Page 37 of Toxic

“He’s not wrong though,” Ricochet told him. “I didn’t have my mom for long either and even I know you let the lady and old man eat first.”

“That’s because you had an aunt and a sister,” Smoke muttered, flipping them off.

“And now you have an old lady,” Hush told him. “Dani not teachin’ you any manners?”

“Fuck off, all of you,” he said with a chuckle.

“You don’t get any bacon until I’ve had some,” Butcher told Smoke with a glare.

“I just wanted a piece.”

“The fuck you did,” Toxic said with a laugh. “You could put away a whole package on your own.”

“Can you blame me?” Smoke asked with a shrug. “It’s fucking good.”

I just stood inside the doorway, staring. Even the cowboys calmed it down when I’d join them for dinner. These guys were something else. But I had a feeling I’d end up liking them all.

Idaho handed me a plate and a glass of water. “For your grandfather,” he said. “Figured I’d make him a plate first.” He gave me a charming smile.

“That wasn’t your idea, asshole,” Toxic muttered.

I smiled at Idaho. “Thank you. I’ll go bring it to him right now.” Opening the door, I smiled as I saw Gramps yawning. “Sorry if we woke you.”

“Sounds like a herd of buffalo is out there,” he said with a chuckle.

I set the food and water on the nightstand and waited, twisting my fingers as I watched him struggle to sit up in bed. I wanted to help but he was going to just snap my head off if I did. He didn’t like anyone thinking he was weak. I was pretty sure that was where I got it from.

As soon as he was settled, I put the plate in his lap and moved the glass closer. “I can drag a chair in here,” I offered. “Eat with you.”

“Naw. You should go out to the kitchen. I’m going to eat this then go back to sleep. Those damn meds they gave me make it hard to keep my eyes open.”

“Okay, Gramps,” I told him. As much as I wanted to hover, I shut the door behind myself. Sighing, I walked back out to the kitchen. I blinked rapidly and looked around. The mass amounts of food Toxic had made were gone and so were the men. “Wha…”

I’d been gone for four minutes, tops. “Where did-”

“I sent them back outside,” Toxic explained, interrupting my question. “They’d end up destroying your nice home if they stayed in here too long. Bunch of animals.” There was nothing but affection for his brothers in his tone. “Saved us enough though.”

I sat down at the table where he’d left two plates. As usual, there was far too much on mine. “You seem really close,” I said after a moment of searching for something to say.

“Love the fuckers,” he said, buttering a piece of toast.

Smiling, I shook my head. He’d said that so easily. I liked a man who wasn’t afraid to show and verbalize affection. My father had been that way. He’d told me every night before bed that he loved me.

“How did you meet them?” I asked, taking a bite of pancake.

“Butcher and I were assigned to the same task force in the military,” he replied. “Once I met the rest of the club, I knew this was where I wanted to stay.”

“I love it here,” I told him. I was feeling a little awkward since I’d lost my temper with him earlier and here he was just acting like it hadn’t happened. I set my fork down. His eyes lifted from his plate to me. “Are you going to say anything?” I demanded.

His eyebrows rose. “About what?”

“Earlier.” I narrowed my eyes.

“I said everything I needed to say earlier.” He went back to eating. “Any reason you think we need to rehash it?”

I stared at the tattoos on the backs of his fingers as he used his fork to shove eggs onto his slice of buttered toast. Will had always fought over a topic for at least three or four days, if not longer. A fight would be dragged on and on. Everything I did wrong was laid at my feet over and over.

It was obvious that Toxic wasn’t Will. And I was grateful for that. I was going to have to figure out how Toxic ticked and get over my preconceived notions of how men treated women just because that was how my ex had been.

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