Page 89 of Stay Toxic

“Eggs, milk, cream, butter…shit. Any dairy, really. And there’s no rhyme or reason to it. Some stuff I can stomach just fine. Others, not so much.” I sighed. “I literally had this same thing last week with no consequences. So I think that the world just wanted me to be embarrassed as fuck.”

“There’s nothing, absolutely nothing, to be embarrassed about,” he pointed out. “And I don’t want you to think you ever have to hide any part of you from me. Even the ones you deem embarrassing.”

I sighed, settling into his heat.

“I don’t feel like you’re real, Shasha.”

“I’m real,Kisa. I’m real.”

I fell asleep to his words replaying in my brain.

I’m real, Kisa. I’m real.

I need to let it go? I’ll actually take it to the grave, thanks.

—Shasha’s secret thoughts

SHASHA

Meeting the family was not what I expected.

I fully expected the brothers—Ryler, Bronc, Holden, and Tibbs—to immediately dismiss me on general principle.

I was dangerous, and they knew it.

Why else would a man need a fully armored house?

I walked up the front steps of the old, worn-down farmhouse and into chaos.

The moment Brecken walked inside, we were assaulted by two huge sheepdogs.

They went absolutely nuts upon Brecken entering and assaulted her with kisses the moment she bent down to offer them her attention.

I watched as she soaked it all in and didn’t realize we had an audience until a throat cleared, causing me to look up.

I blinked when I saw all four brothers standing there, arms crossed, staring at me from only five feet away.

Had I really been that unobservant?

That was the kind of shit that got you dead.

“What are you doing here?” the eldest, Ryler, asked.

“He’s here with me, doofus.” Brecken rolled her eyes. “Which you know. Don’t be rude.”

“We told you to stay away from him,” Holden pointed out.

“And since when have I ever listened to anything that you say?” She snorted. “Come on, Shasha. I want you to meet the two more rational people in my family.”

I grinned then and followed her into the kitchen, surprised to see so much food all over the counters.

It was like Thanksgiving in the middle of January.

Jesus, there was so much food there was no way that they’d ever get through it all.

“If you’re wondering about the food,” McCoy, Brecken’s sister, said. “It’s because we skip Thanksgiving and Christmas meals and cook the second to last weekend in January because everything is on sale. It’s something we’ve done since before all of us were born, because everything is cheaper after the holidays.”

I nodded. “That makes sense.”

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