Page 6 of Crush & Byte (Grim Road MC #9)

Byte

The moment I laid eyes on River Brooks in person, I realized the magnitude of the shitstorm about to hit me and my brother would be epic.

All that bravado and nervous energy from the video call had somehow transformed into something else entirely.

And, oh my holy God, the woman stirred something inside me I hadn’t even known existed.

She looked smaller than she had on the video call.

More fragile. Her light brown pixie-cut hair caught the late afternoon sun, giving her an almost ethereal glow.

Those wide, uncertain eyes held the same spark of defiance I’d noticed before, though.

She wore a simple tank top and jeans conforming to her body to show off her curves, making me want to peel them from her body one slow inch at a time.

“Fuckin’ hell. That’s her,” I muttered to Crush as we dismounted our borrowed bikes.

Not only did Wylde and Sting set up our meet with the Castle Rock chapter of Iron Tzars, they’d managed to secure us something other than a cage for the ride to their compound.

The note said they knew being cooped up in a plane for a million hours would give us road rage and told us to ride it out.

We hadn’t, of course. We’d come straight here.

And Christ Almighty, that had been the best decision we’d ever made.

There was nothing flashy about her and she didn’t do anything to attract the eye, but I’d never seen a woman who so instantly commanded my attention.

“No shit, Sherlock.” The tight note to Crush’s voice told me he felt the same pull I did.

As we approached the doorway to the large clubhouse, a large man in his mid-forties came down the three steps to greet us. He held out his hand and Crush took it immediately. Even though I didn’t really like touching people much, I took his hand briefly when he offered.

“I’m Boon, president of Iron Tzars. Sting from our Evansville chapter sends his regards. He also said there was a running bet as to whether you guys made it to Vancouver, Washington instead of Vancouver, British Columbia.” The humor in his eyes made my teeth ache.

“Yeah, well, here we are,” I groused. Then I stilled. “What was the pot up to?”

“We appreciate your help in collecting River.” Crush’s tone conveyed his respect and deference when he skipped the stupid questions and got straight to the meat.

How he managed without being too submissive, I’d never know.

Never mastered it myself, but diplomacy had always been Crush’s strong suit.

“She give you any trouble?” Crush asked.

Surprisingly, one corner of Boon’s lips lifted in genuine humor when he didn’t seem like the type to let his guard down in front of strangers, especially people from another MC.

“Nah, man. She’s good. Asks a lot of questions.

” His knowing look said he knew this wasn’t an emergency, but for whatever reason he was playing along.

By the look on his face, he knew we’d be in trouble when she found out this was all an elaborate adventure orchestrated by my grandmother.

Maggie loved mind games. She poured her heart into loving her family, and that’s why Crush and I went along with her scavenger hunt or whatever the hell this was.

“Gotta say,” Crush gave a little shake of his head, “I wasn’t sure you’d be all right with this whole situation.”

Boon shrugged. “Let’s just say I owe your grandmother more than I can ever repay. If this is what she requires of me, I’ll gladly button down the club and play along.” Again, he flashed a genuine smile. “But only for Ms. Maggie.” His features went hard. “Not for you, or even the girl.”

“Understood.” Crush nodded.

“River.” Boon motioned for her to come to our little group. “This is Crush and Byte. I believe you’ve spoken with them before.”

“Yes.” River didn’t sound as confident as she had before. In fact, now she looked like she realized she might be in over her head. “I’m sorry to cause so much trouble.”

“Honey.” Crush stepped forward and held out his hand to shake hers. “You ain’t causin’ no trouble. That’s all on our grandmother.”

That got a small smile from her. “I admit, I’m not sure I expected you to show up. And I have no idea how I talked myself into going with you in the first Goddamned place.”

“We’re not gonna leave you hangin’, girl.” The gruff tone of Crush’s voice didn’t sit well with me.

“Crush.” I couldn’t disguise my displeasure, but my brother didn’t take offense.

“Relax, man.” He cleared his throat. “Little hard to tone it down.” Yeah. I got it.

River looked adorably confused, but I saw a sliver of fear I didn’t like at all.

“Hey.” I took a step forward and held out my hand to her.

She took it and for some reason, I tugged her toward me.

“We’re not gonna hurt you, River.” I’m not sure how I found any sort of tenderness inside myself. “You know that. Right?”

She toed the ground where she stood before taking a breath.

When she met my gaze, I nearly fell to my knees.

Breathtaking didn’t begin to describe the full effect of those sparkling copper-colored eyes of hers.

It felt like she was looking straight into my soul and I wasn’t sure if she found me lacking or not, but she might give me a chance.

“Yeah. I know. Mrs. Walsh wouldn’t send me to someone who was gonna hurt me.

” Then she started slightly before shaking her head.

“Except she’s got dementia so she probably wouldn’t know if she sent me to someone who was gonna hurt me. ”

She looked so put out I found myself smiling. Crush laughed softly. “Trust me when I tell you, Maggie is in complete possession of all her mental faculties.” He chuckled again. “Dementia, my ass. Is that what she’s got everyone believing now?”

“I had my doubts,” she muttered.

There was an awkward silence, but it didn’t feel like anyone’s fault. But honestly, I didn’t really expect conversation to flow effortlessly. Eventually, I couldn’t help myself. “Did you bring the message?”

She nodded. “Yeah.” She reached into her backpack and produced the phone, still powered up, and a slip of paper folded in quarters. She handed them both to me.

I didn’t even have to look at Crush. I could feel his attention locked on my face, waiting for me to do my thing.

I pulled out my own notebook, which was actually a battered, sticker-bombed composition pad.

Maggie had given us dozens of codebooks over the years, but this was her favorite.

She called it “the skeleton key.” Whenever she wanted us to decrypt something, she’d reference a cipher in this notebook.

The grid of letters, numbers, and symbols looked familiar.

It was her favorite cipher when we were kids.

She taught us when we were younger, and Crush and I had used it any time we wanted to pass something secret to each other.

This whole adventure was for fun, so it made sense she’d use something we could easily read but would keep River guessing.

“What’s it say?” she asked, bouncing slightly on her toes.

The excitement was back, replacing the nervousness from earlier.

I liked that unfiltered excitement when she got distracted from being in a strange place with strange men.

She really needed to be more careful, but her lack of self-preservation wouldn’t be much of a problem since she now had me and my brother to look out for her.

“Pike Place Market,” I said, showing the decoded message to Crush. “She wants us to go to Seattle.”

Crush nodded, his expression giving nothing away to anyone but me.

Amusement danced in his gaze as well as a small amount of resignation.

We both knew where we were going. Maggie had taken us hiking and camping in the area around Seattle when we were kids.

“About two hours and some change away. We should get moving.”

River’s eyes widened. “Now? Like, right now?”

“Unless you’ve got other plans?” I asked, unable to keep the smile from my face. Her enthusiasm was infectious and, for the first time in longer than I could remember, excitement spurred me on, tempting me to simply hang on for the ride and let things fall where they may.

“Sting said you guys might need an off-road vehicle.” Boon tossed Crush a key fob.

“Bronco’s out front. I put you a couple weapons and some ammo in the back along with camping gear and supplies.

” He leaned against one wooden column with his shoulder.

“Take a quick inventory. Let me know if there’s anything else you need. ”

That caught me by surprise. “Wasn’t expecting that. Thanks, man.”

“Sting said to take care of you all and treat you like family. Also, didn’t think you’d want your girl riding long distances without the proper gear. Girl said she’d never been on a bike before.”

Crush stuck out his hand. “Appreciate it. You let us know when you need a favor. Any time, any place.”

“Oh, don’t worry.” Boon grinned. “I won’t be shy.”

We followed Timber, the VP, back out into the yard and around to the front of the building.

The air smelled like cedar chips and exhaust. I thought I caught the scent of cooking meat in the breeze, like someone was grilling upwind.

I glanced at River as we walked. She tucked her hair behind her ear nervously but had a steady stride as she walked with us.

Like she’d made her peace with whatever weird shit was about to happen next.

* * *

The drive out of Castle Rock was silent for maybe ten minutes, until River finally spoke up. “So… why am I here? You know, like, really .”

I glanced at Crush, letting him field that one. The highway stretched ahead of us, trees flanking either side creating a natural tunnel effect as we headed north toward Seattle. The late afternoon sun filtered through the branches, casting dappled shadows across the road.