“Scar’s paranoia doesn’t care,” Tally reminded Ghost over the phone. Probably not realizing he’d been speaking to Scar, or continuing her translation of his actions. “He does this anytime there’s someone new on property. It’s just how he is, but he stops the moment he’s sure that that person can be trusted, Ghost. Honestly, I’m surprised you even knew he was there.”
Ghost glanced down at Becks, who had stopped shaking at least. “He turned on the light.”
The noises from the other end of the call quieted. “He what?”
“He turned on the light,” Ghost repeated. “Becks was walking back from the bathroom in the dark and he turned on the light.” Which caused her to scream bloody murder and for Ghost to jump out of bed ready for battle.
“That’s actually… That’s really good, Ghost.”
Ghost had to suppress his frustrated tone. “Really? Because I’m failing to see how.”
“You just said she was walking back from the bathroom in the dark.” It sounded like Tally was running. Their house was secluded on the other side of the property, but it wasn’t like the darkness of night mattered to Tally. “He turned on the light to help her see, Ghost. Meaning, he’s already made up his mind that she’s not going to harm you.”
Ghost supposed,maybe, in the smallest, slightest definition of the meaning, he could possibly understand Scar’s actions. Maybe. In Scar’s mind, he was helping Becks make it back to bed. Fuck.
Still keeping a tight hold of Becks, Ghost looked across the bed at his club brother. “Thank you for trying to help her,” he said through gritted teeth. He really couldn’t punish Scar for trying to help in his way. Damn him. “But in the future, don’t enter our bedroom without permission.”
Scar nodded once. Then held out his hand for the phone. Ghost threw it to him, which he easily caught. Scar put the phone to his ear and listened for a moment. Pursing his lips, he blew a thin stream of air into the mouthpiece. It was almost like a whistle, but not quite as defined. He hung up the phone and tossed it onto Ghost’s bed before slipping behind the long curtains and out the window.
At least he had the decency to close the pane before he jumped down. Something as pesky as heights or the fact that they were on the second floor mattered little to someone like Scar.
Ghost looked down at Becks, and asked in all seriousness, “Is this a bad time to remind you that there’s no take backs?”
The coolnessof the table did nothing to help Becks’ headache. Ghost had done his best to soothe Becks after their midnight visitor left, but she was still rattled. She’d heard about Scar from Liam, butnothing, no amount of stories, could have prepared her forthat. And the fact that Ghost defended him, like what he had done was normal around here? Yeah, not exactly the introduction to the club Becks had been hoping for.
Ghost was at the stovetop cooking them both scrambled eggs. Since Liam and he had been gone for a long weekend, they hadn’t gone grocery shopping leading up to their departure. Though Becks wasn’t even that hungry, Ghost insisted.
“There’s not enough coffee in the world for today,” Becks grumbled, her voice muffled by the wooden table.
“I already talked to Tally and Bulldog this morning, and Scar knows he’s not allowed in our bedroom anymore. And there’s no law that says we can’t go back to bed after breakfast.”
Becks groaned, because as good as going back to bed sounded, she knew her body. If she took a nap this morning or this afternoon, she’d struggle to fall asleep tonight, and the vicious cycle would continue. She just had to power through, and maybe go to bed early tonight.
Sitting up, she reached for the coffee cup Ghost had poured her when she’d first sat down. “Look, I know Scar has some…trauma,” Becks hedged carefully. “Liam told me about his accident at the bridge?—”
“What did Ranger tell you, specifically?”
Ghost came over to the table with their plates of eggs and toast. Becks was grateful he hadn’t gone heavy on their breakfast. She didn’t think her stomach could handle that rightthen. She wasn’t a morning person anyway, but the lack of sleep topped with the midnight scare and her nerves about meeting the clubandsleeping in a new environment was making her extra irritable.
Becks thought back two years ago when she’d gotten that phone call from her brother. He’d lost men in combat before, but losing a club brother had hit him worse. “The club thought Scar was dead. He’d been shot, and went over the rail of a bridge.”
Ghost nodded as he took his seat. “We thought he was dead for nearly three months.”
“And I’m not saying he doesn’t have the right to have some quirks. Obviously, you guys love him and he cares enough about you to sneak into our room in the middle of the night to check on you, but what I don’t understand iswhyyou are defending him. I wasnaked, Ghost. He was in our room and we were both naked. What if we’d been having sex?”
Becks was glad to see Ghost’s frown deepen at the reminder that they’d been undressed. “Look, this is going to sound really weird, but to someone like Scar, nudity doesn’t really matter.”
Becks rolled her head on her shoulders and tried to take a calming breath. It didn’t work as well as she’d been hoping it would. “Is he a nudist or something?”
Ghost chuckled, raising his coffee mug to his lips. “No,” he answered after taking a sip. “More like, Scar doesn’t notice such things. He assesses threats, not breasts.”
Becks’ eyes narrowed on her husband. “Did you seriously just try to make a joke right now? Of all the times for you to grow a sense of humor,nowis the time you decide to do it?”
Ghost held up both hands in surrender. “You’re right. That was a bad choice of words.” More earnestly, he said, “I don’t know what Ranger has told you, so I’m going to give you theCliffsNotesversion. Scar is former Delta Force. Do you know what that is?”
Becks nodded. “Beyond the Hollywood version, Liam talked about going that route with our dad when he first joined, but decided to become an Army Ranger instead.” Delta Force was the elite, and if she understood the military dynamics correctly, they were even more secretive than the Navy SEALs.
“Scar’s entire eight-man team was captured in Afghanistan. They were tortured and killed off one-by-one for weeks. Scar wasn’t born mute. He was tortured and became mute. And yes, he would seem unhinged to the layperson. He goes where he wants and does what he wants because laws and authority mean little to him. None of us know exactly what happened when his team was captured, but Keys was able to uncover a document that hinted the mission they were on had been a setup, and that his commander was in on it. He respected Steel, just as he does me, but at the end of the day, the only person on this planet who has a chance of controlling him is Tally.”
