15. Ghost

15

Ghost

Chaos follows me as we weave through traffic, and I curse myself for not sending Luna back to the clubhouse the second she walked through the doors of Sapphire Rise. Worse, I curse myself for not being the one to take her there myself.

At least then, I’d know she’s safe with me.

Venom might do everything he can, but he’s still proving himself to the club. He’s not patched, and after Reyes worked behind our backs as a double agent, I don’t trust anyone who hasn’t pledged their undying loyalty.

Besides, even if Venom is one of us, he won’t risk absolutely everything. She’s not a member, and she’s not my old lady.

I’d be her shield. Her safety. I’d do what I swore when I dragged her into this. I’d protect her.

My tires hum against the pavement, and I focus on the vibrations running through my hands. I push aside my doubt and focus on what I can control at this moment. I cut through traffic with ease because being on my bike is the one place where the world makes sense, and I let the city lights blur as I fly by.

I focus on the cool air tickling the back of my neck as we make our way out of the heart of the city, and my only thought is closing the distance between me and Luna.

Part of me wishes Venom had stayed in a more populated area until we could catch up with him, but the other side of me is grateful there’s nothing holding me back.

Taillights come into view ahead, and if this goes down, nothing will stop me from putting a bullet in their heads.

Out here, we answer to nothing but dirt and sagebrush. No judgment. No witnesses.

The roar of engines gets louder as we eat up the distance between us and the three motorcycles ahead. Chaos pulls to my side, and we fan out, taking up both sides of the road. No one’s coming, and no one will. It’s late, and the only people on this stretch of pavement are those with the Twisted Kings.

The van is still in the right lane, with two motorcycles on its tail, while one slowly inches to the driver’s side.

I glance over at Chaos, and he points to the one on the left. He’ll take care of that one while I figure out the other two.

Reaching behind me, I pull my gun out of my holster and take aim at one of the two men following behind the van. If Legacy were here, he’d aim for the tires and send them rolling in the dirt, but I don’t have as good of a shot as he does, so I aim for center body mass .

No survivors.

No mercy.

The second before I pull the trigger, the Iron Sinner looks back, changing the angle so I clip him in the shoulder. The hit makes him swerve, but it doesn’t take him down.

He reaches for his gun, and I pull the trigger again, getting him in the back this time. It sends him rolling. He flips so many times there’s no way he’ll survive it.

One down.

Two to go.

Venom weaves the van, forcing the Iron Sinner, who is trying to creep up to his side, to pull back. Chaos seizes the opportunity, getting on his tail. He comes up beside the Iron Sinner and aims his gun, but right before he pulls the trigger, the Iron Sinner slows, and Chaos’s bullet hits the back of the van.

Venom slams on the brakes, and the van comes to a stop, while Chaos continues to follow the Iron Sinner trying to escape.

I stick with the last biker tailing Venom and Luna. He pulls to a stop and aims his gun at me.

If I were smart, I’d get behind the cover of the van. But then a bullet might hit Luna, and I can’t risk it. So I recklessly drive straight at him, hoping he has shit aim and calls chicken before we collide.

At the last second, he steps to the side to avoid getting hit by my bike .

He tumbles to the ground, and I slam on the brakes, hopping off. Before he can find his bearings or reload, I storm over to him and kick his helmet so hard it cracks.

His gun falls to his side as I grab the bottom of his helmet, shoving him to his knees. I force him to look up at me, but when his body sags, I notice a pool of red forming beneath his cut.

He’s been hit.

I pull off his helmet, but his body slumps to the ground, and empty eyes stare up at me. Another dead Iron Sinner is always a good thing, but the dead can’t talk, and right now, I need answers.

“Fuck.” I dig his phone out of his pocket so I can hack it later.

Chaos is circling back down the road as I head to the van, so he must have taken out the final biker who was following Venom and Luna.

The Iron Sinner phone in my pocket beeps, and I pull it out to see an app flagging a location.

Our location.

And when I open the app, I’m met with a mirror of the program I use to monitor the locations of everyone in the club.

This new hacker is giving me a run for my money, and I’m getting tired of it. I need to get back to the clubhouse to shut this down before they make a move on someone else.

Pulling out my phone, I dial Steel, watching Venom help Luna out of the van.

“What’s wrong? ”

“Three Iron Sinners just tried to take out Venom when he was getting Luna back to the clubhouse.”

“Where are they now?”

“Dead.” I glance at the body of the one I left on the road. “Gonna need a clean-up crew five miles out from the clubhouse.”

“Send me your location.”

“That’s the other issue. They’re tracking us. Whoever hired Luna is good, and I think they’ve taken over for Richter. They’re in our grid, watching all our locations. I need to get back to the clubhouse to shut them out.”

“All right. Is it just you and Venom?”

“Chaos is here.”

“Have him wait with Venom for me and Soul. You get back here and shut that shit down. Tempe has a tracker in her purse, and I swear to fuck if—”

“They won’t. I’ll take care of it, Prez.”

“How the fuck do they keep getting in?”

My hands clench because I know I should have better answers by now, but I don’t. “I’ll figure it out.”

“All right.” The sound of his bike starting cuts through the line. “Get it done.”

Steel hangs up, and I tuck my phone in my pocket, watching as Luna circles the van, visibly shaking. I want to walk over to her—to comfort her.

I want to make sure she’s okay, but my feet are cemented in place.

She’s mine, but she’s not.

I’m helping her, but I’m hurting her.

My temples throb as I pinch the bridge of my nose .

“What’s the word?” Chaos stops beside me.

“Steel wants you and Venom to wait here for him and Soul. I need to get back to the clubhouse and stop them from tracking us.”

Luna stops beside me with her gaze cast down. Her arms are wrapped around her body as she shivers.

“You okay?” Venom asks, reaching out but pausing at the last second before touching her.

I should be the one asking that question.

I should be the one pulling her in to warm her up and offering her comfort.

What the fuck is wrong with me?

“I’m fine,” she says, but her tone doesn’t match her words.

Her eyes dart to me, and they might as well be razors slicing my chest open.

“Come on.” I offer her my helmet. “You’re coming with me.”

I turn back toward my bike before she can argue or agree. Before she can think I’m doing this out of care. Before she can think anything more than the fact that I’m trying to keep her safe.

It’s better this way.

Luna disappears into her room the moment we get back to the clubhouse, and I lock myself in my office, not saying a word to her because I’m an asshole, and there’s no good explanation for how I’m treating her.

This is why I don’t entertain relationships anymore. And it’s why I’ve refused to show her an ounce of attention.

After what we did at the club, she’s expecting something I can’t live up to. Something that will end with her six feet under. Someday, I’ll have to sit her down and explain it, but not now. There’s no time.

Once I’m locked in my office, I can finally think.

I locate the weak point in our system and figure out exactly how the Iron Sinners used it to gain backdoor access to my tracking software. I set up another layer of firewalls and disappear into my work.

Once I’m confident I’ve solved one problem, I spend another hour downloading the data off the Iron Sinner’s phone before destroying it so they can’t trace it back here. There’s not much on it, which means their new tech specialist is probably as smart and paranoid as I am.

Still, I spend a few hours digging through every text, tracing every phone number, and searching the browser history—public and private—to learn everything I can.

I manage to ignore thoughts of Luna until there’s nothing else to think about but the loading bar on a software patch at four in the morning.

This is when I should shut it down and go to sleep. The updates will happen in the background, and I can reset this shit day.

Instead, I find myself flipping through the clubhouse cameras like I don’t already know where I’m going. Like I won’t inevitably end up on the ones I shouldn’t be accessing. I flip over to Luna’s laptop camera, cursing her for leaving it open like she always does.

It takes a moment for the picture to focus, and when it does, I see her lying in bed sleeping. Her blanket is at her waist, and I watch the rise and fall of her chest with every breath. She tosses and turns a few times, like she senses me watching her, before she settles again.

On my other screen, I pull up the footage from Sapphire Rise. At first, I tell myself I’m just double-checking my work from today, making sure I didn’t miss anything. But as I move back one hour to the next, I know what I’m after.

You can watch this back if you want to, right?

Luna’s question from earlier echoes in my head. She knows I’m sick without me having to admit it, and it didn’t even seem to bother her.

Pulling the footage from the VIP suite, I move it to a private server and delete it from the club’s records. Then I press play and sit back, watching her sway her hips on the stage.

Watching her peel off her shirt.

Her pants.

Walking over to me.

That’s the moment I should have made a different decision than pulling her into my lap.

I can still feel her wet pussy gripping my fingers. I can still smell her pleasure in the air.

Reaching down, I pull my cock out and submit to my sickness. My need for her eats me up inside. On one screen, she’s sleeping. And on the other, she’s riding my hand.

I stroke my cock, but it’s not enough because I don’t really have her.

I play back the sounds of her moaning while my fingers disappeared inside her, and I imagine my name escaping her lips as she came. I pretend it’s her pussy slicking down on me, tightening and begging for my cum.

My spine tingles, and my body burns as I watch her tip her head back. And when her lips part on the screen, I imagine standing over her and coming down her throat.

Ropes of cum shoot into my hand, and I consider walking into her room and shoving it on her tongue to give her the answers she’s been looking for.

Yes, I want her.

Yes, I need her.

I can’t live without her.

She’s mine, and it’s getting harder to deny it.