Page 22

CHAPTER 22

Toxic

“ W hat’s your problem?”

Glancing over at Butcher, I shook my head. “Nothing.”

“You’ve been…quiet.”

“So?”

“You’re never quiet,” he pointed out.

“That should tell you I don’t want to talk about it,” I replied, leaning forward to see around him to check for oncoming vehicles. We’d made a quick run into town, stopped at the clubhouse to check in with Lock, and were heading back out to the ranch. Static was out there keeping an eye on things while I made a run into the hardware store.

His gaze settled on my face.

“Knock it off, asshole,” I muttered.

“Why you in such a pissy mood?” He paused, then grinned. “Is it because of your girl?”

“What else would it be?” I asked.

He shrugged. “Honestly, you have a lot of shit going on in your life.”

That made my lips twitch. The fact that Butcher realized that was surprising. If it didn’t involve torture, death, or fucking, he usually didn’t care enough about a subject to pay attention.

“Everything good with Daryl?”

“Yeah, Pops is good.” I shook my head. “Everything is fine. Just trying to figure out how to win Billie over when she’s doing everything she can to avoid me.”

It’d been a week and she was still hiding in the house. The fact that she was leaving the outside chores to me, told me that she was absolutely hiding from me. I knew it was killing her to leave her ranch in my hands, but the need to get away from me was winning out over her sense of responsibility.

I knew I needed to be patient. She wasn’t like other women, so she wasn’t going to be as easy to convince that she belonged in my life. That was what was so appealing about her. Well, one of the things.

My phone rang, cutting through whatever Butcher had been about to ask about. I hit the connection and Priest’s voice filled the truck cab. “You still at the clubhouse?” He sounded worried.

“No. Why?”

“My girls are missing. You have them?”

Shaking my head, I replied, “Priest, I wouldn’t take them without-” A movement in the rear view mirror caught my attention and I broke off. There, in the back window, four small faces peeked up from the bed of the truck.

I sighed. “Looks like they have me.”

Priest muttered a curse. “What the fuck does that mean?”

“Nothing,” I said, pulling over. Butcher got out of the truck and got the girls situated into the back seat. “They’ll be at the ranch with us today,” I told him. A sly thought entered my mind. “Why don’t you bring out the rest of the kids and the women? Make a day of it.”

“Sure. They’ve been asking to see Billie again anyway.”

Of course they had. Those women were going to be a useful ally for me. Not sure why I didn’t think of this sooner.

“See you in a while.” I disconnected the call as Butcher reached back to open the little window that separated the cab from the bed of the truck. I pinned the girls with a grim look in the mirror. “You shouldn’t be riding in the back of pick-ups.”

“Yes, Uncle Toxic,” they said in unison.

“Next time just ask. You know I have no issue sneaking you into places to get into trouble.” We were more than happy to teach them all manner of delinquent behaviors, but no one was willing to put them into danger. And the thought of riding down I-10 with vehicles flying past at breakneck speed with them back there made my gut twist.

“Sorry,” Taylor said. There was guilt and remorse in her voice, something you rarely heard from the girl, so I knew they were taking this seriously.

“It’s alright. We’ve been meaning to bring you out to the ranch.”

“Can I ride a horse?” Gabby asked, hope shining in her eyes.

“Absolutely,” I replied with a grin.

It was impossible to be in a shitty mood when these girls were around. The drive passed with them asking a million questions, all of which served to lighten my mood.

By the time we pulled up in front of Billie’s house the girls were bouncing in their seats with excitement. “Go show them the sheep and llamas,” I suggested to Butcher.

He took the girls over to the fields closest to the barn.

Turning toward the house, I went inside. I found her in her room, sitting at a small desk, tapping away at the computer there. She claimed to be catching up on her books. There were spreadsheets open on the screen and she was clicking back and forth between pages.

I didn’t doubt that she was doing exactly as she said. She’d been so busy she probably hadn’t looked at the books since the last time she sent in information to her accountant for taxes. The books often got overlooked on a ranch in favor of physical tasks.

Pops would still be handing over shoe boxes filled with receipts to his accountant if I hadn’t taken over. Janet, his accountant, had made me a homemade pie in gratitude when I’d taken over the books. The first time she saw my expense sheet, she’d nearly cried. Until that point I didn’t think she had met a rancher that knew what a spreadsheet was.

“Need any help?”

She jerked in the chair, then turned and blinked at me like an owl. “Oh, hey. No.” She looked back at the computer and blinked again. “I’ve got it.” Her smile was more of a grimace. “Though I really hate doing this.”

I chuckled. “Don’t we all?”

“Much better to be out in a saddle. Even in the hundred plus degree heat.”

“You think you could take a break?” She looked like she needed it. The under part of her eyes were smudged with a little blue. She’d been in here, straining her eyes as she stared at the computer for days.

That was why I was a cranky fucker. I’d barely seen her. She only popped out of her room long enough to eat, then she disappeared back into her hole.

Despite the short amount of time I’d known her, I now missed her when she wasn’t nearby. That was the way of it for the Sutton men, apparently. When we fell, we hit hard.

“Definitely,” she said, standing. “What do you need help with?”

“Come on,” I told her. “I’ll show you.”

“Oh, did you break the auger?”

I paused and looked over at her. “What’s wrong with it?” The auger was basically a big pipe with a screw in it that pumped grain into or out of the grain bins. She had a nice set up here, but everything was just a little run down and in need of repair.

“I meant to tell you that it bound up last winter and I haven’t been able to get it running smoothly. Half the time it works, the other half it doesn’t. It’s not usually a problem until winter since I don’t feed grain to the cattle until I’m ready to finish them and send them to auction.”

“That wasn’t on Robert’s list.” We continued walking outside as we spoke.

“I probably forgot to mention it to him,” she admitted. There was a guilty note in her voice.

I had a feeling she forgot to mention a lot of things to her grandfather. I couldn’t blame her. She didn’t want him trying to take on fixing things around here. “You willing to make me your own list now?”

She gave me a sheepish smile. “Yeah, I’ll make it tonight.” She hesitated, then sighed. “Thanks, Toxic.”

“No problem. I’m here, may as well make use of me. If I get bored, you’re going to regret it.” I’d meant that I’d find something around here to keep me busy.

The way her beautiful eyes flashed to mine, and the heat simmering in them, told me she’d taken my threat in a sexual way. Fuck if I wouldn’t mind that either. My dick was constantly hard these days, even with her barricading herself in her room to work. Didn’t keep my brain from replaying some of those moments when she’d been half dressed, or soaked to the bone and I got a good look at all those curves of hers.

Butcher was often now muttering about how both Lock and I needed to get laid, and he wasn’t wrong.

Billie let out a gasp of happiness and hurried forward as soon as she saw the girls.

I’d never really allowed myself to think about having my own kids. Now that I’d met this woman it was different. Watching her run over and start introducing her animals to my brother’s kids just confirmed what’d hit me the other night. I wanted children. With her. I wanted to raise a brood of kids on a ranch where they could get into all kinds of trouble on a daily basis, just like my brother and I had.

I stopped at the fence and leaned against it, next to Butcher, and watched Billie handle the girls with an inherent skill. She was kind and eager, just like she was with the animals. She was born to be a mother. Strong, dependable, capable, with an innate sweetness that every being gravitated toward. No wonder I was drowning over here.

Billie was down on one knee, transferring some treats from her hand to Caitlyn’s. I learned quickly, during that first week, to check pockets before doing any laundry. I’d ended up having to clean out the washing machine because it’d been filled with oats from those damn apple treats disintegrating in the wash. She always had them in her pockets so that she could feed one animal or another.

Caitlyn let out a loud giggle as one of the llamas dropped her head and snuffled around her face.

“It’s okay,” Billie said with a smile. “Louella is my sweetest llama. She’s curious about you.”

“Do we avoid eye contact?” Gabby asked.

“No,” Billie responded. “They rub their heads together to show affection.”

Another giggle from Caitlyn as Louella rubbed her head against her face made me grin. It wasn’t that long ago when the poor girl would barely crack a smile. Being taken in by Priest and Jenny had changed her and she was more open now. She was safe, and loved, and was finally thriving. The first time she’d laughed around us there’d been a lot of misty eyes. Not that any of the men would admit to it.

Butcher and I followed along quietly as Billie and the children moved on from the llamas and sheep to the pigs.

“Look at the babies!” Cassie squealed. “Can I touch one?” She eyed the mama pig with a wary gaze.

“Sure. Here, come sit over on this box,” Billie told her. Then she went and darted forward, grabbing a piglet by the back leg. Squealing and chaos ensued, but the piglet calmed down once it was resting on Cassie’s lap.

Billie had Idaho Pasture Pigs. They weren’t much of a rooting pig, instead they ate a lot of grass and weeds and chomped anything on the ground for their forage. They still got all the house scraps, sharing with the chickens of course, but it meant that the pig area didn’t stink to high heaven the way it would with some of the other breeds of pigs. The Idahos didn’t wallow as much so the area was cleaner as well.

Cassie petted the wiry haired pig, looking up at Butcher and I with hearts in her eyes. The piglets were cute, but pigs were pigs and didn’t make great pets. Priest was going to kill me if his daughter asked for a piglet for her upcoming birthday.

Most kids would want a puppy, or a kitten, or even a lamb or goat. No. Leave it to Cassie to fall in love with a pig.

“Can I bring her with us?” she asked when the other girls expressed an interest in seeing the horses.

Billie’s eyes met mine and there was laughter there. “Sure, Honey,” she told Cassie.

We were walking back toward the opening to the barn when the vehicles pulled up. No one was on their bikes. That was another, smaller, reason why I was in a damn mood—though the girls visiting had lightened it considerably—I hadn’t ridden Nora in weeks. I was jonesing for the open road on my motorcycle.

Chaos erupted as all the women and kids spilled out of the vehicles. I grinned and watched as they all swarmed to Billie and she was swept away in a crowd brimming with excitement and eagerness.

“Was that a pig?” Priest asked, walking up to me. He must have caught sight of Cassie.

“Was it?” I asked, trying my best to look innocent.

Priest’s eyes narrowed, but his kids were already calling for him to come look at all the animals, so he had to drop it.

Following after them, I settled in for a day of fun with my family and my girl.