Page 85 of Toxic

“I don’t need a break,” he told me. “If anyone’s going to watch your six, it’s going to be me. Just got that feeling.”

Uh oh.

That feeling was his politically correct way of saying he needed to kill something. The fight at Brently’s Chicago home must have stirred up that demon inside of him. But it wasn’t enough to calm it down. That was because Lock had used that skirmish as a way to take out his own frustrations.

Frowning, I watched Butcher. “We could go find some random shit bags. Take a drive down Miracle Mile, find a couple pimps or something.”

“Naw. It’s not that bad yet. I’m sure Brently will surface before I get that desperate.”

“Alright,” I said, but I was going to be keeping a close eye on him. If it got bad I could have him wrestle the bull.

Rip was searching for Brently, but who knew how long it was going to take for him to surface. It was obvious he knew we were after him and he wasn’t as dumb as I originally thought he was. It could take some time.

“We’re off to replace some roofs,” I said, standing up. “I’ll feed the horses before we head up.”

“I can do it,” Billie said. “It’ll give me something to do since you’ve done almost everything else.” She narrowed her eyes. “You and I will need to talk about that later.”

“Yeah,” I told her. “Later.” If I had my way we’d avoid that conversation until she forgot about the fact that I’d paid for thatand everything else over the last month. I figure twenty years ought to do it.

CHAPTER 30

Billie

Itugged at the hem of my sundress. I hadn’t worn a dress since high school. It still fit, though it was a bit shorter than I remembered.

A deep groan of appreciation made me look over my shoulder and smile at Toxic. His eyes were glued to my ass. We’d spent the last four days doing chores and having sex, and I had to admit, I hadn’t felt this good in a long time.

I was nervous today though. He insisted I come with him to Priest and Jenny’s wedding reception. It didn’t matter that I’d met the women a couple times, or that I adored them. This was for family.

“Are you sure?” I asked again in a low voice as he fell into step beside me while we walked.

He gave me an amused look. “You’re my old lady, Billie. Youarefamily.”

“We’ve been dating for four days,” I pointed out.

He shook his head. “That doesn’t matter. Besides, they’ve been waiting pretty much since I first met you for me to make you my old lady.”

I stopped in my tracks and looked at him. “You told them you wanted to ask me that long ago?”

“Not exactly,” he muttered.

“What does that mean?” I asked. But we’d stopped just at the edge of the buildings and someone caught sight of us, so I didn’t get my answer before the group of men and women started calling out to us.

“Shit!” Toxic said with a chuckle as a carbon copy of him, only older, came up to him. “Pops! What the fuck? You didn’t tell me you were coming down for this.” Toxic left my side and embraced his father.

His father. My eyes widened.

“Crazy right?” Dani asked with a grin as she walked up.

“I already had to check Toxic’s driver’s license to make sure you weren’t messing with me about his age,” I admitted to the women. Toxic’s dad looked like he could be an older brother. I handed over the present I was carrying to Jenny, then hugged her. “Congratulations.”

“Oh thank you,” she said with a grin, then she shook the box.

“You’re as bad as your girls about that,” Kit said with a laugh as she rescued the wrapped pasta maker from Jenny’s clutches.

Jenny just shrugged with a laugh. “Where do you think they learned it? I couldn’t let Butcher and Toxic teach my girlsalltheir bad habits.”

The laughter died down as Toxic and his dad turned toward us. I gave them a shaky smile. He hadn’t warned me I’d be meeting his dad today. Obviously becausehedidn’t know either, but still… I smoothed my dress down again. Even though there was a warm smile on his father’s face, the nerves were still clamoring inside my stomach.

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