Page 44 of Toxic

“Asked her to marry me,” Butcher muttered with a shrug. “Means we’re married. Whatever party she wants to throw to celebrate that isn’t any of my business.”

“Shit. You really don’t get women,” Priest said with a chuckle.

“He doesn’t understand anybody,” Smoke corrected.

“I understand how to snap that bone in your arm real easy,” Butcher countered.

Smoke grimaced, then nodded. “That’s a good point.” He sat back and shut up.

Hellfire laughed and shook his head. “I want to know more about the pretty woman Toxic is doing honey-do chores for. She seems interesting, but he’s keeping us so fucking busy when we’re out there we don’t get to ask her anything.”

“They’re not honey-do…” I sighed. “That’s a stupid fucking term. These are ranch chores. I’m working with tractors and balers and pigs and shit.Manlyshit.”

“Uh huh,” Hellfire said. “And driving her around.”

“And cooking for her,” Ricochet added, getting into the spirit.

“Speaking of,” Priest added, “I have more groceries for you to take home. You owe me five hundred bucks at this point.”

“Five hundred…” I reached out and grabbed the receipt he held out. “How the fuck?”

“Shit’s expensive,” he said, shrugging his shoulders.

“You could buy the low cost shit,” I told him, eyeing the receipt.

“I am. You’ll never find a better budget shopper than me.”

Glaring at him, I sighed, then took my wallet out of my pocket and counted out the bills before handing them over. “It’s these fuckers,” I said, jerking a thumb at the rest of the guys. “They eat everything in sight.”

“Hey,” Smoke said, sounding indignant. “You have us painting. I hate fucking painting. Least you could do is feed us.” There was no heat behind his words. “In fact, would it kill you to have some beer on hand?”

“No,” I replied, “but it’ll kill you when you fall off the ladder and break your fucking neck. Then Dani will kill me. So no beer.”

“How about a pizza?” Smoke countered. “I’m getting sick of sandwiches.”

“Meat lovers,” Hellfire added. “And you better not make us fight over one pizza. Or no one else is getting any.”

“Fuck,” I muttered. That was going to be a big bill. Not that I didn’t have the money. I did. I just wasn’t used to spending it on shit like food. I usually drank my meals. Being on solids was spendy.

Lock just shook his head then looked over at Riptide. “What have you found out, Rip?”

Everyone focused on our VP and waited. The reason Lock had called church was because he said Rip had found something important.

“Fission Solutions is owned by Jonathan Brently.” Riptide looked around the room. When no one said anything, he nodded as though that confirmed something to himself. “Jonathan Brently is on the board of directors for Heliaz Relay Telecom Corporation.” The grim look on his face only deepened when the rest of us exploded.

“Those motherfuckers,” Butcher said, slamming a fist onto the table.

Evan Danners had been on the board for Heliaz Relay and had tried to have Butcher killed. Danners was toast now, thanksto Butcher, but that didn’t mean it wasn’t weird that Heliaz Relay was cropping back up in our lives.

“Is this a coincidence?” Static asked, looking skeptical.

“Believe it or not, I actually think it is,” Rip said, looking over at me.

“Why would a telecommunications company be after a local rancher?” I asked.

“That’s exactly what I was asking myself. And that’s why I don’t think Heliaz Relay is involved. Jonathan Brently founded Fission Solutions, and it’s a nuclear energy company.”

“Same question applies,” Lock said. “What do they want with that ranch?”

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