Page 6 of Ghost

“Youngfolks,” I heard him mumble before he turned and walked out of the storeroom into the main part of the shop.

“Jesus, for a bunch of bikers, everyone sure is gossipy,” I said out loud to the empty room, finished the last shelf, and placed the tools back in the box. When my phone vibrated, I pulled it out of my pocket and slid my thumb across the screen before I lifted it to my ear.

“Yo.”

“Your phone skills are exemplary, brother,” Flirt said, then chuckled.

“Caller ID, dickhead. Not like I didn’t know it was you. What’s up?” I asked.

“Now is that how to talk to an officer of the club? You always have had a problem with authority figures.”

“Oh, that is rich, brother. Besides, after you slept with someone a few hundred times, shouldn’t you be more relaxed with them?”

When no response came from Flirt, I laughed.

“Holy shit, Brax, did you crack a joke?”

“What can I say, I’m one fucking happy guy.”

“Oh, yeah, we should have called you Happy.” Flirt’s sarcastic comment made me laugh harder.

“Did you call to harass my ass, or is there a point to this phone call?”

“Where you at now? Home?”

“Nah, I had some time this morning, so I’m at Buy and Sell. I put the extrashelvingup in the back that Roscoe needed.”

“If you’ve finished, come to the clubhouse, we want to talk with you.”

“You got it. Won’t be long, only need to sweep up,” I said and grabbed the broom out of the small utility closet.

“See you a few, brother,” Flirt said, and the phone clicked, signaling he had disconnected.

It hadn’t taken long for me to clean the storage area. And after I let Roscoe know I was leaving, I was out the back door and on my bike and headed to the clubhouse.

As I rode up to the gate at Black Hawk, the newest prospect stepped out of the guard hut. Lock pledgedin rightafter Devil, Jag, and I had gotten back from San Jose. Now that had been a fucking trip. I hadn’t been the only one who had alife-changingexperience that week. Devil came back to the compound with a sister he hadn’t even known existed.

I slowed the bike enough to give Lock the time to roll the gate open. After a chin lift, I hit the throttle and rode through. The short stretch of road to the clubhouse hadn’t taken long and I was parked and dismounted.

By the time I reached the building, squeals and laughter stopped me in my tracks. When I turned my head in the direction the sounds came from, Ally and Neely popped into sight from the side of the clubhouse. Ally on her bike and Neely pedaling her little legs to keep up as she followed behind on a pink bicycle with training wheels. They spotted me and smiled.

“Hey, ladies. How’s it going?” I asked as they stopped and got off their rides. I smiled when I got a good look at them.

Ally wore jeans, little biker boots, and a black t-shirt with a blue jean vest that had Spider Monkey stitched where aname tagwould be. Neely wore tiny Keds, a fluffy skirt with a ton of colors, and a pink t-shirt with the same blue jean vest over it, but her stitching said Lil’ Sis.

“Hey, Ghost,” Ally yelled from the spot they parked their bikes. I had to give them points. The bicycles sat in a spot between several other bikes. The ones that ran on gas instead of leg power and would have tipped if the girls hadn’t taken care with parking theirs.

I squatted as they approached me. “Nice day to for a ride.”

“Yeah, ‘ceptIhadto ride my bike ‘cause Neelycan’thave a motorcycle yet,” Ally said, then looked over her shoulder at Neely.

“I’slearning. Then Igetsa bike like yours. Dev said,” Neely answered Ally, but looked at me when she said the last part.

Neely might have been shy in the beginning, but it sure hadn’t lasted long. Seemedbeingwith Devil and Bailey, she was coming out of her shell. Her speech wasimproving, too. Shehad a rough start to her life living with her mom. That was until Devil found her in that house dirty and in clothestoosmall, with his mother’s pimp, drug dealer, or whatever the creep was to the woman. Neely’s life definitely took a change for the better that day. Never want to imagine what would have happened if Devil hadn’tcomeacross her that day.

Especially, after the scum wanted to sell her to Devil, and Devil found out she was his sister. The asshole paid for that physically by fists, then later when he was picked up for having kiddy porn on his computer. I figured now, he probably wished he’d chosen better in his life since most prisons’ population wasn’t known to have much tolerance for those who messed with kids.

As for the mom, she’d signed her rights away to Devil since she was on her way to being incarcerated on drug charges and wouldn’t be out anytime soon. Not that I figured Devil would ever let the woman around Neely again.

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