Page 32 of With Spite

“Definitely infamous.”

Cody, Birdee’s stepsister, had been illegally poaching animals. She’d been out doing just that, likely targeting the moose in question, when she was trampled by said moose.

She’d died due to her injuries, and Cody’s stepfather and mother had gone crazy because of it.

Poor Birdee.

I shifted from foot to foot, my gaze going to the table as I looked at all the meat spread out on it.

“Do you need any help?”

Hux looked over at me from where he was at the table cutting up meat.

There were huge piles of meat ready to be inserted into bags, and I was, after all, bored out of my damn mind.

Having a brother was fun.

It meant that you couldn’t go home alone or do the things you really wanted to do during snowstorms. He’d all but begged me to allow Hux to drive me home today after he dropped me off at work.

And since I wasn’t stupid, and I knew that I was safer to have someone who knew how to navigate in blizzard conditions, I’d agreed.

“Why?” he asked.

I bit my lip. “In all honesty?”

He grunted. “I don’t like being lied to, so yeah, in all honesty.”

“I am ready to go,” I admitted. “I have a true crime documentary calling my name, and I want to go home. Also, I watched this video a little bit ago about diamond mining in Arkansas, and I want to do research on it. Plus, this store gives me hives, and I don’t want to be here any longer than necessary.”

He grunted.

“Hence me asking if you need help. You look like you’re nowhere near being ready to go. And since you’re my ride…”

“Fold those bags over on themselves, stuff them as full as you can get them while still being able to lay flat. Then I’ll tell you what to do after that. But wash your hands first and get some plastic gloves on. There’s a hairnet over there, too. I think I have some smaller gloves underneath the counter for when Heidi offers to help.”

I did just that, putting on the hairnet, washing my hands, then gloving up before going to help him pack bags full of meat.

It wasn’t hard work, but it was quite satisfying for some reason.

Though a lot of that satisfaction came from watching Hux wield a blade.

He was a damn master.

I found myself watching his forearms and hands move with such admiration that I didn’t realize he was talking to me at first.

“…you can start putting all of this in the grinder behind you.”

I looked behind me at the massive grinder.

“Whoa,” I said. “Do you think that if I accidentally put my arm in there, it’d grind it off?”

“Without a doubt,” he answered. “But there’s a guard there to prevent that.”

My stomach evened out at the knowledge. “Okay, good. It’d be just my luck that I’d get it stuck in there.”

“Your luck?” he asked.

“It’s trash,” I found myself saying. “I literally have the worst luck in the world. When I was five, I tripped, fell, and broke my forehead.”