Page 105 of Toxic

“Yeah,” he said in a low rumbly voice. “Someone’s outside.”

I sucked in a breath. “Are you sure?”

Eris growled again. It was dark enough that I could only see her as a little shadow, but I heard the familiar tip taps of her toe nails across the floorboards as she went to stand at the door of my bedroom.

“Positive,” Toxic said, as he rolled off the bed.

I got up with him, dressing as quickly and quietly as I could.

“Shhh, little demon,” Toxic said, resting a hand on Eris’s head. “Don’t let them know we’re awake.”

The sound of his boots and her toenails disappeared down the hall as I dragged my jeans up over my waist and buttonedthem. I dropped a t-shirt over my head and put on socks and my boots. I wasn’t sure how Toxic had dressed so quickly, but he was in protector mode so I didn’t question it.

I made it down the hall just in time to see the outlines of him and his dad in the doorway of Gramps’s room.

“Where’s that shotgun of yours?” he asked, voice still low to avoid whoever was outside overhearing.

Without a sound, I back tracked to my room and pulled it out of my closet. When I met up with them again, I handed it to Toxic, then started pulling out the hand guns we had strategically placed all over the house. There were five in total. My dad had been a bit of a nut about self-protection. He’d taught me to shoot at the back half of the property as early as I could remember. We had holsters bolted to the bottom of the coffee table, the dining room table, the side table, and there was one in a coffee can on the kitchen counter, and behind a false book face on the shelf in the living room. My father believed in being prepared, and so did I.

Toxic handed the shotgun back with a shake of his head. “You keep it. I have an AK that I’ll be taking with me.” He looked over at his father, Daryl. We were standing close enough that I could make out their grim expressions. “I need you to stay with her, Pops.”

Daryl’s frown deepened. “And send you out there alone?”

Toxic’s hand brushed over the back of my head, as though he needed to reassure himself that I was here and that I was okay. “The only two things that matter to me in this life are standing right here,” he said, his voice rough with emotion. “I can’t go out there without knowing that you’ll both be alright. If it was just you, I’d have you go, but I need you to watch over her.”

Daryl sighed. “You’re right. We can’t put her in danger by dragging her around in the darkness. And we can’t leave her alone. Bastards,” he hissed.

“This is my fault. I knew that Brently was too quiet. Just figured after what we did to his men in Chicago that he wouldn’t dare to come after us. Should have realized that he’d just send more men.”

“It’s been damn busy since Chicago, Son. You’ve been playing catch up,” Daryl said.

I stood there quietly, listening. I didn’t want Toxic to go out that door alone, with no back up. The other MC members were back at the clubhouse, including Butcher, because it’d been quiet for long enough that Toxic wasn’t going to have them continue sleeping away from their families. Warrant had headed back home to Wyoming this morning. Everyone was home where they belonged.

Toxic had come up with a plan to go after Brently, but the guys helping out in Phoenix had put that on a temporary hold.

“How can I help?” I asked. I didn’t want to be a burden.

“Someone comes at you that’s not me or him,” Toxic said, jerking a thumb in his father’s direction, “shoot them.”

“That’s a given,” I said in a dry tone. “What else?”

“Just stay here and be safe.” He turned toward me and cupped my cheeks as he kissed me.

“Don’t do that,” I said when our lips parted.

“What?”

“Don’t you say goodbye to me, Toxic. If you can’t swear that you’re coming back, then you’re not going out that door at all.”

“I’m coming back.”

There was a determination in the words that made me relax. I knew he was a dangerous man, though I hadn’t seen him in action yet. But after he’d made the men who’d come onto my ranch disappear, I didn’t need to see to know. I wished that we’d convinced Warrant to sleep an extra night out in the bunkhouse so that he’d be here to help.

We didn’t know how many men were out there. I just wanted Toxic to have some backup. “I’ll call Butcher,” I said, gripping his wrist hard. It was like I couldn’t let go of him. Didn’t want to.

“He won’t get here in time, Lightning.”

“I’ll still call him.”

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