Page 4 of Possessed By Ghost
Iris Turner, the woman I was forced to become, is manufactured—created out of necessity. For months, I’ve learned to be her. I hardly frown anymore when people call me by the wrong name. Haven’t slipped in months when introducing myself to strangers. It doesn’t make me sadanymore when I look at my ID and realize that I have to go by a name some intern probably pulled out of a hat.
Elizabeth Grundy is dead. Killed months ago when she decided to testify against the cartel.
But Iris…Iris is normal. She isn’t hiding from the cartel. Iris is not in witness protection for sending a kingpin to prison. She’s just a normal girl who mixes drinks at an exclusive members-only casino, Elysium. She is well-liked by her coworkers and customers, and has her own little apartment in town, where she lives alone. Her life is normal, boring even. But it’s perfect. Safe.
I’ve worked so darn hard to be her—to shed my past and start afresh. Guarded the secret of my real identity, keeping a safe distance from anyone who tried to pry too closely into my past. A relationship with a man would only threaten the secret I’ve held close to my heart for months. One slip and they’d figure me out for a fraud. Then the life I’ve carefully crafted in Las Vegas would fall apart.
I can’t afford that.
But the moment I first saw Ghost six months ago, all six-four, earthy brown eyes, dark blond mussed hair and rugged muscles, I knew I stood no chance.
I’ve fallen so hard for a man I’ve never said a word to. A man who works and belongs to the Steel Sinners Motorcycle Club—a criminal organization that could darn well ruin my life if I got tangled up with them. Have I not learned my lesson?
Stupid.
Foolish.
Careless.
“Your drinks are going flat, Iris.”
Tracey’s words pull me back to the present and I force my eyes away from the man, intent on ignoring him as I cross the bar to serve the drinks. No stray hands reach out to touch me and the men at the other tables barely glance at me. They know better than to do that shit around Ghost if they want to leave this place with all their limbs intact.
Somehow, I make it to the table and back behind the bar without falling over, a nervous wreck from being in the same room as the man who turns my legs to jelly. I try not to let my eyes stray to him and when one stool empties and another man takes it, I welcome the distraction, rushing to the customer.
“Hey, how are you doing? What can I get you?” I ask cheerfully, even as all my senses remained tuned to the man across the room. Distracted.
“I’ll take a Stella,” a gruff voice answers. I flash the man a distracted smile as I turn around to get him his beer, trying and failing in my attempt to not steal glances at Ghost. Christ, he looks so freaking hot. I don’t miss the suggestive glances he gets from some of our female customers or staff, and I don’t care for the spike of jealousy those looks draw out of me.
Ghost is forbidden. To the staff as much as he is to the customers. All the Steel Sinners are. They don’t flirt or socialize with outsiders, and anyone who’s not in the MC club is considered an outsider.
Still, it doesn’t hurt to look.
To…want.
Snap out of it, Iris!
I shake my head as I turn back to the customer with his beer, putting on a smile as I pass it over to him. “Here you go,” I say with the cheery smile I reserve for customers. When heoffers his card to pay, I reach over to take it but stop when I spot something on his hand. A tattoo that disappears into the sleeve of his jacket. My eyes shoot up to his face and that’s when I see something I was too distracted to notice earlier.
For the second time in one night, I find myself stunned. This one slams into me, a cold wave that steals my breath and not in a good way. Not in the way Ghost did earlier. Saliva dries in my mouth and my heart hammers against my ribs like a frantic bird trapped in a cage. My vision blurs for a moment, so I blink, hoping this is some cruel trick of the light but when my vision clears, he’s still there. I don’t recognize the dark eyes of the man seated across from me, watching me as one would prey.
But I recognize, more than anything, the tattoo on his neck.
The clink of glasses, the murmur of conversations and the rhythmic chime of the slot machines all fade away and all I can hear is static. The world tilts, just a fraction but it’s enough to throw me off. Slowly, my eyes move from the familiar tattoo of two entwined vipers on the man’s neck and back to the unfamiliar face. God, I don’t recognize that face but every line of it is etched with a cruelty I know all too well. I stare at the man, afraid to move or speak. And when the edge of his mouth tugs up, it sends an icy tendril that snakes its way down my spine. It grips my throat, making it hard to breathe.
No.
Please God. No!
My legs feel like lead, rooted to the spot. I want to run, to scream, to disappear. Poof away if I could. But I’m frozen, paralyzed by the sight of this stranger who carries with him a physical mark of my past. My muscles are locked and only move when the man’s hand shoots up like a viper’s and grips my wrist,pulling me hard over the bar counter until his face is only inches apart from mine. “Don’t make a fucking sound,” he grinds, his mouth stretching further into what would be considered a smile if it didn’t look so sinister. “We’ve been looking all over for you, Elizabeth.”
Oh, God.
I bite hard on my lip to stop myself from making a sound when his grip tightens on my wrist. “I have a message for you.” The grin falls and those eyes turn cold. “The leader of Víboras Gemelas has been dying to meet you in person, Elizabeth.” Hearing him say out loud the name of the cartel whose leader I testified against sends fear settling in my stomach like lead. “Look forward to it, soon.”
And then he lets me go, grabs his beer and without another word, turns around and disappears into the crowd.
My hands start to tremble and the rest of me follows. I feel a wave of nausea, the room spinning. The happy faces of the other patrons, the clicking glasses, the bright lights—all of it fades and the world shrinks around me. Suffocating me.
