Page 17 of Ghost

“Ghost…” Steel straightens his spine, taking a deep breath. “You’ve been found guilty of lying to your club. For welcoming an associate of our rivals and bringing war to your brothers. Let this brand be a reminder I’m not giving you another chance. If you lie to me or the club again, there will be no more mercy. Do you understand and accept your punishment?”

“I do.”

Steel glances behind me and nods, signaling Havoc and Soul to grab my arms. I don’t plan on fighting them because I deserve what’s coming, but that’s not why they do it. My body will react whether I accept this or not.

Steel steps forward, and all eyes in the Shack are focused on me. Legacy’s jaw ticks as he watches me over Steel’s shoulder, while Chaos stands back, indifferent about the situation.

I block them all out and focus on Steel.

The man who handed me my cut when I finished my year as a prospect. The man who gave me the club—a home. The man who reminded me I had a reason to keepfighting when I was ready to ride until my tires found their way off a cliff.

I’m not good at much. I got mediocre grades in school and didn’t get a formal education past my senior year. Apart from fixing bikes and working on computers, nothing else really made sense to me.

But Steel saw past my failings and understood my unique gifts. He helped me find a purpose. While most people treated me like a pariah for my lack of social skills, Steel understood me. He handed me the computers to hide behind, and he gave me the club to protect.

Which is what I’ve done up until this point.

As I stand here, I stand for my president—the man whose trust I broke.

“I believe you.” Steel grabs my shoulder with his free hand, squeezing it once as he lifts the brand to my ribs with his other.

The brand meets my skin, and it’s so hot it’s cold. An icy bite that rips through my flesh worse than any bullet wound. My teeth clench so hard they might crack, but I don’t make a sound.

The smell of burning skin floods my nostrils while Soul and Havoc tighten their grip. My body must be reacting, even as I dissociate from the pain, because I’m vaguely aware of the resistance on my arms as the brand eats my flesh.

I close my eyes and try to remember how I ended up here.

Why I’m still here at all.

If punishment is what I deserve for failing people, then maybe Steel should lift the brand and keep going. He could toss my body into the coals so I could finally repent for all the suffering my life has caused.

I clench my jaw, accepting this pain for every person who is six feet under because of me. And when Steel pulls the brand away, there’s no relief. Even as my arms are freed and my head swims from the adrenaline and pain, there’s no peace to be found.

There isn’t enough forgiveness in heaven to grant my soul an escape from hell.

“It’s done.” Steel looks around the room, still holding the branding iron tight in his grip. “Ghost accepted the punishment of the club, so now we focus on the problem at hand. The Iron Sinners are coming for us—for Luna. We need to figure out why.”

“You got it, Prez,” Chaos answers, watching me from the corner of his eye.

He’s still fresh out of prison after going down for the club, so he isn’t as understanding about what I did as some of the others.

Legacy steps forward, handing me my T-shirt. “Go find Patch and get that burn cleaned up before it gets infected. I gotta get home to Bea.”

He stalks away, angrier now that I’ve taken my punishment than he was before. But I can’t tell who he’s mad at. Me for betraying the club, or Steel for following through on what had to be done.

Soul and Havoc meet Chaos at the side of the room, slowly shuffling out after Legacy, but Steel stays behind with me, setting the iron back in the coals.

The bright orange glow lights his face while he thinks.

I slip my T-shirt back on, and it hurts to lift my arms over my head. Pain radiates through my whole body when the fabric brushes the freshly branded skin. I clench my teeth, and Steel must notice because he finally turns to face me.

“Remember what you said to me a few months ago on that first night Tempe came here?” Steel wipes his forehead with the back of his hand. “You said, ‘If she’s not involved, she’s not safe.’”

“I remember.”

When Steel’s old lady first showed up at our clubhouse, he didn’t want to believe she was just a pawn being used by our rivals. He thought she was guilty, but I knew there was something we were missing, and I was right.

“Same goes for Luna right now.” Steel walks up to me. “If she’s not involved, she’s not safe, and you brought her here, Ghost. You need to face why you did that—why you lied to your club for this girl. Why you took a brand for this girl. Why you betrayed your brothers for this girl.”

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