Grey (Silver Saints MC), page 1
GREY
SILVER SAINTS MC
FIONA DAVENPORT
Copyright © 2023 by Fiona Davenport
Cover designed by Elle Christensen.
Edited by Editing4Indies
All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
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CONTENTS
Grey
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Epilogue
Epilogue
About the Author
GREY
Benji “Grey” Madden preferred his computers to most people, but he'd do anything for the Silver Saints. Including fly almost halfway across the country for the baby sitting duty his president assigned to him and his club brother.
Only he never expected to kidnap his charge's best friend and claim her as his own. But one look at Lorelei Hansley, and he knew he'd found the woman who was meant to be his.
1
GREY
“I hate the fucking cold,” Cash grumbled as we stomped up to the door of a big, fancy ski cabin and shook the snow off our boots.
He’d been a riot of fucking fun since we left the Silver Saints MC compound. I didn’t blame him for being in a shit mood, though. We’d basically been relegated to babysitting duty. Not exactly the kind of assignment you would expect for an MC Tail Gunner and a world-class hacker.
But our prez, Mac, had ordered us to go to Aspen and retrieve Karina. Our brother, Knight, wanted protection for his old lady’s sister since there was shit goin’ down with her family. The fool had refused to come to us on her own, so here we were, trudging through the fucking snow on Christmas Eve to pick up the stubborn-ass girl. Although we usually sent a prospect to do this, I couldn’t blame Knight for wanting patched-in brothers to handle the girl’s safe transport.
Still, Cash’s mood was grumpier than usual. He raised his fist and pounded against the wood door. I sighed and reached across his front to press the doorbell. “Gonna scare her off if you don’t stop acting like a hungry grizzly,” I muttered.
Before he could reply, the door swung open to reveal a pixie with long blond hair, big blue eyes, and a curvy body that I could see other guys drooling over. I hadn’t had an interest in women for a while, and this chick didn’t inspire a reaction in my body either, but judging by how Cash had suddenly gone still, it was a good bet the same wasn’t true for him.
“Damn,” I breathed. Cash’s hand shot out and shoved me off the porch into a large snowdrift. “Oomph! Shit!” I stumbled but managed not to fall on my ass. When I found my balance, I glanced back and forth between Karina and Cash and almost laughed. He looked like he’d been struck by lightning.
Another fallen brother. I didn’t know what it was about this MC, but the guys all seemed to fall for their women in the blink of an eye. I’d scoffed about it at first, but they were all sickeningly happy, so what the fuck did I know?
Plus, the girl—who I assumed was Karina, considering how much she looked like Knight’s only lady, Kiara—was looking at Cash all dreamy-eyed and shit.
“Hi,” she said softly, her lips curving into a flirty smile.
“Hey,” Cash responded, his tone gruff.
I rolled my eyes at his back. What did I say about the hungry grizzly?
Disappointment filled her features, and I almost stepped in so Cash would send her running. But he spoke again before I got the chance.
“You Karina?”
She cocked her head to the side and studied Cash with a wary expression. “Yes.”
“Cash.” He tilted his head toward me. “Grey.”
Her brow furrowed a little, looking confused as well as anxious.
“We’re Silver Saints.”
Karina’s whole body stiffened, and anger took over her features. I almost grinned at the fire in her eyes. Cash was gonna have his hands full with this one.
“I’m not going with you,” she snapped.
“It’s cold as fuck out here, sunshine. How about we talk inside?” Cash grunted.
“We can talk here,” she insisted, raising her chin to a stubborn angle.
Despite her determined tone, she shivered. Cash obviously noticed it too because he grabbed her around the waist, ignored her gasp, and lifted her out of our way so we could walk into the cabin.
Once inside, I ambled over to one of the sofas in the open living room and plopped down on it to watch the sparks flying between the couple. They argued about her coming with us. Cash didn’t want to explain, and Karina refused to budge until she had answers. Finally, she whipped around, stomped into another room, and slammed the door. The click of the lock practically echoed in the silence.
“Damn,” I said again, staring at the locked door and trying not to laugh. “She’s got some fire.”
“Mine,” Cash snapped.
I raised an eyebrow at the level of possessiveness in that one word. Not that I was surprised with how the rest of our club brothers acted around their women. “I figured.”
Just then, the knob on the front door jiggled. In seconds, Cash and I were in front of the hard surface, guns drawn and ready to take on any danger behind it.
When the door swung open, it was my turn to be knocked on my ass. Yeah, I was gonna eat crow for the shit I’d given the guys over being taken down by love in an instant. Apparently, my libido had been dormant, not gone, because it roared to life.
A girl—who didn’t look any older than Karina—stood on the porch holding skis and covered in a light dusting of snow. Her hair was the color of dark honey and pulled back in a tight ponytail with goggles perched on the top of her head. Her emerald-green eyes were rimmed with thick lashes, her nose pert, and her plush lips were perfect for being wrapped around my dick. She was tall, though still at least a half foot shorter than my six-foot three-inch height. I was also willing to bet that under her ski suit was a toned, athletic body.
Cash’s woman had nothing on mine. Not that I would say it out loud when he was standing next to me with a gun.
I was mesmerized by her bright smile, but it died the moment she spotted the weapons in our hands. I felt frustrated at the loss and determined to see it again.
“Who are you?” she screeched, dropping her equipment and rushing inside. “Where’s Karina? What have you done? I’m calling the police!”
I instantly came up with a million reasons to justify what I did next. It would be harder to convince Karina to leave with her friend causing a ruckus. Staying there would put her friend in danger too. We couldn’t have her causing problems by calling the authorities or anything like that.
But the truth was much simpler. She was mine, and I was taking her.
I stalked over and wrapped my hands around her waist before tossing her over my shoulder—careful not to hurt her. “I’ll take care of this,” I growled as I spun around and made my way back to the entrance.
“Put me down, you big thug!” my girl yelled at me, kicking her feet and banging on my back with her fists. “I’m not going with you! Put me down!”
I ignored her and continued outside, slamming the front door behind me.
She kept fighting me all the way to the rented SUV. From my research, I knew this was the car Karina’s mother had rented, but I’d hack in and change the reservation later.
When a fist connected with my kidney, I winced and lightly slapped my girl’s firm ass. She froze and gasped, then struggled even more. “Baby, stop,” I sighed. “You’re going to hurt yourself.”
To my surprise, she calmed down when I spoke, although she didn’t stop protesting.
“I’m not going to hurt you,” I assured her as I opened the back door and flipped the child lock before gently setting her on the seat. She sucked in a fast breath when I leaned over to buckle her seat belt, and I swallowed a smirk. I wasn’t the only one affected by the chemistry sizzling between us.
She tried to unbuckle, but I shut her door before she could get it unlatched. I slid into the driver’s seat, and she screamed in frustration when she realized she had no way out.
2
LORELEI
Glaring at the hot guy as he climbed into the front of the rental SUV, I screamed in frustration while I mentally kicked myself for holding back from asking Karina what was wrong before I hit the slopes. “You better take me right back into that cabin, or else you’ll be in a ton of trouble! Kidnapping is a felony, you know!”
His brown eyes held no fear when he glanced at me over his shoulder. “You’ve got it backward, firecracker. I’m getting you far away from the potential trouble while Cash keeps your friend safe.”
Tilting my head, I released the belt I’d unbuckled—only to find the childproof locks were engaged while he was rounding the front of the rented SUV. Treating me like a little kid was something I’d planned to rake him over the coals for, but now I had more important things to worry about. “What does Karina need protecting from?”
I was irritated that I had to ask him about what was happening with my best friend. I’
Now I’d been carted off by a stranger and had no idea what was happening with my best friend. If I hadn’t been distracted by his hotness, I would’ve thought to make a mad dash toward the room I shared with Karina before he and his friend could stop me. Not that I would’ve stood much of a chance if he gave chase since he was a good half foot taller than me and had a muscular build that even his winter clothes couldn’t hide.
The snowflakes that peppered his slicked back, short brown hair and close-cropped beard and mustache were starting to melt. Instead of making him look silly, they somehow made him more attractive.
But no matter how sexy he was—or the sense of danger surrounding him—I couldn’t let him separate me from Karina without an explanation.
“And why is Cash the one doing it?”
He shrugged his broad shoulders. “We flew out here because our prez told us to. That’s how it works with the Silver Saints MC.”
My eyes went wide at his answer. An MC as in a motorcycle club?
None of this made any sense. I hadn’t pushed Karina for answers earlier because only one person had ever put that sad, disappointed look in her eyes—her dad. But he wasn’t the kind of guy who hung around with bikers. As a judge, he was more likely to put them away. “What did Karina’s dad do that ended up with my best friend needing a motorcycle club to protect her?”
He cocked a brow at me. “How do you know he’s the reason we’re here?”
I leaned forward, resting my arms against the back of the front passenger seat. “Because he’s the only person in her life who lets her down on a consistent basis.”
“That lines up with the shit he’s pulled,” he mumbled, shaking his head.
My eyes narrowed. “I’ll need you to be more specific than that if you expect me to leave with you.”
“Not sure how you’re gonna stop me.” His lips curved into a sexy smirk. “With those child locks engaged, you’d have to get past me to get out of this cage. And you might be a firecracker, but I’m bigger, stronger, and meaner than you are.”
I shook my head to clear the fog from my brain. Now wasn’t the time for me to wonder if he had those grooves in his cheeks because he smiled a lot. The man had just kidnapped me, for goodness’ sake! And to add insult to injury, he’d just brought up those darn child locks, too.
Flashing him my most innocent look, I retorted, “But would you be able to stop me after I nail you in the junk? I have lots of experience aiming for a guy’s balls.”
The humor drained from his dark eyes, and he growled, “Who the fuck do I have to kill?”
My brows drew together as I tried to figure out what had flipped his switch. “Pardon?”
“A woman only goes straight for a guy’s balls when she feels threatened.”
“Oh.” As wrong as it was—especially considering the situation—butterflies swirled in my belly over the fact that he seemed ready to hunt someone down for potentially hurting me. “Sorry, I should’ve been clearer. It was just me being a little sister to my big brother. Probably more often than I should’ve if he ever wants to have kids.”
He grimaced. “Gotcha.”
“Please, I really need to know what’s happening with Karina. She’s my best friend. I can’t just drive away with you and leave her behind.”
He heaved a deep sigh and nodded. “That’s fair. If I were in your shoes, I wouldn’t be able to either.”
He went on to tell me a wild story about Karina’s dad helping to frame one of his club brothers. And that wasn’t even the hardest part to believe.
“Holy crap,” I breathed, my jaw going slack with shock. “Karina’s dad has a whole other family that she and her mom never knew about?”
“Yeah, and since Knight has claimed her sister, our club has a vested interest in the shitstorm he’s created, even with Rom being out of jail now.”
I knew Karina’s dad was a jerk, but there was a huge difference between being an absentee father who lets down his daughter and a corrupt judge willing to put an innocent man behind bars. If I had difficulty wrapping my head around everything he’d done, I couldn’t imagine what my best friend was feeling right now. “And you’re sure the danger is bad enough that we need to be separated?”
His gaze slid toward the cabin before he nodded. “Yeah, it’s better for both of you this way.”
“Crap, I was afraid you’d say that.” I slumped against my seat. “I hate that I can’t be there for her when she’s just found out that her dad is a truly awful human being.”
His head jerked back as his brows drew together. “Shit, she didn’t know?”
“There’s zero chance her dad told her any of this before today. And I’m willing to bet he finally filled her and her mom in on what’s going on while I was napping earlier because she was weird when I woke up and practically shoved me out the door to go ski.”
“Damn.” He let out a low whistle. “I thought she was just being a pain in the ass by not coming back on her own so we could protect her at the clubhouse.”
“Karina is the sweetest person I know,” I hissed. “She wouldn’t do something like that.”
“Settle down, firecracker. I wasn’t trying to insult your friend.” Finally realizing how cold it was inside the SUV, I shivered and rubbed my hands down my arms. He twisted in his seat and turned on the engine to get the heater going.
“I get that you’re trying to help, but I’m not going to just let you cart me off like this.” I crossed my arms over my chest. “I have a few stipulations, or else I’ll make this hard on you.”
“Hard is right,” he muttered, shifting in his seat to twist around and glare at me. “What’ll it take for you to behave, firecracker?”
“Your name would be a good start,” I suggested.
“Shit, yeah.” He flashed me that sexy smirk again and stretched his arm out toward me. “I’m Benji Madden, but you’ll hear everyone call me by my road name, Grey.”
“I’m Lorelei Hansley.” A shiver raced up my spine as my palm slid against his, so I had to force out my next request. “I need to send Karina a text. She’ll freak out once she realizes I’m not there, so I need to let her know I’m okay.”
“As long as you do it now, you can send her whatever you want.” I pulled my cell out of the zipped pocket inside my jacket, but my head jerked up when he added, “But then you’re gonna need to give me your phone so nobody can use it to track us.”
His warning reminded me of how serious the situation was, and I nodded to let him know I understood. Then I tapped out a quick text to Karina, letting her know that I had a million questions about what the heck was going on, how she felt about it all, and why a sexy biker had practically kidnapped me. I probably should’ve thought about that last part before hitting send because Grey’s lips curved into that smirk again when he took my phone from me and glanced down at the screen before powering it down. But at least he didn’t say anything about me thinking he was sexy as I climbed into the front passenger seat before he backed down the driveway.
3
GREY
I’d taken Lorelei without any of her stuff, so flying was out of the question without her identification. So I sent Cash a text to make sure he had her purse sent to my house as soon as possible. I’d have all her shit at the cabin sent to my house eventually. It made the most sense since I wasn’t ever going to let her leave. We’d move everything else into my place once she was settled.
