GHOST: An Evil Dead MC Story (The Evil Dead MC Series Book 5) (23 page)

“No, Ghost. It wasn’t.”

“Jesus Christ. Tell me the truth, Jess. All of it!”

“Okay. I’m trying if you’d shut up a minute and let me tell you!”

He took a step toward her. “Don’t push me, brat. I’m not in the mood.”

That was the truth.
She blew out a soft breath. “I know, Ghost. Okay? It’s just, you’re not going to like it.”

“Tell me anyway.” He gave her one of those looks she was learning he was so good at, with his head dipped down, looking at her from under his brow. It was intimidating and badass as hell. He wanted the truth, and she’d better not water it down. Okay, then, she’d give it to him.

“When I hid in that closet, I wasn’t hiding from some random guy, I was hiding from the Death Heads.”

He frowned. “Why?”

“I told you I got a ride with a trucker, right?”

“Yeah, so?”

She moved toward the window, fiddling with the curtain. “Well, he didn’t take me the whole way to Sturgis.”

“So who did?”

She looked back at him. “The Death Heads.”

His brows shot up in disbelief, and he barked, “And how
the fuck
did that happen?”

“If you’d calm down and stop yelling at me, I’ll tell you!”

He ran a frustrated hand through his hair. “I’m trying, Jess. I’m really fucking trying, but my patience is about at an end, so just tell me.”

“They picked me up at a rest stop just west of town. Brought me the rest of the way. I thought…I thought at the time, it was just because I was a girl, you know? But that wasn’t it. Turns out they had an ulterior motive.” She saw his jaw lock.

“They hurt you?” She knew what he meant, and she shook her head.

“No. Not like that. But I’m sure that was on the menu for later, they just never got that far.”

“What fucking happened, Jess? Tell me everything.”

She nodded and turned to look out the window, her mind going back to that afternoon that they’d ridden into town.

“It didn’t take me long after we hit town to find out the real reason that they’d agreed to give me a ride. It was the fact that apparently I was a dead ringer for the dead wife of the President of the Jacksonville, Florida, Death Heads’ Chapter. A man ironically enough called—”

“Florida.” Ghost finished her sentence for her. Seems he knew the man.

She nodded, shrugging. “Yes. I guess they thought it would earn them some points if they presented me to him like some gift from the great beyond or something. It was sad and ridiculous at the same time. At least I thought so until I met the man. He stared at me stunned speechless. And then began talking to me as if I actually were his Rose, reincarnated or back from the dead or something. I was terrified, not only by the man himself, but also by the craziness I saw in his eyes. He was definitely less than sane.

“He latched on to me; pulling me onto his lap at the table in the bar they’d dragged me into. And that’s where I stayed, unable to get away as they drank round after round, and his hands got friendlier and friendlier. I knew I was in trouble, way more trouble than I’d ever bargained for, and I didn’t have a clue what to do except to brazen it out.”

She could see her words were affecting Ghost. He didn’t like hearing this, any of this, especially the part about her being in trouble and helpless against those men. But she had more to tell, so she kept going.

“After awhile, it became obvious to me that they were waiting to meet some other club members, and when they finally showed, Florida got up, putting me in the charge of his men, telling them not to take their eyes off me. Apparently, Florida didn’t want to let me go, at least not yet.”

“He wasn’t done playing with you.” Ghost said it not as a question, but as a statement.

“No, he wasn’t,” she confirmed.

“Go on.”

“I watched him move off toward the back hall, followed by these other men who, judging by their bottom rockers, belonged to the Texas Chapter of the Death Heads.

“After a few minutes, I asked to use the restroom. The two men left in charge of me grudgingly agreed, but watched me like a hawk. I’d hoped there’d be a window in the tiny bathroom that I could climb out of, but no such luck.

“Then, as if fate had given me a second chance, there was some kind of a ruckus in the bar that drew my guards’ attention to the far end of the hallway. I peeked out in time to spot them moving to see what was happening. While they were distracted, I dashed around a corner at the end of the hall hoping to find an exit. What I found instead was a dead end with only one door. When I heard them coming, I dashed inside what turned out to be a utility closet with mops and brooms. I pressed to the back in the dark, hoping they wouldn’t look inside.

“And that’s when I heard voices coming through the wall, and I recognized Florida’s. They were having the meeting in the room on the other side of that wall. And I overheard it all. Every word they said came through loud and clear.

“A moment later, the door was flung open, and they pulled me out of the closet. When they did, they realized they could hear Florida’s voice coming through the wall.

“One of them shook
his head at me and told me I’d just made the biggest mistake of my life.

“He dragged me into the office, and a pissed off Florida had looked up from the desk, asking what the hell they’d brought me in there for.

“They told him how I’d tried to run, and that I’d heard every word.

“Florida had looked ready to kill his men for the fuck up. Then his eyes had dropped to me, and he’d growled for them to take me back to the camp so he could deal with me later.

“They dragged me out, forced me on the back of a bike and drove toward their campsite. As we rode out of town, I knew I had to make a move. I knew once they got me to their campsite, I would never get away. When they stopped at a light, I jumped off the bike, dashing through buildings and alleys until I came to the bar where I found you.”

She’d told him all of it, the whole story, leaving nothing out.

“Why didn’t you tell me all this shit before?”

“I thought if you knew, you wouldn’t help me.”

He shook his head.

“I’m sorry.”

Ghost sucked in a deep breath and blew it out. He started to walk away, but then turned back to look her in the eyes. “There’s one thing you still haven’t told me.”

“What’s that?”

“Why you left Seattle in such a hurry with just the clothes on your back? What really happened, Jess? The truth.”

“Things with Kyle were starting to go from bad to worse. His music career wasn’t going anywhere, and he was starting to take it out on me. The final straw was when he beat me up.”

Ghost looked ready to kill. “
He beat you?
”

“Just once. You know me, Ghost, once is enough for a girl like me. I wasn’t about to take that shit.” Her chin came up. “Not from anybody.”

“What’d you do?”

“He hurt me pretty bad, but when he finally turned his back on me, I hit him in the head with his guitar. He went down like a ton of bricks. Then I got the hell out of there. I wasn’t about to stick around waiting to see if he got up, and I sure as hell didn’t want to be there when he realized what I’d hit him with. That Fender was his prized possession. And I’d busted it clean in two.” She couldn’t help the smile on her face, but Ghost wasn’t smiling.

“Sounds like I got a trip to Seattle to make.”

Her smile faded. “No, Ghost. That’s done. He already got what he deserved. Let it go. Please?”

“Not promising you shit on that one.”

She could tell he was still pissed at her.

“Are we good now?”

He shook his head. “No, we’re not good. How can I help you, Jess, if we don’t trust each other?”

She didn’t know how to answer that one. When she stayed silent, he turned and slammed out of the room.

She hesitated only a moment before following him out. If he thought she was going to sit in that room like a chastised child, he had another thing coming. She moved down the hall into the common room. He was standing at the bar talking to Shades, but his eyes lifted to her as he spoke, and he watched her as she crossed the room to where Skylar and Tink sat at a table.

“You okay, doll?” Tink asked her.

“I’m fine.”

They all watched as the men started to head off down the hall, probably to have another one of their meetings. Shades patted Ghost’s shoulder, nodding for him to follow the men, while he headed over to the table where the girls sat.

His eyes landed on Skylar’s, and his chin lifted toward Jessie.

“Why don’t you take her back to our place. We got some shit to sort.”

The way he said it made Jessie realize that the shit they had to sort was her. Or at least the fact that she possibly had a closer connection to the Death Heads than any of them had suspected.

Skylar nodded, and Shades bent, catching the back of her neck in his hand, his mouth coming down on hers for a brief kiss. Then he was gone.

Skylar turned to her and Tink. “Let’s go for a swim, girls.”

Jessie frowned at that odd remark, but Tink clarified.

“They have a cabin on Lay Lake.”

“Oh,” Jessie replied.

“Come on, I’m sure I have a bikini that will fit you. And a swim will get your mind off all of this for a while.” She grabbed her purse and car keys, and the three of them headed out to her car.

***

Butcher slammed into the meeting room, surveying the men already sitting at the table, as he moved around it to take his position at the head.

“Thought you could trust this bitch?” he snapped, his eyes on Ghost. “Seems she’s got some secrets.”

“Could she be working with the Death Heads?” Slick asked Ghost.

“No way,” he snapped emphatically.

“Seems she’s a little cozier with the bastards than you knew, so not sure how good I feel about your answer,” Heavy observed.

“If she’s workin’ with them, she could be feeding them information on us,” Boot advised.

“Jesus Christ, she’s not working with them!” Ghost slammed his palm on the table. “They picked her up, and she couldn’t get away, that’s all. Seems Florida took a personal liking to her.”

“I can see why,” Hammer supplied with a grin.

Ghost glared at him, almost daring the man to make one more remark about how hot Jessie was. Then his eyes returned to Butcher.

“She looks like his dead wife.”

“Interesting,” Slick said, his hand running over his chin like he was trying to come up with a way to turn that to their benefit.

“So how does her lie affect the deal we just made with the DKs?” Boot asked.

“Is it possible the Death Heads may think she knows who the plant is?” Butcher asked.

“Maybe. Which means they’ll be looking to shut her up,” Shades told him.

“We make sure they know whatever information she had has already been disclosed. Takes her out of the equation,” Ghost insisted.

Slick brought up another point. “We’re fighting to keep the coast from the Death Heads. Let’s make sure we’re not turning it over to the DKs instead.”

“Maybe we change up the deal, maybe we turn her over to the Death Heads. Maybe she buys us more from them than the DKs,” Butcher suggested.

Ghost surged to his feet. “That wasn’t ever part of this deal, Butcher. No fucking way.”

“Relax, son. We let them
think
that’s what we’re going to do. I didn’t say we’d actually do it.”

Ghost glared at him, standing his ground. “It’s not happening. Give me your word, you won’t try to pull any shit on this.”

***

Two men stood on the banks of the St. Johns River at the North Florida Shipyards, the lights of the Jacksonville skyline visible in the distance.

“I heard from our plant.”

Florida turned to look at his VP, Quill. “Yeah, he got something to report?”

Quill nodded, lighting a cigarette. “They had some interesting visitors.”

“Who?”

“Evil Dead. Had a nice little powwow.”

“Interesting indeed. You think they’re working in collusion on something?”

“I think they know we want their territory. But there’s more.”

Florida turned to look at him. “And what’s that?”

“They had a woman with them.”

That surprised Florida enough that he pulled the cigar from his mouth. “A woman? At a meet?”

His VP shrugged. “That’s what our plant said.”

“So what was this meeting about?”

“He wasn’t allowed in. But the girl was.”

“You’re shittin’ me?”

“Nope. And there’s more.”

“What’s that?”

Quill pulled out his cell phone and swiped his thumb across the screen opening a photo and holding it up. “He took this picture of her.”