Page 24 of Butch

None of them deserved that.

“They are all people who live in the town, but none of them was the man who owned me.” She tried to keep her voice as steady as possible.

She made eye contact with Reaper, but he just tilted his head to the side as he continued to look at her. Okay… that was a little weird. Her eyes moved to Levi, who was shaking his head, and she quickly looked away.

“Why is everyone just looking at me?” she asked Butch as she turned to him.

But she didn’t like his expression any more than the other two. He just cupped her face with his hands and looked at her. Tears brimmed in her eyes and fell down her cheeks.

“I don’t know why I’m getting emotional,” she whispered. “It must be you. I used to not cry, but now I’ve cried so much. I’m sorry.”

All Butch did was wipe them away and continue to hold her face in his hands.

“Butch,” she choked out.

He shook his head.

“But—” He shook his head once again.

“Daddy?” she mumbled, and he nodded.

It was her turn to shake her head. There was no way she could call him Daddy out loud. Not when they hadn’t talked about anything, and she didn’t know whether she was going to stay here or not. Her being there was putting everyone in danger, and she didn’t want to be responsible for everyone. It was a lot of weight on her shoulders… her life, and she knew she was going to break any second if she did.

“I can’t stay here,” she whispered. “I can’t. I need to go before he finds me. I need to get away from all of you. I’m only putting you guys in danger. Everyone in this building… this town.”

She sounded like a broken record, but everything she was saying was true. They just didn’t believe her that Edmund wasn’t someone to mess with. He had friends, and those friends were powerful, which, in return, made him powerful and untouchable.

Unless someone killed him.

Oh, how she had thought about killing him so many times, but she never had the courage to. No matter how bad her life was when she was with him, she just couldn’t bring herself to do it. Her mind went to Butch and what would happen if he found out. Would he still want her? And then it went to all of Edmund’s friends, and she knew she would suffer when they caught her.

Butch pulled her into his chest, being mindful of her incision, and held her closely. His chest vibrated, and she would like to believe that he was whispering sweet nothings to her, but he was most likely talking to Reaper and Levi.

Raelynn didn’t know how much time had passed before Butch pulled her away from him and held his phone for her to read.

You are not going anywhere. You keep saying you are putting everyone in danger, but you’re not. We are going to keep you safe, and you won’t be able to do anything about it. We can take care of ourselves, know the risks, and are willing to take them.

“But I don’t want to bear the consequences,” she pointed out.

You won’t. I promise you won’t bear the consequences because there will be none. He’s not going to get you. We are going to make sure of that. This place is super safe. So put that thought out of your head about leaving, because I’m not going to allow you to. You are mine, and you are stuck here with me for the rest of your life.

Her mouth hung open as she looked at him, which gave him more time to write on his phone.

You’re my Little Fairy, and I’m your Daddy. Same rules as before, and if you need a reminder, I’ll tell you. We are going to go over hard limits and what you are okay with for everything. But what we aren’t going to do is say that you need to leave and push me away. We are going to figure this out.

Raelynn pushed her face into his chest and took fistfuls of his shirt, clinging on for dear life. He really wasn’t going to give up on her, and part of her was relieved he wasn’t.

His arms wrapped around her once again, and she relaxed into his embrace.

CHAPTER 11

RAELYNN

“Nope,” she said and shook her head.

They were on their way to the doctor’s office to get everything working on her cochlear implant. Raelynn was a nervous wreck as Daddy drove them there. So many things had happened in the last several weeks, but something that hadn’t happened was talking about her hard limits.

Raelynn didn’t know what Daddy was waiting for, maybe when they could have a proper conversation, but she felt like that wasn’t going to happen anytime soon. She had done a little research on what this appointment would be like, and she knew that everyone who had gotten a cochlear implant before had said how exhausting mentally they were to hear everything.