Page 121 of American Hellhound
Ghost eased down onto the curb in front of the truck and Maggie sat down beside him, their shoulders pressed together.
“I’m pretty sure my mom hates me,” she said. “But I can’t imagine she’d want medead.”
“Your mom’s a bitch, but she doesn’t sell coke to schoolkids either. We ain’t exactly dealing with normal here.”
“Yeah, but you’re hisfamily. That means something, no matter what somebody does to earn a living.”
“Family don’t mean shit to him.”
“Why do you think he tried to have you killed?” she asked, changing tactics.
He sighed. “Just trust me, okay?” When he risked a glance, she was frowning at him. “Fine. Look, the guy said it. That Duane promised ‘blood for blood’ or some shit. That they had his blessing to kill one of us.”
Her frown deepened. “Us? Who was with you?”
He shouldn’t tell her. He really shouldn’t. “Roman.”
“Shit.”
“And Justin, but he was drunk. So.”
She chewed her lip a moment. “Promise not to freak out when I tell you this.”
“I’m never gonna make that promise.”
“Ghost.”
“Just tell me.”
“I ran into Roman on Friday. I was coming out of the bathroom, and he was there–”
“Where the fuck was Jackie?” he snapped, feeling betrayed.
“I don’t know. But listen. He said something to me. He said he wanted me to keep you at home. Distracted. He said ‘they’ wanted that.”
He shut his eyes a moment, which intensified the throbbing pain in his side. He reached blindly for the tumbler of Jack he’d brought outside – it slid into his hand and he knew Maggie had helped – and drained it, willing the burn to dull this intense new spike of hatred for Roman.
“Why didn’t you tell me before?” he asked when he could.
“Ugh, you’re missing the point.”
“You werealonewith him.”
“For less than a minute. In which he suggested I keep you away from the club because they, quote, didn’t need you around. Ghost, they’re trying to push you out! How do you know Duane set the deal up?”
“He sent us there.”
“Yeah, but how do you knowhewas the one who wanted you dead? Maybe it was Roman.”
His increasingly-rabid thoughts screeched to a halt. Shuffled and laid themselves out like cards.
“Crap,” Aidan muttered as he failed to make the jump again.
It made sense. In a twisted way. Roman had long worked to best Ghost in everything from bike maintenance to coffee-fetching. The brown-noser lived to please Duane, and his efforts had worked: he far outshone Ghost as a Lean Dog. But murder? He hadn’t considered it before now. But they were outlaws. And not very loyal ones at that. What was one more crime?
“Shit,” he breathed, and regretted that his glass was empty.
“I know it’s not my place,” Maggie said. “But I think it’s time for you to take some control over this club. That or…”
