Page 26

CHAPTER 26

Billie

I was in so much trouble. It’d been two days since Toxic left, without a word, and I missed him. I actually missed him. I wasn’t even pissed about the fact that he’d left without a word. Not anymore. I just wanted to see him. And it had only been two days.

I’d been able to keep myself confined to my room before he left because I knew he was there. I’d been shocked when I woke up the other morning and he was gone. Well, the shocking part had been the man sitting at my table drinking coffee like he had not a care in the world.

He’d smiled my way as his eyes raked over me. The grin hadn’t stayed long when I’d reached under my side table in the hallway and pulled out the revolver hidden under it. He’d froze and eyed me with respect after that.

He was the one who’d told me that Toxic had to go out of town and that he and Isla would be ‘watching over me’.

I didn’t need babysitters. Huffing out a breath, I loaded up another fifty-pound bag of chicken feed into the back of my truck. Isla was right there with me, loading bags. I was surprised she wasn’t complaining. It was the second week of September now, but it was still hot as hell out here. That was Tucson for you, there were very few months of cooler weather.

I’d come to like this woman even more over the last couple days. She was strong and just pitched in where I needed help. I always admired a good work ethic and it was clear she had one. Not to mention she managed to make me laugh more often than not.

Warrant had slipped right into Toxic’s role of taking care of the animals and fixing things around the house. He hadn’t looked even a bit sheepish when the shipment of metal came in yesterday and he told me that Toxic had bought it to redo my house’s roof. It was as though that was a completely normal thing for a man to do. It wasn’t. Men didn’t buy women roofs. Or repaint their barns. Or repair their tractors. At least, most men didn’t. Turned out that was exactly what Toxic did.

So, here I was, sweating my boobs off in the Arizona sun instead of yelling at him for spending way too much money on me and for leaving me. Warrant was nice enough, but he wasn’t Toxic. Sure, he was gorgeous, which one of these men wasn’t? And he was easy going enough. But there was a difference. I didn’t know what it was yet, but I was irritated that Toxic was gone and he was here.

I wrote it off as it was better to have the devil I now knew invading my life than some new one. Deep down, I knew the truth. I was just lying to myself. I was worried. Isla told me that Toxic had gone to confront Brently.

Sighing, I shut the tailgate now that we were done and smiled at the kid who worked at the feed store. “Thanks. Just put it on my tab. I’ll settle up at the end of the month.”

They knew me here. Knew I was good for the money, so he just waved and headed back inside the store. We didn’t have that many chickens. I kept them around mostly for the eggs and because I liked them, same with the other fowl we had, so I didn’t need to buy the feed in bulk the same way I did for the cattle. So I just came once a month and bought enough to get me through thirty days at a time. It got me off the ranch and forced some contact with humans.

“You ready?” I asked Isla. Warrant was back at the ranch, making sure no one bothered my animals while we were in town.

“Sure,” she said, getting into the truck. She eyed me as I pulled out onto the road. “You alright?”

“Yeah,” I replied. I’d finished all my bookkeeping. Which meant I was free to catch up on everything else I’d been neglecting. Gramps and his brother were doing great. They were having a good time together. Everything was great. Except the fact that the infuriating biker who’d shoved his way into my life had up and left without a word. Why was it bothering me so badly?

“You’ve been quiet,” Isla commented.

“How do you know I’m not always like that?” I asked with a smile.

“Don’t seem like the type,” she replied with a shrug. “Not this quiet anyway. Something bothering you?” There was a grin on her face.

I rolled my eyes. “No.”

“Really?” she teased. “Because it seems to me like you’re upset that Toxic is gone.”

“Nope.”

“Have you changed your mind about sleeping with him?”

I gasped and glared over at her. “No. Besides, how can I do that when he’s not here anyway?”

Her smile took on a satisfied look. “Knew it.”

I frowned, confused. “Knew what?”

“You’re upset that he’s gone.”

“That- What?” I asked. “How are you getting that from what I said?” Before she could answer, the wheel jerked in my hands. Gripping it tight, I swore and took the exit off I-10 for a rest stop. I was grateful it was there so that I wouldn’t have to change a damn tire on the side of the road.

I’d had enough flat tires to know exactly why the steering wheel was fighting me like this. “Flat,” I told her when she arched a brow in my direction.

“Great,” she muttered.

I pulled into an open spot. There were a lot of people parked all around us. She hopped out of my truck, eyes scanning each person suspiciously. It was as though she thought they caused the flat tire just to get me out in the open. I shook my head at her paranoia.

Opening up the back door, I dug around, swearing as I realized I didn’t have the tools I’d need. “Goddamn it,” I muttered.

“What’s wrong?” she asked.

I gave her a sheepish look. “I may have left my floor jack over near the tractor the last time I tried to fix it.” That was what I got for always leaving my tools spread out everywhere instead of putting them back when I was done using them. Dad had tried to drill that into my head over the years, but it never quite stuck.

“Okay,” she replied, sounding as though she didn’t know why that was an issue.

“I don’t have bottle jacks in the truck because they’re so damn small,” I elaborated.

She blinked at me with a neutral expression on her face.

“I have nothing to jack the truck up with so I can’t change the tire,” I added.

“Oh. Well, damn,” she said, looking around.

I laughed when it finally sank in for her. “Don’t you know how to change a tire?”

“No.” She shrugged. “I just steal another car whenever I get a flat.”

That made me blink in surprise. “Another…car?”

She shrugged again. “Want me to go ask one of those big rigs if they have a jack?”

I shook my head. “They won’t. They don’t change their own tires. They call their shipping company and they get it handled.”

“So what do we do?” she asked. “I could steal a car. There’s a nice one right there.”

“No,” I told her with a laugh. “No stealing a car. Besides, I’m not leaving my truck or the feed here.”

“I’ll call one of the guys to bring us a jack,” she said.

“That’s a great idea. Until then, I’ll see if someone here has one I can borrow.” I looked around and spotted a larger truck—it wasn’t a dually like mine but wasn’t tiny either—pulling in. There was a silver toolbox in the back, so I was hoping it’d have a larger bottle jack.

Loping over, I waited until the girl climbed out from the driver’s seat. A man came and stood next to her. I smiled at them. “Hi. Sorry to bother you but my truck has a flat and I don’t have a jack. Do you happen to have one I could borrow?”

They both gave each other a look and then she gave me a sheepish smile. “This is my boyfriend’s truck.”

I focused on the man next to her. He laughed and shook his head. “Not me. I’m gay.”

“Oh,” I said, laughing because I’d assumed he was the boyfriend.

“I have no idea if there’s a jack in the toolbox,” the girl said, “but if there is you can definitely use it.” She was nice and friendly, but clearly didn’t know much about what her boyfriend kept in his truck.

“Thank you so much,” I told her.

Her friend jumped in the bed and started digging around in the tool box. “Is this what you need?” He held up a tire iron.

My eyes widened as I stared at him. “Um, no I need a jack.”

He looked down at the tire iron and then chuckled. “Sorry, I don’t know what that is.”

At least he’d held up something that was useful for changing a tire. “Can I get up there and look?”

“Yes, please,” he said with another laugh.

Climbing up into the truck, I spotted the jack right away and held it up.

“Ohhhh,” they both said in unison.

“I’ll bring it back in about ten minutes?” I said, asking for permission from the girl again.

“Okay,” she said in a bright tone. “We’ll be here.”

“Thank you again,” I told her and hurried back to my truck. I pulled out the tire iron and wooden blocks and laid them on the ground.

Isla finished her phone call and stood there, hands on her hips watching me. “What are those for?” She knocked one of the blocks over with the toe of her sneaker.

“Bottle jacks,” I held it up, “are too short for a truck like this. I need to balance it on the wood in order to jack the truck up high enough to get the tire off the ground.

She looked impressed. “I might have to have you teach me this. I guess I can’t just go around stealing cars as much anymore.”

“Well, certainly not when you have a load of feed. Imagine trying to fit all this into a car.” I laughed and agreed to teach her. Piling the blocks of wood until they were high enough, I put the jack on them, then used the rod to start raising it up. Once I had it positioned on the frame of the truck, I jacked it until the tire was just lightly resting on the pavement and stopped.

Her phone rang. “Hey, Hush. Nevermind, Billie found someone who had one.” She paused, tilting her head as she listened. “No. She’s got it under control.” A frown crossed her face. “No, seriously. She’s going to have this changed long before you can even get here. I promise I’ll call if anything goes wrong-” She paused, then sighed. “Yes, I’ll call once we’re back on the road. Either way, I’ll give you a call.”

She put her phone away and we exchanged grins. These men were extremely protective, something Toxic taught me right away.

“I’d help you, but I hurt my back recently. I’m afraid age has gotten the better of me.”

Looking around Isla, I saw an older man, probably in his seventies. He was grimacing at the thought of leaving me to change my own tire. “Oh,” I said with a smile, “it’s okay. We’ve got it.”

He scowled as people flooded around us. There were young men walking past without offering to help. I didn’t expect anyone to help me change my tire. I knew how to do it, but he had a disgusted look on his face. “They should be helping.”

I laughed and eyed the men. “In my experience, there are a lot of men who don’t know how to change a tire anymore. I’d rather do it myself so I don’t have to worry that they forgot to tighten the lug nuts. I don’t want my tire flying off while I’m on the freeway.”

The man grumbled and shook his head. “I’ll let you get back to it. I’m sorry I can’t help you.”

“Thank you,” I told him. “But don’t worry about us.”

“Guys don’t know how to do this shit?” Isla asked, looking confused. “The guys at the clubhouse spend a lot of time fixing up their bikes and stuff.”

“Yeah,” I replied, “ they’d know how to. And guys raised rurally usually know how to. Women too,” I added, “because if you get a flat there might not be anyone around for miles to help you change it. But city guys?” I snorted out a laugh. “They’re used to being able to call someone else out to roll around on the hot pavement to change their tires for them.”

“Hmmm,” she said. “Let me do that. So I can learn,” she added when I started to argue.

“Okay. Before we raise the tire all the way off the ground we want to loosen the lug nuts.” I walked her through how to change a tire and before long we had the new tire on and the jack back to its owner.

We were both sweating and dirty by the time we climbed back into the truck. The AC felt like heaven as I drove home. I pulled in and stopped next to the house. Movement caught my eye and a scowl stretched over my face as I watched Toxic walk out of my house, a smile on his face, as though he hadn’t just abandoned me for two days.

Slamming out of the truck, I stalked toward him. I poked my finger into his chest, noting the way his smile faded and anger entered his eyes. “Where have you been?”

“Let’s go fix something out in the barn,” Warrant muttered to Isla. “Better yet, at the clubhouse.”

“What?” she asked as he started hauling her away toward the SUV he’d been driving each day. “But I want to watch-”

I focused back on Toxic as Warrant shoved Isla in the SUV then drove off. “Typical,” I snapped at him. “You shove your way into my life, take over, then just leave.”

“I left you with people to watch over-” he started.

Cutting him off, I jabbed him again. “I don’t want anyone else watching over me, Toxic.”

I was being unreasonable. I was aware of it, but there wasn’t anything I could seem to do about it.

The smile was back, only now it was more of a satisfied smirk. “Let me get this straight,” he said, his tone teasing. It made me want to smack him, but I held back. “You’re pissed because I left?”

“No,” I denied, crossing my arms over my chest.

“That’s what it sounds like,” he replied.

“You’re a jerk, Toxic,” I snapped and swept past him into the house. This wasn’t like me at all, but he’d left me behind, left me here to worry about him for two days.

I slammed the door behind me. He could just rot out there in the heat for a while so I could cool down. That was my plan anyway. Somehow, I’d already forgotten Toxic was the kind of man who did whatever the hell he wanted.