4. Ghost

4

Ghost

I did it all for her.

I remind myself of that truth as I walk into the Shack, having broken my oath to my brothers. Guilt overwhelms me, but I’d do it all again if it meant protecting Luna. Which is why I’ll accept whatever punishment Steel deems fitting.

I’ve spent one year in denial. I avoided Luna as much as possible and pretended her purple hair didn’t catch my attention every time she walked into the room. I lied to myself and tried to ignore the siren song of her giggle. I acted like her blue eyes didn’t alter my brain chemistry, and that one look didn’t give her the power to make me betray everything I stand for.

The facts remain.

I lied to my club for her.

I betrayed my president for her.

And I don’t regret a thing .

Legacy walks up to me the second I step foot inside the Shack, gritting his teeth. “This is bullshit. We were already at war with those fuckers before she got involved.”

“That’s not the point.”

“You shouldn’t have to be the martyr just to prove a point.”

Legacy is my brother beyond the patch, so I’m not surprised he’s taking it the hardest. We’ve been friends since birth, and after I lost my family, his parents took me in. They introduced me to the club and showed me family can be more than a room full of broken people using each other like emotional punching bags.

Legacy has been at my side through the worst of times, and I’m closer to him and his daughter than anyone else in this world. But in this moment, that’s clouding his judgment.

I made this mess, and it’s time I face it.

“Just let me do this.” I shrug off my cut, hanging it on a hook just inside the door. “We both know this is how things work, and it’s for a reason.”

Legacy doesn’t relax, but he doesn’t argue because he knows I’m right.

At the opposite end of the Shack, Steel, Havoc, and Chaos stand around the pit of red-hot coals.

Physical pain isn’t something that scares me when I know there are worse things than flesh wounds. Scars, cuts, and bruises are nothing compared to what marks my soul.

At least the body heals—mostly.

What’s rotten inside can never be fixed .

Legacy grabs my shoulder as I take a step forward. “Ghost—”

“I’m the reason the Iron Sinners put a target on our backs after Albuquerque,” I cut Legacy off. “You saw the text message. Everyone did. Whoever hired Luna is with the Iron Sinners now, and they want her back. They don’t like that I brought her here, and they aren’t going to stop. The club is going to pay the price because of what I did. It’s my fault.”

Legacy releases my shoulder so I can strip off my T-shirt. I hand it to him, and his jaw tightens as he bites back whatever he wants to say.

He knows I’m right, even if our brotherhood makes it hard for him to digest it. The Twisted Kings aren’t just biker outlaws; we’re a family. We fight for each other. We die for each other. I turned my back on my brothers by not telling them the truth, which means I need to pay for that betrayal.

“Jesse—”

“Go.” Legacy takes a step back, not looking any happier than when I walked in here.

Unlike the rest of us, Legacy actually has a heart buried beneath his cut.

I wish I still did.

It’s been so long since I’ve had hope or faith that I don’t remember what it’s like. All I know is that someday, I’ll sacrifice my body and soul for the Twisted Kings, and my job will be done.

There’s nothing more for me on this earth. Not even the girl I did all this for .

Luna’s too good for a man like me. Too sweet. She didn’t even know who she was working for when this mess started, and I didn’t want to weigh her down with my secrets, so I kept it to myself.

I don’t know what’s worse: lying to my president or lying to her. That thought is proof alone I deserve this.

I move to the center of the Shack, meeting gazes with each of my brothers as I do.

Havoc hands Steel the branding iron, taking a step back. Hesitation is thick in the air, but it doesn’t change what needs to be done. And when Steel turns to me with the brand in his hand, I’m not face to face with a lifelong friend or a brother. I’m staring down the cold eyes of the club president, out for a pound of flesh.

The Twisted Kings have a three-strike rule for dealing with brothers who’ve fucked up. The first strike results in a skull brand to the ribs. The second, and you get an X over it. Third, and you’re six feet under.

Not that you always get three chances.

Betraying the club usually ends with a grave, but the club voted for the brand, given all I’ve done for them. It might sound lenient, but it’s a mark I’ll live with. Proof of what I did.

Taking a deep breath, I accept this for Luna. I give in to the promise of pain as I stand in a dusty shack that’s been painted with the blood of our enemies. I set my mind to another place and another time, picturing Luna instead of my brothers circling around.

I imagine how her eyes light when she smiles .

How her hair falls around her cheeks when she tries to tie it back.

Up until a year ago, there was nothing more important than my brothers because they wouldn’t let me give up in the darkness. But then there was her.

My light.

So bright I can’t risk actually touching her. I can’t risk my shadows drinking her glow.

My brothers circle around me, with Steel unflinching before me.

“Ghost…” Steel straightens his spine, taking a deep breath. “You’ve been found guilty of lying to your club. For welcoming an associate of our rivals and bringing war to your brothers. Let this brand be a reminder I’m not giving you another chance. If you lie to me or the club again, there will be no more mercy. Do you understand and accept your punishment?”

“I do.”

Steel glances behind me and nods, signaling Havoc and Soul to grab my arms. I don’t plan on fighting them because I deserve what’s coming, but that’s not why they do it. My body will react whether I accept this or not.

Steel steps forward, and all eyes in the Shack are focused on me. Legacy’s jaw ticks as he watches me over Steel’s shoulder, while Chaos stands back, indifferent about the situation.

I block them all out and focus on Steel.

The man who handed me my cut when I finished my year as a prospect. The man who gave me the club—a home. The man who reminded me I had a reason to keep fighting when I was ready to ride until my tires found their way off a cliff.

I’m not good at much. I got mediocre grades in school and didn’t get a formal education past my senior year. Apart from fixing bikes and working on computers, nothing else really made sense to me.

But Steel saw past my failings and understood my unique gifts. He helped me find a purpose. While most people treated me like a pariah for my lack of social skills, Steel understood me. He handed me the computers to hide behind, and he gave me the club to protect.

Which is what I’ve done up until this point.

As I stand here, I stand for my president—the man whose trust I broke.

“I believe you.” Steel grabs my shoulder with his free hand, squeezing it once as he lifts the brand to my ribs with his other.

The brand meets my skin, and it’s so hot it’s cold. An icy bite that rips through my flesh worse than any bullet wound. My teeth clench so hard they might crack, but I don’t make a sound.

The smell of burning skin floods my nostrils while Soul and Havoc tighten their grip. My body must be reacting, even as I dissociate from the pain, because I’m vaguely aware of the resistance on my arms as the brand eats my flesh.

I close my eyes and try to remember how I ended up here.

Why I’m still here at all .

If punishment is what I deserve for failing people, then maybe Steel should lift the brand and keep going. He could toss my body into the coals so I could finally repent for all the suffering my life has caused.

I clench my jaw, accepting this pain for every person who is six feet under because of me. And when Steel pulls the brand away, there’s no relief. Even as my arms are freed and my head swims from the adrenaline and pain, there’s no peace to be found.

There isn’t enough forgiveness in heaven to grant my soul an escape from hell.

“It’s done.” Steel looks around the room, still holding the branding iron tight in his grip. “Ghost accepted the punishment of the club, so now we focus on the problem at hand. The Iron Sinners are coming for us—for Luna. We need to figure out why.”

“You got it, Prez,” Chaos answers, watching me from the corner of his eye.

He’s still fresh out of prison after going down for the club, so he isn’t as understanding about what I did as some of the others.

Legacy steps forward, handing me my T-shirt. “Go find Patch and get that burn cleaned up before it gets infected. I gotta get home to Bea.”

He stalks away, angrier now that I’ve taken my punishment than he was before. But I can’t tell who he’s mad at. Me for betraying the club, or Steel for following through on what had to be done .

Soul and Havoc meet Chaos at the side of the room, slowly shuffling out after Legacy, but Steel stays behind with me, setting the iron back in the coals.

The bright orange glow lights his face while he thinks.

I slip my T-shirt back on, and it hurts to lift my arms over my head. Pain radiates through my whole body when the fabric brushes the freshly branded skin. I clench my teeth, and Steel must notice because he finally turns to face me.

“Remember what you said to me a few months ago on that first night Tempe came here?” Steel wipes his forehead with the back of his hand. “You said, ‘If she’s not involved, she’s not safe.’”

“I remember.”

When Steel’s old lady first showed up at our clubhouse, he didn’t want to believe she was just a pawn being used by our rivals. He thought she was guilty, but I knew there was something we were missing, and I was right.

“Same goes for Luna right now.” Steel walks up to me. “If she’s not involved, she’s not safe, and you brought her here, Ghost. You need to face why you did that—why you lied to your club for this girl. Why you took a brand for this girl. Why you betrayed your brothers for this girl.”

“I know.”

“Good. Because if we really do pull through this and you don’t make a fucking move and tell her how you feel, you’re a fucking idiot. And you’re too good a man to be that, whether you believe it or not.”

Steel shakes his head and walks away, leaving me with the pit that’s been living in my stomach since I first saw Luna and knew she was it for me. I’d like him to be right. I’d like to think confessing what that girl does to me would fix this mess. But it won’t.

There are worse things for her than the Twisted Kings. Worse than our enemies or anything that came before this.

There’s me .