Becks nodded. Ghost moved to hold up her gown while she wiped. Then he helped her to her feet, even though he wasn’t supposed to be lifting anything heavier than ten pounds until his incision healed. “You know,” she said as she washed her hands, “we’re going to need to come up with a better story than that to tell our children when we talk about our love story. Because there’s no way in hell I am telling them the first time their father told me he loves me is while I was peeing.”
Ghost approached her from behind, wrapping his arms around her middle, and hunching down to rest his chin on her shoulder. He met her reflection’s eyes in the mirror. “Don’t worry. We’ve got about nine months to come up with a lie.”
CHAPTER 19
Something was going on with Keys, and with everything else Ghost had going on, he didn’t appreciate feeling like he had to babysit his tech too. Today was the town’s memorial for the four victims of the bombing, and Ghost had his hands full with his injured, pregnant wife who was currently wheelchair bound—per Ghost’s, not the doctor’s orders—until the stitches in her feet came out.
Before Becks let drop a clue about Cameron saying that the bomb makers had been brothers who had a beef with the bar, there had been growing speculation that Cameron and Ritchie had figured out how to build the device. Soon after, brothers Hershel and Dennis, the local moonshine peddlers, were arrested and charged with the murders of Francene Archer, Monica Winslow, Drucilla Dendinger, and Deputy Scott Pan.
Becks had been devastated when she learned about the deaths from the explosion. Ghost had held her in her hospital bed as she wept for one person she knew and three people she hadn’t. He’d even allowed himself the opportunity to mourn, something he’d kept himself from doing while hunting for Becks and Ranger.
When Ranger and Lucky had come to Ghost six weeks ago and had told him he needed to start delegating more, he was sure neither of them would have ever imagined this current reality to actually get Ghost to listen. But regardless of the why, they’d certainly gotten their wish. Ghost was now delegating even the smallest of tasks out while he took care of himself and Becks. Loretta and Libby stayed as long as they could, but eventually both had to return to their lives and jobs. There was a plan, though, for Loretta to move up to Mount Grove by the summer’s end.
Ranger was back in Ghost and Becks’ house, though he clearly wasn’t happy about it. Then again, he wasn’t happy about much these days. He had daily meetings with Dr. Rutenberg, whom Ghost was considering keeping on retainer as the club’s official therapist. Enough of them had sessions with him, including Becks and Ghost now.
When Becks had told Ghost what Cameron had done to Ranger, he’d been disgusted. Not at Ranger, but at what had been done to him. No one, man or woman, should ever have their consent taken away from them, and regardless of if Ranger had been aware of what had been happening to him, he was in no mental condition to have consented to anything.
As far as Ghost knew, Ranger had not mentioned the rape to anyone. Ghost certainly hadn’t known, though there was a chance that Tessa did and not shared. But with Ranger’s growing irritation and overall frustrations with the world as a whole, Becks and Ghost had decided to bring it up to Dr. Rutenberg. Additionally, Ghost wanted the doctor aware because it was Becks’ trauma too. The assault might not have been made against her body, but she’d been forced to watch her brother suffer through it. While Dr. Rutenberg did not confirm or deny what it was Ranger knew or discussed with him, he did hintthat there were many traumas that he was helping Ranger to overcome.
It seemed as good as they were going to get for now.
The bar was utterly destroyed, and there was very little that could be salvaged. Even the stores on either side, which thankfully had been empty at the time of the explosion, were also condemned. In a way, it was déjà vu to many in the club, feeling like they’d just gone through this exact thing last year when Jenna’s children’s consignment store,Little Shoes, had been destroyed. The club had rebuilt it and now ran it without her, because they voted that it was a necessary and helpful convenience to the parents within the town. Now they had to make the decision about rebuilding the bar.
But today was not the day to make that decision. No, today was a day of mourning.
Sissy and Scissors from their sister clubNon Crashad driven cross country to attend, even though it sounded like their club had their own issues going on too. Lucky had hinted it was the same thing that was going on with Keys, but until the kid approached Ghost and asked him for his help, he was dealing with whatever was happening on his own. Though there was a rumor circulating around the club that Keys had laid into Poison,Non Cras’president, and Ghost was honestly interested in seeing the outcome of that. He wouldn’t let Poison seriously harm Keys, but if the tech had disrespected her, he’d allow Poison to get a few hits in.
All Ghost knew was Keys better get his head out of his ass for today of all days.
Since Ghost was still restricted on driving his motorcycle, and Becks was in no condition to be riding anyway, they were taking one of the club’s SUVs. Bear was riding in front of the procession. Every man, woman, and child within the club had a black band over their left upper arm. Ghost’s cut had beendestroyed in the blast, as had Grumpy’s. Demo had had to rush order replacements for today, which thankfully had come in time.
Grumpy would not be attending the memorials. He was in no condition to leave the hospital yet, but he was getting better. Following ORIF, or Open Reduction and Internal Fixation, surgery where his left eye was removed and he had multiple plates and screws put in to fix his zygomatic, maxilla, and lower mandible bones, he was kept on low sedation with a heavy dose of antibiotics. He was on a high protein and high calorie pureed diet, including burn shakes multiple times a day. But it would be a long road to recovery, and not just because he now had to learn how to live as a one-eyed man.
In good spirits, Pirate had already warned Grumpy that he was not giving up his road name that Scotty had given him, though he was willing to lend Grumpy the pirate eye patch that Scotty had gifted him.
Pumpkin, Dosia, and their kids were struggling. JJ and SJ were old enough to understand that Frankie was not coming back, and both were having a hard time accepting that. Frankie wasn’t a frequent flyer at the bar, but that night, she’d just wanted to blow off some steam. Pumpkin was struggling not to feel guilty that he hadn’t invited her to family night, even though the kids had begged him to. He thought he was being considerate, basically kicking Frankie out of the house and forcing her to have a social life that didn’t involve his offspring.
The club was hurting, and it was compounded because the wounds from the year before were still not fully healed. No one thought they would be gathering for another funeral, let alone four of them, so soon after Melanie’s.
When everyone was loaded up, with the SUVs packed with club kids, Bear made the signal, and the procession moved out.
“What the fuckare we doing out here?”
It had been like pulling teeth to get Ranger out into the woods that filled the east side of the club’s property, but finally a little after midnight, they were traipsing through the brush. After the emotional exhaustion of the memorials, in addition to the club’s ceremony to add property patches to both Frankie’s and Monica’s graves and then returning to the clubhouse where they added shadow boxes to the club’sIn Memoriamwall next to Lionheart’s and Melanie’s cuts, it was completely understandable that Becks had passed out before seven p.m.. As much as Ghost wanted to join her in bed and hold her until they became one entity, he couldn’t. Not until he dealt with her brother.
Deep in the woods was a secret only three people in the world knew: Ghost, Steel, and Scar. Not even Lucky and Bulldog had been clued in, but Ranger was about to be. Sometimes giving bodies to pigs to dispose of was just too messy, and then there was the business of finding the teeth afterwards. At one point the club had considered getting chickens, but the amount of chickens needed to dispose of a body would be ridiculous, and the club wasn’t that desperate for eggs. Plus poultry tended to attract predatory animals too.
So there was a spot, deep in the woods on club property where the kids would never travel and the police would never suspect to look, where several unmarked graves lay, including Tally’s father and Bree’s rapist.
The moon was near full tonight, giving them ample lighting as they entered a small, cleared area. Ranger stopped walking when he saw their destination, his eyes flying around as hetook in everything. Two ten foot holes were already dug. Beside each was a tarp with two deceased dogs Jasmine had supplied from her vet clinic. The woman was smart enough not to ask questions, and it was a sad fact that many owners did not want ashes or anything to remember their pet by after they passed. Once the human bodies were added to the hole, about four feet of dirt would be piled in and then the dog corpse added on top before it was filled in the rest of the way. While chances of the graves being found were about the same as being bitten by a rabid opossum, it was still never zero. Which was why they disguised the area as a pet cemetery should anyone come looking.
Scar stepped from the shadows, drawing Ranger’s attention to their club brother and the two bound and gagged people he dragged behind him. Not sure what Ranger’s mindset was at the moment, Ghost had not ordered either Cameron or Ritchie to be stripped. In the week plus since Becks’ rescue, the two had been kept in the cellar in the clubhouse that had been soundproofed years ago for the club’s less reputable activities. There was even a convenient drain in the floor that allowed for easy cleanup.
“What is this?” Ranger asked, his back stiff and his hands in fists.
“I was prepared to kill them myself. They took Becks from me, and for six agonizing days, I had no idea where she was, what was happening to her, or if she was even still alive.” Ghost glared across the clearing, allowing all the hatred he felt towards the stepsiblings to bleed through his words. “The things I planned to do to them were endless. They were going to die bloody and screaming bymy handsand no one else’s.”
Both of them heard Ghost’s words and started making protesting noises behind their gags. No one paid any attention to them.
