branded (phantoms mc #2)

ten: in which she just wants to catch a break

"Tell me it gets easier, that I'll figure it out" – Mansionair, Easier

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I rolled onto my stomach and hit what felt like a warm boulder.

Ghost, thankfully, didn't wake up.

"I sleep better when you're beside me," he'd murmured into my hair last night, pulling me towards me into a stifling cuddle when I'd tried to leave.

"Must be my shampoo," I'd quipped, but my heart had been beating a million miles a minute...because ditto. Sleeping next to Ghost felt too much like a slice of heaven. And that was dangerous.

Which was why I was up at the ass crack of dawn. The only thing worse than falling asleep in each other's arms was waking up together the next morning. This couldn't become a habit.

I watched the steady rise and fall of Ghost's bare chest for as long as I could bear to. His skin was a roadmap of scars and ink, but it was the pillow I preferred at night.

Fuck, I thought in disgust as I slowly slid out of his bed. I sound like Eve.

"T-shirt, T-shirt, T-shirt..." I whispered to myself, trying hard not to bump into anything and wake Ghost up.

Our clothes were strewn everywhere, like a whirlwind had upended everything and left chaos in its wake. Last night had been...necessary. I'd needed a break from Camila. It made me sound like a bitch, but it was true. She was just as difficult as she'd been when we were younger. Maybe worse. And poor Leo didn't stand a chance with her.

I had to admit that I didn't know what the hell I was doing, as far as they were both concerned.

After throwing my wrinkled clothing on, I tiptoed out of Ghost's bedroom and into the hallway. It was blessedly quiet in the clubhouse. Everyone was probably still passed out. I padded to the kitchen intent on hydrating.

"Morning."

I jumped, putting a hand to my chest. "Jesus Christ, Sin," I muttered at the lone figure sitting at the kitchen island. "You scared the hell out of me."

I didn't want to go near him, but my mouth was a desert. I slowly approached the sink, aware that Sin and I were in the middle of some weird stare-off.

"Do I have cum on my face, or something?" I mumbled, grabbing a glass and filling it with water from the tap.

"What are you doing to him, Pussy?"

My back was to him, yet I knew he was still looking at me. "I don't understand what the hell you're trying to say."

"You call him, he answers. You need him, he's there," Sin went on. "But you won't give him what he really wants. What he deserves. And every fucking day I see it fuck him up a little bit more."

I tried to swallow past the ball that was suddenly wedged in my throat as I turned to face him. "You don't know what you're talking about."

"I don't?" He let out what sounded like a bitter laugh. "You'd be fucking surprised about what I know about getting fucked around by a woman."

I had to scoff at that. "You mean Nicole? The two of you were actually in a relationship. Ghost and I aren't, not that it's any of your goddamn fucking business."

"It is my fucking business," Sin snapped at me, standing. "Ghost is my President, my fucking brother. I'm not gonna stand around and watch you use him until he breaks."