Page 5 of Crush & Byte (Grim Road MC #9)

“I am.” I didn’t even try to deny he was right. “And I’m going to continue to avoid the issue until I have a chance to think about it.”

Byte shrugged. “What’s to think about? We’ve shared women before. You help me not be a dick. No pun intended.”

“I know. But that was just sex.”

He shrugged. “No one said this had to be anything other than sex.”

I gave him the side eye, only to find him giving me the side eye. “Later, Byte. Let it rest for now. Maggie wants us to take this girl on an adventure, so that’s what we’re going to do.”

“Whatever you say, big brother.”

I tuned Byte out. He was trying to goad me, and I wasn’t going to enable him. Instead, my thoughts drifted back to the girl with the shy smile. I hated how much I wanted to see her again. I really, really fucking hated it.

* * *

Seven hours at thirty-seven thousand feet with Byte was the kind of punishment that, in some religions, counted as penance.

Private jet or not, my knees were jacked up from sitting and my nerves were raw.

I’d never been a good flyer, but at least this wasn’t a commercial flight where I had to deal with armrest wars and some stranger snoring on my shoulder.

It was just me, my brother, and a fridge stocked with enough beer and sandwich meat to keep us alive until we hit the ground in Vancouver, Washington.

Byte was stretched across two leather recliners, booted feet up, arms folded behind his head, watching some classic heist movie with a glazed-over look that said he’d mentally solved the entire plot during the opening credits.

He’d been that way since wheels-up. Checked out.

This was how he rested without actually sleeping.

I thought it was weird as fuck, but it worked for him so I didn’t judge.

I, on the other hand, was on my fifth bottle of beer and my seventh time scrolling through the flight tracker on my phone. Patience wasn’t my strong suit, and the more I thought about River the more I wanted to just get there already.

Byte burped, loudly and theatrically, and set his empty bottle on the armrest with a soft clunk. “You gonna burn a hole in that screen, or do you want to actually talk about what we’re doing?”

“Just checking our ETA.”

“Again.” He grinned at me, sharp and knowing. “You wanna tell me what’s really got you wound up?”

I set my phone on the table between us, maybe a little harder than intended. “We’re disrupting her whole life for one of Grandma’s games. That’s what’s got me wound up.”

Byte shrugged, not even pretending to be bothered. “Is it really a disruption if she has nothing tying her down and goes willingly?”

“She also needs the paycheck.” I fished another beer from the fridge, popped it, and took a long pull. “We’re kidnapping her. That’s what this is, no matter what you call it.”

“Nah,” he said, grinning wider. “We’re rescuing her from a boring existence.”

“What’s the endgame, Byte? We bring her back to Riviera Beach and put her up in an apartment?

She can’t come to the compound unless we claim her and I’m pretty Goddamned sure she’s not going to want that after talking to us for a whole five minutes.

” I took another pull of my beer. I was starting to feel more than a little buzzed.

We still had another few hours before we landed and I needed to let my head clear before we picked her up in Castle Rock at the Iron Tzars compound.

“She’ll get bored and leave pretty Goddamned quick when she realizes we’re keeping secrets. ”

Byte rolled his eyes. “Like I said. No one said this was supposed to be an actual relationship. We’re gonna show the woman a good time and have a good time. Even if there’s no sex involved. We’re taking her on a quest. I have no doubt we’ll enjoy ourselves as much as she does.”

“You talk like you’ve spoken to her longer than a five-minute video call.”

“Nope. But I’ve dug into her life, and I like the picture that information painted.”

I stared at him. “At any point during this situation you could have said something.” I didn’t ask him when he’d done it because we’d both been on the computer since we disconnected the call.

Byte could multitask even better than I could.

He routinely worked on three or four projects at a time.

Having a running search on anything he wanted in the background would be no more than an afterthought.

He grinned. “Yep. I could have.”

“And why didn’t you?” I raised an eyebrow.

Instantly, his demeanor changed. Byte’s voice got quiet, the way it did when he actually gave a shit about something.

“You ever think maybe Grandma’s just tired of knowing we’re still fucking around with club whores and not trying to find someone to spend the rest of our lives with?

You know. Like Rocket and Lemon.” He frowned.

“Only not like Rocket and Lemon because Lemon scares me, but maybe like Bullet and Cecilia. Or Falcon and Gina. Gina makes Falcon smile and he’s less of an asshole now.

Maybe she wants us to have something -- some one -- who’s ours. ”

“Spare me the Hallmark channel, Byte.”

He snorted. “You’re the one pining over her already.”

“I’m not pining --”

“Bro, you watched her video call on repeat three fuckin’ times.”

I felt my face get hot. “I didn’t --”

Byte chuckled. “Don’t worry. I won’t tell. But I see you, big brother.”

“Fucker.” I wanted to throw something at him but settled for draining the rest of my beer instead. He was right, and it pissed me off. Also pissed me off he didn’t seem concerned about what he was suggesting.

“Even if Maggie wants us to keep her,” I said, “we can’t just force her into the club. It’s not like patching in a stray.”

Byte leaned forward, elbows on knees. “It’s not about the club, Crush. It’s about us.” His voice was weirdly gentle. “When’s the last time you cared about anything that wasn’t blood or business?”

I stared at the window, watching the blue-black sky slip by. “It doesn’t matter.”

“It does.” Byte wouldn’t let it go. “Maggie thinks she’s found someone who can take us both on and come out the other side alive. That’s why she picked River.”

“She’s not a toy, Byte. And I guarantee you, River has no idea what Maggie’s set her up for. Do you honestly think she’s not going to balk hard at having sex with both of us?”

“I bet she’s tougher than you think.” Byte sounded more confident than I’d heard him in years with regard to sex.

Usually he simply followed my lead, admitting he had no idea how to read a woman’s body language and, after the horrible fiasco with Gina, Byte didn’t want to take a chance on accidentally hurting a woman because he was absorbed in his own pleasure and ignored something important.

I narrowed my gaze at him. “You seem pretty fuckin’ confident about this, Byte.

You. The man who swears he can’t understand other people’s feelings and emotions.

You believe you know this woman you’ve had a five-minute conversation with would be willing to fuck both of us.

You’re a hundred percent sure of that.” It wasn’t a question.

“When you know, you know.”

“Uh-huh.”

“I also hacked into her ereader and found all the romance and erotica she reads. Multiple times. She’s really into what they call reverse harem romances. Lots of books with multiple partners.” He grinned.

“Fuckin’ hell,” I muttered. “Byte. You know that just because someone likes reading something or watching something doesn’t mean they actually want to do it, right?”

“No, I don’t know that. I say it shows her open-mindedness.” Byte stuck his chin up, challenging logic.

“Fine,” I said, “let’s say Maggie is matchmaking. Why us?”

Byte shrugged. “She trusts us. We’re the only ones in the club she hasn’t tried to manipulate in the last decade.

” No one knew it but me and Byte, but with her CIA ties, she knew everything about everyone in Grim Road, even though none of the missions -- or the people -- in Grim Road ever existed on the record.

It was all out of love, though. She loved me and Byte and she knew Grim Road was our chosen family.

I barked a laugh. “You think she doesn’t manipulate us?”

“Point taken.”

We both settled down after that. I dozed while Byte did… whatever he did to relax. Creepy fucker.

There’s a weird feeling you get when you’re on the edge of something big.

It’s like being in a fight where you haven’t thrown the first punch, but you know it’s coming.

My pulse thudded in my neck, my palms were a little clammy, and my thoughts kept circling back to River.

Not just the woman herself, but the way she’d looked at me.

The challenge in her eyes when she said she was in on this little adventure.

Once the plane landed and we taxied down the runway to the terminal, Byte spoke again. “You think she’ll bolt?” Byte asked.

I shook my head. “No way. You heard her. She’s too curious and willing to do whatever Maggie tells her.”

“That’s not what I meant.”

I looked at him. “What then?”

He leaned in, a rare moment of genuine intensity if a little annoyance at my being deliberately obtuse. “You think she’ll run from us?”

I didn’t answer. Because I didn’t know. I simply to God didn’t fucking know.