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CHAPTER 25

GHOST

I vow to bring Hell to anyone who dares lay a finger on my mom or Ember.

A month later…

“You’ll be careful, right?”

The worry in Ember’s eyes threatens to take me to my knees. There’ve been no more threats to her or my mom, but the club managed to get a message to Cruz, and the meeting with him goes down tonight. This is the first time I’ve had to leave her, leave them, for something this dangerous.

“I’m always careful, Em,” I tell her, resting my arms on her shoulders.

I haven’t returned to the clubhouse, and she and I are now sharing a room, much to Mom’s delight. We’ve come a long way since that first phone call a few months ago. Neither of us hide from our feelings, and we talk about everything and anything. We also agreed that we never end a day angry or with questions or doubts.

“I know you are,” she says. “But this is club business, and I know that, more often than not, that means your safety is at risk.”

“I’ll never lie to you and tell you that I’m never in danger.” I stroke her cheek. “Just know that I will always do whatever it takes to get back to you. And the guys have my back. I’m not going alone.”

She nods. “I know.”

I wait for her to say more, ask me questions, but she doesn’t which makes her even more perfect for me. Ember knows that I will always have secrets, but she trusts that I’ll never hold something back that affects her. After a long discussion with Crow, Journey, and Jackyl, the married brothers, I learned that’s how it’s done. Em is good with the compromise.

“I love you,” I say, kissing her.

“I love you, too.”

The rumble of Harleys breaks us apart, and I glance out the window to see Journey, Jackyl, Screamer, Fudge, and Ben pull up in the driveway.

“I gotta go,” I say. “Ben will be outside until I get back, okay? You and Mom won’t be left unprotected.”

“I know. And we’ll be fine. You just worry about you.”

Despite all being quiet as far as threats go, it was agreed that tonight of all nights, someone needed to be here just in case.

“I’ll text you as soon as I’m done and on my way home.”

“You better.”

I grin. “Kiss me again.”

She does, sweeping her tongue past the seam of my lips. I’m rock hard in an instant, and it would be so easy to ignore the men outside, but I can’t. I won’t.

“Let’s go!” Journey shouts from outside, breaking us apart.

When I step onto the porch, I wait to go farther until Ember locks the front door. Satisfied that she and Mom, who’s already gone to bed, will be safe, I jog down the steps and hop on my Harley.

“‘Bout time,” Python grumbles. “I was starting to worry your dick was glued to her pussy or something.”

I ignore the jibe. He’s been doing everything he can to joke about me and Ember, I’m guessing in an effort to remind me that he’s fully aware that she’s taken. It’s

Those of us with a patch take off, and Ben stays behind, staying with his bike in the driveway. Ember will invite him in, I’m sure, but he won’t accept. He can keep a better watch from where he’s at than if he goes in and gets comfortable.

It takes twenty minutes to arrive at the agreed upon location, and we park next to motorcycles of the brothers already here. I take in the black Rolls-Royce Ghost with its Black Badge package and roll my eyes.

Cruz certainly isn’t subtle, but I doubt this is a daily driver for him. People in Marble Falls would definitely have noticed something this flashy. It’s more likely he breaks it out when he wants his enemies to think he’s got the bigger dick.

“I hate to admit it, but that’s a cage I wouldn’t mind riding in,” Jackyl states, adjusting himself.

“It’s fucking gorgeous,” Screamer agrees.

“The fucker’s here early,” Journey snaps. Cruz wasn’t supposed to arrive for another twenty minutes or so. “Let’s get inside.”

We follow our VP, and the sound of voices reaches my ears. There’s no shouting, so that’s a good sign. When we reach the larger room, Crow, Tracer, Poker, and Stunner are standing in a line, facing who I assume is Miguel. He’s got two men flanking him on either side as well.

“You’re late,” Crow barks. To anyone who doesn’t know him, they’d think him pissed, but he’s not. He simply wants to make sure that Cruz and his cronies know that he’s in charge.

“They’re early,” Journey states, nodding at the enemy.

“Yes, we are,” Cruz says matter-of-factly, his accent thick. “My men were getting rather anxious to get this over with, so we took a chance.” He shrugs. “You were here, so all is well.”

“That’s where you’re wrong,” Crow says casually as we join them across from Cruz. “All is not fucking well. Not even close.”

“Ah, yes, so your message said.” Cruz grins, but it doesn’t reach his eyes. “Something about Marble Falls being your territory, I believe. Please, explain.”

“As you said, Marble Falls belongs to the Soulless Kings,” Crow begins. “We don’t tolerate anyone trying to encroach.”

“My apologies. All you had to do was say so. I’m sure we can come to an arrangement that will be beneficial to us both.”

“Your apologies don’t mean shit,” Poker snarls. “This goes way beyond encroachment. You’re stealing our brand, selling it as your own, and killing people.”

“That is the drug business, is it not?” Cruz asks.

“Maybe it is in Sinaloa,” Crow says, and Cruz’s eyes flash fury. “Yes, we know where you’re from. We also know you’re trying to impress the cartel, but you can’t do that here. Not on our turf.”

Cruz glances at the man on his right. “Did you hear that Fernando? They have information on me.”

Fernando smiles sinisterly. “Seems like they do.”

“Should I be worried?”

Fernando shrugs. “I don’t believe so. We’ve got info on them as well.”

Not surprising, considering the note.

“I don’t care what you think you have,” Crow snarls. “I care about what you’re gonna do.”

“Oh?” Cruz crosses his arms over his chest like he doesn’t have a care in the world. “And what are we going to do?”

“You’re going to round up all the pills you’ve got floating around out there and leave Marble Falls. I’ll be generous and give you twenty-four hours.”

“Is that right?”

Crow looks from him to Journey and back again. “Yeah, that’s right.”

“Before I agree to that, I think you might be interested in a few things.”

“Sure, why not? I’ll listen.”

Cruz takes a step forward. “You’re married to a one Addison McGill, and boy was she a hard one to win over considering she was the police chief’s daughter.” He turns to Journey. “You’re married to Wren Abbot. I was very pleased to read that her therapist believes she’s making great progress with those twelve pesky personalities. I can only imagine how tough that is for a girl like her.” He shifts his gaze to Jackyl. “And you, club doctor, are married to Leah, Wren’s friend. I like that. Keep your inner circle tight.” Jackyl stiffens as Cruz turns in the opposite direction and glares at me. “And then there’s you… Parker West, the wild card of the bunch. I’m not going to lie, I was worried about how things would play out with you. I mean, former undercover cop in Oregon, a long list of achievements during your years of service. Imagine my surprise when I learned that your sweet mother is battling Alzheimer’s. That’s rough, I know. My own abuela died from the disease… forgot to eat and wasted away. Such a sad thing. But enough about me… back to dear old Mom. It would be rather difficult for her to tell the difference between friend and foe, don’t you think? Considering how her memory sometimes plays tricks on her.”

“You’ve done your homework,” I say, my voice tight, every muscle tense. “So what?”

“So,” Cruz says, dragging the word out. “Do you really think a man like me only has these two men at his disposal?”

That’s all it takes for chaos to ensue.

“Go!” Crow shouts at me. “Go to them!”

I take off running while gunfire explodes behind me. With each step, I vow to bring Hell to anyone who dares lay a finger on my mom or Ember. Part of me hopes that Cruz is just fucking with me, taunting me to get a reaction. But the logical part of me, the part of me that is keenly aware of the evil in the world knows that he’s not.

He sent evil to my door, and I pray Ben can handle it until I get there.