Page 29 of Price of Angels

“Longer, but that’s a place to start.” He glanced across the loft, like he was searching for something. “You got something else to wear?”

“My robe’s in the bathroom,” she said, and started to climb from bed.

“I’ll get it.”

Holly watched him retrieve it, his exact strides carrying him across her floor. She liked the way his shoulder blades shifted beneath the leather on his back. Liked the way he made walking look so effortless. Liked the way his jeans fit, tight all over, and just loose enough on the bottoms to cover his boots.

“Put it on,” he said when he returned, tossing the terrycloth nightmare across her legs on the bed.

She set her coffee aside and reached for it. “I’m not that cold,” she said, drawing it around her shoulders.

He made a face, an actual face, lips pressing together and brows lifting. “Yeah? Well, you being scared only goes so far, and I’m not a saint. Cover yourself up, before I change my mind.”

“Okay.” She complied, hiding a sudden smile into the shoulder of the robe.

“Tomorrow,” he reminded, and as he left, Holly felt the faintest of hopes, beating its dusty wings deep in a part of her she’d thought long-dead.

Six

“Don’t worry about me. You know how it works in here.”

Ghost frowned at his friend through the glass that separated them. Yeah, he knew how it worked, and that didn’t ease his conscience much. The handful of Dogs in prison had understandings with some of the gangs, even some of the other MCs who’d lost members to jail sentences. There were protection deals in place, oaths and contracts and any number of little trades that kept his boys safe. But Ghost wasn’t sure he’d ever rectify the childhood friend he’d trusted so completely for so long with the haggard man in the orange jumpsuit on the other side of the glass.

“Justin and the boys are looking out for you?”

“Oh yeah. It’s like old times.” He smiled, but it was weak.

Ghost sighed, and dropped his voice a notch. In here, in this long bank of visitors talking to inmates through phones, no one gave a damn what the men at the next booth were talking about, but he still felt the need for secrecy.

“The DA is talking death penalty, Collier,” he said, the words hurting his throat. “Because of those two kids.”

Collier’s face became smooth, almost peaceful, the lines made less harsh by the acceptance of his situation. “I figure being dead’s not much worse than being locked up forever.”

“Except you won’t ever see your wife again, man. Do you know what that’ll do to Jackie? If she knows you got put to sleep like an actual dog?”

“You guys will look after Jackie for me, I know you will.” Pain streaked across his face. “I can’t help her now. I had to make the decisions I did for the betterment of the club, and she understands that. Wouldn’t you do the same thing, if you were me?”

Ghost stared down at the Formica counter where his elbows rested, the deep scratches carved into its surface during years of anguished visits, from loved ones to inmates.

“You wouldn’t,” Collier said softly. When Ghost’s gaze snapped back up to him, he was smiling. “I don’t blame you for it, I’m just saying. Your family comes first.”

Ghost sighed. “The cops dragged the river. But really, I don’t think Fielding cares if he doesn’t find the bodies. You’re an easy scapegoat.”

“Good,” Collier said, with a firm nod. “That’s what I wanna be.”

“Coll–”

“There’s something else I wanted to talk to you about,” he said. “I figured out why Andre and Jace turned rat.”

Ghost swore he felt his ears prick up, like the fabled black dog on the back of his cut. “Yeah?”

“Both of them had contact back and forth on their phones with somebody named Shaman.”

Ghost lifted his brows.

“I know, right. Anyway, best I can tell, he’s a dealer, one with some major connections, because everybody seems afraid of him. From what I’ve heard in here, Shaman’s in the business of playing outlaw chess; he’s trying to control the underworld, bringing down whichever clubs don’t suit his purposes, and backing the ones that do. From what I’ve heard, he was betting on the Carpathians getting the best of us,” he said with a grimace.

“Hmm.” Ghost wasn’t surprised. With backing from the mayor, the rival MC had been a shoe-in for leading outlaw force in Knoxville. “How do our losers figure into it?”

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