Page 11 of Butch

Deccan nodded. “I can do that. But you’ll need to keep him alive so we can get information out of him.”

Butch ran his hand up and down her back, trying to calm himself down. He needed to be calm for her.

“Who is she to you?” Deccan asked.

“Legally, she’s my stepsister,” Butch replied.

CHAPTER 5

RAELYNN

Raelynn was so warm and comfortable. Something she hadn’t felt in years. Groaning, she moved her head, but a hand was keeping it in place.

She opened her eyes and looked up to see Butch staring down at her. That’s when she realized she was still in his lap.

Rae didn’t even realize she had fallen asleep; it had just happened as he rocked her back and forth. She couldn’t remember the last time she had fallen asleep like that with no worries and feeling safe.

Raelynn let go of his shirt and pushed against his hand. He finally let the back of her head go, and she looked up at him better, straining her neck.

“How long was I out for?” she asked and looked around the room, trying to see if anyone else was there.

No one. Rae’s shoulders dropped ever so slightly as she looked back at Butch. He was holding up the whiteboard.

Four hours.

Her eyes grew wide as she stared at those words. She was asleep on his lap for four hours.

“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have fallen asleep on your lap. You should have put me on the bed. Your legs must be numb,” Rae said as she tried to get off his lap.

But he wasn’t having any of it. His hands landed on her hips, holding her in place.

“Please come and let me go. I shouldn’t have fallen asleep on your lap. I’m sorry,” she muttered once again.

Butch shook his head and held up his finger, telling her to wait as he wrote on the whiteboard.

My legs aren’t numb, and you don’t have to apologize for falling asleep. It was my honor to hold you while you slept so soundly. It is something you desperately needed.

That was an understatement. It had been eight years of getting less than five hours of sleep a night. Eight years of not eating nearly enough. Eight years of trying to defend herself, but not having the strength or ability to.

Any time you want to sleep in my arms, just let me know, and I’ll make it happen. I don’t care what I’m doing or who I’m with. You want to take a nap or fall asleep tonight? I’ll be right there to keep you safe and hold you for as long as you need.

Rae sniffled as she felt her tear ducts opening once again. She had cried more in the past day than she had in the last eight years. Crying never did anything, so she held on to a lot of tears when she was with Edmund. But there was something about Butch that made him get through all her defenses and actually make her cry.

“I don’t want to bother you. I don’t want to rely on you when I know I’m going to have to leave,” she whispered.

You aren’t going to leave, and you aren’t a bother. It would make me so happy and proud if you came to me when you needed something, anything extravagant or something very simple.

“I have to leave. You can’t get hurt because of me,” she said.

And I’m telling you that you aren’t going to leave. I lost you eight years ago, and I’m not going to lose you again.

“You didn’t come back for me,” she pointed out.

Yes, I did.

Rae shook her head and scoffed. “No, you didn’t. I waited and waited and waited for you to come back to me, and you never did. You never showed up.”

Butch started writing when his head whirled toward the door. She looked over to see the doctor walking in once again. He smiled at her, and she stared at him, not knowing what to do or how to react.