Page 96 of Stay Toxic

I found myself grinning. “I hate to break it to you, but you didn’t. I have to go, though. Gabriel Stone is outside my house right now and I have to go deal with it. Do you mind catching a ride home and then coming to my place after you pack a bag?”

There was a pause. “I’ll do just about anything if you step away from this door and act like you’ve never heard me in here.”

I grinned. “See you soon,Kisa.”

I left her there, wondering how the hell this feeling in my chest—the feeling of such rightness—had taken root without my knowledge.

After explaining what was going on to my family and Brecken’s, I headed out of the house and down the stairs.

The drive to my place was uneventful, Dallas traffic cooperating for once, and I made it home in time to follow three more police officers up to my front gate.

I pulled off to the side, unable to get through my front gate due to the two random cars I imagined belonged to Gabriel Stone and his family and got out.

There were two police officers talking to Stone and his family.

The two that’d just arrived stood back and observed.

I stopped next to them and said, “What’s going on?”

One looked at me, and I inwardly winced.

Haze Hopkins. Detective Haze Hopkins.

Fuck.

Haze Hopkins was hard to read.

I’d met him upon moving to the area, and it was almost as if he’d known who I was without a single introduction.

And let’s just say he’d hated me on sight.

“We’re here to figure that out,” Haze said as he dismissed me and moved toward the small crowd.

I caught Artur’s eyes from the guardhouse and jerked my chin at him, getting a chin nod in return.

As soon as I arrived slightly offset from the group, Gabriel turned to me, narrowed his eyes, and said, “Give me my baby!”

What kind of self-control do you have to have to work at a packaging bubble factory?

—Brecken’s secret thoughts

BRECKEN

After a fight for my life in the bathroom, I’d arrived in the kitchen to find all of Shasha’s family gone, and my brothers on the couch watching a soccer game.

My sisters were in the kitchen putting away leftovers, and I joined them, helping them clean up.

“They are all gone?” I asked.

“You were gone for an hour, honey.” JJ side-eyed me. “You expected them to stay that long after dessert with the one man that tied them to this place gone?”

“No.” My shoulders slumped. “I hate my body sometimes.”

“You know, you could also try this novel idea…” McCoy started.

I flipped her off. “Listen, none of you have any idea how sucky it is to give up cheese and milk. Eggs and whatever elsemakes my stomach hate me. You guys only have a mild version of this. It’s nearly impossible to give up everything that you love. So don’t judge me on it if you’re not going to try to do it yourselves.”

“She has you there,” JJ pointed out.

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