Page 33 of Ghost

“When I worked at Soft Tails, I thought for sure he was into Syn the way he watched her, but then nothing.” Sami stood and walked her glass to the sink.

“Oh, he was into Syn, it just didn’t last. He doesn’t want a woman to be his slave. The woman is going to need to be strong, but able to release control to him. Syn isn’t exactly what he’s looking for,” Carly said and handed her glass to Sami when she reached for it.

“Look at you, Ms. Intuitive,” Bailey said.

“Whatever, bite me,” Carly replied and stood. “Now that we’ve gotten to know Luna, helped her unpack, and had a good gossip session, let’s go outside and take a look at her bike. I’ve been dying to see it up close. Plus, I’m stoked that you ride. I can’t get these bitches interested,” Carly said and headed out of the kitchen.

I took mine and Bailey’s glasses to the sink before I followed the women. As I walked through the house I looked around the living room. With their help, Brax and I were well on our way to settling into the place. We still needed some things, but it was at least a start.

“Where is the best place to buy furniture?” I asked as Carly opened the front door and we all walked out.

Before we reached my bike, we had a plan set for the upcoming week. And as Carly and I talked about the best roads to ride, any nerves about moving and settling into a new place were washed away.

I was home.

Chapter Sixteen

Ghost

As I rode up, Luna sat on the porch with her feet crossed on the rail, looking more than relaxed. I pulled to the side, shut off my bike, dismounted, and made my way to the porch.

“Did you have a good day, baby?” I asked as I walked up the few steps.

“I did. How about you? Is the building going to suit the club’s need?”

“Yeah, everything looks doable. Already met with the contractor, he’ll work up an estimate. Long as it doesn’t come in outlandishly high, the club will have two more businesses.”

“That’s great. You want to sit out here with me for a bit or do you want to go in?”

“Let me grab a beer and I’ll be back.”

I went inside, grabbed a beer out of the fridge and poured Luna a glass of tea. As I headed back through the house I glanced around the living room and noticed the boxes were gone and the books were on the shelf along with my Blue-rays. My military plaques and the few pictures I had were leaning against the wall. But what caught my attention was the wooden boxes that sat on the mantle of the fireplace with pictures of various sizes spread across with them.

Sitting the drinks down on the end table, I moved to the fireplace and picked up the first photo. BJ’s gray eyes, so like mine, looked out from it. He was four when it was taken, and he wore elbow and knee pads with his biking helmet on while he straddled the seat on his first big boy bike. I sat it down and moved to the next one. He stood on the top step of the bus, the first day he’d ridden it to school, a smile on his face and his hand waving goodbye. There were various pictures of Stormy with BJ, too. But the picture that captured my attention was the one in the middle.

I picked the photo up and with my free hand, I ran my fingers down the glass in the frame. Looking at it, the same feeling surfaced as the day it was taken.

“When the women helped me unpack today, I came across a box with the pictures and a few photo albums in it.”

I hadn’t heard Luna come in. I kept my back to her and continued to hold the picture.

“Yeah, I never unpacked them. They were part of the things I had shipped here. I never could bring myself to pull them out.”

“Are you upset I did?” I heard the unsureness in her voice when she asked.

“I’d missed BJ’s birth. This picture was taken a few hours after I got back from my first mission as a SEAL. It was the first time I saw and held him. He was three weeks old. I’ve never felt anything close to what I felt in that moment.”

I set the picture back in its place, then waved my hand to include them all when I spoke again.

“Out of all of these. I was gone when seventy-five percent of them were taken.” I laid a hand on top of each box. “They were mine to protect and I failed them. These are reminders of my failure.”

“Bullshit!” Luna said as her arms wrapped around my waist and she laid her head against my back. “You can’t control everything. They didn’t die because you weren’t there to protect them. They died because some asshole spent the night getting sloshed and didn’t care about his own life enough to not drive. Stormy and BJ were the casualty of his disregard. Look at me.”

Luna loosened her arms enough for me to turn around, then she tightened them again and tilted her head back to look up at me.

“You’re the best man I know. I didn’t set any of it out to make you feel bad. They were a part of you, Brax. Everything that happens, every fraction of our lives makes us who we are. And you wouldn’t be the man you are without having them in your life. Regardless of the amount of time.”

“When I first got here, guilt that I was alive ate at me. And now, as irrational as it is, guilt that I’m getting a second chance at happiness.”

---