Chapter 35 Ghost
GHOST
The silence in Ash’s office is crushing.
I watch Bonnie from the doorway, where I’ve caught the tail end of their conversation. Jamie didn’t want me walking around yet, but I’m stubborn, and I needed to see Bonnie. To know she’s okay.
She’s gone completely still. Pale. Staring at nothing while the truth sinks in like poison.
Jackal stands there rigid, waiting for her to say something. Anything. Ash holds her hand, but she doesn’t seem to notice. Titan shifts, uncomfortable with emotions he doesn’t know how to fix.
My side is on fire. The bullet wound Jamie stitched up feels like someone’s shoving hot coals into my ribs with every breath.
I push off the doorframe. Pain explodes through my torso. I grit my teeth and keep moving. “Everyone needs to take a breather,” I say.
They all look at me like they didn’t know I was here.
“Ghost, you should be resting—” Ash starts.
“She needs air.” I look at Bonnie. Her eyes are glassy, unfocused. “Come on.”
She blinks. “What?”
“You’re coming with me.” I hold out my hand. “Now.”
For a second, she stares at my hand like she doesn’t understand what it means. Then she stands and takes it.
Jackal opens his mouth, but I shoot him a look that makes him close it.
I lead Bonnie out of the office. My side screams with every step, but I don’t let go of her hand. Down the hallway, past brothers hauling debris. Past the common room where someone’s hammering boards over broken windows.
We reach the narrow stairs at the end of the hall. The ones that lead to the roof access most people don’t even know exists.
“Where are we going?” Bonnie’s voice sounds hollow.
“Up.”
The stairs are steep. Metal. Each step sends agony lancing through my wound. Sweat breaks out on my forehead. My vision blurs at the edges.
But I keep climbing.
Bonnie doesn’t ask if I’m okay. She knows I’m not. She stays close in case I fall.
We reach the roof access door. I shove it open, and desert heat blasts us in the face.
The roof is flat, tar paper, and gravel. AC units hum. A single rusted folding chair sits in the corner from when I dragged it up here months ago.
This is where I come when I need to think. When the clubhouse feels too small and the noise gets too loud. When I need to remember I’m more than just the Ghost, the enforcer, the killer.
Up here, I’m just Jacob. Just a man trying to figure out how he ended up here.
Nobody else comes up here. It’s mine.
Until now.
Bonnie steps onto the roof and looks around. The compound spreads out below us. The burned garage. The destroyed gate. Brothers moving like ants, rebuilding what was torn down.
“I didn’t know this was here,” she says.
“Most people don’t.” I walk to the edge. The low wall is supposed to keep people from falling, but it wouldn’t stop anyone determined. “That’s the point.”
She joins me and stands close enough that our arms touch.
The evening air is cool against my skin.
“Ghost—”
“You don’t have to talk,” I say before she can finish. “Not if you’re not ready.”
“Everyone’s going to expect me to say something. To have a reaction.”
“Fuck what they expect.” I turn to look at her. “What Jackal just told you—that’s not something you process in five minutes. You don’t owe anyone an immediate response.”
Her eyes get wet. “My father sold me.”
“Yeah.”
“And Jackal knew. For months. And he didn’t tell me.”
“He was trying to protect you.”
“By lying to me?”
“By stopping the wedding.” I lean against the wall because standing is getting harder. “He did what he thought was right. Betrayed his own father to save you. That’s not nothing.”
“But he let me believe—” She stops. Takes a breath. “I spent weeks thinking Dad was trying to do something noble. That he was sacrificing me for the greater good, and it was all bullshit.”
“Yeah. It was.”
She’s quiet for a moment. Then she moves closer and leans against me.
I wrap my arm around her shoulders. Pull her in. The movement makes my side scream, but I don’t care.
We stand there. Silent. Watching the compound below us struggle back to life.
The wind picks up, blowing dust across the roof. Bonnie’s hair whips around her face. She doesn’t fix it. Just stares out at nothing.
Minutes pass. Could be five. Could be twenty. Time moves differently up here.
My legs shake. My side throbs. But I stay standing. Keep holding her.
This is what she needs. Not words. Not explanations. Just someone who’ll stand with her while her world rearranges itself.
“I was so angry at Dad,” she says finally. “For forcing me into that marriage. But I thought he was doing it for the club. For peace. I thought there was a reason.”
“There was. Just not the one he told you.”
“Saving his own skin. That’s the reason.” She laughs, but it’s bitter. “He was willing to hand me over to Marcus Stone so he could clear his gambling debts.”
“Your father’s a coward.”
“He is.” She’s quiet again. “I think I always knew, deep down. That something was off. That the timeline didn’t make sense. But I didn’t want to see it.”
She leans her head against my chest. I feel her breathe. In and out. Steady. Grounding herself.
“I’ll forgive Jackal,” she says quietly.
“Yeah?”
“Yeah. He did what he could to save me. Turned our father in to the feds to stop the wedding. That took guts.”
We fall back into silence. More comfortable this time. Just two people standing on a roof watching the world try to fix itself.
A door slams below. Someone shouts about needing more plywood. Life continues even when it feels like it shouldn’t.
“Ghost?” Bonnie says after a while.
“Yeah?”
“I’m sorry.”
I frown. “For what?”
“For everything you’ve gone through because of me. Getting shot. Almost dying. Being stuck up here in pain because I needed—”
“Stop.” I turn her to face me. “I got shot because I was protecting my family. Because I was keeping you safe. I’d do it again.”
“You almost died.”
“But I didn’t. You kept me alive.” I cup her face. “We’re even.”
“We’re not even close to even.”
“Then we won’t keep score.”
She stares at me for a long moment. Then she says, “I love you.”
The words hit me harder than the bullet did.
I’ve spent my entire adult life avoiding this. Avoiding connections that run deeper than brotherhood. Avoiding anything that feels like it could break me.
But standing here with Bonnie, her face open and honest and full of something I don’t deserve—I can’t run from it anymore.
“I love you too,” I say.
Her smile is like a sunrise. Bright and unexpected and perfect.
She rises on her toes and kisses me. Slow. Deep. Full of promises neither of us knows how to keep, but we’re going to try anyway.
When she pulls back, she rests her forehead against mine. “Does it hurt? Your side?”
“Like someone’s stabbing me with a hot knife.”
“You shouldn’t have climbed all those stairs.”
“Probably not.”
I look at her. The woman carrying my child. The woman who’s stronger than she knows. The woman who just had her entire world flipped upside down and is still standing.
Her eyes fill with tears, but she’s smiling.
“You know what’s funny?” she says.
“What?”
“When I first met you, I thought you were cold. Distant. Impossible to reach.” She laughs. “Turns out I was wrong.”
“I am cold.”
“Not with me.”
“No. Not with you.”
“Ghost?”
“Yeah?”
“Do you remember when you accused me of being a traitor? When you thought I’d set Dad up to get arrested?”
“Yeah. I remember.”
“I was so angry at you.” She pulls back to look at me. “I wanted to punch you in your stupid handsome face.”
Despite everything, I almost smile. “You should have.”
“Maybe I still will.” But she’s grinning now. “I’m glad you finally came around, though. Only took you getting shot to admit you were wrong.”
“I didn’t admit I was wrong.”
“You’re about to, though, aren’t you?”
I sigh. “I was wrong. I should never have suspected you. You’ve never done anything but try to survive the mess everyone else created.”
“There. Was that so hard?”
“Excruciating.”
She laughs. Actually laughs. The sound is light and unexpected after everything.
“Come on,” she says, taking my hand. “Let’s go back before they send a search party.”
“They wouldn’t dare.”
“Titan would.”
“Fair point.”