Page 11 of Ghost

“It’s nothing,” I lied, not wanting him to make a big deal of things. His eyes widened, unable to hide his disbelief at what he was seeing.

I knew he was pissed; I could see the wheels turning in his head.

My pop had never been the kind of man who let anyone fuck with his family, especially when it came to my brother and me.

Unfortunately, he was going to have to stow that shit for later.

I would be the one to handle the motherfuckers who jumped my ass. Knowing they were on borrowed time was the only thing keeping me sane and no one, not even my father, was taking that from me.

“Nothing, my ass,” he growled, taking the chair next to me.

“You shouldn’t be here, Pop.” My eyes slammed shut when I tried to scoot higher up the bed inadvertently knocking the air out of my lungs.

Definitely had a few broken ribs.

“Three fuckin’ months they’ve been keeping us from seeing you, Son. I knew something was up when they tried to block me again,” he said, nodding toward the door. “Told that fat fucker if he didn’t let me see you today, I was going to bring the club down on his ass.” Worry creased his brow as he looked me over again.

“Why doesn’t that surprise me?” I groaned, holding onto my side as my body reminded me why talking should be kept to a minimum.

Fuck, that hurt.

“Fucking bullshit.”

I sighed carefully. Yeah, it was, but there wasn’t shit we could do about it.

“I’m surprised they let you in at all. It’d be bad publicity if word got out the guards were beating on inmates.” I didn’t go into more detail. My pop was having a hard enough time seeing me like that.

"Got a nanny for the kid," he said, changing the subject and reminding me why I needed to get the fuck out of there.

My baby girl—Payton.

That was another thing that would need to be dealt with once I was free. Tracking down her mother. That crazy bitch waited until I was locked up before coming out of the gutter and dropping my baby girl on Banner’s doorstep. She would pay once I found her.

“Bishop.” I cringed at my father’s use of my government name.

“Yeah.” I shook my head. “I’m listening. The nanny…” I trailed off waiting for him to continue.

“Name's Rae. Came highly recommended. Your brother and his old lady approve too.”

“Ray?” My fists clenched and I saw black just thinking about another man watching over my little girl. I knew the times were different and gender roles were a thing of the past, but Payton was my daughter. Fuck, I hadn’t even seen her yet and another man was doing my job.

Sensing how much the news affected me, Pop grabbed onto my shoulder and squeezed. “The kid needed someone other than me, Ghost. I couldn’t keep rotating club whores in and out of your house.” He shook his head. “My granddaughter deserves better than that. It’s only temporary until you get out of this shithole, Son.”

“Yeah,” I grunted. I didn’t like it, but he was right. My baby girl didn’t need a string of bitches coming in and out of her life after the shit her mother had done. “I’ll be out soon enough.”

With any luck Bianchi would pick up the pace and work his fucking magic to get me out of there.

Pop opened his mouth to say something else but was cut off when the door opened and in walked the warden.

Here we go.

Pop’s eyes narrowed on the warden and the coward looked away, refusing to make eye contact.

His ass was on my list, too. There was no way he didn’t know what his fucking men did behind the prison walls. The beatings I’d taken were probably sanctioned through him.

Fucker.

“Times up, St. James. I let you see him, now you need to leave,” he said shakily.

---