Page 113 of Toxic

Toxic flipped them all off, but he was grinning as much as they were.

Shaking my head again, I looked over and found Isla smiling at me. “What?”

“You’ll get used to the way they interact,” she said.

“Like you’re any better?” Hellfire asked her.

“Fair enough,” she said with a laugh. “But she’ll still get used to it.”

It shocked me last night when Toxic’s voice had come out of the darkness. He’d walked into the lights from the helicopter and at his back were six more of his hulking biker brothers, all armed to the teeth. Isla had shown up a few minutes later, after checking the perimeter.

Now they were all piled in my little farmhouse. They were huge men, and it was making me realize that my homewasn’tbig enough. Not if we were going to have gatherings out here. And not if we were going to have more than a kid or two.

My eyes widened at the realization that my brain was now on board with what my heart and body have wanted the entire time. I might have admitted to him before that I loved him, but now I was picturing a future with him. Visions of white weddings and chubby cheeked babies were starting to pop up. But this wasn’t over yet. Dread tightened in my chest.

“I don’t know if I want you to go,” I admitted, looking up at Toxic again. His brothers and Isla were all busy taunting each other, so no one was paying attention to our conversation anymore.

He frowned. “What do you mean?”

“To confront Brently tomorrow. I-I don’t want any of you to go.”

“Billie,” he said, tone patient, “we have to go. I can’t let this fucker live. We’ll always be waiting until the day he sends more of his men after us. And he will.”

“I know,” I whispered. “I just can’t stand the thought of anything happening to you. To any of you.”

“Nothing will,” I reassured her. “If last night didn’t give you an idea of what we can do-”

“It did,” I said, interrupting him. “I don’t doubt your abilities. I’m just scared.”

He kissed me, easing the worry that was building up inside of me. “Don’t worry. By nightfall tomorrow it’ll be over.”

CHAPTER 41

Toxic

Scowling at Hellfire over my shoulder, I made a cut it out motion as the big fucker stepped on the back of my shoe and flat tired me. My eyes narrowed when he grinned at me. Asshole had done that on purpose.

Leave it up to Hell to be fucking around while we were creeping through the desert about to meet the fucker who’d been going after my woman. It’d been a fight to convince Billie that she wasn’t coming with us. Threatening to tie her up and leave her that way until we got back was the only thing that finally got it through her head that she wasn’t coming.

Brently didn’t need to see her, like she insisted, because the minute he popped his head up out of his hole—like the weasel he was—I was taking it off. He’d been smart enough to have his men meet him out in the desert where there wouldn’t be as many people to see him threatening a woman. Too bad for him allhis men were dead, my woman was at home being protected by Warrant and Pops, and his fucking luck had run out.

Someone grabbed my cut, hauling me to a stop. Lock shook his head, then released my cut and pointed. Guards. Huh. Brently wasn’t nearly as stupid as I’d thought. I didn’t get the chance to do anything about the two men standing off to our left, because one went flying backward as Butcher yanked him off his feet and dispatched him before he could make a peep. The second was stumbling around as Isla rode his back, her hand covering his mouth and her knife puncturing his kidneys.

A heavy sigh had me glancing over at where Lockout was glaring at them. He’d been the one to spot the two scumbags, he should have had first dibs, but telling that to Butcher and Isla was just a waste of time. They’d end up killing your target before you had the chance to finish explaining.

I had a feeling this was going to be our guys fighting with each other over who they got to kill while Brently’s men tried to escape. We were all a little pent up and needing to release some aggression. Especially after having gone to Phoenix and not getting to actually kill anyone.

We continued moving through the brush. There wasn’t enough of it to really conceal us so we were moving quickly. If Brently saw us he’d bolt. And that was the last thing I wanted. He’d been hard enough to find; I wasn’t letting him get away this time.

A group of men came into view and Lock motioned for the others to spread out. He and I remained where we were, and after giving the others enough time to circle around, we closed in.

As soon as one of Brently’s bodyguards spotted us creeping toward them, Lock and I stood—in unison—and we each grabbed the guy closest to us. Chaos erupted as Brently’s men found themselves surrounded. Bullets started flying, andscreams of pain split the air as the sun dipped down over the mountains.

The guy I’d grabbed tried to reach his gun, but I pulled mine and shot him three times in the chest before he had the chance. Dropping his body, my eyes glued to Brently, I started forward. I ignored everyone else around us. The screams acted as a shield, a special bubble insulating the two of us.

“It’s over Brently,” I called out.

He turned, stumbling a little, his eyes wide. “How-”