Page 64 of Toxic

Most kids would want a puppy, or a kitten, or even a lamb or goat. No. Leave it to Cassie to fall in love with a pig.

“Can I bring her with us?” she asked when the other girls expressed an interest in seeing the horses.

Billie’s eyes met mine and there was laughter there. “Sure, Honey,” she told Cassie.

We were walking back toward the opening to the barn when the vehicles pulled up. No one was on their bikes. That was another, smaller, reason why I was in a damn mood—though the girls visiting had lightened it considerably—I hadn’t ridden Nora in weeks. I was jonesing for the open road on my motorcycle.

Chaos erupted as all the women and kids spilled out of the vehicles. I grinned and watched as they all swarmed to Billie and she was swept away in a crowd brimming with excitement and eagerness.

“Was that a pig?” Priest asked, walking up to me. He must have caught sight of Cassie.

“Was it?” I asked, trying my best to look innocent.

Priest’s eyes narrowed, but his kids were already calling for him to come look at all the animals, so he had to drop it.

Following after them, I settled in for a day of fun with my family and my girl.

CHAPTER 23

Billie

Icouldn’t remember the last time I’d been so happy. We’d spent the entire day letting the kids play with the animals. I wasn’t sure who was most grateful about that, the kids, the animals, or the mothers.

“Thank you so much for this,” Jenny said, who was glowing with happiness. “There’s just something about kids on a farm.”

“It’s harder with young ones on a farm,” Seek said, shaking something out of her son’s hand. “They want to put everything in their mouth.”

“Builds their immune system,” I told her with a grin.

“True, but I’m still not planning on letting him eat… What is that?” she asked, snatching away whatever Sawyer had just picked up. She held it up.

“Oh. Old rusted screw,” I told her. I took it and stuffed it into my pocket so it wouldn’t end up in a tire later.

She set Sawyer on her lap and all but banded her arms around him to keep him from squirming to get down. It didn’t take long before Hush was rescuing the toddler and bringing him over to where the other kids were taking turns riding Moose.

“Isn’t there a smaller horse?” Susie asked as Toxic lifted her son, Dex, onto Moose’s back.

“Plenty,” I told her, “but none are as sweet and gentle as Moose.”

“Oh,” Susie said, then sighed. “Okay.”

“Don’t worry. That horse would break a leg in order to avoid accidentally hurting a child. I’d trust him with a newborn.” I reached over and patted her arm to comfort her.

“It’s nice out here,” Isla said, looking around. “I was planning to come hang out since Butcher’s out here most days, but work has been busy.”

I looked over at her and narrowed my eyes. “Toxic said you were…” I broke off, not sure how ridiculous it would even be to say it out loud.

“An assassin,” she said, confirming it.

“You’re serious?” I asked, looking around at all the nodding women.

“She is,” Kit said with a laugh.

“This is… You guys have such a different lifestyle than me,” I admitted.

That had them all laughing. Dani shook her head. “I know what you mean,” she said. “I’m a grade school teacher for God’s sake. I’m not an assassin, a Search & Rescue contractor, or overall biker babe badass.”

Kit rolled her eyes when Dani pointed at her for that last description.

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