Page 29 of Silver Fox Daddies

“I won’t be long,” she says from the chair, finger at the ready to answer the call.

“Take your time, love,” says Bishop, unlocking the door for us to all file out.

“Yes,” I add. “Stay here. We’ll come back and get you.”

The bright sun stings my eyes. I shut one and keep the other open, whispering to the others, “Why does she have to take the call in private?”

“Maybe,” Bishop says, “because she doesn’tknowus. Come on.” He pats Cash and me on the back and heads back to the clubhouse. “Let’s leave her to it.”

Cash follows suit, but I stay put, pressing an ear to the wood.

“…not much, don’t worry. It was just a couple of vodkas…I know,I know, I don’t know what came over me. I didn’t eat much yesterday. That would explain it…No,noI’m not pregnant…Yeah, I know, but I studied up for the exam and I’m feeling confident…Today? Not much, I’m just resting up and studying.”

An arm yanks me away. Bishop’s. “Inside.”

“I was listening in. Trying to find out some information.”

“We’re better doing that inside.”

“What?”

Bishop gives me a wink. “Let’s put Cash’s computer skills to the test.”

I walk up the veranda back into the clubhouse, making a mental note to check on Melissa in twenty minutes.

The clubhouse is filling up, people returning home from rides, completing outstanding tasks. Members have been prepping for the attack on Reaper Sons, strengthening their skills. There’s a firing range a couple miles away from here that some of our patch members have been using to improve their shooting skills.

I should’ve been there today, giving a tutorial with a bunch of others.

Instead, I was too busy bringing home a virgin.

I sit opposite Cash and Bishop with a pint of cold beer, watching them stare at the laptop screen. I haven’t touched one of those things in years, but there’s not much need to when you’re front line.

“Start with the library she works at,” prompts Bishop. “It’ll bring up a list of all the people who work there.”

A crease forms between Cash’s brows as he looks up the library, investigating the screen. “Clark County Library…Melissa…” Some more scrolling. “Strongbow.” He repeats the full name to himself as he searches for her in a new tab, hitting enter, eyesflicking up and down as the search results begin to load. “Here. She has a Facebook profile.”

He taps the keypad, swiveling the computer around for me to see once the page has loaded. “Nineteen. At least she’s not lying about that.” He clicks onto her profile picture, arrowing through all of the different photos she’s previously uploaded. She’s always been beautiful. Has carried the arched eyebrows and high cheekbones through her teenage years.

“Little weird, mate,” Bishop says, clicking off. “I don’t want to look at pictures from when she was a minor.”

“What college does she go to? Is she being truthful about that?” I ask, bringing my face closer to the screen.

Cash inspects the computer, scrolling down the personal information page. “University of Nevada, yep.” He looks up from the screen. “What else?”

“Let’s look into her family. Her parents. Let’s start with them.”

Cash navigates to the friends list, scrolling, looking for another Strongbow. Reaching the S section, we all close in, but we don’t find anything.

“Strange.”

“Yes,” Cash says, “but it’s not a dead end.” He links his hands together, cracking the knuckles. “Now, this is where we hack into her biometrics.”

He rolls up his leather jacket sleeves and begins typing. “Normally, it only takes a few minutes, but the Wi-Fi connection here is slow so it might take longer.”

Bishop and I stare at the screen. I like to think I’m pretty brainy, but when it comes to computers and the internet, I fall short.

Digits fill the screen as a code of some sort starts to unravel.