Page 78 of Silver Fox Daddies

I only hope I’m wrong about Gigi.

“It’s a smart place,”Diesel says, closing the door behind him.

We’re in Melissa’s dorm, somewhere private so we’re not drawing public attention to ourselves.

Melissa crashes onto her bed and draws her knees up to her chest, leaning back against the wall and examining the three of us.

“Are you gonna sit?”

“We’re not gonna stay,” Diesel says. “We have things to be getting on with before the day draws to a close.”

He drops into a spinny chair at her desk, walking it forward to bring himself closer. “I think before we go, we should set a few things straight.” He pauses. “We all really like you.” She sits up, hopeful. “From now on, if you want this to continue, no more ignoring us.”

Melissa looks at him for a moment like she’s debating something, her ice-blue eyes staring straight into his. Relaxing her jaw, she says, “Okay, yes, no more ignoring.”

“I understand that this is all new to you, but I mean it when I said before that our lives are more complicated than you probably think. Killing…” Something feathers in Diesel’s jaw when he says the word. “It’s not as black and white as people think. There’s a gray area—not always, but sometimes.”

Was it a gray area to poison the Reaper Sons’ water supply?

I grimace. Probably not.

Diesel continues, “Some people are bad, rotten to the core. It pains me to say this as an ex-military, but some people are better dead. It makes the environment safer for others.”

“Ex-military?” Melissa raises an eyebrow. “You didn’t tell me that you were a solider.”

“War is a terrible thing. I’ve killed innocents, seen men with families waiting on them back home drop dead out in the battlefield, all because they were fighting for their country’s freedom. It’s an awful feeling.” Diesel blinks himself back to reality. “I say all of that to say this—you can trust me behind a gun.”

I’d expect that to soften her features, but they remain hard in questioning. “Everysingle person you’ve killed—there was a reason behind it?”

Diesel nods. “That’s right.”

Melissa’s shoulders tense, digesting the words, but she shortly relaxes back into her slumped position against the wall. “Okay,” she says quietly.

I step in. “We can make this work. All of us. We can get through this.”

Something lightens in her expression.

“Yeah,” Cash says. “We just gotta get through Reaper Sons first.”

“That’s right.” I offer her a smile. “Once we’ve taken care of that, everything will go back to normal.” I sit on the bed, tipping her chin.

She looks unconvinced. “How are you gonna take care of this exactly? I saw them when they attacked the clubhouse. They outweighed Venom Vultures by dozens.”

“Work smarter, not harder.” I flash her a wink. “All we need to do is take care of the heart. Nothing can survive without a heart.

Melissa’s face changes. “The heart?”

“Their psychotic leader, sweetheart. If we kill him, the entire club will be shut down, everyone running around like loose canons, directionless.” I give her a reassuring nod. “We’ll kill Jax, I promise. You’ll be safe then.”

18

CASH

My mind can’t stop reeling about all things Melissa. It’s like an obsession—she’s all I can think about.

Back at the clubhouse, I grab a craft beer from the bar and sit down next to some of the other prospects. A lot of them are friendly with one another now—I’ve become one of the outcasts because I spend most of my time hanging out with people above my pay grade. I wouldn’t be so close with Diesel and Bishop if it wasn’t for Melissa, but I’m glad that she bound us all together, especially Diesel. There’s more than what meets the eye with that man.

“How’s it going with the girl?” asks one of the prospects who started at the same time as me. I don’t know his name. All I know is that when he shoots a target, he never misses.

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