All Chapters of Guarded by the outlaw : Chapter 11 - Chapter 20

The moment I saw him crouched over Diesel’s body, something in me snapped. Luca with blood on his hands and a gun at his side, suitcase by his boots.For a split second, the world went quiet, it was just the wind cutting through the empty lot, the stench of gunpowder and the weight of betrayal sinking deep into my chest like someone had cut me with a blade. Then the roar and noise came back, the brothers were shouting and their engines still running, with their boots hitting dirt.“What the fuck did you do?” I barked, storming toward him.He didn’t move, he didn’t even even run. He wasn’t even afraid, he just sat there beside Diesel like he had already accepted his fate and was ready for what may come. “Ghost..” he opened his mouth and began to talk, his voice low and broken. “Don’t you fucking say my name.” I grabbed his collar and yanked him to his feet. “You killed him. You set us up again!”He didn’t try to fight back, he looked like he was struggling to breathe as my fist conn

The cabin felt too small for the weight in his chest. Every breath came jagged, like his ribs didn’t know how to expand anymore. He could still feel the ghost of handcuffs on his wrists, cold reminders of how close he’d come to disappearing for good.Ghost had left two hours ago. Said nothing about where he was going, but Luca didn’t need to ask. He knew that look in Ghost’s eyes, the one that said he was starting to question everything he’d been told.It was a dangerous look and Viper wouldn’t let it last. Luca moved carefully around the cabin, searching for something he could use. There was no phone, Ghost wasn’t stupid but there was an old laptop in one of the crates, a relic from the Serpents’ early days. He hooked it up, praying it still ran. It sputtered to life with a groan.He used what little access he had to pull up the GPS logs from the burner number that had texted him the coordinates for Riders Tower. The signal bounced off three towers, enough to triangulate a rough a

The clubhouse had finally gone quiet. The hum of engines faded into the distance, replaced by the faint crackle of a dying fire in the common room. Most of the brothers had passed out drunk or left to crash with their girls. Ghost stayed where he was in the hallway, leaning against the doorframe, watching Luca in the dim light.Luca sat at the far end of the bar, elbows on the counter, his bruised knuckles loose around a half-empty glass. He looked tired, but not weak like a man holding himself together by instinct. The cut on his lip had reopened; Ghost could see a thin streak of red every time he spoke.“You should crash,” Ghost said finally, voice low. “You’re running on fumes.”Luca lifted his dark eyes which was steady and unreadable. “And you should stop pretending you’re not worried about me.”Ghost’s jaw tightened. “You’re the one who keeps giving me reasons to be.”That earned a faint smirk, the kind that shouldn’t have made Ghost’s chest tighten, but did. “Then maybe keep

Viper never liked silence, in fact he hated it. He thrived in noise, the roar of engines, laughter at the bar, arguments that made the walls vibrate. Silence, to him, meant something was wrong.That’s why I knew we were in trouble before he even opened his mouth.He showed up in the garage that morning, cane tapping against the concrete, his smile too smooth for the hour. “Heard you and the prodigal son have been spending time together.”I didn’t look up from the engine I was fixing. “He’s under my watch. You got a problem with that?”Viper’s tone stayed calm, but his eyes were sharp. “Not at all. I just didn’t think you’d be so… forgiving.”“Didn’t know I needed your permission to talk to a brother.”He stepped closer, leaning on the cane like it was an accessory instead of a crutch. “You don’t. I just think it’s funny after everything that’s happened that you’re suddenly his biggest defender.”I tightened a bolt, hard enough to make the wrench bite my palm. “Funny isn’t the word I’d

The war room wasn’t really a room.More like a hollowed-out storage space behind the bar concrete floors, flickering overhead lights, a dented table that had survived more fights than most of the men in the club. Ghost had spent half his life here planning raids, tracking rivals, deciding who lived and who didn’t. But tonight felt different.Because Luca was standing across from him.Free. Not shackled. Not locked in the infirmary. Free enough that every breath Ghost took felt like a mistake he’d have to answer for.Luca braced his palms on the table, eyes scanning the spread of photos, maps, and intel sheets. His hair was damp from the shower he’d been allowed to take Ghost had refused to call it a privilege, but it was. Clean clothes too. A plain black shirt, jeans, boots that fit. All of it made him look less like a man Ghost had dragged out of a garage and more like the brother he used to be.And Ghost hated that it still did something to him.“You’re looking at the wrong sector