Chapter 11 #2
He took in the room. Becks was standing by the bathroom door.
He’d felt her get up, but she’d clearly been trying to be sweet and not disturb him.
Plus, it wasn’t like she needed an audience to take a piss.
So he knew where she was before he got up, and automatically placed himself as close to her as he could.
The light coming from the other side of the bed was the obvious threat. Neither of them had been in a position to turn it on. The barrel of his gun was fixed in that direction before he even registered who else was standing in the room with them.
Ghost lowered his gun, cursing under his breath. “Scar! What the fuck, man?”
Heart still hammering in his chest, Ghost put his weapon on the nightstand next to his side of the bed and grabbed up the blanket from the floor.
He walked over to Becks, who was still pressed back against the wall like she was staring at the Boogeyman.
Since Becks’ things were delayed, she was as naked as the day she was born.
Not caring about his own nudity, Ghost wrapped her in the blanket and brought her into his arms.
“What… What…”
“Shhh,” he soothed, rubbing his hand up and down her back. “It’s fine. It’s just Scar. He’s one of my club brothers.”
“I… But he… What?” she stuttered out, pressing her face into his chest.
Ghost turned them slightly so he could glare at Scar. “What the fuck, man? I thought you were working on boundaries!” Becks started to shake in his arms. Without her heels on, she was so little compared to him.
Scar at least had backed himself against the wall farthest from them. He was looking down and away, which Ghost supposed was the closest thing to an apology they were going to get from the man, verbal or otherwise.
Ghost guided Becks back over to the bed where his phone was charging on his nightstand. “It’s fine, don’t worry,” he promised her. He pressed several buttons and then put his phone to his ear.
It rang only twice before a female voice answered in complaint, “It’s the middle of the night, Ghost.”
“Yeah, I fucking know that, Tally. I think you lost something.”
Scar’s head snapped up, and his eyes narrowed on Ghost. Crap. Ghost needed to get his anger under control and not take it out on Tally, or there was no telling what his unhinged brother might do to him.
There was a sharp clicking sound coming from the other end of the line. “Shit, he’s not here. Is he at your house?”
“He’s in my bedroom,” Ghost informed her in the most even voice he could manage right then.
“Fuck,” she cursed low. “I’m on my way, but you really can’t blame him.”
Ghost glared down at his phone, despite the fact that Tally wouldn’t be able to see his reaction even if she was standing in the room with them.
“Are you fucking kidding me?! I thought Dr. Rutenberg was working on boundaries with him! Why is he in my bedroom, Tally? He scared the crap out of Becks!”
There was rustling on the other end, and Tally sounded like she was getting dressed as she spoke. “Look, there’s someone new on property. He needed to know that she wasn’t going to harm you or anyone else here.”
Tally had the reputation of being a Scar Translator.
Her husband was mute, and despite her being blind, she seemed to always know what was on his mind or the meaning behind his actions.
She hadn’t known that Scar had left their bed, yet she knew with certainty why the moment she learned about his absence.
Ghost frowned at Scar. “She’s my wife,” he told his club brother.
“Scar’s paranoia doesn’t care,” Tally reminded Ghost over the phone.
Probably not realizing he’d been speaking to Scar, or continuing her translation of his actions.
“He does this anytime there’s someone new on property.
It’s just how he is, but he stops the moment he’s sure that that person can be trusted, Ghost. Honestly, I’m surprised you even knew he was there. ”
Ghost glanced down at Becks, who had stopped shaking at least. “He turned on the light.”
The noises from the other end of the call quieted. “He what?”
“He turned on the light,” Ghost repeated. “Becks was walking back from the bathroom in the dark and he turned on the light.” Which caused her to scream bloody murder and for Ghost to jump out of bed ready for battle.
“That’s actually… That’s really good, Ghost.”
Ghost had to suppress his frustrated tone. “Really? Because I’m failing to see how.”
“You just said she was walking back from the bathroom in the dark.” It sounded like Tally was running.
Their house was secluded on the other side of the property, but it wasn’t like the darkness of night mattered to Tally.
“He turned on the light to help her see, Ghost. Meaning, he’s already made up his mind that she’s not going to harm you. ”
Ghost supposed, maybe, in the smallest, slightest definition of the meaning, he could possibly understand Scar’s actions. Maybe. In Scar’s mind, he was helping Becks make it back to bed. Fuck.
Still keeping a tight hold of Becks, Ghost looked across the bed at his club brother. “Thank you for trying to help her,” he said through gritted teeth. He really couldn’t punish Scar for trying to help in his way. Damn him. “But in the future, don’t enter our bedroom without permission.”
Scar nodded once. Then held out his hand for the phone.
Ghost threw it to him, which he easily caught.
Scar put the phone to his ear and listened for a moment.
Pursing his lips, he blew a thin stream of air into the mouthpiece.
It was almost like a whistle, but not quite as defined.
He hung up the phone and tossed it onto Ghost’s bed before slipping behind the long curtains and out the window.
At least he had the decency to close the pane before he jumped down. Something as pesky as heights or the fact that they were on the second floor mattered little to someone like Scar.
Ghost looked down at Becks, and asked in all seriousness, “Is this a bad time to remind you that there’s no take backs?”
The coolness of the table did nothing to help Becks’ headache.
Ghost had done his best to soothe Becks after their midnight visitor left, but she was still rattled.
She’d heard about Scar from Liam, but nothing, no amount of stories, could have prepared her for that.
And the fact that Ghost defended him, like what he had done was normal around here?
Yeah, not exactly the introduction to the club Becks had been hoping for.
Ghost was at the stovetop cooking them both scrambled eggs. Since Liam and he had been gone for a long weekend, they hadn’t gone grocery shopping leading up to their departure. Though Becks wasn’t even that hungry, Ghost insisted.
“There’s not enough coffee in the world for today,” Becks grumbled, her voice muffled by the wooden table.
“I already talked to Tally and Bulldog this morning, and Scar knows he’s not allowed in our bedroom anymore. And there’s no law that says we can’t go back to bed after breakfast.”
Becks groaned, because as good as going back to bed sounded, she knew her body. If she took a nap this morning or this afternoon, she’d struggle to fall asleep tonight, and the vicious cycle would continue. She just had to power through, and maybe go to bed early tonight.
Sitting up, she reached for the coffee cup Ghost had poured her when she’d first sat down. “Look, I know Scar has some…trauma,” Becks hedged carefully. “Liam told me about his accident at the bridge—”
“What did Ranger tell you, specifically?”
Ghost came over to the table with their plates of eggs and toast. Becks was grateful he hadn’t gone heavy on their breakfast. She didn’t think her stomach could handle that right then.
She wasn’t a morning person anyway, but the lack of sleep topped with the midnight scare and her nerves about meeting the club and sleeping in a new environment was making her extra irritable.
Becks thought back two years ago when she’d gotten that phone call from her brother. He’d lost men in combat before, but losing a club brother had hit him worse. “The club thought Scar was dead. He’d been shot, and went over the rail of a bridge.”
Ghost nodded as he took his seat. “We thought he was dead for nearly three months.”
“And I’m not saying he doesn’t have the right to have some quirks.
Obviously, you guys love him and he cares enough about you to sneak into our room in the middle of the night to check on you, but what I don’t understand is why you are defending him.
I was naked, Ghost. He was in our room and we were both naked. What if we’d been having sex?”
Becks was glad to see Ghost’s frown deepen at the reminder that they’d been undressed. “Look, this is going to sound really weird, but to someone like Scar, nudity doesn’t really matter.”
Becks rolled her head on her shoulders and tried to take a calming breath. It didn’t work as well as she’d been hoping it would. “Is he a nudist or something?”
Ghost chuckled, raising his coffee mug to his lips. “No,” he answered after taking a sip. “More like, Scar doesn’t notice such things. He assesses threats, not breasts.”
Becks’ eyes narrowed on her husband. “Did you seriously just try to make a joke right now? Of all the times for you to grow a sense of humor, now is the time you decide to do it?”
Ghost held up both hands in surrender. “You’re right. That was a bad choice of words.” More earnestly, he said, “I don’t know what Ranger has told you, so I’m going to give you the CliffsNotes version. Scar is former Delta Force. Do you know what that is?”
Becks nodded. “Beyond the Hollywood version, Liam talked about going that route with our dad when he first joined, but decided to become an Army Ranger instead.” Delta Force was the elite, and if she understood the military dynamics correctly, they were even more secretive than the Navy SEALs.