Page 29 of Billionaire Daddies Next Door

Chase rolled his eyes. “Lackeys? You mean the men of this town?”

“Don’t start with me, Chase.”

“Why are you touchy? From what I heard, you should be smiling ear to ear right about now.” He wagged his eyebrows at me. “I’m jealous I didn’t get to be the one rolling you in the dirt.”

“Shut up!” I reached through the window and tried to swat him, but he just moved out of reach. “I can’t believe Smith told you. That was private!”

“Hey, sweetheart?” Chase moved closer. “Did you ever take a trip to the pharmacy?”

I frowned. “No? What are you talking—”

He nodded when my eyes went wide and I cut myself off. “Yeah. I’m cool with kids, just so you know. I’m only asking because of the moodiness.”

I glared at him. “Chase, you ass. I am not… I’m not that. I’m just… You know what? Just stop talking to me.”

“That’s going to make co-parenting hard.”

Movement behind him caught my attention and I watched in confusion as Coco pulled some type of straw out of her pocket. At the same time the bell rang and Bear walked in, oblivious to the fact he’d just walked into Coco’s blowing space. Sure enough, Coco had whipped that straw up to her mouth and had blown into it without a chance to change direction once Bear walked into her way. A shout filled the diner a second after and then chaos erupted.

“What the hell did you just shoot me with?!” Bear plucked a tiny dart out of his neck and swayed. “What…”

I gasped when he went down and raced out of the kitchen to see if I had a dead Bear on my diner floor. Chase beat me to Bear and I saw him go red with anger after making sure Bear was still breathing.

“What the hell was that? What did you shoot him with?” Chase shouted at Coco, who didn’t look all that upset about hitting the wrong target.

I knelt beside Bear and noted that even while passed out, he looked grumpy. “You can’t blow darts at people in my diner, Coco!”

“Our diner, and no, you can’t! No one should have to say that, though!” Chase picked up the dart and held it up. “This better not hurt my best friend.”

Coco rolled her eyes. “Leave it to a man to make a big fuss over a free nap.”

Mayor Stevens erupted from his table. “This is outrageous! You were aiming for me! I saw you! Someone, call the Sheriff!”

Margaret climbed over the table to get to him. “You big baby! No wonder you keep putting off the battle!”

“I’m not putting it off! I’m just preparing. You and your cockamamie crew might not get that, but men do.”

I stood up and glared at Mayor Stevens. “Cockamamie? You think women don’t know how to prepare?”

Chase growled. “Your stupid battle isn’t important right now!”

“Pull out another dart and shoot him, too, Coco.” I crossed my arms and looked down at Chase. “The battle matters.”

“I heard you say it was stupid last week!” Chase threw his hands up. “You’re all insane.”

Coco patted her pockets. “If I had another dart, you’d be flat on your ass right now, city boy.”

“I never said it was stupid.” I looked away. I’d definitely called it stupid.

“Did someone call the Sheriff?” Mayor Stevens closed the distance between himself and Margaret. “Your side has crossed a line. A bunch of crazy women walking around with weapons? This is what happens when women are in charge. Chaos! When I win the battle and get reelected as Mayor, I’m going to take away your business license and ban you lot from having weapons.”

I scoffed, fully engaged in battle mindset. “I think you’re overestimating what you can do as Mayor.”

Chase stood up and scowled at me. “If you don’t stop talking about the battle, I’m going to join Mayor Stevens and take you down just so this shit ends.”

“You don’t stand a chance against us.” Coco laughed. “That dart was meant to take out a small horse, at most, and look at your buddy. He’s acting like I shot him with an elephant tranq.”

“This is why you need to expand. One day these lunatics are going to burn this place to the ground and you’ll be left with nothing.” Chase bent down and hooked his hands under Bear’s arms. He slowly started pulling him out of the diner while glaring at me.

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