Black Dogs Motorcycle Club: Full Series Box Set (53 page)

“Like a pilot?” asked
Toby.

“Sure,” said Ghost. “Takes
two pilots to fly a plane, right? Me and you.”

Toby beamed up at Ghost, a
full tooth smile. Bridget stood there in shock, watching them interact. She’d
never seen Toby so thoroughly jazzed to speak to an adult—let alone an adult
male. She suddenly realized how cold and upset his interactions with the male
authority figures in the school seemed compared to Ghost. Grown men of
authority frightened him, and for obvious reasons.

But Ghost didn’t.
According to Ghost—and Bridget believed him, if only because Ghost clearly
loved trolling people with the truth—Toby had made the first move that day last
week, coming up to start a conversation with him. Everything about his
interaction with Ghost was unprecedented, and she couldn’t unsee it once she
saw it. What was it about Ghost that Toby saw?

What was it that
she
saw?

Word of a big funny biker
dude at the fence quickly spread throughout the schoolyard, and soon other kids
were sprinting up, uniforms and hair mussed up, to meet this fascinating stranger.

“Have you ever crashed
your bike?” asked some small voice.

“Oh, yeah, tons of times.
You basically live the first year of owning a bike on the asphalt.”

“Why do you get to wear
that leather jacket all the time?” said another.

“Guys, he’s a
biker
,”
said Toby in a matter-of-fact voice to the other children. “Other bikers have
to know what gang he’s in, so he wears his vest.”

“Boom, nicely done, Toby,”
said Ghost. “And not that it’s important, but we are called a club, not a gang.
Club makes us sound way nicer than we are. Really, we’re a bunch of jerks. A
jerk club.”

The kids laughed, and
Ghost laughed with them. Bridget could only stand there in a stunned silence
and watch. Never in a million years did she think she’d see an interaction like
this.

“Do you go to school?”
asked a little girl in front.

“Not for a really long
time, but I kind of liked it.”

“What did you like?”

“Science is pretty
awesome. And history is like one giant epic saga, it’s great.”

“I hate history!” yelled
someone from the back, and a bunch of kids joined him in a chorus of gross
noises.

“Oh, that’s only because
you haven’t heard the
good stuff
that teachers like Miss Dawson won’t
tell you.” Ghost thumbed toward her with a mischievous smile and she glared at
him playfully as the kids made taunting noises.

“What good stuff?” asked
Toby with a little hop.

He leaned toward the fence
like he was sharing a conspiracy with them. “Have you ever heard of the
Mongols?”

Bridget’s eyebrows went
up. “Ghost…”

“I have!” said one little
voice. “They fought China!”

“They fought China and
like, most of Europe, too. They were really, really mean and brutal warriors
who rode around on horseback and tore down the cities of their enemies after
they beat them,” said Ghost in a dramatic voice, waving his hands around like a
bard. “They were the first army in history to invent biological warfare. Do you
know what they’d do?”

“No, tell us!”

“They had an enormous army
full of dudes, and it was easy for that many men to spread disease in the
ranks. So when they would lose soldiers to the plague, they would take their
bodies, and stuff them in a big siege catapult,” said Ghost. Bridget’s jaw fell
open as he actually made the stuffing motion with his hands. “And then
whoosh
—“
he made like he was throwing a ball over the fence. “—they would send them
flying over the city walls, and everyone inside would catch the plague and die.
Battle over! Even dead Mongolians were useful.”

The kids erupted into a
chaotic chorus of
yucks
and
coooooool
and general gross-out
noises. Toby and a few of the boys up front just laughed and laughed, and Ghost
laughed with them.

“I can’t believe I just
let that story come out of your mouth,” said Bridget to him as she held a hand
to her forehead. But she couldn’t stop smiling, either.

“What?” said Ghost with
innocent eyes. “That’s history! That’s straight-up fact. I’m teaching, I’m just
like you.”

“And I’m going to have a
weekend full of strange parental phone calls to answer,” she said, giving his
shoulder a playful shove.

Ghost came close and spoke
near her ear. “You take your phone calls; I’ll just eat you out while you deal
with them. It’s only fair.” He kissed the sensitive skin of her neck just
behind her ear with wet, soft lips, and Bridget shivered.

Bridget pulled back and
looked him in the eyes with a playful glare. The expression on his face said he
was delighting in her half-baked anger.

In the schoolyard, the
bell to end recess sounded, and the kids left at the fence all groaned like
dramatic little zombies. Bridget grinned and turned away from Ghost to talk to
them. “Go on, my little Golden Horde, go line yourselves up.”

The kids began to
reluctantly drift away. Toby was the last to hang out, and Ghost kneeled at the
fence to give him another fist bump. “Good to see you, T-Dog. Let’s do it again
soon.”

“It was good to see you
too,” said Toby in a careful mimicking of Ghost’s words. It made Bridget’s
heart hurt to watch how quickly the little boy was bonding with him.

“Be good for Miss Dawson,
okay? She cares a lot about you.”

Toby’s eyes wandered up to
meet Bridget’s, and for a moment she could see all the sadness and fear behind
them, like he momentarily opened a door to let her peek inside. But it was only
a moment. Then he nodded and told Ghost he would before he ran off to join the
other kids.

Ghost stood up from the
fence and wrapped his arms around Bridget’s waist, pulling her in for a gentle
kiss. “He’s going to be okay,” said Ghost, as if he could read her mind.

“He’s taken to you so
quickly,” said Bridget. “I can’t get him to open up to me no matter what I do.
He called me for help but he wouldn’t let me help him, and he won’t let me help
him now.”

“He’s just a kid,” said
Ghost. “And if he’s going through what you think he’s going through, he has no
idea what the fuck he’s doing. He’s probably just trying to get through every
day on its own. He called you because he trusts you, baby. That’s huge.”

“Why won’t he talk to me
now?” asked Bridget helplessly.

Ghost shrugged and brushed
her hair aside. “I don’t know. He’s scared. And maybe school is the only place
he still gets to have some happiness and fun. Maybe he thinks if he talks about
what’s happening at home, he’ll ruin the last safe place he has.”

His words made Bridget
feel sick, like she got punched in the gut. She audibly groaned and her face
twisted up so bad that Ghost gripped the side of her face and said, “Hey, hey…
we’re going to make it okay. Not today, but we will.”

“It’s like I can feel his
fear,” admitted Bridget. “I can imagine sitting there in that dark closet with
him, afraid and alone. I don’t want him to feel that way, Ghost. He doesn’t
deserve it.”

“Fuck no, he doesn’t. And
we’re going to get him out of it, we’ll find a way.” He leaned down and kissed
her deeply. The final bell to end recess sounded over the din of chattering
kids.

“I have to go,” said
Bridget against his lips.

“Go make this country
smarter for once, baby.”

Ghost straddled his bike
as Bridget headed back down the white walkway toward the wooden doors of the
school. She looked back when she heard the engine rev up and saw Ghost staring
at her with a smile, helmet in his hands. He made a kissy face at her. She
smiled and waved before she headed into the school.

~ TWELVE ~

Ghost

“How is this not a punishment?” Ghost huffed as he
fell into one of the chairs in the clubhouse den. “Haven’t even been convicted
yet, and already I’m sentenced.”

“Christ, Ghost, you’re not
even the one on trial in the first place,” said Jase with a tired sigh. He sat
across from Ghost at the table and rubbed his face with his hands. “Lucero and
Eagleton are on trial.”

“Yeah, but I’m the one who
has to help prove it, and has to put up with being around him in my goddamn
clubhouse while it happens.”

“If that’s a punishment,
then you’re a pussy.”

“Fuck off.”

“Just keep away from him,”
said Jase. “This is already a minefield. Don’t need you lobbing more grenades
into it.”

“You know me so well.”

Before Jase could retort,
the clubhouse door swung open down the hall, and a crowd of voices came barging
in. Ghost hadn’t heard any bikes pull up, so they must have been hanging out on
the side of the building. It was the four Eagleton Dogs they were familiar
with, plus two more that hadn’t been around during the run.

Ghost and Jase stared at
them quietly, and the men came to a silent halt. Lucero stood in the middle of
his MC brothers, and he narrowed his eyes at Ghost from across the room.

Once the first responders
had shown up to the scene of the accident, there had been no time for butting
heads. EMT buses carted away Tommy and Lucero, who was still passed out, and a
third had to be called for Will. Both Ghost and Jase had to taste the bitter
bile of leaving their friends alone and hurt as they stood on the edge of the
highway and watched the buses pull away without them. Lucero was the first one
out of the hospital; he escaped the crash with minimal cuts and scrapes.
Happened all the time when drunk drivers passed out, Ghost knew. Their relaxed
muscles acted like a shield against broken bones and punctured organs. It only
fueled the fire he held inside that blamed Lucero for all of this.

While they had waited for
tow trucks to clean up Tommy’s bike and figured out the vehicle situation,
Ghost finally lost his shit and raged at Shaun about Lucero’s heroin addiction.
Shaun had only stared at Ghost in quiet surprise as Jase pulled him back and
ordered him to clean up Tommy’s saddle bag gear with angry tears in his eyes.
Ghost hadn’t spoken another word to the Eagleton Dogs after that, and he didn’t
want to speak to them now. Truth be told, he wished he could take a break from
speaking to Jase, too. The memory of their conversation at the Eagleton
clubhouse before the run stung furiously now.

Jase had literally just
told him to keep his shit together, but already it was taking every ounce of
self-control Ghost had to do it. He stared at Lucero with a hard face and
soothingly felt for the handle of one of his hidden blades. It made him feel
better.

“Jase,” said Shaun with a
nod. “Ghost.”

“Gents,” said Jase in
return. “Does Henry know you’re here yet?”

Shaun nodded and thumbed
behind him. “He’s still finishing his smoke.”

Jase cleared his throat
uncomfortably and gestured toward the unmanned bar. “Well, help yourselves to
whatever.”

“I think we’re good,” said
Scott with black fire in his voice.

Jase exhaled heavily, as
if he had been hoping no one would escalate the already brutally tense mood in
the room. “Suit yourself,” he said as he yanked the chair across from Ghost out
and sat down.

They didn’t speak to each
other again until the clubhouse door opened and the rest of the gathered men made
their way inside, led by Henry. The den began to fill up with voices as most of
the LeBeau members arrived, staggered over the next ten minutes. All of
Eagleton’s available men were already present, and they sat huddled at their
own table near the stairs, uncomfortable and speaking quietly only to each
other.

Once Henry was settled
with the attendance, he and Douglas walked upstairs to overlook the den from
the second floor banister. He reminded Ghost of a poorer, much less powerful
Roman emperor.

“Thank you for being here
today, men,” said Henry. “Gatherings like this are never convenient, and we all
have other places we want to be, so thank you for stepping up to answer the
call. This is a very serious matter. Shaun?” He gestured downstairs at the table
full of Eagleton Dogs.

Shaun exchanged glances
with his men and stood up. All eyes in the room followed him as he took the
stairs up to stand next to Henry.

“This is Shaun Lee. He
runs things in Eagleton. For those who don’t know me, I’m Henry Oliver,
president of the LeBeau chapter. Our two charters have something very serious
to work out here. I’m sure most of you have heard by now, but there was a
problem on a run for the Eagleton charter which included some of my men. An
accident happened and put two of my guys in the hospital, and there’s been some
accusations as to why this occurred.”

“How are they?” called out
Bones to Henry.

“Improving,” said Henry.
“Will had a busted arm and a bump on the head. He’s already been released home
to his wife and might return to some light duties in the next week, if the docs
clear him to my satisfaction. Tommy…” He stopped and took a deep breath. It was
as unsettling as watching your dad tear up. “Tommy’s in worse shape. The docs
don’t think he’s going to die, but that boy has a lot of healing ahead of him.
He’s woken up and talked a few times, and that’s a great thing. He’s going to
need all of our support to get back on his feet.”

Douglas stepped forward.
“We also need some Dogs to volunteer to fill in for Tommy around his home, for
his
abuela
and sisters. Shifts will rotate, everyone should take a few.”
The men downstairs all nodded to each other.

“Now,” said Henry, “we
need to discuss what’s going to happen. This is a complicated situation, and
Shaun and I know it’s already causing some grief between the charters.”

Ghost couldn’t help
himself. He looked over to the table of Eagleton Dogs. Lucero was already
staring back at him with hate in his eyes.

“Ghost?” said Henry. “Join
us, please.”

Ghost tore his eyes away
from Lucero, surprised. Suddenly everyone in the room was looking at him. He
cleared his throat and got to his feet, shuffling around the tables. “I didn’t
even prepare a speech,” he said with a phony laugh.

No one chuckled.

He tromped up the stairs
and stood behind Henry, uncomfortable. He had no idea what he was doing, so he
just waited and tried to keep his mouth shut.

“Ghost, I need you to tell
the men here in your own words what accusations you’re bringing forward today,”
said Henry. He gestured for Ghost to step up toward the railing, and he obeyed
after only a moment’s hesitation. “Tell us what happened.”

Ghost had stared down the
barrels of every make and model of firearm that existed on this godforsaken
rock. He knew a Bowie knife felt different pressed up against his jugular than
a kitchen cleaver. He knew exactly how many milliseconds it took a body to hit
the floor after a bullet to the brain. But in that moment, the most awful,
upsetting thing in his fucked-up mind was standing there under the gaze of all
his MC brothers as they waited for him to throw one of them under the bus.

Fucking Lucero
, thought Ghost. Shaun and
the Eagleton Dogs told the first responders that the van had been run off the
road, and Ghost suspected there may have also been some sort of payoff involved
to keep anyone from testing Lucero for impaired driving. He didn’t blame them
for that; this was club business and that was standard routine. But Lucero was
too cowardly to admit the truth of his addiction. He was putting Ghost, and all
the brothers, through this sideshow, while Tommy lay in the hospital rebuilding
like a goddamn shattered egg.

His fear fell away into a
hot volcano of anger. Suddenly the eyes on him didn’t matter one bit.

“This motherfucker,” he
said, and pointed straight down at Lucero’s bitter face, “is a heroin addict.
And he took his fix before we headed out on that goddamn run, blacked out, and
then swerved right into Tommy and me.”

“Bullshit!” yelled Lucero
as he jumped to his feet. “You’re a goddamn liar, you fucking clown!” Rick and
Scott both stood and tried to calm him as rumbles broke out through the
gathered men.

“Stand down!” said Shaun
firmly at his men.

“Ghost, for the love of
Christ,” said Henry in frustration.

“You asked for my own
fucking words,” said Ghost. “So you’ll get them. I came into the bathroom after
Lucero and I saw the balloons myself. He was volatile for no fucking reason.
And I was right next to the van, looking at his ugly face in the side mirror
when he passed out and swerved. I braked hard, and Tommy tried to accelerate,
but it wasn’t enough. The van clipped his tire and they both swerved off the
road.” He pointed at Lucero again. “This is all his fucking fault. He shouldn’t
have been on that run.”

“I’m gonna beat the
motherfucking shit out of you!” said Lucero, standing again from the table and
charging up the stairs before his brothers could stop him. A few voices in the
room hollered out in warning.

But Ghost just smiled a
brutal, dark smile that didn’t reach his eyes and stepped out to meet him.
Lucero drilled his gaze into Ghost’s and stood inches from his face, shoving
his chest into Ghost’s in the basest form of intimidation known to primates. He
was pathetic. Ghost took it and stared back, his darkest heart hoping Lucero
would give him a reason to throw a punch.

“You don’t know what the
fuck you’re talking about,” said Lucero to Ghost’s face. Men were gathering
around them, coming up the stairs, trying to talk down the fight, but Ghost couldn’t
hear any of their words.

“You put my brother in the
fucking hospital,” said Ghost. “And all because you’re a useless junkie coward.
You don’t deserve to wear the cut, and you wouldn’t deserve the beautiful
beating I would serve if you
ever
try to fucking step up on me again.”

“You’re a fucking dead
man,” said Lucero in a desperate, adrenaline-soaked whisper. His dilated pupils
betrayed a raging fury.

“You first,” Ghost
whispered back to him. Then he reared back and delivered a crushing head-butt to
Lucero. Lucero’s nose broke and gushed blood as he stumbled backwards against
the wall.

Any order left in the room
melted into chaos. Ghost just stared at Lucero’s pain-filled, irate eyes as
Henry and Douglas dragged him backwards toward the conference room and away
from the fight, yelling in his ear.

It took twenty minutes for
the presidents to get the room calmed down, and that was only after Bones and
Jase passed out beers and whiskey bottles. Scott dragged a raging Lucero out of
the den and to the men’s room to clean up his nose.

“Just stand right the fuck
here and keep your mouth shut,” said Henry as he pushed Ghost against the wall
near the conference room door. “Why do you have to make everything more
complicated?”

“
Me
make things
more complicated? He’s the one who came up here like a running bull to fight
me. I’m not going to sit here and take the piss from some hick coward that
almost killed Tommy,” said Ghost with his hand outstretched. “Is that what
you’re asking me to do, Henry?”

“I’m asking you to act
like a fucking civilized adult long enough for me to fix this mess!” Henry’s
voice was darker and firmer than Ghost had ever heard it. Something deep inside
his mind cracked with shame.

Ghost didn’t reply. He
blinked at Henry and clenched his jaw. “I know what I saw,” he said. “Lucero
was jacked up. He shouldn’t have been driving.”