Page 41 of Toxic

I tossed a frantic look at Toxic. He might piss me off sometimes, but at least he was familiar. The jerk just arched a brow and grinned at me.

One of the women followed my stare, then told Toxic, “You can go with them.” The other men were starting to shuffle into a back hallway. Those who weren’t headed that way, went out the front door, leaving just the women and kids inside. “We’ll take care of her. Looks like Scarlett’s got Robert covered.”

I followed her gaze and snapped, “No alcohol, Gramps!”

He rolled his eyes and pushed the shot glass back to the young woman standing behind the bar. “See what I mean,” he said, loudly enough for me to hear, but didn’t elaborate. He gave me a baleful look and Scarlett covered a laugh.

“Not with your pain meds,” I reminded him.

“Yeah, yeah,” he muttered, then proceeded to flirt with Scarlett. She looked like she was younger than me, but that didn’t stop Gramps. He was just having fun. He’d never even dated after he lost Grandma.

Dani laughed. “Same old Gramps.”

“Right?” I asked. “You’d think he’d have grown up in the years since you’ve seen him, but no…”

“I heard that,” Gramps called out, not bothering to look my way.

“The girls are so excited to meet you,” Dani told me in a low voice.

“Okay,” I whispered back with a grimace.

She laughed and squeezed me close to her side. “Don’t worry, they’re going to love you.”

“I’m just used to it being me and the animals,” I admitted. “And when we had them, the crew.” I eyed the smiling women with trepidation. “You know I’ve never had a lot of friends.” A bunch of rough and tumble cowboys and animals did not prepare one to socialize with women. They were going to think I was a hick.

“Not sure why, everyone loves you when they meet you,” Dani declared. “Okay,” she said as we approached the group. “Billie, this is Seek, Kit, Sloane, Eva, Jenny, Jordan, Gwen, and Isla. The saint over there chasing all the kids around is Sylvia.”

Sylvia straightened up, waving with one hand while she tried to yank something out of the hand of a girl who looked to be about six or seven.

“I won’t give you all the kid names because there are so many,” Dani said. “But this,” she said, taking a baby from Gwen, “is my daughter Hannah.” Some of the other women were holding babies and toddlers too while the older kids ran around the clubhouse, but I was focused on Dani’s little girl.

“She’s so beautiful, Dani,” I breathed, taking the baby from her with a grateful smile. I tickled her chubby cheek and melted when Hannah laughed. Looking up, I smiled at the women. “It’s so nice to meet you all.”

I meant it. My trepidation at meeting them had nothing to do with them and everything to do with me and not enjoying meeting big groups of people. On my ranch? I was confident and in charge. Put me anywhere else and make me the center of attention? I wilted fast. It was why I always fought Dad about entering competitions as a kid and young adult. Barrel racing ended up being the only thing I could stand, because I was out there for such a short amount of time and had to focus while I was.

My heart was trying to pound its way out of my chest, but I would never want to hurt these women’s feelings. I just wasn’t used to meeting a crowd of new people. Like I’d told Dani, it was usually me and the animals most days. I’d sort of lost my ability to behave like a human being over the years. As it was, I was suppressing the urge to offer the carrots in my pocket as a treat to anyone.

“You’re a natural with her,” Seek said, motioning to the baby.

“Oh,” I said with a chuckle. “Yeah, I’ve held so many babies I’m kind of used to it.”

“You have children then?” Sloane asked. She was a soft spoken woman, but had this Mother Earth kind of vibe. I liked her immediately. She seemed like the type who could calm anyone down and heal an anxious soul. Not that the others didn’t seem just as amazing.

“Oh no,” I shook my head and laughed. “No kids, though I want like…fifteen of them.”

There was startled laughter from the group. “You know Toxic is forty-two right?” Jordan asked with an amused look.

I frowned. “No, I thought he was in his thirties.”

“Welcome to the club,” Gwen said with a soft laugh.

“Ummm… But what does Toxic have to do with anything?” I asked, giving Dani a confused look.

“Oh,” she patted my shoulder but gave the other women a conspiring look, “nothing. Nothing at all.” She was evading.

I knew her well enough to know when she was avoiding answering a question. “Danica-”

“So whose babies are you used to holding then?” Eva said, a little too quickly.

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