20. Ghost

20

Ghost

Bea runs for the soccer ball in pink cowgirl boots and a tutu over leggings. Her outfit isn’t made for playing soccer, but she doesn’t care. She runs around the yard, kicking the ball. And when she loses control and her little legs don’t get her there fast enough, she has to dive for it.

If the grass were real and not turf, her clothes would be covered in stains. It’s lucky for Legacy we live in the Vegas desert, where water is scarce and the heat is blistering, because it saves him from having to buy her new clothes every week.

When she finally gets the soccer ball into the net, she spins around and smiles. “I got it, Uncle Marcus.”

“Good job, Honey Bea.”

She’s as sweet as her nickname and always buzzing around .

Being an uncle suits me. We watch princess movies, put puzzles together, and build things. I get to spend time with her without having to worry about balancing the responsibility of being a parent with being a member of an MC. I don’t know how Legacy does it. Most of the time, he makes it look easy, but since Margaret, his nanny, started getting sick, I can tell it’s weighing on him.

Legacy steps through the glass sliding door at the back of his house, waving a water bottle in the air. “Beatrice, come drink some water. It’s hot out here, and you’re going to get dehydrated.”

I can’t help but chuckle at him, even though he’s just looking out for his daughter. Compared to the cocky playboy he is at the clubhouse, he’s the opposite at home. Sometimes, it still catches me off guard when he’s domestic.

Bea runs across the yard, jumping into his arms and giving him a big hug. He kisses the top of her head as he sets her down, and she takes the water bottle.

“Tempe will be here in just a few minutes.”

“Will you be back before bedtime?” Bea digs her toe into the turf.

“If I can.”

She frowns, knowing that unless he says he will, it’s probably a no. Legacy would rather disappoint her now than give her false hope like his dad always did.

King, Legacy’s father, was revered by the club. He’s remembered for his loyalty, from his patching-in ceremony to the day he took three bullets to the chest protecting one of his brothers. But he was a better Twisted King than he ever was a father. He didn’t spend much time with his family, and he was more focused on forcing Legacy to follow in his footsteps than raising him. It’s a wrong Legacy is determined to right with his daughter.

“You okay watching her for a few more minutes?” Legacy asks me as Bea runs to meet me at the lawn chairs.

She drops into the one at my side.

“We’re good. Finish what you need to.”

He’s been on the phone with the hospital half the morning, getting everything situated for Margaret to return home. She’ll need a nurse to stop by daily, and there are special instructions for her medications.

Still, Legacy’s going through all the trouble of taking care of her, just like she’s helped take care of Bea. When Legacy unexpectedly became a father, he didn’t know what he was doing. And as a member of the Twisted Kings, he didn’t trust anyone to help him.

The only reason he finally caved and let Margaret help was because she was good friends with Jameson’s grandma, Pearl.

Margaret moved in with Legacy when Bea was two months old, and she’s here whenever he can’t be. She cares for both of them and, amidst her medical struggles, I’m starting to see just how close Legacy is with her.

He’s paying all her medical bills, and he moved her into a room downstairs to make it easier for her. If she doesn’t get better, I don’t know what my brother is going to do. He doesn’t trust people, especially with his daughter .

Legacy disappears back into the house while Bea takes a drink of her water. She taps the toes of her pink cowgirl boots together, never sitting still.

It’s a warm day, but we’re in the shade of the house, so it’s bearable.

Bea swishes her feet back and forth, watching the gate to the side yard.

“Waiting for Austin?”

She nods, smiling big. “We’re playing super spies. He’s got a new spy tracker, and he said I can use it if I’m careful.”

“That so?” I chuckle, knowing she’s probably talking about the broken old phone I gave Austin.

He was convinced it could be used to track bad guys, and I figured there was no harm in letting him have fun since it doesn’t work anymore.

I’m not sure why kids gravitate toward me when most adults avoid me, but since Austin moved onto the compound, I’ve noticed it is becoming a trend. Bea and Austin constantly follow me around, and whenever they’re at the clubhouse, they sneak into my office because they want to mess with all the buttons.

They don’t know it yet, but I’ve been working on a laptop for them. I’m writing a fake crime-fighting program that they can mess around with. I figure the kids can put it to good use when they play in their new mini clubhouse.

The kids.

I remember when that’s what we were .

Punk teenagers getting into trouble and pissing off our parents because we had nothing better to do. We thought we understood the club back then, but all we really saw was the abundance, drugs, guns, and women. We didn’t understand the responsibility we’d eventually be faced with when we took those seats in church.

We didn’t see the real danger of people relying on us when we operate outside the law.

Glancing down at Bea, I remember looking up to Legacy’s dad and his friends like she looks at us now. Like we’re good. Like we’re protecting something.

I suppose we are, even if it doesn’t make us heroes.

The sins I’d commit to protect Beatrice King would send me straight to hell. And the same thing goes for Luna.

“Do you think my daddy’s ever gonna fall in love again, Uncle Marcus?” Bea stares at the glass sliding door.

Legacy is standing on the other side on his phone. He pinches the bridge of his nose, clearly stressed.

“I’m pretty sure he has all the love he needs right here.” I tickle her side, and she giggles.

“I mean, like he loved Mommy.” Her laugh fades.

She’s too young to understand Legacy never loved her mom. They barely even knew each other before Sera got knocked up and disappeared. When she came back, it was long enough to let Legacy know he had a kid and that she wanted nothing to do with either of them.

That was that.

He didn’t love Sera, and Sera didn’t love anything but pills and booze .

If anyone finds happiness and love, I hope it’s my brother. He’s a good guy beneath the cut, and he deserves it.

I lean back in my chair, watching Legacy disappear deeper into the house. “Someday, probably.”

Bea turns to me. “Are you lying, Uncle Marcus? Daddy says it’s always better to tell the truth, even if someone isn’t going to like it.”

“He told you that, huh?”

Bea nods sharply, crossing her arms over her chest. “Except he didn’t like when I said I was the one who got the paints on the carpet, and I didn’t lie.”

“Well, paint can be tough to get out.”

“Yeah.” She frowns.

“In that case, I don’t know. Maybe your dad will love someone, and maybe he won’t. But do you want to know a secret?”

Bea nods, and I lean closer to whisper.

“No matter what happens, you’re the only love he needs in the world. I mean it.”

A smile lights her face, and she grabs my arm, hugging it. “I love you, Uncle Marcus.”

“Love you too, Honey Bea.” I kiss the top of her head, brushing my hand over the back of her blonde hair.

“Just in case Daddy doesn’t love anyone, can I throw the flowers when you and Auntie Luna get married?”

“Who said I’m getting married?”

“Daddy.” She nods sharply. “He said you two are silly but that you love Luna a whole lot.”

“He did, huh? ”

“Yes.”

I shake my head because, of course, he did. “Sorry to break it to you, sweetheart, but your daddy doesn’t know everything.”

“Daddy’s the smartest. He knows. If Daddy says you’re going to marry her, he means it. And I can tell you crush her, Uncle Marcus.”

“I crush her?”

“That’s what it means when you like someone. You crush them.” She tips her chin up proudly. “You crush Auntie Luna.”

As if she’s been summoned, the back gate swings open, and Austin runs through it, with Tempe and Luna following behind him. Luckily, it’s a good distraction, and Bea bails the second she sees Austin to go play with him.

But I sit back, watching Luna and Tempe walk across the yard, hearing Bea’s words like they’re on repeat in my head.

You crush Auntie Luna.

I do.

It’s a fucking problem, and there’s no fixing it.

Tempe leans closer to Luna to whisper something that they both giggle at. Their eyes are set on me, and I’m pretty sure it’s only a matter of time before the whole clubhouse finds out what we did.

“Hey, Ghost.” Tempe gives me a devious smile as she stops at the chairs. “Where’s Legacy?”

“Inside on the phone.”

She nods, turning to Luna. “I’m gonna let him know I’m here, then we can grab the kids and go. ”

Tempe disappears into the house, and Luna drops into the chair Bea was sitting in.

“Are you leaving with Legacy tonight?” she asks, her gaze fixed on the kids running around the yard.

“Yep.”

“Be safe.”

“Always am.”

Except tonight feels different. Usually, when I’m out on a run, all I’m worried about are the men at my side. Protecting them is my sole focus and all that matters. Now, when I look at Luna, knowing she’ll be here without me, I can’t help wishing I could split myself in two. If anything happens at the club while I’m gone, I won’t be there.

“You and Tempe were awfully giddy a few minutes ago. Anything I should know?”

Luna bites her lip, glancing at me. Her purple hair is down and curled at her shoulders, and her tank top shows off her perfect skin.

“We were just talking.” Worry flashes in her eyes. “I swear she won’t tell anyone about us.”

I reach out, grabbing Luna’s hand and pulling it onto my lap. “I’m not asking because I’m ashamed, Luna. Just curious.”

“Oh. Okay.” Her eyebrows pinch.

“What?”

“It’s just, I know you don’t date people. Or… do anything like what we did. ”

I can’t help but chuckle at her innocence when I know just how dirty and straightforward she can be in other situations.

“So?”

“So, I guess I thought that would mean you’d rather keep this quiet so the guys don’t bug you.”

“They’re dicks. They’ll bug me either way.” I kiss the back of her hand. “They’re also my brothers. They’ll say what they want, but they mean well. Their judgment isn’t what keeps me single.”

She hums, looking out at the yard, and I sense a question on the tip of her tongue. If I was smart, I’d stand up and start kicking the soccer ball with Austin and Bea to avoid it, but I don’t.

“Why then?” she asks.

“Why what?”

“Why are you single?”

I rest my head back against the chair, close my eyes, and take a deep breath. I could lie to her, but like Bea said, lying hurts worse than the truth sometimes. And this is a truth I can’t take back.

“Because of Paulina.”

Five years later, and I still hate saying her name out loud. It stirs up every regret that lives inside me.

“You loved her?” Luna’s voice pitches with her question, and I sense a hint of jealousy from a girl I didn’t think capable of it.

Turning to look at her, I graze the back of her hand with my thumb. “Not like you’re thinking. She was like a sister to me. We grew up together, and after my family died, she was there for me. She knew me outside of the club, and after a while, there weren’t many people like that anymore. You would have liked her.”

“Why do you think that?”

“Because she was sweet but always looking for trouble. Just like you.” I squeeze Luna’s hand. “And just like you, I should have kept her away from all this.”

I rake my hair back, and Luna turns in her seat to face me.

“What happened?”

“It started small. She came to my patching-in party and then another. And another. She started falling for the wrong kind of guy—”

“Bikers?”

“Iron Sinners.” I click my tongue, trying to harness my anger. “She thought she was in love. She dropped out of school and started dancing at one of their clubs. Her whole life was about him and then came the drugs. Everything changed.”

“I’m sorry.”

“She tried to get out when she caught him fucking one of the other girls at the clubhouse, and she came to me for help. I told her I’d fix it.”

“Did you?”

I shake my head. “Didn’t get the chance. He found out she came back to the Twisted Kings, and the Iron Sinners decided to send a message that nothing that was ours was untouchable. The things they did…”

I swallow hard, and Luna leans forward, listening .

“I should have never sent her home that night. I’ll never be able to erase the image of her the next morning, lying outside the property line.”

My mind flashes to the dark memory of Paulina’s naked body dumped at the Twisted Kings gate. She’d been beaten and raped—tortured. Patch didn’t go into details for my sake, but I know whatever they did had to have lasted for hours.

“It was all because she was close to me. If I had kept her away from the beginning, things could have been different. She was supposed to keep going to school. She was going to do something. And now with you—”

“I’m not her, Marcus.”

I want to believe that more than anything. “If anything happens to you…”

“It won’t.” She forces a smile, and I wish it was reassuring. “Thank you for telling me.”

She probably sees it as me opening up, but it should be a warning. If I ever found Luna like I did Paulina, I’d never survive it.

“So that’s why you kept your distance all those years?”

I nod. “There’s enough blood spilled on this land without adding people I care about to it. It was easier to just not get close to anyone again.”

Until you.

I don’t say that, but I look into her blue eyes, knowing it’s the truth.