The scent of sizzling bacon and French brew led him down the stairs and into the kitchen. Despite this technically being Ghost’s house, they’d implemented the same rules as when they’d shared the apartment above the bar: pants were required in public areas. Ghost slept in the nude, but always kept a pair of gray sweatpants near the door in case he was needed for an emergency or to come downstairs.
Seeing Ranger in the kitchen wasn’t a surprise, but seeing Lucky there was. Ghost was prepared to give the two of them the benefit of the doubt, as it had already been decided that Ranger would take Lucky’s place as VP when Lucky was ready to step down. That had been announced a few months back, though Lucky had stipulated that it wouldn’t be for a few years. Still, Steel had had a lot of private meetings with Ghost before Ghost had taken his position, so perhaps this was the VP version.
But Ghost knew that was only wishful thinking as soon as Ranger kicked the chair out across the table from him. “Sit,” he demanded.
Ghost raised an eyebrow. Last time he checked,hewas the president, not Ranger. But then Lucky put a cup of coffee down on the table in front of the open chair instead of handing it straight to Ghost. He turned narrowed eyes on his best friend. “Fuckers. What is this, an intervention?”
“Damn straight it is,” Ranger growled. And then pointed to the chair again. “Sit.”
Ghost did not move an inch towards the cup of coffee that was calling to him like a siren’s song. When Ranger and Ghost just glared at each other, Lucky said more calmly, “Please, Ghost.” And indicated the chair.
Knowing he had far too much to do today to have a fucking staring contest like he was in elementary school again, Ghost walked up to the table and sat. “Let’s get this over with. Is this about being late to the poker run?”
“It is,” Ranger answered without preamble. “It’s also about you being late to Church three times in a row. You being late to your shifts at the bar. You being late for babysitting whatever club kids you volunteered to babysit that day. You being late to Lila and JJ’s ballet recital. You being late to pick up Bree from school. You being late to helping repair Bear’s roof before that blizzard hit in February. You being late to?—”
“I get it,” Ghost snapped, putting up a hand. Motherfucker hadn’t even let him have a sip of coffee before he started laying into him. “What do you want me to do, Ranger? I’m only one person. I can only be in one place at a time.”
Lucky cleared his throat, taking the seat next to Ranger and across from Ghost. “That’s our point, Ghost. You’re not delegating. You’re doing too much, and you’re running yourself ragged. You can’t keep going on like this.”
Ghost picked up the cup of coffee and took a giant swallow, ignoring the burn on the way down. Frankly, it helped wake him up. “I’m fine. Once things slow down, I’ll be able to balance better.”
Ranger, though, shook his head. “Slow down? When are things ever ‘slowing down’? That’s like saying you’ll do something in your ‘down time’ when you were AD.”
Ghost honestly felt like he had less to do when hehadbeen active duty. “It’s my responsibility?—”
“You’re not Steel!”
The room froze. Ranger’s expression was hard, unyielding. He didn’t flinch or wince like he’d said something he regretted. And from Lucky’s expression, this had been something he’d told Rangernotto say.
Ghost’s jaw ticked as he stared down his best friend. “You think I don’t know that? I’m not trying to be. This ismyclub, and things are run differently now that Steel’s gone.”
“That’s not what he means,” Lucky said at the same time Ranger said, “That’s not what I mean.” The two looked at each other before Lucky waved for Ranger to continue. Ranger turned back to Ghost. “I’m not comparing the two of you, but I think—even subconsciously—you’ve convinced yourself that you have to be everywhere at once. You have to do everything he did to be as good of a president as him.”
Ghost, though, was already shaking his head before Ranger had even finished. “The club’s hurting after Melanie, after Steel and Jennaleft. I’m trying to help them through that, notbecomeSteel.”
“The club doesn’t need you to hold our hands,” Lucky said. His voice was gentle, almost paternal. “We need you to lead us—and the best way you can do that is to not kill yourself trying to do everything at once.Delegate, Ghost. You have me, youhave Ranger… Our club is twenty-one members strong plus four prospects.Use us, and take a fucking break.”
Annoyance ran through Ghost, because logic stated that Lucky was right. Yet Ghost was poised to argue. “What would you have me do? Go to the beach and get a tan?”
Ranger snorted, because he knew firsthand how easily Ghost burned. The beach was the last place a ginger like Ghost would be found. It was actually how he’d gotten his moniker in the military. Unlike Ranger and a few of the others who had changed theirs, Ghost had kept his. The running joke during boot camp had been that, due to his complexion, he’d needed to apply so much sunscreen that it made him ‘as white as a ghost’. The name had stuck.
“Actually,” Ranger replied, “you’re coming with me to Alabama. My sister’s getting married on Saturday, remember?”
Ghosthadremembered that Ranger’s younger sister Rebecca, or Becks,wasgetting married on a Saturday and that Ranger was going to the wedding. He’d just forgottenwhichSaturday. But he kept a straight face as he said, “Of course, I remember.”
The look Ranger gave him said that he didn’t buy the bullshit Ghost was selling. “Well, you’re coming with me.”
Ghost blinked. “Am I?”
“You are,” Ranger repeated, not giving an inch. “Cameron can’t go now because of a work conflict so I have an open plus-one space, and you’re taking it.”
Ghost truly had no desire to go to a wedding. “Dude, I haven’t even met your sister. Why would she want me at her wedding?”
Ghost had met various people in Ranger’s family over the years, but his sister was either studying abroad or not in town when Ghost went with Ranger to his mom’s house. Things just never seemed to work out for them to meet. She’d even been scheduled to travel up to Mount Grove a couple of Christmasesago, but her boyfriend—now fiancé—had gotten sick and they’d been unable to attend. Hell, Ghost had even helped move Ranger’s grandmother into a senior living facility a few years back. When she’d passed two months ago, Ghost hadn’t been able to attend the funeral. He’d sent flowers, though. Yet the closest he’d ever come to meeting Ranger’s sister was the few family photos he’d seen of her over the years. She was cute, but young.
Ghost was thirty-seven, going on ninety-two. Ranger was a few years younger at thirty-four, and his sister was late twenties if Ghost remembered correctly. Even saying the word ‘twenties’ made him feel ancient.
“Because my sister is awesome, and she said she’d rather have you there than Cameron anyways.” Ranger added that last part as more of a grumble.
