Chapter 40

Static

”That one is perfect,” Gwen said with a soft smile as she pointed at the stuffed elephant.

Grabbing it off the shelf, I wrapped my arm around her shoulders and walked up to the front of the store. We”d partied hard for the last two days and sent the Berserkers and the Saint”s Outlaws back home with hangovers that were sure to plague them for days.

But now we were all ready to spend time with our families and let things get back to normal. We walked out of the store and I started up my bike while Gwen packed the toy away in the small backpack she was wearing. The drive to the hospital was quick and eventless. We weren”t expecting any trouble to pop up any time soon. Or at least that was what we were hoping.

I waited with the elephant while Gwen checked with the front desk. The nurse smiled as she spoke to my girl. Gwen came back to me, beaming.

”Room twelve,” she told me.

Leading her to the elevators, I hit the button for the second floor and followed Gwen out as she rushed toward where the others were sitting.

”You”re just in time,” Lock told us. ”They just asked for us to come in.”

We all piled into the room and Smokehouse looked up at us, a look of wonder and terror on his face. He was holding his daughter, swaddled in a pink blanket, in his arms.

Gwen and the other women rushed over to Dani to check on her, while we went up to Smoke and the baby.

”Holy shit,” Smoke breathed. ”I”m a dad.”

Hellfire chuckled and nodded. ”God help the kid.”

”She”ll be fine,” Priest told him.

”What”s her name?” Gwen asked, coming up next to me to peek at the baby. ”Oh, she”s perfect.”

”We decided on Hannah,” Dani replied with a happy smile.

”She”s beautiful,” Seek said, wrapping an arm around Smoke”s waist and leaning in to brush a finger over the baby”s soft cheek. She squeezed Smoke before going over to Hush and laying her head on his shoulder as he wrapped an arm around her.

Sylvia was watching all the kids today so we could come visit the new parents in the hospital. All our brothers and their women were here and both Smoke and Dani looked so damn happy.

I grinned when I caught Gwen watching me. ”What?”

”What are you thinking?” she asked.

”That I can”t wait until we”re having a baby,” I admitted.

She shook her head with an amazed smile on her face. ”You want them that soon?”

”As soon as possible, Sugar.” I didn”t mention the fact that it wasn”t entirely impossible that she was pregnant right now. We”d been having sex without condoms for weeks. And I didn”t plan to change that. I couldn”t wait to go through the entire experience with her. And to see Sean and Grace welcome a new baby into the family.

The door opened and everyone glanced over. The smile slipped off my face. ”What the hell happened to you?” I asked, eyeing up the walking disaster.

Toxic looked down at himself then shrugged. ”Someone tried to kill me.”

There was half a second of silence before everyone started talking all at once. Lock held up a hand and moved over to Toxic. ”What happened?”

”Was waiting at a light,” Toxic explained, ”and some asshole pulled up next to me. I looked over and saw the gun in time to slam on the throttle of my bike. Fucking tried to miss the traffic as I busted into the intersection. Got clipped right at the last minute. Thought I was going to make it out. Bike”s fucked, though.” He shook his head, heaving a sigh.

”Jesus,” Rip said. ”Did you get a look at the guy?”

”Yeah, blond. Brown eyes. Can”t give a height since he was sitting down. Had a pistol, pretty sure it was a Beretta, but it all happened fast.”

”You think this was a hit to avenge Fremont?” Ricochet asked our group.

”Nah,” Toxic said. ”It seemed…personal.”

”Why do you say that?” I asked.

”Guy met my eyes, paused before taking a shot. It was the reason I was able to react fast enough. Almost like he wanted me to see his face before he killed me. Fucked up thing? I have no clue who the asshole is.” He chuckled. Then he walked over to Dani”s bed and gave her a hug.

”Who would want you dead?” Hell asked.

”Who wouldn”t?” Hush countered.

”Probably some chick”s husband,” Toxic told us with a grin.

We all stopped talking as the door opened again, but it was just Butcher. He paused as he saw Toxic. ”What happened to you?”

”Some asshole tried to kill me.”

”Huh.”

”What?” Lock asked, his eyes narrowing on Butcher.

”Blond hair, brown eyes? Six two?”

”Yeah. How”d you know?” Toxic asked, sounding suspicious

”Pretty sure that guy tried to kill me yesterday.”

Everyone stopped talking and stared at him.

”What?” he asked.

”Why didn”t you say anything?” Priest asked.

Butcher just shrugged. ”Used to it, I guess.”

”I”m sorry,” Gwen said, and gave him a look of disbelief. ”You”re used to men trying to kill you?”

”Yeah, Peaches,” he replied with another shrug.

She looked over at me and I shrugged too. Judging by the look on Lock”s face he hadn”t been aware of that bit of information either.

”How often are people trying to kill you?” Lockout gritted out between clenched teeth. He was pissed he didn”t know about this.

”You mean other than mafia guys, DAs, cops, and the like?” Butcher asked, ticking off all our previous enemies. ”Only occasionally.”

”Define occasionally,” Idaho said, amusement coloring his tone.

”You”re too quiet,” Lock stated, pointing at Toxic. ”Did you know about this?”

”Yeah.”

”You”re supposed to tell me this shit,” Lock sighed. ”What the hell guys?”

”Don”t worry,” Butcher said. ”We”ll take care of it and it won”t be a problem anymore.” He shot Dani a smile. ”Congrats on the new baby.”

”Thanks, Butcher,” she replied with her own smile.

Toxic walked past Butcher, shoving open the door.

”Whoa, whoa, whoa,” Lock called out. ”Where are you going?”

”Told you,” Butcher said, ”to take care of the problem.” With that he followed Toxic out of the room.

”Shit,” Lock muttered. ”I was hoping for a damn break.”

”You let them take care of it,” Hush replied, ”and we will have one.”

”Go with them,” Lock told him. ”Make sure they don”t do anything stupid.”

”I”ll go, too,” Priest offered.

”Not sure we can keep them from doin” somethin” stupid, though,” Hush muttered. ”Kind of their MO.”

I wrapped my arms around Gwen and looked over at Lock. ”You think this is going to be a problem?”

Lock laughed. ”When aren”t there problems when those two are involved?”

Everyone laughed at that and I glanced over my shoulder as Hush and Priest left to catch up with the Terror Twins. That wasn”t a bad name for them, but I might have to work on it. With the four of them tracking down the guy that took a shot at Toxic, it was under control. Lock knew it too, or he”d send more guys with them. I just hoped, like Lock, that we”d get a bit of a break before all hell broke loose again.

***

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