GHOST: An Evil Dead MC Story (The Evil Dead MC Series Book 5) (20 page)

“I know it. ‘Cause you’ll be
cuffed to the bed
.”

“Blood, please, don’t.”

“Stop whining. I’d hate to leave duct tape marks on your face, but I will.”

She thought he was joking, but with Blood, she couldn’t be sure. She didn’t know what his limits were, and she didn’t want to cross them. So she lifted her hand, holding it out to him.

“Good girl.” He clamped the handcuff around her wrist. Then ruffled the top of her head and headed for the door.

“Blood.”

He paused with his hand on the knob, and turned back to her.

“Are you going back to New Orleans? Will I see you again?”

“I’ll be around for a while longer. You’ll see me again, sweet cheeks.”

Then he walked out.

She yelled through the closed door, “Quit calling me that.”

She heard a fist hit against the wall of the hallway, and she smiled.

About an hour after Blood left her, Boo came in with a fast food bag. He stepped over the broken glass and approached the bed.

“I brought you a hamburger. Ghost called and said it’d be another hour before they get back, and he thought you might be hungry.” He set the bag on the bed and handed her the drink cup. Then he righted the table she’d thrown across the room, and he set it back next to the bed so she could set her drink back on it.

“Thank you. Can you let me go to the bathroom?” She lifted her wrist and rattled the handcuffs.

He eyed them. “Um, yeah, sure. Let me get the key.”

A couple minutes later he returned with the key, released her and escorted her down the hall to the bathroom.

When she was finished he escorted her back and waited, allowing her to finish eating before he put the cuff back on her.

“I’ll get one of the girls in here to clean up the mess.”

“Thank you, Boo. I’m sorry about that. I was a little upset.”

He just nodded without comment, then slid out the door.

About five minutes later, there was a tap on the door, and Ashley stepped in, holding a broom.

“Boo sent me in to sweep up the glass.” She looked anything but happy about it.

Why did it have to be her? He couldn’t have sent anyone else? She supposed the girl was going to rub her nose in it now. Ashley began sweeping the glass in a pile.

“Guess you were pretty pissed off. I would have been pissed, too. I don’t blame you for smashing up everything in sight. I’d have done the same thing.” When Jessie just glared at her without commenting, Ashley’s eyes lifted. “I told you the truth, you know.”

Jessie turned her head away, trying to fold her arms, but the handcuff prevented her from doing so, and it rattled with her attempt.

Ashley’s eyes dropped to the cuffs, then she put her finger to her mouth, as if warning Jessie to stay quiet.

Jessie frowned as she watched Ashley peek down the hall, wondering what on earth she was doing. She quietly closed the door, and then approached Jessie. Her hand slid into the hip pocket of her jeans and pulled out a key ring, holding it up.

“I was at the bar when Boo came in to get the key to let you go to the bathroom, so I saw where he kept it. When he told me to come in here and clean up, I went behind the bar when he wasn’t looking and grabbed it.”

“And? Are you going to let me out of these?” She rattled the cuffs.

Again Ashley shushed her and hissed quietly, “Do you want us to get caught?”

Jessie shut her mouth.

“It’s no secret I want you gone, but I wasn’t lying to you. I told you what JJ told me. Now, its up to you if you want to believe it or not.” She shrugged. “Maybe Ghost will let them turn you over, maybe he won’t. But is that a chance you want to take?”

“Are you going to release me or not?”

Ashley crossed her arms. “If I do, you better never rat that it was me that let you go.”

“Who do you think they’ll blame it on?”

She shrugged. “Boo, I guess.”

“Fine. I won’t rat you out.”

“Can I trust you?”

“Can I trust
you?
” Jessie quirked a brow at her. “Besides, how will I get out of here without being seen?”

“Climb out the window.” Ashley gestured to the window in the room. “It faces the side of the clubhouse. No one will see you, but if you’re going, you’d better hurry. The guys could come back anytime now.”

Jessie held her arm up. “Okay, quick, unlock these.”

Ashley tossed her the keys, and they landed on the bed next to her. “Here, do it yourself. Just wait until I sweep up this glass and leave the room.”

“Fine, but hurry.”

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

Ghost strode into the clubhouse, Shades, Griz, Hammer, and JJ with him. The club business had taken way longer than any of them had expected. He’d never meant to leave Jessie cuffed to that bed for most of the day, and it was late afternoon now.

He made a beeline to the bar and moved behind it, squatting down next to the lower shelf where he’d left the key for Boo. When it wasn’t there, he looked over to where the man was standing at the other end of the bar.

“Boo, where’s the key?”

Boo looked over at him. “Where you left it.”

“It’s not here.”

Boo frowned and checked his pockets. “I’m sure I put it back.”

Ghost stood, his jaw ticking impatiently as he waited for Boo to check all his pockets twice.

“I swear to God, Ghost, I remember putting it back. Maybe it fell on the floor.”

“Find it,” Ghost snapped. “I’ll be in the room with Jessie.”

Boo nodded.

Ghost moved around the bar and down the hall. He opened the door, took one step in and froze in his tracks. The bed was empty, the handcuffs were hanging empty still attached to the bedpost, and the fucking window was wide open, the curtain blowing in the breeze.

God
fucking
dammit!

Ghost strode over to the window and leaned out; looking both ways on the sliver of a chance she’d just climbed out. Nothing.

He straightened and slammed his palm against the window frame causing the already cracked window to shatter and smash to the floor at his feet. A moment later he was storming down the hall.

“She’s fucking gone!”

Everyone in the room turned to look, stunned at his outburst, but he only had eyes for one man. Boo. He marched straight to him, grabbed a fistful of his shirt and slammed him up against the wall.

“I left you with one fucking task! Keep an eye on her, and you fucked that up! Where the hell is she?” He slammed him against the wall a second time.

“I swear to God, Ghost. She was in there when I brought her the food.”

“When was that?”

“Right after you called.”

“Who the hell was in there besides you? ‘Cause somebody let her out.”

“Ashley swept up the glass. And Blood was in there earlier.”

Ghost dropped him in shock. “Blood?”

“I didn’t see him take her out, but I saw him bringing her back.”

“When the fuck was that?”

“Couple hours ago.”

“What the hell was Blood doing in there?”

Boo shook his head. “I don’t know. I don’t ask patches their business.”

“Your fucking business was watching Jessie, fucktard!”

“Sorry, but wherever he took her, he brought her back. She was in there when I brought her the food.”

“And you didn’t uncuff her?”

“Well…yeah. I mean, she needed to go to the john and to eat. But I locked her back up. I swear.”

Shades stepped in. “Ghost, we’ll figure out how she got out later, now we need to find her.”

Ghost whirled on him. “Don’t you think I fucking know that?”

“Okay, brother, so where would she go?”

“Hell if I know.”

“Think, Ghost.”

“I don’t know. Her mom is in Daytona. She said she wanted to go there.”

“Okay, then lets hit the bus station.”

Ghost nodded. “Yeah, okay.”

Shades turned to Griz, Hammer, and JJ, who were the only other members in the clubhouse at the moment. “Let’s mount up boys.”

“I’ll put out the word to the rest of the club,” Hammer offered.

“No! Let’s try and find her before Butcher gets word of this,” Shades replied.

They all nodded.

“Let’s sweep the neighborhood on the way out, everybody take a different route, we’ll rendezvous at the bus station.”

They all headed to their bikes.

Shades put a hand on Ghost’s shoulder. “We’ll find her, man.”

Ghost’s eyes connected with his best friend’s, and he shook his head. “I can’t lose her, bro.”

Shades nodded. “You won’t. We’ll turn this fucking city upside down. We’ll find her, Ghost. I promise you.”

An hour later, they had canvased the neighborhood near the clubhouse, asking anyone they saw if they’d seen her. They’d staked out the bus station to no avail, and they’d even covered the old neighborhood where Ghost’s father had lived.

They’d had no luck, and Ghost was running out of placed to look. They sat at a stoplight a few blocks from the old neighborhood, their five bikes idling as the sun sank in the west, rapidly taking with it the last traces of daylight. As they waited for the light to change, a hearse drove through the intersection, a small procession of four cars following behind it.

And it suddenly hit Ghost.

One last place she might be.

He motioned to his brothers to make a right turn, and when the light changed, they roared around the corner in a pack. They rumbled through the city streets until finally they reached their destination. Ghost pulled into the entrance to the quiet cemetery and coasted slowly down the long winding lane until he got to the section where Robert was buried. He saw her in the distance, standing next to the headstone.

She turned when she heard the bikes.

He pulled to a stop, dropping the kickstand and dismounting. His brothers all stopped their bikes, but sat on them, waiting while their brother handled whom he was sure they all thought of as
his woman
.

He strode toward her, relief that he’d found her swamping over him, replacing the fear that had held him in his grip ever since he’d walked into the clubhouse and found her gone. All he’d been able to think about was her falling into the hands of the DKs or Death Heads, or of her leaving town and disappearing, never knowing how he felt about her.

But all that was wrapped up in anger over the hell she’d put him through these last couple of hours.

***

Jessie turned at the sound of the bikes, and she felt her stomach drop. There were five bikes rolling up. She recognized Ghost immediately. He dismounted and headed toward her. For a split second she thought about running, even taking a step backwards, thinking she might be able to get away. And that might have been true, she might have had a chance if it was just Ghost, but he had four brothers at his back. They’d corner her and surround her. Hell, she wouldn’t put it past them to tear through the graves on their bikes to run her down if they had to.

No, the best thing to do was to stand and face him. She was no coward. And besides, as she’d stood at her brother’s grave, she’d replayed everything that Blood had told her earlier, and she’d reconsidered her brash decision to run.

She needed to give Ghost the benefit of the doubt. Maybe Ashley was lying to her about everything. As she stood there now, watching Ghost approach, she saw the hardness of his face. He was pissed.

He stopped about four feet from her and just stared at her, and she could feel the anger coming off him in waves. But he didn’t yell. In fact, he didn’t say a word. And perhaps his silence was more frightening than anything. It was almost as if he’d resolved himself to something. Something she wasn’t sure she’d like.

She watched his eyes slide to Robert’s grave, and his jaw ticked. Then his eyes moved back to her.

“You wanted to visit his grave, I would’ve brought you.”

She didn’t know what to say to that. She felt the words bubbling up from inside her to tell him she was sorry for running. But then her chin lifted. She’d be damned if she’d apologize.

“You done?”

She kept quiet.

“Come here.”

Her eyes moved passed him to the line of bikes. His brothers sat watching them.

“Jess, not a good time to test me.”

Her eyes came back to him.

“C’mere.”

She moved a step toward him.

He lifted a brow.

She moved a step closer.

He reached out and grabbed her wrist, turning on his heel and pulling her behind him toward his bike.

Twenty minutes later they were back at the clubhouse.

Ghost led her inside, his brothers following, all taking up spots at the bar or at the pool table. Ghost looked over at Boo, who stood behind the bar.

“Who’s here?” he demanded.

“Nobody but me.”

“Butcher?”

“Home with his ol’ lady.”

“Boot? Slick?”

“Same.”

Ghost must have been satisfied with that, because then he was dragging her down the hall to the last door at the end. He pulled her inside, slammed and locked the door.

She looked around. This was the infamous ‘chapel’, the room where the club held their club meetings. A room she was sure she wasn’t suppose to ever see.

It wasn’t all that impressive. Old, scarred paneling covered the walls. A big long table surrounded by a bunch of mismatched chairs took up most of the room. Her eyes were drawn to the opposite wall where several cuts from rival MCs were nailed upside down to it.

She turned to find Ghost’s eyes on her as he moved around the table, stopping at the head. He leaned his hands on the back of the chair.

“Who let you out of the cuffs?”

She lifted her chin.

His eyes moved over her face, taking in her stubbornness, reading her like a book.

“Was it Blood?”

She looked away, unable to hold his eyes. Damn, how much did he know? Had he spoken with Blood? She didn’t want to deny it and get caught in the lie. But he wasn’t the one that had freed her in the way he meant. And while she didn’t like Ashley and could care less about protecting her, the girl had stuck her neck out for her, and Jessie was no rat.

“I know he took you somewhere earlier today. Where?”

She met his eyes again. “The gun range.”

That took him by surprise. She could see the shock written all over his face.

“The gun range?”

She nodded. “Yes.”

“Why?”

She shrugged. “Guess you’ll have to ask him.”

That pissed him off. He shoved the chair and stalked toward her so fast, she barely had time to react before he had her backed against the wall, boxing her in with his arms.

“I’m not your fucking enemy, Jess. No matter what you believe.”

Her breathing accelerated as she looked up at him. It was a Ghost she’d only seen a few times before, like when he’d run those bullies off when he was a teenager. Or when he’d called her bluff that afternoon in his father’s garage. The alpha had come out to play.

“Do you know the fucking hell you’ve put me through these last few hours? I turned the fucking city upside down looking for you! I was worried sick about you.” He slammed his palm into the wall near her head, and she jumped.

Her reaction must have given him pause, for he backed up a step, running a hand through his hair.

“Christ, woman. You’re enough to drive a man over the edge.”

He shook his head.

She stayed quiet, a little stunned by his reaction. Did she dare to hope it revealed feelings than ran more deeply than perhaps he’d even realized? Was it possible he felt about her the way she felt about him? She had to know. So she pushed.

“Would it have mattered? If I’d gone, Ghost, would it have mattered?”

He looked at her like she’d asked the dumbest question ever.

“Yeah, Jess, it would have mattered.”

“To you? Or to your club?”

“I’m not gonna lie to you. The information you have is valuable. My club needs you and that information to make a deal to keep the damn Death Heads from pushing into Alabama. You were right. They want the entire Gulf Coast. And yes, we’re takin’ you to that meet. I’m not gonna deny it. But I’d never let them have you, Jess. Never.”

“How can I believe you?”

“Because you know me, baby. You fucking know me.”

“I want to believe you.”

“Then do it.”

She stared at him.

“I promised your brother I’d take care of you. That I’d watch out for you. I
promised
him.”

“When?” She frowned.

“Doesn’t matter when. I just did.”

“And that’s why you’re helping me, because of a promise to my brother?” Her heart began to sink. Was she just a debt, a favor owed? Was that all she’d ever be to him?

“Partly.”

She started to turn away, her eyes glassing over, but he yanked her back around. “When I’d thought you’d gone—” he broke off searching her eyes. “The panic I felt had nothing to do with any promise I’d made to Robert.”