Page 70 of Toxic

I didn’t even have to ask because Butcher was already on his phone. “Yeah, bring anyone who’s available. Thanks, Terror.” He paused as he listened. “Couple days, at the most.”

My phone rang again. Glancing at the screen, I walked away from Butcher as I answered. “Lock.”

“Cypher’s sending the jet.”

I blinked, looking down at the phone in my hand before putting it back to my ear again. “How-”

“You really want me to waste time reminding you that nothing fucking happens in my club without me knowing?”

My lips twitch. “Not really.”

“Good. Cypher wanted to know if you want Warrant to come down? I know you don’t need him to fly that fancy ass jet of theirs, but figured I’d offer.”

Cypher was the Berserker’s Rage MC president. The fact that Lock had called him and gotten me my own flight to Chicago meant more to me than I could articulate. I’d figure out a way later to thank Lock and Cypher.

“Unless you’d rather have Warrant help watch over Billie, that way more of the guys are there at the clubhouse?” Lock asked.

“Sure. He’ll do better watching over the animals at the ranch than our guys.”

“I’ll let Cypher know.”

“Thanks Lock.”

“Stop here before you go. Priest will load you up with everything you need.”

“Will do.”

I hung up and found Butcher leaning against the porch railing.

“Isla’s on her way.”

“That was fast.”

“Any reason to wait?” he asked.

“No. I’m going to get that generator running before we go.” I walked away from him.

He was smart enough not to follow me. I needed to be alone. I was already going into battle mode. It was going to take everything inside me to keep from moving too quickly. All I wanted to do was take care of this threat immediately. I didn’t want to fucking wait for everything to get set up just so we could leave. But I also wasn’t willing to leave Billie vulnerable. So I had to wait.

Butcher was the resident psychopath of our club, but each of us had our own dark half. Mine was usually tucked away, under control. I only let it free when those I cared about were in danger. I didn’t need to let it see the light of day often, the way Butcher did. Didn’t revel in the carnage I could create.

Death and mayhem were a natural consequence of being a protector. That was the way I looked at it anyway. I’d yet to run across anything I wouldn’t do in order to keep my family safe. Was pretty sure there wasn’t anything.

Still, even as I committed acts that most people considered atrocities, I was usually pretty jovial about it. The others still often sang the song I’d made up while Butcher and I had finished off the mafia goons after they’d kidnapped Hellfire.

It was rare that I was in such a shitty mood. I was sure that was why Butcher was giving me my space. He instinctively knew this wasn’t the time to poke and prod at me. Maybe once I let all this aggression out and unleashed it on Brently I’d be willing to talk about the fact that, for once in my life, I wasn’t sure how to make a woman fall in love with me. It was the fact that this was the only woman who mattered, and I was fucking it up, that was eating at me.

“You’ll figure it out,” I muttered, picking the screwdriver back up and getting back to work. The endless challenges the machinery on this ranch were providing were helping to keep me sane. I wasn’t sure what I was going to do once I’d completed all the projects. That was a problem for another day.

“What’s that for?”I asked, arching a brow at the bag Lock had slung over his shoulder.

“Turns out Cypher doesn’t trust you with his multi-million dollar jet,” Lock said with a smirk. “Go figure.”

“That asshole knows I’m one of the best fucking pilots out there,” I muttered.

“He knows. He also knows the two of you attract trouble more than most,” Lock said, heading toward the door.

“So?” Butcher said. “We’re goinglookingfor trouble this time. Cuts down on the time.”

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