Page 40 of American Hellhound
The disquiet in his stomach turned to full-fledged nausea. It was a horrible feeling: the knee-jerk anger and resentment because Aidan complicated his club life; and then the crushing guilt and self-loathing when he realized he resentedhis own child. He hated Olivia. Hated Duane. Hated feeling like this.
“My babysitter can only stay until five today,” he said, with as much patience as he could muster.
“So find someone else,” Duane said, an edge creeping into his voice. If Ghost was impatient, then it was genetic, because Duane was intolerant of any and all delays. “There’s a dozen bitches around here. Put them to work.”
Ghost bit his lip and didn’t respond, though inwardly he was already in a mad panic to find someone to stay with Aidan.
“Meet Roman here at nine-thirty first,” Duane said. “Then y’all ride over together. Drop the drugs, get your cash, come back here and put it in the safe. Can you handle that?” There was more than a little doubt in his voice.
Shit.
“Yes, sir.”
“Your contact’s name is Jack. Do I need to write that down?”
“No, sir.”
“Good.” He nodded a dismissal, and turned his attention to Jasmine. “Alright, back to work, honey.”
Ghost left the room so he didn’t have to watch.
~*~
“Are you dating him or something?” Rachel asked, equal parts shocked and thrilled. “Oh my God, your mom is gonna shit a brick.”
Maggie rolled her eyes though her friend couldn’t see it. She lay on her stomach on her bed, history homework spread out in front of her, phone held between her shoulder and cheek. If she was honest, she actually liked studying WWII, but Rachel would never agree with that, so she kept to the topic at hand: Ghost.
“No, I’m not dating him. We’ve just bumped into each other a couple of times.”
“Girl. He totally sold weed to the Petersons.”
“Some of which you smoked.”
“But I’m not a dealer!” Rachel protested.
“And I’m not dating him, so what does it matter?”
Rachel sighed, like she thought Maggie was stupid. “You can’t justsaythat. He’s like…like one of those magnet guys. The ones youcan’tsay no to. You know?”
“No. I really don’t know.”
“Ugh. Come on, Maggie! You know what I’m talking about. A guy like that – a bad boy. With all hisexperience. He could justlookat you right and your panties would slide right off.”
She laughed. “Give me a little more credit than that.”
The call waiting beeped in her ear.
“Oh wait, hold on, there’s a call on the other line.” Probably one of Denise’s garden club friends, calling to complain about another garden club friend behind her back.
“I’ll let you go. Call me later,” Rachel said, and hung up.
Maggie switched over to the other line. “Hello?”
She wasn’t expecting the gruff male voice that filled her ear. “Hey, is this Maggie?”
It took her a moment to respond, shocked. “Uh…yeah. It is. Ghost?”
“Yeah.”
