Page 5 of The Penitentiary (Ghost Seekers Inc. #1)

“Madi has seen every episode and, by default, so have I. The woman on TV isn’t the Callie we know,” I said.

“But she is. Nobody witnessed this side of Callie, because they weren’t looking.”

“You were, brother,” Levi stated, and I nodded.

“Come on, look at her siblings. Even Clio had made something of herself with Chance’s help.

Callie had nothing, no college education, no skills; she was scraping by.

While I care for Thalia and Polly, they had it easy, and it shows.

They were so quick to ridicule Callie for an unusual love; Callie kept it private in the end.

I very much doubt they ever watched an episode until they all fell out. ”

“Can’t disagree there, although Rain seems relaxed,” I said.

“True and out of them, Rain is the one Callie is closest to.”

“Which pains Polly as they are—Jesus, what do we call them?” I laughed. They were quintuplets, but Clio and Thalia were identical twins, as were Polly and Callie. Rain was the odd man out.

“Quint twins! Only Rain didn’t have a double.”

“No, thank God Thalia and Clio dress differently; otherwise, they’d be hell to tell apart. Polly has a freckle under her eye that Callie doesn’t, so I can identify those two,” Levi said.

“Yeah. Polly’s also more muscled,” Sunny said, and I agreed.

“Now what?” I asked as Phil came back towards us. We’d been setting up a camera in a cell that was rumoured to be very active, and items had moved in it.

“Now we get out of here, I feel like my skin is crawling,” Sunny muttered and sent a glance over his shoulder.

That was when I uttered the fateful words. “Ghost’s ain’t real, man.”

Callie

I winced as Levi spoke and held my breath. Knowing what had supposedly occurred in the past, both Madi and I froze. As we watched the monitor and nothing happened, we relaxed. Then Madi cursed the three of them.

“The activity was probably a story created to draw visitors in—how disappointing!” No sooner had the words left her mouth, a cell door behind Sunny, Levi, and Phil shut forcefully.

“Oh, shit!” Madi exclaimed.

Instantly, I leaned forward, searching for a figure or anything to alert me that there was a presence. A door slammed closed, and then a third.

Sunny and Levi swapped glances.

“Fuckin’ idiot!” Sunny bellowed and took to his heels. Levi stood dumbstruck for a few moments until Phil shot past, running at full speed. As Levi gaped, cell doors started slamming shut one after another, and finally, his sense of self-preservation kicked in.

“Callie! I hope the fuck you’re getting this!” Sunny roared.

Unfortunately, I couldn’t help it and began giggling at the look of alarm on his face, which the static camera was capturing. Sunny flew past, and I watched wide-eyed as he jumped the stairs, Levi right behind him.

“Holy crap,” Madi gasped as a camera there caught their expressions. Panic and fear filled them, and Sunny shot Levi a furious glance as they took off again.

Cellblock eight had just woken up, and its inmates were making their presence known. Despite the great footage we were getting, I saw the humorous side of this. I giggled again as Levi and Sunny began arguing in the salt circle, and then Phil raced off as he realised Sunny had broken it.

By the time they made it outside to safety, I was howling.

I’d never seen anything funnier than two massive bikers running from a ghost. Levi’s panicked shriek was something I’d play repeatedly.

Madi was sitting beside me, crying tears of laughter as Freddie filmed us.

This would feature in the episode, but I didn’t care. It was too funny.

“Your woman is as insane as mine!” I heard Sunny complain and stopped giggling to growl at him.

“Oh yeah? Get your ass over to the Warden’s office,” I managed before cutting off the two-way radio and laughing again.

“Affirmative,” Sunny bit out, and I barely heard him over our laughter.

◆◆◆

Sunny and Levi refused to return to cellblock eight, which was lucky, as Phil had done everything he’d needed to. I observed with interest as, an hour later, every door that had slammed shut opened back up.

Jack was beside himself to investigate and questioned them relentlessly about what they’d sensed and felt.

Harry had already dived into his research, trying to track down the other witness whom this had happened to.

If Harry found him, Harry would go with Freddie and interview him.

There could be footage of the incident, which would be immensely helpful in comparing it to ours.

“Callie, I don’t know about you hitting cellblock eight,” Sunny said as we got ready for bed once we’d wrapped everything up that we needed to. People didn’t realise, but setting up cameras and mics took hours as we had to get the angles right and ensure full coverage.

“Sunny, I’ll be fine. Madi and Jack aren’t so stupid as to say ghosts don’t exist,” I replied as I climbed into bed.

“Madi and Jack? Babe, you aren’t going anywhere without me. Neither of them can pick you up and run!”

“Like you and Levi today?” I snickered, recalling the look on Sunny’s face when he arrived back at the Warden’s office. We’d chosen that to set up a command centre.

“Yup. Exactly. Trust me, Jack would likely try to capture the damn thing, and Madi would be right beside him,” Sunny griped.

“Sunny?”

“Babe?” Sunny looked at me as if I was going to agree with his worry. Silly man.

“Shut up and fuck me!” I ordered and burst into laughter as Sunny dived onto the bed.

Madisen

“Are you okay?” I asked as Levi stripped down.

He hated sleeping in clothes, although he’d learned to keep his boxers on.

I’d awoken three months ago to a pained yell and discovered Lily whacking his dick with a toy.

Lily thought a worm had attached itself to him.

Our girl had clearly recognised that Daddy had different parts to her.

After saving Levi and a part of his body I was particularly fond of, Levi realised he needed to wear boxers at least.

“Yeah. Trying to wrap my head around what I witnessed. Ain’t gonna lie, babe, I believed a lot of it was smoke and mirrors. Not that I’m calling Callie a liar, but you know these TV shows. They get a yard and take a mile,” Levi replied.

“Don’t let Callie or Sunny hear you say that,” I responded, laughing. “I never realised it was such hard work.”

“No, I thought they had a team that did everything for them. Today was a learning experience.” Levi finally kicked his boots off and yanked his jeans off.

I looked at his body. Five years had passed since we fell in love, and Levi remained in as great a shape as ever. He still exercised twice a week. As a painter and tattooist, Levi was usually seated for his jobs, so he worked out a lot.

“Thank you for this, Levi,” I said softly.

Levi crawled onto the bed and climbed under the duvet. He hauled me in close, and I leaned my cheek on his chest. It was a pose we’d repeated many times over the last six weeks, but tonight there were no tears.

“Love you so much, Madi. I wish I could carry your pain too,” Levi murmured, kissing the top of my head.

“Yeah. Things keep running through my mind. I know the hospital said that Mary’s brain was growing outside of her skull and she wouldn’t have survived, but the guilt is there.”

“They said it was common, Madi. There was nothing either of us could do,” Levi soothed.

“That doesn’t stop me wondering what would have happened if I’d taken more rest or got the pregnancy vitamins sooner. Everything just goes round and round in my mind. I carried Lily and DJ easily enough, so what did I do bad this time?”

“Babe, you hadn’t done anything wrong. It was simply one of nature’s cruel quirks. The doctors told us Mary wouldn’t have survived if she had been born, and it would have been very traumatic for her.”

“It was kinder this way,” I muttered, even though my arms screamed to hold my baby.

“Yeah.” And once more, Levi proved he knew me. “But it doesn’t stop the guilt and what-ifs we’ll suffer for a while.”

“No. And Sunny and Callie aren’t likely to treat us with kid gloves,” I replied.

“Nah. Our news threw them, but they’re treating us normally, which I’m fuckin’ grateful for.”

“Because they’re removed from the situation,” I mused. “They haven’t experienced everything up close and personal like the rest of the club.”

“Exactly. Sunny’s an asshole, but he is a decent guy underneath. Babe, I can damn guarantee he’s going to find ways to give you an experience you’ll remember forever,” Levi said.

“Hope so, because this is an unforgettable, once-in-a-lifetime adventure.”

Levi snorted. “I bet Derek is thinking the same. Did you notice he’s sent for Daithi and Dai? Motherfucker claimed he needed two psychos to control our two psychos,” Levi complained.

“Did you see what Lily did to his hair? Levi, she smeared chocolate sauce and treacle in it!” I exclaimed, giggling.

“Babe, what idiot lets a kid anywhere near those items unsupervised? Derek got what he deserved.”

“Good point,” I agreed as something inside me settled. I’d still grieve, but I could see the future now. Before, I was mired down in grief; it hadn’t disappeared, but seeing the pictures my brother had sent cheered me.

“Wonder how much Derek will sue us for?” Levi drawled as he leaned back and drew me down with him. His arm wrapped around me as I laid my head on his muscled chest and placed my leg over his. This was one of my favourite sleep positions.

“Who the fuck cares? I’ve got billions to waste,” I answered, and Levi broke into laughter.

“Love you, Madi, thank you for being my old lady, wife, and the mother of my children.” “Thanks for being you,” I replied and closed my eyes.

With Levi’s affection, I’d be okay, and maybe sooner than I thought.