Page 51 of Phantom
Why?
By the time I was pulling my bike into the driveway in front of my house, the curiosity had burned a hole straight through me. Before even unmounting my bike, I dragged my phone out of my pocket and opened it to a web browser. I typed in Colin’s name, and for some reason, my heart was pounding. The search seemed to take longer than it should have, almost like it was preparing me. When the results splashed across the screen, I immediately felt sick to my stomach.
Unchained Dogs’ Colin “Phantom” Jones goes free again with no evidence to tie him to the latest murder.
Phantom Jones is the real ghost story Rumble citizens are afraid of.
The Unchained Dogs’ sharpened teeth are president’s assassin, Colin Jones.
To be safe, I clicked a few of the articles, but they all returned images of Colin. Some of them were mugshots, and some of them were shots of him standing alongside the Unchained Dogs’ President, Luther.
Biting back my emotions, I climbed off my bike and walked into the house. Colin was standing in the kitchen, making a sandwich, and Lockjaw was patiently waiting next to him, hoping for dropped spoils.
“Hey,” he greeted me with a smile when I walked. “I wasn’t expecting you back so soon. Want a sandwich?” My throat felt tight, and my nose burned. Tears were already rising to my eyes, but I held them back as much as I could. “Tess?” Colin asked.
“When you left Hoppa, where did you go?” I asked.
Colin froze. “What?”
“You heard me,” I said. “When you left Hoppa, when your mom took you from here, where did you go?”
He stood staring at me for a long time, then finally sighed. “Rumble.”
What a simple question I never thought to ask before that moment. “Ah,” I responded. “What’d you get up to while you were there? Any jobs? School?”
Colin shook his head. “How’d you find out?”
My hand went to my mouth. “It’s true? You’re with the Dogs?”
“No,” Colin responded quickly. “I’m… not anymore.”
“Anymore!” I yelped. “You were with the Unchained Dogs! My family’s rival motorcycle club?” My heart sank. “Oh my god. Are you here infiltrating us?”
“No, Tess.” Colin walked around from behind the kitchen bar and attempted to approach me, but I quickly pulled my gun and held it on him. He stopped and held up his hands. “Tess. I swear. I’m not still with them.”
“Why would I believe you? You’ve been lying to me this entire time!” I started to laugh. “Fuck! I’m so dumb! Of course you’ve been lying to me. You didn’t just show up out of the blue. You came here with a purpose.”
“Please, please, just let me explain.”
“Explain!” I cocked my gun. “You’re lucky I don’t bury bullets in you right now.”
“Tess.”
“Get out.”
“Please, Tess.”
“Get out!” I snapped my fingers. “Lockjaw.” Lockjaw looked up at me, and his ears folded back over his head. He started to whine and back away from Colin. “What are you—”
“He’s mine,” Colin muttered.
“What?” I said.
“Lockjaw. I was his first owner.”
Tears streamed down my face. No wonder he seemed to take to Colin differently from anyone else. “Please, just get out.”
Colin opened his mouth to say something but then closed it. He grabbed his wallet and keys off the kitchen counter and rushed out the door. I stayed frozen in place while I listened to his bike start and rumble out of the driveway, and it wasn’t until the rumble of his bike had totally faded from sight that I collapsed on the floor, tears flowing as I sobbed. Lockjaw whimpered as he timidly approached me, but when I held out my arms, he came into them fully and licked my face.
