Page 3 of Butcher

He blinked slowly at me as he processed what I just told him.

Toxic turned to me with a frown. “Eight? Why do I only know about six?”

“You weren’t there for two of them,” I said with a shrug. That was when I’d smuggled a human head into one of the sheds on the compound and held onto it until the next guy tried. Then I had some fun with swapping out body parts. Like I said…fucked up. Toxic never let me do shit like that when we killed the guys together, so I took the opportunity to have some fun.

“You’re telling me,” Lock said, his voice a low growl of frustration, “that eight men have tried to kill you in three months’ time?”

Toxic was busy looking at the ceiling so I just shrugged.

Lock took the gesture as it was meant and sucked in a deep breath. He was searching for patience. I’d seen that look enough to know it for what it was.

“Where was I?” Toxic asked now that Lock was distracted with struggling to hold onto his temper.

“You were busy,” I told him.

He frowned deeper. “Doing what? And where did you go without me?”

“You were busy fucking Emily and Serena.”

He paused. “Emily! That was her damn name. Shit, I can still feel that slap she gave me when I couldn’t figure it out.” Then he grinned. “Now Serena I remember.” Then he shook his head. “Why didn’t you come get me? Either time?”

I looked over at him in disbelief. He looked wounded, and dammit that was making me feel…well, a feeling. I wasn’t exactly good at deciphering them, but I was guessing it was guilt. “You wanted me to interrupt you while you were fucking a woman to go for a ride to clear my head?”

He paused, then shrugged. “Sure. I can always get my dick wetlater.”

At first, I knew he stuck close because Lock had ordered him to keep an eye on me. We’d been close when we worked together on my team, but it’d been years since we’d seen one another and I’d sunk deep into myself by the time Lock found me. It took a while for even Toxic to pull me out of it and for us to become friends again. Shit, I’d barely even been human and every time he’d tried to befriend me I’d rejected him.

He’d finally given up and wasn’t trying anymore, but just being around the club had pulled me closer to the surface. Then Lock had sent us on a run together and something inside me clicked. It was like I’d been released from my prison. I mean, I was still just as fucked as usual, but at least I was able to participate in the world again beyond drinking, fucking, and killing. Now we were damn near inseparable.

“Have you figured out who’s trying to kill you?” Lock asked through gritted teeth. He ignored Toxic’s interruption.

“Eh.”

“You dowantto know who is trying to kill you, right?”

“Uhhh…”

“Or why?”

Another exchanged glance between Toxic and I had Lock gripping the edge of his desk so hard I swore I heard the wood scream. “I swear to fucking Christ if you don’t tell me what you know-”

“Honestly, I didn’t really care until…”

“A couple of the guys on our team were killed,” Toxic replied, interrupting me while trying to appease him.

“Why didn’t you tell me?”

“You have a lot on your plate,” I answered, giving another shrug. “We’re handling this.”

“Handling it,” he scoffed. “Someone’s sending people-”

“Assassins,” I supplied, earning a glare from him.

“Are you fucking kidding me?” he barked.

Is that a trick question?

I looked over at Toxic and he shook his head no, that it wasn’t. When I opened my mouth he shook his head again.

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