Page 12

CHAPTER 12

Toxic

I grinned as I heard the door slam shut behind me, but I kept walking. “Incoming,” I muttered as I passed Butcher. The other guys were just getting out of the cage rides. Butcher had stayed here last night so that I could get some of my shit from my room at the clubhouse. I’d be staying here until everything was settled.

“Huh?” Butcher asked. Then his eyes strayed to the angry woman stomping after me and the confusion on his face cleared right up. “I forgot something in the truck,” he said with a devious smile.

“Coward,” I told him.

“Not my woman. I don’t need to be yelled at again this morning.”

“Again?” I asked, but the storm cloud following me had caught up. I turned and smiled at the pissed off woman standing there with her hands on her hips. “Hi, Buttercup.”

“Rule one,” she snapped. “No more nicknames.”

My brows shot up. I knew she was pissed as hell, though I wasn’t exactly sure why. This was a far cry from the woman who’d been so docile in my arms over the last few days. That wasn’t a problem for me. I enjoyed my women feisty. “Want to tell me what’s wrong?”

“Oh,” she said, gearing up for a rant. I could see it coming. “I’ll tell you what’s wrong.”

Glancing over my shoulder, I saw the guys standing there. Half had their mouths hanging open—they weren’t used to seeing women spitting mad, not at me anyway—the other half were trying to hold back laughter. Hush’s shoulders were shaking as he tried to contain his laughter. A shocked Hellfire held up a twenty and four others held their own money up in agreement. The fuckers were taking bets.

“Lightning,” I said in warning as I looked back at her angry face.

She ignored me. “This is my ranch. I’m in charge. You work for me. You’ve helped me so much over the last couple of days,” she barked, “and I’m so appreciative of that, but I have rules.”

I could hear my asshole brothers howling with laughter now, though my woman wasn’t paying any attention to them. She was like an angry little kitten and spitting mad. She was so damn adorable when she was all worked up. I crossed my arms over my chest and stared down at her, just waiting for her to get it all out of her system.

“I’m the boss,” she said again, waving her finger at me. “So no nicknames. No touching me. You’ll check with me before you do any more projects on this ranch. Not Gramps, me .”

I cocked my head, eyes roaming over her. Her tits were heaving as she railed at me. I wondered if she’d punch me if I just reached out and grabbed one. Probably. I looked back into her eyes. They were darker now with anger. I liked them better when they were soft as butter, staring up at me as she tried to figure me out, like I was some kind of puzzle.

“...do you understand me?” she finally stopped, panting as she waited for my response.

We were at what my pops liked to call an impasse. She was used to being in charge. Understandable. This was her ranch, after all. However, she wasn’t taking into account the fact that she now belonged to me. Of course, she probably didn’t know that yet. I hadn’t told her. She also didn’t know that while I was an easy going man in our club, this was different. The club was Lock’s world to rule. But on a ranch? This was my world. I was in charge when I stepped on a ranch. That included this one because she needed the damn help. She was in over her head here alone. And I didn’t like that. There was no reason I couldn’t help her. Except ego.

Back to that impasse. She wanted to be in charge. Only, she’d let me in and now I was the one who was in charge. And I didn’t want us to be butting heads about things like who should be lifting the hundred pound bales of hay, me, or her?

So, I was going to need to set her straight. Now. Before she got the idea that she was going to be doing any heavy lifting or dirty work with me here. She could give the orders. She could do the paperwork. She could play with her myriad of animals and ride her horse, all while I hefted hay and drove tractors. That worked the best in my mind.

“You done?” I asked her. The men off to the side stopped laughing when I spoke, but I could see them elbowing each other out of my periphery.

She scowled at me. “I’ll be done when you tell me that you understand the rules of my ranch. I-” Her gasp of outrage was soon drowned out by her scream of rage as I bent and tossed her over my shoulder.

The laughter was back, as well as the guys calling out suggestions on what to do with her. I knew exactly what to do with a little spitfire who was too angry to see reason. She wasn’t going to like this though.

I strode toward the barn with my hand on her thick ass.

“Toxic! Put me down! Now, you neanderthal!”

My eyes were locked on my target on the side of the barn. She squirmed in my hold and pounded her fists against my back. Too bad for her that just turned me on more. My cock was like a fucking crow bar in my jeans. But if I kissed her, she’d just slap me. I didn’t feel like being slapped right now, so this was my only other choice.

I stopped and she squirmed, lifting to see what was going on. My smile was grim when she gasped again.

“Don’t you dare ,” she threatened.

I bent again, because I didn’t want to drop her from my full height. I’d rather gouge out my own eye than hurt her. Her head disappeared under the liquid in the small, clean trough of water. I’d just filled it last night for the animals in the corral. The sheep and goats watched, chewing their cud, as I dumped their owner in their water tank.

She came up sputtering. And despite the cool water, she was still steaming mad. “You, asshole !”

I gripped the sides of the metal tank and leaned down until my face was in hers. She wiped away the hair plastered to her face and I waited so that she’d get the full impact of my intense stare. “You’re used to doing things your way,” I said, cutting her off before she could hurl more curses my way. “I get that. But I’m here now, and I’m not going anywhere. I do shit my own way.”

Her jaw dropped and she blinked in shock. She wasn’t used to men putting their foot down with her. I was sure of it. Probably had most of them wrapped around her little finger. And I was there on that fucking finger, too, but I wasn’t about to let my woman do anything that would be harmful to her. Which meant I didn’t need to follow rules. I’d just take care of whatever I noticed needed taking care of, and anything she asked me to do. I had zero problem helping her with whatever popped up, but it would be me fixing fences and shit like that. Not her.

“You can be the boss, Lightning, but I’m going to be doing the work. Just wanted to make sure you knew that.” With that, I walked away from her.

Hellfire had a smug grin on his face as the other men slapped cash into his hand. Whatever the bet had been, he’d won.

Billie was an independent woman. I wouldn’t want it any other way. But now that I was in her life, there were going to be things I took over for her. She could go be independent with something else. She wasn’t going to like that, but it was just the way it was going to be from now on. I hadn’t mentioned her being mine yet because she’d kick my ass off this ranch so fast my head would spin. I didn’t want that.

It had been a dick move to dunk her. I realized that. But I needed her to know I wasn’t one of the men she was used to ordering around. There wasn’t a damn thing I wouldn’t do for her, but if I let her establish dominance over me, then when we came to the point where she was trying to do something stupid, something I should be handling, she’d think that I would have to toe the line. She couldn’t be more wrong.

I wasn’t a man who toed lines. It was why I was in a fucking motorcycle club. I, too, was used to being the boss, at least in environments like this one. I only made it halfway back to the men when they started elbowing each other again.

Turning, I watched her storm up to me again, dripping wet and still mad as hell. I waited, an eyebrow arched as she marched up.

“You’re such a jerk,” she hissed.

“That’s true enough,” I said. I only just managed not to smile.

She blinked at me in surprise. She never seemed to know how to handle me. That was good. I needed to keep her on her toes.

I smirked down at her. “Why don’t you go inside and take a shower, cool off? I’ll come in and make you breakfast as soon as I’m done feeding the animals.”

She stared at me like I had a dick growing out of my forehead. “You can’t just dump me in a trough, then make me breakfast,” she insisted.

“Why not?” I asked in a reasonable tone. When she didn’t respond I sighed. “Billie.”

“What,” she asked, her anger starting to fade, replaced by bewilderment.

“Go take a shower. I’ll be in soon.”

“You can’t just-”

“You don’t want me to bring you inside, Woman,” I warned.

She seemed to consider her options. She scowled at me, but turned and stormed toward the house. Every muscle in her body was tense as she went.

“Whew.”

I glanced over at Hush. “She’s got a temper.”

“I see that. You want us startin’ on the barn?”

Turning, I stared at him with suspicion.

“What?” he asked.

“You’re not going to say anything?” I asked.

“‘Bout what?” he asked, trying to look innocent. It only lasted a moment before a grin broke out over his face. “Oh, you mean about the fact that you’ve found your old lady? I’ll just tell Seek. The rest will take care of itself.”

“This is going to be fun to watch,” Smoke said with a chuckle. He hadn’t gotten to meet Billie yet because he and Dani had been staying with Robert at the hospital.

“Shut up, Smoke,” I told him, still staring at Hush.

“You goin’ to deny it?” Hush asked with a smirk.

“No.”

They all hooted with laughter, then groaned when Butcher said, “Pay up, assholes.” Hellfire handed over most of the cash he’d just won. The others dug their wallets out of their pockets.

Hush chuckled. “Welcome to the club, Toxic. There’s goin’ to be times you want to put your head through a wall, but it’s a fun fuckin’ ride.”

“I believe it,” I said, gaze sliding over toward the house. Billie was long gone, having disappeared inside. I left my brothers to get started on setting up the painting supplies while I went to feed the animals.

About thirty minutes later, I walked into the kitchen and found Billie sitting at the table. Her hair was wet, but the scent of her shampoo filled the room. She scowled at me, but didn’t say anything.

“You hungry?” I asked, going to the refrigerator.

“I can make breakfast.”

“No need,” I said, my head inside the fridge. “I’m already getting started.”

“Do you ever do what you’re told?” she asked.

“Rarely,” I replied, setting the food I’d pulled out onto the counter. I was going to need to send someone grocery shopping again soon. Feeding my brothers was a daunting task and the food was dwindling at an astonishing rate. But I wasn’t going to ask them to help me do the painting and not feed them. That was just basic common fucking courtesy. “Usually do exactly what I want.”

“So do I.”

I turned the stove on, set the pan down, then turned to face her. “I have an easy solution for all this. You still do whatever you want, provided that what you want is for me to do the heavy lifting.”

She tossed her hands up in disbelief. “You can’t just come here and…take over.”

“Why not?” The look of disbelief on her face nearly made me laugh, but that would just skyrocket her blood pressure again so I held back.

“Because it’s my ranch.”

“It is,” I said, content and perfectly agreeable about that point. Turning, I started cracking eggs into a bowl. “Doesn’t mean I’m not going to do the work that needs doing while I’m here.”

For the rest of our lives.

I didn’t voice that out loud because she seemed to be struggling to hold onto that temper again. I continued, “You know you need me. You asked Keely for help for a reason. You don’t need day laborers, you need me.”

“Look,” she gritted out. “I really am appreciative of what you’ve done here-”

“Don’t mention it.” I could all but hear her grinding her teeth as I cut her off.

“But we really need to establish some ground rules.”

Turning again, I nodded. “I agree.”

“Good. I-”

“I’ll do all the work. And the cooking. You take care of your grandfather.”

Her mouth dropped open. “What?” She shook her head. “That’s not even… I’m not agreeing to that. I’m not going to just make you take over everything.”

“You’re not making me do anything, Billie,” I told her.

Her eyes narrowed. “I’m not letting you either,” she argued.

“Then you and I are going to keep butting heads, Sweet Girl,” I said with a shrug. She sputtered at the nickname, but I didn’t give her a chance to speak. “And eventually, I’m going to lose my patience. I guarantee you won’t like what happens then.”

“Wait. So you’re telling me you dumping me in a water trough wasn’t you losing your patience?”

“Nope,” I replied. “Just cooling you off.”

She was struggling to understand. She was easy to read. Like a fucking book. Except of course what started all this. I still didn’t know what had made her angry this morning.

“And what will happen when you do?” she taunted. “What? You’ll hit me?”

My temper snapped and I stalked over to her. I used my hand on her thigh to pin her to the chair. Her eyes were wide and she’d tried to scramble away from me, realizing she’d pissed me off. I stuck my face into hers again. It was hard not to kiss her. A good rage fuck would go a long way toward cooling off both our tempers now that mine was right up there with hers.

“I don’t hit women. Ever.” I paused, looking away as I thought about that. “Unless they’re trying to kill me or kill my family,” I amended. “But that almost never happens. There’s a lot that you can justly accuse me of, but that is over the line.”

“Wha-” she broke off when I focused on her again.

“If you push me past the limit of my control, Lightning, I’m going to end up fucking you until we’re both too goddamn weak to keep fighting.” I searched her face, noting the shock and interest there in her eyes. “Go ahead,” I purred. “Keep pushing me.”

She swallowed hard and squeaked out some protest, but there was no heat behind it.

I’d effectively shut that fight down. It took all my damn self-control to remove my hand from her thigh and go back to the stove. The silence in the room was heavy and thick, but she didn’t go back to needling me. Now at least she knew what would happen if she wanted to in the future.