Page 94 of Ghost

“I promise I can handle it, Marcus.” She scoots closer, resting her hand over mine in her lap. “I know more than you think I do.”

“Now who’s being ominous?”

She bites the inside of her cheek. “I was going to say something when you got back from your run, but then that whole raid with the ATF happened…”

“Talk to me, Luna.” I turn to face her, suddenly worried about what could have gone down when I was in New Mexico.

We were on the road two out of the three days, so even if I tried to keep tabs on her, that’s impossible on my bike.

“I found the phone in your desk.” Her words rush out, and her cheeks blush. “I didn’t mean to. But Venom said you needed the coordinates sent, and it was taking a while to upload. So while I was waiting, I messaged Rider to check in. But then the phone in your desk pinged.”

Fuck. “That’s not quite—”

“I also saw the cameras. The ones around the club. The one in my room…”

She trails off, and I know exactly what camera she’s talking about. The laptop she has aimed at her bed. There’s no good explanation.

“You’ve been watching me.”

No use denying what she already knows. “I have.”

“And you were talking to me as him… as Rider. Did you know I was Snowy Owl, or was it an accident?”

“I knew.” And I fully expect her to hate me for it.

Or fear me. After all, she found out the extent to which I’ve been stalking her for this past year. Which is why I can’t figure out why she’s still sitting here holding my hand.

“Why did you do it?” Her eyebrows knit.

The lies form a lump in my throat, but I swallow them down. She deserves honesty when she’s handed me her faith, regardless of how this conversation ends.

“At first, it was because I needed to be sure I wasn’t missing anything when you moved to Vegas. I couldn’t find any ties to the Merciless Skulls, but I had to be certain.”

I’m treading carefully, gauging her every reaction.

“So you messaged me through my game?”

“It was the easiest way to get to know you without you suspecting anything. You let your guard down for him because we were just talking. I knew you were innocent, but I needed proof for my club’s sake.”

“So you pretended to be Rider?”

“Technically, I was Rider already.” I shrug. “I resurrected an old gamer tag from when I played as a kid. We started talking, and the plan was to stop when I confirmed nothing fishy was going on. But I couldn’t.”

“Why didn’t you just tell me then? Why did you let me think you couldn’t care less about me even if you knew I liked you? I admitted that to Rider—to you. But you still ignored me.”

“Because I had so many walls up; I’m still working my way around them, Luna. If I let you in, I risked you gettinghurt by the secrets I was keeping from the club. At least if we kept it online, there was no risk of that. It was a way to keep you close while keeping you safe. And that’s all that mattered.”

“What about the cameras?”

If only that explanation was as simple as my reasoning for messaging her.

“I don’t have any good answers for that. Nothing you’ll like anyway.”

“It’s crossing so many lines.”

“I know.”

“It’s an invasion of privacy.”