Ghost (3 page)

“I’ll drop my cut off with Sheila, then I want to get Shelly settled.”

Reaper tipped his head. “And just where do you plan to keep her?”

Ghost shrugged. “She can take my room.”

“I’m not kicking you out of your room.” She spoke so softly he almost didn’t hear her. “I owe you my life. The least I can do is share the bed with you.”

Ghost frowned. “You don’t have to whore yourself out anymore, Shelly.”

She winced.

Reaper slapped him on the back. “I’ll let you two sort things out. I’m going to deal with Preacher so we can have a fresh start tomorrow.”

Ghost led Shelly from the room and down the hall to his bedroom. He pushed the door open and ushered her inside. He supposed it wasn’t all that great a room. Short green carpet covered the floor. A double bed and dresser took up most of the space, but there was an armchair in the corner. The door to the bathroom stood ajar, allowing her to see the sink, toilet, and small standing shower.

“It’s not much, but it is home,” he said.

“Why are you helping me?”

He motioned for her to sit on the bed and helped her remove the backpack. He dropped it on the floor and folded his arms over his chest. Ghost wasn’t sure he could explain why he did the things he did, what drove him to save helpless women. Not that they were helpless necessarily. Axel’s mate could kick some ass when she wanted to, but whether women liked it or not, they were smaller and weaker than men. They would always be at a disadvantage when it came to a fist fight, unless they had specialized training. But average women, like Shelly, didn’t stand a chance.

“Doll, I can’t stand to see a man hit a woman. The thought of women being sold and used as sex slaves or worse, turns my stomach. You heard what Reaper said. I’m part of a special team that rescues women who get into a bit of trouble.”

“So I’m a job?”

He shook his head. “Honey, when I saw the marks on your body, when I realized that he was forcing you to sell yourself, I felt a cold fury settle in my bones unlike anything I’ve ever felt before. I watched you, you know? As you strutted around the clubhouse. If I’d thought for one minute that you didn’t want to be with any of those men out there, I’d have stepped up and put a stop to it.”

She smoothed her hands up and down her thighs. “I don’t remember the last time I was with a man just because I wanted to be. I don’t…I don’t know that I’ve ever had an orgasm. Sex is just…business.”

Holy hell. The thought that his brothers had taken her against her will, and not even thought about her pleasure, was enough to infuriate him all over again. She looked so fragile sitting on the edge of his bed, and so very lost. He knew the first thing she would need was medical attention. Pulling out his phone, he sent a text to Doc, then knelt at her feet and took her hands in his.

“I’ve asked Doc to come take a look at you, okay? But if he says you need the hospital, I don’t want any arguments from you.”

“I just need some tape for my ribs,” she said softly.

“How do you know?” His brow furrowed.

“Because this isn’t the first time I’ve disobeyed.” She slowly stood and turned around, showing him her back. Faint white lines crisscrossed the skin and he reached out and lightly ran his fingers over them. There was a small circular scar at the back of her shoulder and he turned her around, finding its match on the front.

“He fucking shot you?” Ghost was incredulous. He’d known she’d had a bad life at Richard’s hands, but he hadn’t realize just how fucked up it had been.

“I refused to obey, so he made an example of me. Another time, I tried to run away.” Her hands fidgeted in front of her. “When he gets me back this time, I have no doubt that he’ll kill me. After he forces me to service the worst of his customers, one after the other. It’s what he does. What he’ll always do, because no one can stop him, Ghost. Not you. Not anyone.”

“We’ll see about that.”

There was a knock at the door and Ghost opened it to find Doc on the other side. He opened the door wider, letting the Doc come in. There weren’t a lot of doctors in Ashton Grove, and the club had been lucky to find ex-Army doctor, Montgomery Sayle. He was happy to take cash under the table to treat their boys when things got out of hand. A trip to the hospital for a gunshot wound would garner too many questions, questions they weren’t able to answer.

Doc looked Shelly over, poking and prodding. When he stood back, he gave Ghost a sad smile. “It’s not as bad as I’d thought. She has two bruised ribs, which are going to hurt like hell for a while, but at least they aren’t broken. The marks should fade over the next week or two. I don’t recommend that she take up jogging right now, but if she wants to be intimate, she can, as long as she’s careful.”

Ghost knew intimacy was the last thing on Shelly’s mind just then.

“Thanks, Doc. What do I owe you?”

Doc waved his hand. “No charge this time. Just take care of her, Ghost. Do whatever it takes to get that fucker and either put him in the ground or behind bars. Either way, make sure he can’t do this ever again.”

Ghost nodded and let Doc out.

“Are you hungry?” he asked as he faced Shelly again.

“I think I just want to sleep, if that’s okay?”

Ghost smiled. “That’s fine, Shelly. I’ll sleep in the chair tonight.”

She shook her head. “I’ll sleep by the wall. There will be enough room for you.”

It seemed she was a stubborn one, but he didn’t want to spend his time arguing with her. Not when he could be plotting the mayhem he was going to rain down on that sack of shit’s head. As much as he’d love to crawl into bed with her, the first thing he needed to do was check on the other girls. If they were in the same situation, he needed to make sure they didn’t return to Richard tonight. If they’d chosen this life, there wasn’t anything he could do to keep them here, but he’d give them the option of staying.

Hell. Being President was going to be harder than he thought. But he was confident he would do a good job. The men had chosen him, and he would honor their wishes. And god help any fucker that stood in the way of Ghost and the justice he was more than ready to dish out.

Chapter Three

Shelly woke the next morning to a warm, hard body snuggled up against her and an arm draped over her waist. The bruising still hurt and breathing wasn’t her favorite thing to do right now, but she felt better after a good night’s sleep. Easing onto her other side, she turned to face Ghost. In sleep, he looked so relaxed, so calm. And so young. She’d thought he was closer to thirty when she’d climbed onto his bike the other night, but in the morning light, she would guess he was closer to twenty-four or twenty-five. His blond hair hung in disarray around his face, and she knew if his eyes were to open, they would be a beautiful green.

He’d said he’d watched her around the clubhouse. What he didn’t know was that she’d watched him too. She’d noticed him her first night at the M.C.’s clubhouse, had wanted to go up and talk to him, but fear had held her back. She hadn’t pursued a man she actually wanted since she was seventeen, and back then it had been impressionable boys who were more interested in bragging rights than anything else. She’d never handled a man like Ghost before, and she wasn’t sure she had what it would take to tame someone like him.

She’d seen the old ladies around the club, the few that they had, and she’d envied them. Those women had something she thought she’d never have. The love and respect of a good, decent man. All right. The bikers were probably into some illegal shit too, but in her book, they were the good guys. They rescued women like her and gave them a chance at a normal life. She respected the hell out of Ghost, but she didn’t know how to tell him that, or if she even should tell him.

Shelly had never slept with a man overnight before. Her profession was all about the cash, and the quicker you got in and got out, the sooner you could move on to the next mark. It had been a numbers game. The girl, who had the most lays by the end of the night, received special treatment from Richard. And then the M.C. had moved into town and things had changed, she’d thought for the better, until she realized it was really all the same. Fucking random guys who didn’t give a shit about her.

The only good thing that come out of the M.C. was that Richard had started having his girls tested weekly to make sure they weren’t carrying anything. She’d been tested just three days before and knew she was clean, assuming the M.C. brothers hadn’t given her anything. But if the whispers were true, she didn’t think they were able to carry diseases. She knew of the wolf pack in town, had accidentally seen some of them shift during a full moon one night. The M.C. weren’t wolves that she knew of, but she’d be willing to bet they were all shifters of some sort. And word on the street was that shifters didn’t carry diseases. Not that many people believed shifters really existed.

Shelly reached out and lightly trailed her fingers across his cheek, down the blade of his nose, and brushed them across his full lips. There was something about Ghost that made her want to get closer. He wasn’t as handsome as some of the other men in the M.C., and yet, she found him more fascinating than any of the others. Unable to stop herself, she gently pressed her lips to his. When he’d kissed her last night, it was the first time she’d ever been kissed so gently. Most of the men she slept with were rough and quick, only out for their own pleasure. But Ghost…she’d felt tenderness in his kiss and she yearned to feel it again. It filled an ache she hadn’t even realized she had, an emptiness that echoed in her heart.

His eyes fluttered open and she pulled back, embarrassed at being caught kissing him.

“I told you that you don’t have to pay for your room here,” he said, his voice scratchy from sleep.

“I wasn’t trying to pay for my room,” she said softly. “I just…”

“You just what?”

She felt her cheeks warm. “I liked it when you kissed me last night. I wanted to feel it again. No one’s ever kissed me like that before.”

He cupped her cheek and caressed her skin softly. “What do you need from me, Shelly?”

“Kiss me again?” she asked. “Like last night?”

Ghost leaned forward and gently brushed his lips against hers. He coaxed and teased and when she opened, he slipped his tongue inside for a taste. He kissed her sweetly, softly. Shelly melted against him, feeling like a woman for the first time in her life. Until this point, she’d always been an object. A thing. Just a way for men to find relief. But Ghost’s kiss breathed sunshine and light into her existence and showed her there was so much more out there, so much more that she wanted.

She felt the hard press of his cock against her and wondered what it would be like to have a man make love to her slowly, to savor her and treat her as if she mattered, as if he cared. No one had ever done that for her before, but something told her that this man could make that happen. Despite his cold exterior, there was a gentleness to him, a kindness that she felt in the very marrow of her bones.

She pulled out of his kiss and stared at him intently, trying to judge his emotions. She knew he desired her, wanted more, but he didn’t seem to be in a hurry to take it. Why didn’t he take what he wanted like everyone else did? Wasn’t that what men did? Take? But no, Ghost wasn’t taking. He was giving. She’d asked for the kiss. Could she ask for more? Did she dare?

He smoothed the hair back from her face. “You look so beautiful.”

Tears gathered in her eyes and she blinked them back. She’d been told countless times that she was beautiful, that she was hot, that she had a smokin’ body, but no one had ever said the words with such reverence before. When Ghost told her she was beautiful, he meant it. He didn’t just want in her pants; he wanted her to know that she was special. How could a gruff biker, who went around waving guns at people, be so sweet?

“Make love to me.” She fisted her hands in his shirt. “Please. Show me what it’s supposed to be like between a man and a woman.”

“I take it all you’ve ever known is a wham-bam-thank-you-ma’am from the men you serviced and from my brothers?”

She nodded.

“I can bring you pleasure without having sex with you, Shelly. You don’t have to give yourself to me.”

No. She didn’t. But she wanted to. And it wasn’t as a way to thank him, even though that’s probably what he thought. For once in her miserable life, she wanted to be with a man who was worthy of being loved, a man who was so much more than someone like her could ever hope for. Decent men didn’t come along very often, and Shelly wasn’t going to kid herself into thinking she was going to have a fairy tale, happily-ever-after now that she’d left Richard. Men would still think she was easy, would still take what they wanted from her. The only difference was that they wouldn’t be paying for her services with money, but with dinner and a movie.

“I wanted you the first moment I saw you,” she admitted. “But I was too scared to approach you. I was worried that if I had you, I would want more than you could give me, more than I would be allowed to have. I watched as you ignored all of the women in the clubhouse and I knew you were different.”

“Don’t make me out to be something I’m not, Shelly. I’ve fucked my share of women, and quite often there were few words spoken and no emotions involved. I’m not some goddamn saint.”

“If you’re not different from the others, why didn’t you take any of us to your room or fuck us up against the wall?”

He looked like he wasn’t going to answer, but she knew the eact moment he had decided to be honest with her.

“Because you deserved better than that. I’m not an emotional man, Shelly. I don’t do
I-love-yous
, candlelit dinners, and walks in the moonlight. I take what I want, when I want it. Just the same as any brother in this club. But when it came to you, I couldn’t give in to my instincts.”

“Why?”

He twirled a strand of her hair around his finger. “Because you’re different. I knew if I ever got my cock inside of you, I wouldn’t want to come back out. I knew the moment I joined us together, I’d want to keep you. And the last thing I need is an old lady. I’m not good mate material. I’m too fucked up in the head.”