Page 56 of Stay Toxic

Instead of taking her inside, though, I led her around the house, using the keypad at the back to unlock the reinforced gate that would keep people out as well as in.

She followed behind me dutifully, then walked with me along the fence line.

“I have dogs, you know,” I said. “I’m pretty sure that I would be able to get to you before they would, but I don’t want to find out that I’m wrong about that.”

She jerked her head. “You have dogs?”

“Three of them,” I said, then decided to lay it all out for her. “I’m a dangerous man, Brecken, and you’re playing with fire. I don’t have a normal day-to-day job that keeps me on the straight and narrow. My whole life has been lived in the darkness. You can’t keep insinuating yourself into my life with your quest for answers.”

“Then tell me what I want to know,” she grumbled, stopping to pick up her socks that were near the road.

I waited for her to put her feet into her socks, then her shoes, before saying, “What do you want to know, Brecken?”

“I want to know who killed her. I want to know if her baby survived. I want to know if her husband was involved and is raising this child that he shouldn’t have any part in.” She fisted her hands at her sides and glared at me.

The light from the lamp we were standing under made her eyes look defeated.

I crossed my arms over my chest. “What guarantee do I have that, if I give you this information, you won’t use it against me?”

“You don’t,” she said. “But maybe you’ll feel better if you tell me.”

I didn’t bother to tell her that I wasn’t upset in any way that she didn’t know what I knew.

Her knowing would put her in danger.

Her knowing also gave her a level of trust that I’d never given anyone before in my life. Hell, not even my family knew what I’d done.

But there was no reason she couldn’t know that the baby was safe…

“Her daughter is safe,” I supplied. “She’s fine. I can promise you that.”

Her shoulders instantly wilted in relief.

Then she started heading toward her car.

But when she got to the doorless Jeep and hefted one shapely leg inside, she turned and caught my eyes. “Just answer me this…”

“If I can,” I offered.

“You’ll make him pay?”

I grinned then, loving the way that she didn’t shy away from me and my dark nature, even if she had no clue just how dark it was. “As you wish.”

The best version of me you’ll ever see is the me when I’m at Texas Roadhouse eating rolls.

—Brecken to JJ

BRECKEN

As you wish.

Those words were the first thing that popped into my head the moment I woke up in the morning. They’d been there for the last four days.

I’d asked someone who was dangerous to make a man pay for what he’d done to my friend, and I didn’t even feel guilty about it.

What did that say about me?

My phone pinged, and I blearily glanced at it.

---