Page 46 of Butcher

She nodded, then hesitated, looking like she wanted to say something, but instead turned on her heel and went inside.

I wasn’t exactly good with dealing with women on a long term basis. It’s why I didn’t have an old lady, but Isla and I seemed to have this natural understanding. She wasn’t weak. She wasn’t useless. Really, she had a lot to offer us, but she was heading inside the clubhouse and was going to stay there because I asked it of her. I wasn’t going to take advantage of her good nature, and I’d keep my damn promise to let her help take out our mutual enemies, but until then, I needed her here. Needed her somewhere I knew was safe. Andhonestly I did want her to help watch over the others. She knew her kind far better than any of us did. Who better to watch over our families? To help keep them safe so we could do what we needed to?

Static and Toxic met up with me and we walked back toward our bikes. If we were going to be stuck waiting for the Wyoming guys to make their way down to us, we’d at least do as much digging as we could. It didn’t matter that we didn’t manage to find Randal the first, or even second time, he could only hide for so long.

Eventually we’d find him. And then I was going to make him fucking regret every decision he made that had him coming after me and Isla. He was going to die wondering if he’d never made those mistakes if he would have lived a full, lengthy life.

CHAPTER 16

Isla

Ibent to grab a bottle of whiskey from behind the bar in the clubhouse. The women were upstairs, putting babies and young kids to sleep for a midday nap, and entertaining their other children. Over the last few days I met a few more women, Susie, Daisha, and Tori, and their kids. They were just as sweet as everyone else I’d already met. They’d been out of town on a quick trip together when all of this kicked off.

I could’ve joined the women if I wanted, but I needed a break from all the estrogen and sobriety. Holding the bottle close to my chest, I sighed in relief. I’d been with them for four days straight while the guys followed leads. It pissed me off that Butcher wouldn’t let me go with them, but he kept saying he needed me to stay here and help watch the others.

It was hard to decipher whether I should be offended or not. On one hand, the people inside this clubhouse were more important to these men thananythingelse. Them trusting me to help guard theirfamilies, especially after trying to kill Butcher, should be an honor. But I had the feeling Butcher wanted me out of the way. Out of danger.

So far, what was happening outside these walls hadn’t touched this place yet. I hoped it wouldn’t. I didn’t want to be responsible for that. On the other hand, Butcher and the rest of the men in the MC were keeping me from doing what I did best. I should be out there helping to find the fuckers coming for us.

Us.Try as I might, I wouldn’t be able to deny that forever. But today wasn’t the day to examine the relationship Butcher and I seemed to be forming. We’d been learning…things…about each other during this time. Talking. And I was excited to know more. It was a slippery slope.

The guys had managed to find a few assassins and take them out. Amateurs, not even B team, but every little bit helped. Butcher had shown me pictures so I could ID the men and cross them off the list I’d made of every known assassin that might take part in this. It was a long damn list. It made my stomach churn just to see the names written down. Not because I cared about those men and women, but because I was starting to care aboutthesemen and women.

Damn it, my heart was going rogue and I didn’t know how to stop it. I couldn’t seem to get myself to realize that Lockout was going to toss me out on my ass after this and I’d be the one left trying to mend a broken heart. Nope. The stupid organ just kept pumping away inside of me, except of course when Butcher showed up, then it fluttered and jumped like a spastic puppy excited to see its true love in human form.

“Holy shit. Hello, Baby.”

I straightened, the bottle shattering against the floor as I dropped it in favor of going for Stabby. In one graceful move, I turned, raising my knife as I eyed the man standing near the door.

His brows shot up and he raised his hands up in a universal sign of peace.

Inwardly, I snorted. Like I was going to trust that. I didn’t recognize him. He was wearing a cut, but that shit didn’t matter. Assassinswere smart. If they wanted to get the drop on me, they’d end up dressing like all the men typically did, just to blend in. And that’s what this guy had done. Boots, jeans, white t-shirt, and a cut. He had brown hair and deep blue eyes. The tattoos obviously weren’t just for the costume; those were all him. They covered his throat, forearms, backs of his hands and his fingers. He had a smug grin on his face. One of those smiles that said, ‘don’t worry I’m harmless.’

Bullshit.

The neck tattoo was a dead giveaway that this man wasn’t harmless. The nice, safe men never had tattoos there. Bob from accounting didn’t just get a wild hair up his ass to go get a neck tattoo. Nope, it was always the guys who had the ability to kill people who tatted themselves up like that. Sure, there were probably exceptions, but this stereotype had helped me stay alive in this business for years.

When I’d turned with my weapon his eyes had hardened and he’d dropped his right foot back, blading off in front of me. He wasn’t attacking, but it was obvious he knew how to fight.

Score one for my tattoo theory.

“You’re new here,” he said, his voice low and deep as he watched me, waiting to see what I’d do.

“So are you.” My grip tightened on my knife as I took a slight step out, positioning the bar between me and him, but leaving me room to maneuver.

“I’m a friend,” he told me.

It was possible. The guys kept talking about waiting on some guy named Cypher. “Yeah? Name?”

“I’m Warrant, beautiful.”

He was the smooth type. Kind of like Toxic. He was absolutely gorgeous and clearly expected any woman to melt at his feet with one well-aimed smile. Might have worked if I wasn’t a little crooked in the head. Unlucky break for him. He’d snuck up on the wrong woman. There was only one man who seemed to have any effect on me. This just wasn’t his lucky day. “Never heard of you.”

I cursed to myself, my guns were upstairs, locked in Butcher’s safe. Iwasn’t about to keep them laying around with Jenny’s girls loose in this place. Most everyone lovingly referred to them as the hellions. And for good reason. Plus, there were the other kids to worry about, too. It just wasn’t safe to have them anywhere but locked up. And clearly keeping them on me wasn’t a good option given what little pickpockets they were.

He opened his mouth to reply, then cursed as I made my move. I ran a few steps, dropped, and slid across the floor, knocking his feet out from under him.

Warrant hit the floor hard, but I didn’t give him a chance to gain his composure. I wrapped around him like an octopus. A deadly, pissed off, octopus.

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