Now that my task is done, I can finally let myself feel Xanthe’s rage at seeing that.
“If she doesn’t forgive me, I’m going to fucking kill you. You know that, right?” I growl, my hands clenching into fists. “I didn’t even know she was going to be here tonight!”
“She must have changed her mind.” Haze shrugs, which pisses me off more.
I come down the last few steps and push him back against the wall with my forearm at his throat. “Now my woman thinks I fucked a whore, and you just shrug?”
“Ghost—”
“When I call my marker in, you will do whatever the fuck I want, no questions asked.”
“Okay,” he agrees easily, because he knows how much this has cost me. I let him go and punch the wall, then turn around and throw the closest thing to me, which happens to be some statue thing that Ora has added to make the clubhouse look fancier.
I start to stalk toward the kitchen, but Haze puts a hand on my chest to stop me. “Calm down first, brother. Don’t walk in there like this.”
I might hate him right now, but he is right.
Taking a few deep breaths, I lean against the wall and get myself under control.
She doesn’t need to see me like this.
It takes me a few moments before I go after what’s mine.