Chapter 3
GHOST
Stryker approached from the crowd side. He glanced at the clipboard in my hand, the damaged rack, and Tamsin tucked against my side before focusing on me.
There was a flicker of amusement that was gone so fast, I wasn’t sure I’d seen it before his expression was once again in its customary scowl.
The brothers around us continued working without waiting for instruction, but I could feel the attention shift when our president reached the inner perimeter.
“What’ve you got, Ghost?”
The easy expression I used to keep everyone around me from borrowing trouble disappeared.
My focus narrowed to the field, the displaced cases, and the trailer sitting beyond the damaged rack.
Tamsin noticed the change before I uttered a word, angling her face toward mine as the anger in her eyes receded beneath understanding.
“This was planned,” I explained.
For a second, relief softened the tight line of her mouth.
The guilt she’d been carrying since the rack moved eased just enough for me to see how heavily it had been sitting on her, but the reprieve didn’t last. Her gaze shifted past me toward the meadow, where parents held children and brothers moved families behind the farther perimeter, and the color drained from her face again.
An equipment failure could destroy Bellamy Pyrotechnics.
Deliberate sabotage meant someone had knowingly aimed that danger at hundreds of people.
“Someone used our equipment to do this.”
I turned her slightly toward me, keeping my hand firm at the small of her back. Her body came willingly beneath my palm, though her attention remained fixed on the field. I waited until she looked at me before correcting the blame she was heaping on herself.
“Someone used access to your equipment.”
Her eyes lifted to mine, searching my face as if the distinction mattered more because I had made it.
I wanted to replace the fear hollowing her expression with something hotter and easier to handle.
But that would have to wait until I’d cleared every inch of this field and found the person who had turned her work into a weapon.
I angled the diagram so Stryker could see the right-side battery without taking my attention off the staging area.
“Rack didn’t fail on its own. Somebody altered the support so the recoil would turn the tubes toward the meadow, bridged the firing sequence, and defeated the shutdown long enough to keep that second fuse alive.
” I tipped my chin toward the trailer. “Then they planted a secondary device beside enough stock to turn this whole field into a crater.”
Stryker’s gaze followed mine, his jaw hardening as he took in the distance between the trailer and the nearest families still being pushed back.
Tamsin’s shoulder pressed more firmly into my side, and I felt the exact moment she understood that the damaged rack had only been the opening move.
Her breath shortened, but she stayed focused on the equipment instead of letting fear drag her under.
“Whoever set it knew Bellamy’s layout, knew the cue sequence, and how the crew would respond when the rack turned,” I continued. “Also exactly when the crowd would be largest. That wasn’t some asshole improvising after they got here.”
“Purpose?” Stryker asked.
“First launch forces an evacuation and drags every eye toward the meadow. Away from very expensive equipment. Could be the whole objective, or it could be cover for something else. Anyone who knew enough to build this failure may have left another surprise in the staging area.”
Stryker didn't waste time asking for certainty. The safety of every person there wasn’t something we would ever risk.
He keyed his comm and ordered the remaining spectators cleared beyond the northern access road, then directed our guys to expand the equipment perimeter and hold every Bellamy employee outside it.
The response moved through the grounds immediately, black cuts and dark shirts shifting between families, vehicles, and the launch field with practiced purpose.
Whoever had planned this had counted on confused mayhem.
They’d seriously underestimated the Black Crowns. We’d quickly controlled the chaos.
Devastation sat plainly in the set of Tamsin’s mouth and the darkening of her eyes, but she kept her shoulders squared. Her family’s name was printed across the equipment, and she was being forced to see each familiar piece as a place someone might have hidden another threat.
“Some of that stuff has been part of my family’s company longer than I’ve been alive.”
I drew her a little closer with the hand at her back. Her body settled against my side, and I kept my voice low enough that the reassurance belonged only to her. “Then you’re the best person here to tell me what doesn’t belong.”
Her breath caught, and she looked up at me again. The fear remained, but so did the stubborn intelligence that had kept her giving orders with a live shell hissing in front of her. I held her gaze long enough to make sure she understood that I wasn’t sending her away from her own work.
Surprise danced across her face, then her eyes softened just a little, and the corners of her mouth turned up. “Thanks.”
I nodded, then turned toward the field while keeping her tucked safely against my side.
Stryker finished issuing orders and lowered his hand from his comm. “This is ours. Somebody brought explosives into our territory and aimed them at our people. We find every motherfucker involved.”
Brothers peeled away to lock down the fundraiser grounds, check vehicles and access routes, and pull footage from the compound gates, event cameras, and roads leading toward the canyon.
Others headed for Bellamy Pyrotechnics’ warehouse and the remaining company properties.
At the same time, prospects gathered names from employees, vendors, drivers, and anyone else with legitimate access to the equipment or the schedule.
Tamsin shifted beside me when one of her crew approached the inner line with a frightened question.
She told him to stay with the other employees and make sure no one touched anything until she said otherwise.
The man hesitated and looked at me for confirmation, his attention caught between the woman who ran his field crew and the EOD specialist who had just found a second device.
I kept my palm at Tamsin’s back and held his gaze until he understood exactly where it belonged. “Not my call. You heard her.”
The employee turned back to Tamsin, nodded, and hurried to carry out her instructions.
Her eyes flicked up to mine, surprise and gratitude softening their vivid blue before she returned her attention to the field.
Pride moved through me with enough force to feel ridiculous after knowing her less than two hours.
Stryker watched the exchange before turning and giving his full attention to Tamsin. “How many people knew the final layout?”
She drew a slow breath and mentally worked through the answer before speaking.
“Everyone on tonight’s field crew saw parts of it, but only supervisors had the complete plan before setup.
The venue schedule went to our office, the event coordinator, and your security team.
Warehouse staff knew what was loaded, and the drivers knew when it left. ”
Stryker gave one short nod, filing the weakness away. “Sweep the warehouse before anyone goes back inside.”
“On it.”
Tamsin’s head turned toward me, and her chin lifted again. “I’m going with you.”
“You’re coming,” I agreed. “Not the first one through the door, though.”
“You’ll need me to identify what belongs there.”
“That’s why you’re coming.”
She looked suspicious that I had given in so easily, then glanced down at the hand I still had spread over the small of her back.
The blush that followed told me she had finally noticed I had no intention of removing it.
I let my fingers flex against her through the thin fabric of her polo, and her spine straightened as the movement pressed the side of one breast more firmly against my ribs.
Another hard rush of blood drove south while I imagined the same soft weight filling my palm as I put her against a wall and found out whether her full mouth got even prettier when she begged.
A man in a Bellamy jacket hurried toward the secured area, gray threaded through his dark hair and strain carved around his mouth.
The operations manager carried himself with the assurance of someone accustomed to being obeyed inside the company, but his shoulders dropped a little when he saw Tamsin.
She went still beside me before relief softened her face.
“Tamsin.” He crossed the last few feet quickly, his gaze moving over the soot on her clothes. “Are you hurt?”
“I’m okay, Len.” She leaned forward as though she might meet him halfway, then seemed to remember my hand at her back and remained beside me. “My parents?”
“They’re fine. Your mother is with the medics, and your father is helping account for the crew.” He reached toward Tamsin’s elbow, concern tightening his face. “Come with me. You’ve done enough for one night, and I can handle the employees and equipment.”
I moved before his fingers touched her, stepping smoothly into the space between them.
The man’s hand stopped in the air, and his eyes lifted to mine with surprise that edged toward annoyance.
I kept my expression easy, but there was nothing casual about where I planted my boots or the fact that Tamsin stayed immediately behind my shoulder.
“She decides when she’s done.”
“She was nearly caught in an explosion,” he stated, as if I hadn’t been the one who disarmed both fucking devices.
“I fucking noticed.”
“She needs to be with her family,” he argued, lowering his arm as his brows drew together.
Tamsin came around my side before I could say more. “I need to make sure my crew is accounted for and tell Ghost what belongs in that field. I’m staying.”
He looked from her to me, clearly unhappy with both the decision and the fact that I had left it in her hands. “At least stay outside the perimeter. I’ll organize the crew and start the equipment list.”
“I already told them not to touch anything,” she replied. “Have everyone remain together until we know the field is clear. And make sure no one leaves without giving the Black Crowns their contact information.”
A faint line appeared between his brows, but he nodded. “Fine. I’ll take care of it.”
He turned reluctantly and headed back toward the employees.
People shifted toward him as he approached, confirming that his position made him the natural center of the company response.
I watched long enough to see him begin gathering the crew, then returned my attention to the field and the woman beside me.
Tamsin let out a slow breath and looked up at me. Her expression carried equal parts gratitude and exasperation, which was already becoming my favorite combination on her face.
“My only condition for you staying is that you are always where I can see you, clear?”
Tamsin rolled her eyes. “Ghost—”
“Gavin.”
Surprise flashed across her features as she blinked up at me. “What?”
I lowered my voice and let my thumb trace once along the curve of her waist. “Call me Gavin, pretty girl.”
The name belonged to my family and my woman only. Hearing it in her soft voice suddenly felt necessary, but I wasn’t sure she truly understood the deep meaning behind giving her permission to use it.
Another wash of pink climbed beneath her freckles as she cleared her throat. “Um. Okay. Gavin, I already have a family and an entire company full of people watching me, right?”
My smile stayed easy even as the sound of my name from her mouth made my cock push harder against my zipper.
“They can watch,” I acknowledged. “I’m the one keeping you.”
The possessiveness in the statement made her breath catch exactly the way I wanted.
Her pupils widened, color deepened over her cheeks, and her lips parted as if an argument had formed but lost its nerve before reaching her tongue.
I had pushed exactly far enough, so I turned my attention back to the field before the need to taste her mouth overruled the job waiting for me.
My hand remained at her back as I guided her toward the protected edge of the staging area.
She came with me, still quiet, but the warmth of her body stayed tucked against my side and told me she had not been spooked into retreating.
The field might still be hiding threats, but Tamsin was already where I intended to keep her—within reach, involved, and learning that my unreasonable streak had no plans to improve.