I shook my head in answer, and then bit into my sandwich and moaned. “No one’s made me my favorite in so long, I can’t remember.”
His smile told me he was glad I liked it. Dare may’ve been an asshole big brother at times, but he’d always been there when I needed him.
Until he wasn’t.
“Is your mom still in Cherokee?” he asked.
“She’s in Bryson now, teaching third grade again. She prefers elementary. How’s your dad? Is he still in the military?”
“He retired and works as a security consultant. I came to visit and fell in love with the area.” He shrugged. “I miss Cherokee. You know I loved the mountains. I worked as a backcountry guide when I first came to Chattanooga, but then met the MC and my wolf told me we’d found home.”
“I didn’t think motorcycle clubs let black people in.” I’ve never danced around the fact he’s black, no need to start now.
He swallowed a bite of steak as he looked at me and considered how to answer. “Tell me what you know of the other brothers?”
I’d wondered a few times, but figured it was crazy to think I’d found more werewolves. Still though, with Dare part of them…
“Slick usually knows when something’s wrong,” I told him, considering what I’d noticed. “All of them can hear things they shouldn’t be able to. They say it’s the old ductwork — I always figured the rooms have microphones or cameras, but I suppose it’s possible they’re all wolves.”
He shook his head. “Everyone isn’t a wolf, and I can’t tell you who is and who isn’t, but in a club with supernaturals, the color of our human skin doesn’t mean shit.”
I smiled. “I’m happy for you.”
He sighed. “I’m serious about moving you in here until we figure something out. I don’t know if your hand can be fixed or not, but I’ll look into it. It might take a month or two for me to arrange a meeting. If it can’t be fixed, do you think you can teach? Or maybe something else in the music industry? Does your mom know you’re whoring yourself out?”
Dare and I have always had an explosive relationship, and I was suddenly the fifteen-year-old who’d just been caught screwing her boyfriend in the backseat of his car, and I went into defensive mode.
“No, and don’t you dare tell her! She’s finally straightened her life back out and pulled herself out of the dumps after your stupid dad dumped her! It’s my life, and I’ll do whatever the hell I want with it!”
“I’m sorry for the way my dad left your mom. It was a shit thing for him to do. I’m sorry I didn’t find a way to stay in touch. He made me feel like I had to choose sides, and I chose him.” He shrugged. “You know I did whatever I could to get his love and attention when he was home. I’ve grown up since then though, and I go to him on my terms now — but I defied him by not joining the military, and by driving to the jail to see my mom. I didn’t have it in me to go against him to see you, too. I’m sorry.”
The old Dare would’ve told me to calm down or he’d calm me down. His apology took the wind out of my sails.
“It felt like he only stayed married to her so you’d have a place to stay while he was deployed. It felt like he used us. It felt like ya’ll used us.”
Chapter 3
Ghost
I shook my head because I didn’t know, not because the answer was no.
“He never told me his reasons, but I can’t believe he’d have used Aggie that way.”
“And yet, as soon as you graduated, ya’ll were gone.”
“I know, Hailey. I know. All I can tell you is he’s still single. As far as I know, he hasn’t had a serious relationship since the divorce. He buries himself in work, and the only vacations he’s taken have been adventure trips with me. We made it to the top of Mount Rainier a few months ago, and we’re making plans to hike to some of the Mayan ruins.”
“They married fast, after only dating a few weeks — just in time for us to move in with you before he had to leave again.”
When my mom had gone to prison, I’d gone into a foster home and it’d been weeks before my dad was told. His chain of command decided his mission was more important than the fact his son was in the foster care system. He'd managed to come home for six months to square things away, and it was true he’d married Aggie within weeks of their first date. Hailey’s mom was teaching at the rez school, living in a little camper on the reservation with Hailey. They’d mostly killed what they ate, and hadn’t made many trips to the grocery store.
“I don’t know his reasons, and I’m sorry he hurt your mom.” He’d bought a nice house in Cherokee, plenty big for a four-person family. Hell, the living room had been bigger than the little camper they’d been living in. He’d also made sure there was enough money so everyone had what they needed, but my guess was Hailey didn’t want to be reminded of the good parts, so I didn’t bring it up.
Time to change the subject. “Why the name change to Ruby?” I didn’t learn Hailey’s name is actually Suli until a year after I met her. She said she’d wanted a normal name, and her mom hadn’t forced her to use her Cherokee name.
“All the girls use fake names with the johns — it’s another way to keep our distance. They don’t know who we really are. I didn’t have a name when I started, and the guy I worked for at the time told me I’d be Ruby. Later, I dyed my hair red and it fit.”
“I hate your hair that color, but at least it’s still long.”
She rolled her eyes and smiled. “Well, the nearly-shaved look suits you.” Her face sobered. “Is your mom still in prison?”
When I was young — before my parents divorced — my dad was gone on missions a lot. He was a Navy SEAL, and me and mom were on our own for sometimes months and months at a time. My mom’s best friend had started dating someone new, and mom had let the two of them convince her to help them make meth. I now know that my mom wasn’t good at managing money, so my dad put enough into the checking account to pay the bills and buy food and gas, and if she wanted more money she had to either ask him, or go to his financial guy to get more. He believed in saving money, not spending every cent as soon as you got it, and she believed it was stupid to have money and not spend it. He told her to get a job if she wanted extra spending money, and she decided cooking meth qualified as getting a job.
Unfortunately, they were caught and she was sent to prison for eighteen years. She’d beat the hell out of another inmate a few weeks in, but had behaved since. She’s been in fourteen years, and will be up for parole later this year. My father had been pissed from the start, but when he found out I’d been watching TV a few rooms away while they cooked meth, he’d gone through the roof and started divorce proceedings right away.
“Yeah,” I answered. “She’s still in Raleigh, though she’s in medium security now and no longer in the maximum protection area. My wolf hates being locked in when I visit, so we write letters to each other, and she calls me every other Monday afternoon.”
She looked surprised, and I shrugged. “You know my dad wouldn’t let me visit or have anything to do with her, even though I wanted to see her. I found out later, she tried to petition the judge to force him to let me visit, but my dad’s attorneys argued I’d had trouble adjusting and a visit would compound the issues.” I shrugged again. “She put me in danger and my dad couldn’t forgive her for it. When I went to see her once I turned eighteen, I just felt sorry for her. She fucked her life up and she knows it. I’m not sure what kind of life she’ll have when she gets out. She’s forty-four years old and she’s been in since she was thirty. She just… lost those years.”
“You had to run away from your foster home on the full moon! You were still too new of a wolf to fight the change, and you couldn’t let them know about you! Did he use your running away to keep her from you?”
I nodded in answer. For years, just being reminded of the weeks I’d spent locked into the secure group home made me have to walk outside and breathe to regain control. I’m better now, but still claus
trophobic as fuck. It didn’t matter that I came back to my foster family on my own the next day, the social worker had labeled me a flight risk and locked me up, and I had no way to contact my dad. I’d been all alone. I’d been so pissed at my mom — it’d been months before I asked my dad if I could see her, and I hadn’t questioned him about his reasons when he’d said I couldn’t. Of course, not many people question my dad about his reasons for anything.
Now though, I just felt sorry for her. She’d made horrible decisions, but I thought she’d more than paid for them. Unfortunately, no one cared what I thought.
My phone gave the video-chat ring, and I picked it up to see a call from Brain. I answered to Brain’s huge smile, and he scanned the phone around so I could see a room full of people, with Gen in a hospital bed in the midst of it all, Duke by her side, both staring at the adorable baby in her arms.
“He’s beautiful! And it looks like mom and baby are okay? Do we finally get to find out his name?”
Duke grinned and said, “Everyone’s perfect. I’d like to introduce you to Roman Maddox Bevering. We’re going to call him Max.”
“Little Max is precious. You did good, Duchess.”
We talked a few more minutes, and when I disconnected, Hailey said, “I’ve met Brain once, but I haven’t met Duke. He’s the president, right?”
I nodded. “His wife just had their first son. I was only at the whore hotel tonight because we’re short staffed with so many people at the hospital. I sometimes chaperone some of our out-call submissives to make sure scenes don’t go too far, but I’m rarely at the hotel.”
Hailey stood, collected the dishes, and took them to the sink. Her scent told me she was pissed, but she didn’t say anything and I decided not to ask questions. I didn’t know this Hailey. I wanted to, but I wasn’t sure how to get there. We grew up together. She knows me better than probably any other woman on the planet — my mother included.
I never once considered whether I’d help her or not. As soon as I saw her, my wolf and I were in agreement she had to come with us and we had to help her. I just had to figure out the best way to set her on another path.
I watched as she rinsed the dishes and put them in the dishwasher, and then washed the pan. I pointed to the cabinet it went in when she asked, but I was considering all the things we needed to discuss.
I couldn’t talk to her about vampires — or the healing properties of vampire blood — until I got permission to tell her about them. Plus, I didn’t personally know any of the Lugat vampires, and had no idea the price they’d ask for enough of their blood to heal her — if it was even possible after so long, which wasn’t a given.
I thought I’d smelled lust through the bathroom door while she was in the shower, but when she’d been in the room with me, I’d only smelled varying degrees of sadness, anger, and a lingering sense of hopelessness. As a teen, I’d had to ignore her lust. I’d turned her down hundreds of times because my dad told me if we got romantically or physically involved, I’d have to move out of the house. I never wanted to be locked up again, so I made sure Hailey and I stayed brother and sister.
I’d loved her, but I’d had to keep it platonic. I’d fucked every female who didn’t turn me down, though.
And I think it’s possible she had sex at fourteen because I’d told her I wasn’t interested in her that way. When I’d caught her mid-act with the star football player from my school, my wolf had wanted to tear the asshole apart. However, I’d merely threatened to tear him apart before carrying her to my car and driving her a few miles away. I’d then dragged her out of the car, told her I was gonna spank her ass for having sex with an asshole, and then I’d proceeded to do so — and hadn’t stopped until she’d been bawling her eyes out.
This had eventually become a fairly regular occurrence — at least once or twice a month. Her mom took away privileges or grounded her for a really long time, and I always felt guilty when it was a month later and she was still being punished for something I’d gotten her in trouble for. So, I started giving her a choice of my spanking her, or telling her mom.
It was the only time I let myself hold her when I was human, but I’d quickly learned she cuddled with me and pet me when I was a wolf. One night she was crying in her bedroom because an asshole had broken her heart, and I’d shifted and slept with her as a wolf. I’d started doing it more often afterwards — though only when my dad wasn’t home. I could do it without her mom knowing, but my dad would’ve known right away.
My relationship with my dad had always been a little awkward when I was little. I suppose I had a bit of hero worship, and I quickly learned the way to get his attention was to let him teach me stuff. I can fade into the background in plain sight, I’m skilled at a number of fighting styles, I’m an excellent marksman. I’d have probably made a great soldier, but I knew it wasn’t for me. Without Aggie’s influence, without her teaching me to be my own person and not to let others define me, I’m not sure I could’ve stood up to him and refused to become a military man like him.
Aggie had given me unconditional love, and she’d given me confidence I’m not sure I’d have gained without her gentle guidance.
And Hailey had loved my wolf. At an age where I wanted to fight the wolf more than get along with him, she’d shown me he was lovable, too.
So, tonight I went to my master bathroom, disrobed, and changed. The smile she gave me when I returned to the kitchen let me know she was happy to see the wolf. She stooped low, I put my head against her shoulder, and she ran her hands down my body.
And it was exactly as I remembered.
Chapter 4
Hailey
Even when I’d been pissed at the boy, I was never angry with the wolf. I knew they were the same being, but the wolf never pulled any asshole moves — while the boy seemed to live to be a pain in my ass.
Dare was all man now, but he was still interfering in my life. Even so, I was happier to see the wolf than I expected to be.
I chuckled when he nudged me into his bedroom, but I stopped at the bed and asked, “Should I change the sheets? Have you fucked anyone since you last changed them?”
He jumped onto the bed and I took that to mean they were fine, and I got into bed with him. No way would I’ve gotten into bed with Dare, but the wolf and I snuggled. I wasn’t even close to sleepy yet, but it was nice to just lie and relax. Dare’s wolf had been there for me during so many tough times. Or, what I’d thought were tough times. I had no clue what an actual problem consisted of back then.
“Thanks for giving me your wolf for a little while. I’ve missed him.”
He nuzzled my arm, and I kissed the top of his head.
“I’m going to UTC during the day.” I’d spilled my guts to the wolf more times than I cared to remember. Dare’s a good listener, but it’s easier to talk to the wolf. “I’m not a total loser, but hooking’s the only way I can afford tuition and living expenses. I’m getting a couple-thousand dollars a year from the Cherokee nation to help with tuition, but it’s still really expensive.”
He snuggled into me more, and I figured he wanted to know my major. “I want to be a creative director somewhere. I’m majoring in Business Management and minoring in Nonprofit Management. Music is my life. If I can’t make it anymore, I want to help others polish it and get it out to the public.”
I giggled as he touched his nose to my cheek as if he kissed it “I love laying with you like this, but I’m not even close to sleepy.” He swiveled his head to look at the nightstand, and I followed his gaze and saw a television remote.
The wolf grumbled when I stopped on The History Channel, but he didn’t get up and leave.
“My first class is at ten tomorrow morning. My cellphone alarm is set for seven. If we leave here by eight and you take me to my car, I’ll have time to go home, get ready, and make it to class on time.”
He grumbled again, and I remembered his wolf brain doesn’t do math or times very well. “When my phone makes noise
we have to get up, and you’ll have to change back to human.”
* * *
I awakened alone in bed the next morning to the smell of bacon. Dare was a man again, and I was going to have to face him. It wasn’t quite seven yet, so I turned the alarm off and walked into the bathroom. Dare had left a new toothbrush and a tube of toothpaste on the sink, and I wondered if he bought them in bulk for all the women he brought home.
I peed, brushed my teeth, washed my face again, finger-combed my hair and put it back into a ponytail, and finally went to the kitchen.
“Did you sleep okay?” he asked, his back to me as he cooked. He’d put on jeans, but wasn’t wearing a shirt and I turned away to keep from staring at the muscles of his back and arms — and the way his waist tapered into his jeans.
“I always sleep good with your wolf by my side. Thanks.” Instead of bitching once again about him pulling me from my job, I said, “Thanks for the toothbrush, too.”
“Don’t mention it. I sent Knife to the store for size five jeans and a shirt, and underwear, and a girly hairbrush. Anything else you need? We’ll be heading to your place from here so you can get your books before class, but I didn’t figure you’d want to go in wearing my sweats and shirt.”
My miniskirt had been a size three. I guess he thought it’d been too tight. I shook my head. “I can wear what I wore last night. He doesn’t have to get me new clothes. I’ll change into jeans at home, before I go to class.”
“I threw the miniskirt in the trash. Kept the bra in case you want to wear it under your other clothes, but it won’t be worn as a single garment again.”
I sighed, but didn’t argue about the bra. “Size three jeans.”
“The skirt was a three and it was too tight.”
I glared at him, and he rolled his eyes and spent a few seconds sending a text. I hoped that meant I’d get size three jeans, but didn’t ask.
Ghost: The Rolling Thunder Motorcycle Club, Book 8 Page 2