Page 57 of Ghost

He was often the one chosen to watch over the women when they left the clubhouse.

I had seen him shoot. He was good with a gun. Hit his mark every time. The kid was fucking accurate. But a gun wasn’t always an option. He needed to know how to fight, and he needed to bulk up.

When he walked back into the main room, I called him over.

“What do you need, Ghost?”

“I need you to meet me at the gym at five tomorrow morning.”

“Uh, what for?”

“You’re gonna learn to fight.”

“I know how to fight,” he muttered.

“Then you can show me tomorrow morning.” Standing from my stool, I left before he could talk back. Not that he would. Like I said, Archie was a good kid.

The next morning, Archie met me in the gym so he could show me what he could do. The little shit knocked me on my ass.

Twice.

We didn’t know a lot about Archie.

Nav had done a deep dive on Gary Ashford when he showed up at the gate looking to prospect. He was an average kid from a middle-class family. Not unlike Cash.

But this kid was anything but average. I wondered what secrets he was hiding. You didn’t just one day leave suburbia and decide to join a club.

Ok, Cash did.

But Archie wasn’t Cash.

“Where’d you learn to fight, kid?”

“In the trenches.”

Chapter Twenty

Melissa

February 9, 2025, El Paso, Texas.

Dani and I left Oklahoma two days ago. The notes I found had me concerned, but not enough to run to my brother’s club. Whoever had left them, it wasn’t Danny or Dante.

That much I knew.

I didn’t believe either of them would leave a cryptic note that was more likely to scare me rather than ease my concerns.

But the last note had decided it for me. We left Oklahoma and headed toward Texas. It was a big state, easy to get lost in. I had a new name, a card that would never run out, and documentation proving Dani was mine.

I wasn’t worried about someone discovering the documents were fake. Danny was the best. I would bet my left tit that there was a valid birth certificate in a town hall somewhere saying that Danika Roxanne Clemmons was born to Elizabeth Christine Clemmons.

That was the name they gave me.

Elizabeth.

It was as plain and ordinary as Melissa.

But I guess when you were hiding from the world, you wanted a plain name. A name that didn’t stand out. Danika was different enough.

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