Page 115 of Toxic

Hell and Smoke had gone back to the vehicles to grab the shovels we’d brought with us and everyone was already digging the hole for the mass grave.

Dropping Brently like he was nothing but a sack of shit, I picked up a shovel and got to work. It took about thirty minutes to dig it large enough for all the bodies, thank fuck we didn’t run into any caliche, or we would have never gotten the hole dug. When Lock started tossing them in, we stepped back. The others hefted bodies into the hole with our president while I stared down at Brently. He was gasping, trying to breathe even though one of my rounds had punctured his lung.

I was surprised the piece of shit was still alive to be honest. Picking him up, I dropped him into the hole, on top of the pile of men he’d trusted with his life.

He lifted his hand. I watched as it trembled and fell as his strength gave out. Without a word, I grabbed my shovel and dropped a pile of dirt on his face. It didn’t take us nearly as long to fill the hole in. No one spoke while we worked, but once we were done Isla looked around, then her gaze settled on me.

“Remind me not to piss you off,” she said with a grin. “Everyone assumes you’re the laid back one, but Goddamn you’re vicious.”

My smile was more a baring of teeth. “As long as you don’t mess with my family, I am laid back.”

“Fair enough,” she said.

“Let’s get out of here,” Lock said. “Hush, Rip, brush out our tracks.”

We headed back to the trucks while Hush and Riptide broke branches off a nearby mesquite tree and started sweeping them over the ground to erase the evidence that we’d been out here. Butcher and Ricochet had been going around, picking up all the shell casings. The less we left here, the less likely anyone would ever find the mass grave.

The knot inside my chest finally eased now that Billie and her ranch were safe. No one was going to bother them again. I’d make damn sure of it.

CHAPTER 42

Billie

“What are they doing?” I asked, horror ringing in my voice as I watched Toxic take a punch beneath the chin that had him staggering backward.

“Ohhhh, nice uppercut, Lock!” Isla called out.

All the women looked at her and she shrugged. “It was nice. What?” But she quieted down.

Seek sighed. “Trying to get Lockout to see reason.”

I winced as Toxic launched his own attack and went after his president with punishing blows. “What does that mean?” I wasn’t enjoying watching this. I didn’t like seeing Toxic get hurt, and even though all the men were smiling and placing bets, this didn’t seem right to me.

“He’s been…” Kit met Seek’s eyes and shrugged as she tried to find the words she wanted, “avoiding something.”

“For a long time,” Jordan added with a grin.

“Women trouble,” Isla said, taking a large bite of her apple. Her eyes were glued on the fight.

Toxic and Lock were inside a boxing ring and we were all sitting around the gym watching. I’d asked if I could come with him this morning, to see the other women, and now I understood why he’d hesitated. It was a week after Brently had been…taken care of…as Toxic put it, and I’d been getting a bit antsy to talk with my new friends.

Turned out I liked having a group of women as friends. Before it’d mostly been Keely and Dani, and I hadn’t even seen them in a long time. “What women?” I asked.

Dani laughed. “He’s in love with someone, but thinks we’re all stupid and don’t know it.”

“The only two who don’t know it are her and him,” Sloane said.

“Who is she?” I asked.

They all exchanged glances.

“Who?” I asked, curiosity eating me up.

“It’s Keely,” Dani told me.

I gasped. “What? She didn’t even say anything to me…” Then it clicked. The way she’d known these men would come and help me with my problem. The way she’d seemed so amused when I asked if she was in love with Toxic. “Oh.” I started smiling.

“Exactly,” Dani said with a laugh when she saw the look on my face.

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