Page 18 of Toxic

“We’ll be hiding bodies,” I pointed out.

“She already told me that pigs eat people,” he reminded me. “No one will find them.”

I laughed and shook my head. “You’re a crazy fucker.”

He just shrugged and put a head of lettuce into the fridge.

I let the screen door slam closed as I walked outside. Billie was waiting by the truck for me. I grabbed the shirt that I’d left hanging on the porch railing while bringing groceries inside and shrugged it on.

“I need to drive or I won’t be able to get home,” she told me.

“No worries. I’ll come pick you up around four. Then bring you back again before visiting hours close.” She needed to be back before then or they wouldn’t let her stay overnight. I knew that would drive her crazy with worry if she wasn’t with her grandfather through the night. But I was bound and determined to make sure she was safe and taking care of herself at the same time.

I didn’t know her well yet, but she was easy enough to read. Plus, this gave me more time with her. Something I definitely wanted.

CHAPTER 7

Billie

My brain was all foggy. That was the reason I was giving myself for why I was letting Toxic just take control of the situation. I stared at the road, watching the dust billow out from around the tires as we went. Blinking seemed to be too much of an effort. Which meant he was probably right to be driving me. It wouldn’t help anyone if I got into an accident on the way.

“Thank you,” I said again. I wasn’t sure how many times I’d said those two words to him over the last day, but it didn’t seem adequate enough. He was saving my bacon. Knowing he was there during the day while I was gone was a relief. No one was going to come snooping around while I was at the hospital with him and Butcher watching over the place.

If someone did something crazy to my animals, or set the place on fire or something, I wouldn’t know what to do. The idea made nausea roll through my stomach. I swallowed hard.

“You okay?” he asked, concern heavy in his voice. “You just turned a bit green.” Without me needing to respond, he pulled the truck over on the dirt road.

I pushed open the door and stumbled away from the vehicle, gulping in fresh air. What was wrong with me? I held up my hand as he came into my peripheral vision. “Don’t.”

It was bad enough that he was seeing me all out of sorts and dazed, I didn’t want him watching me throw up, too. There were some humiliations a woman just couldn’t handle.

Just like the other times, he completely ignored me. A strong hand slid through my hair and lifted it away from my face. His other was rubbing circles on my back. “Just puke if it’ll make you feel better,” he said, as I tried to hold back the retching.

Easy for him to say. He wasn’t the one bent over on the side of the road about to lose the few bites of breakfast that’d gone down. I swallowed hard, breathing in deeply.

“Better?” he asked after a few moments when my willpower won out over my rioting stomach.

I nodded, straightening up. My breath caught as his hand slid from my hair and gripped the back of my neck. His skin was warm and his grip was comforting. “I’m okay. Sorry.”

“No need to be sorry. We can hang out here as long as you need.” His deep brown eyes were searching my face and I was worried that he was going to see too much.

That was the last thing I needed. I kept men at a distance for a reason. Most were easy. They didn’t care to get to know me on a personal level. No more than I wanted to know them. That wasn’t the case with Toxic. I’d nearly swallowed my tongue when I’d come into the kitchen and found him there, shirtless, talking with his friends.

Those tattoos on his arms went up and over his shoulders, onto his chest, and across his back. His jeans rode low on his hips and the V of muscle that disappeared underneath them waswell defined and the thing dreams were made of. The man had muscle stacked on muscle and it’d been hard to keep my hands to myself. Now we were standing here withhishands onmeand I wanted to just…lean into him. Let him take some of the pressure and worry from me. But that wasn’t his job. It wasn’t his duty to do anything for me. He was here because Keely asked him to help me.

A thought occurred to me and made the nausea tighten my belly again. What if he and Keely were a thing? Oh my God. Had I been having inappropriate thoughts about my best friend’s man? I jerked away from Toxic, stumbling a little as I went. “Sorry. We should go,” I said. Toxic frowned, his hands reaching out to steady me, but I jumped away from him and bee-lined it for the truck.

He didn’t say anything when he got inside, but I caught the confused look he shot my way. I was all over the place and now I was worried about my friend as well. Not that there was anything between Toxic and I, but I would never want there to seem like it to Keely. And she’d already mentioned something once. Had I missed a clue from her somehow?

“If you need to stop, just let me know,” he told me.

“Okay,” I whispered, staring straight ahead to try to combat the queasy feeling.

The drive was quiet, but Toxic didn’t force conversation. He seemed to realize I needed to focus on not throwing up. It’d just been too much over the last couple of days. I’d be fine once I wasn’t in a rolling vehicle.

He dropped me off at the entrance. He took my phone and tapped at the buttons, then showed me his contact information with his number. Leaning over so he could hold my gaze as I got out, he said, “Just give me a call if you need anything. Otherwise, I’ll be here at four to pick you back up later.”

“Okay. Thanks, Toxic.” I gave him a weak smile. He probably thought I was insane. Maybe I was. I wasn’t exactly acting normal right now.

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