Page 5 of Static

"Great."

I turned and yipped as I slammed into Toxic in my hurry to get out of there and away from Static's questions and prying eyes. They had been so uncharacteristically quiet, I'd sort of forgotten they were there.

"You're still here?" I asked, flustered, and smacked his chest to get him to move. Those two were basically as much my brothers now as Ricochet was. As much as Smoke and Hell were. But Static? I peeked over at him and found him still watching me. Hurrying away, I tried to cool the raging hormones that made me want to shove him inside his room and do sinfully dirty things with him.

I beat a hasty retreat and didn't stop until I was inside my apartment, leaning back against the closed door. "What am I going to do about this?" Bury it. That was my only option. Nodding, happy with my plan for now, I shoved off the door and went to prepare a meal for the sexy biker who was having a movie night with my kids. The least I could do was feed him, and make sure my kids were fed as well.

CHAPTER 3

Static

Iwatched Gwen walk away, wanting to chase after her, but Butcher and Toxic were still standing there. Staring. Sighing, I turned my head and faced them. I wasn't sure how long ago they'd gotten back from dumping that body. "Need something?"

"Just watching," Toxic replied with a grin.

"Watching what?" My ribs were throbbing like a bitch and I really wasn't in the mood for their games today.

"A slow descent."

Before I had a chance to ask him what the fuck he was talking about they walked off. It was like they practiced that shit because it was always in unison. I was pretty sure Lock had done humanity a disservice by bringing those two together again. They'd worked together on Butcher's team, but once it was disbanded had gone their own ways. Until Lock had brought Butcher into the club. It was bad enough to have one terrorizing the world, but both of them?

Shaking my head, I shut the door. I didn't have time to figure out their cryptic nonsense. I needed to find the movies and clean up the apartment a little. I wasn't in my room much, thanks to club duties and my job, but it was messy enough that I was sure Gwen would be horrified when she dropped the kids off.

My mind kept flashing back to the look on her face when she first caught sight of me. She was terrified. Of me. I'd never seen such a look on her face before. It had cut through the adrenaline rush of the fight and made everything in my head freeze. She'd been through so much lately, so it was understandable, but fuck was it hard to see her hurting. I wanted to pull her in close and ease away all the pain.

Shaking my head, I picked up a towel and t-shirt that were thrown over the back of the little couch I had. This room was just slightly bigger than the usual dorm style rooms, so there was a spot to hang my flatscreen on the wall and shove a couch in the corner. I was grateful for it since recently Sean and I were watching all my favorite old shows and movies. It gave us space and quiet. Though more than once, Ricochet, Smoke, and Hell had joined us. My place wasn't really big enough for that many people, but Sean damn near glowed when his uncle and his friends hung out, so I just dealt with it.

And now Grace.

My heart swelled as I thought about the little girl. At five years old she was smart, sweet, and precocious. Every day she was saying something that had the men and women around the club laughing. She was coming out of her shell more and more. Seeing her play with Priest's girls made pride swell up inside me. I didn't know why. Gwen wasn't mine. Neither were Sean and Grace, but fuck if I could stop the emotions from flowing every damn time I saw them.

Grabbing my phone, I texted Lock, asking him if he wanted me at church tonight. I was a prospect, and usually didn't go unless they needed something from me.

Lock: No. Take the night off. We'll discuss the plan a different day.

They'd come up with a way to handle Fremont. I had no doubt about it. Though at some point they'd probably bring me in since we had to tread carefully. Fremont being the DA made this tricky. Somehow we had to get him off our ass, without any of us ending up in prison.

I spent the next hour cleaning my place—I fucking missed my housekeeper, Mrs. Trelato—and smiled when there was a knock on the door. I tossed the cleaning bucket inside the small closet and opened the door. Gwen's smile was like a punch to the gut.

She was standing there, holding a glass dish, her kids on either side of her. Her jeans hugged her in all the right places and the hoodie she had on stopped just above the waistband of her jeans, letting a little strip of skin peek out when she moved.

"Is that lasagna?" I asked, cutting through the awkward silence.

"Yes," she laughed. She brushed past as I stepped to the side and motioned for her to come in.

"Hi, Static," Grace squeaked, waving at me with a shy smile.

Ignoring the gorgeous woman who was setting a lasagna down on the coffee table in my makeshift living room, I squatted down and grinned at Grace. "Hey there, Sweetheart. How was your day?"

She giggled and looked away. The shy act lasted for all of five seconds before she launched into a detailed report of everything that had happened to her today. "And I got to hold Mittens," she added a few minutes later. "He's-"

"No one cares about the cat," Sean said with an eye roll. His tone held the exasperation that only a brother could have for his sibling.

Grace glared at him. "Static wants to know." Her eyes slid to me. "Right?"

"Right," I replied, biting back a grin.

"Enough you two," Gwen said, cutting off Sean's retort, which would have surely caused a fight. "Come get your dinner."

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