Page 42 of Butch

Butch gave Deccan an unimpressed look. “Like you aren’t worrying about Echo? There’s no way I can just not worry about Rae.”

Deccan could be crazy sometimes. Butch never knew how to deal with it.

“I am, but I also know that we have guys out there on guard. They are in a room with Reaper, who is an excellent fighter, and they are safe,” Deccan pointed out. “The first time is always the hardest, but this is the first step you need to take. It’ll get slightly easier next time.”

Butch took a deep breath in. He could do this.

“What did you need to talk to me about?” Butch asked.

“There have been some guys asking around for a girl with short brown hair who is partially deaf,” Deccan explained.

Cold water rushed over Butch as he heard those words.

“Shit,” he cursed. “And you think it’s related to whoever had her.”

Deccan nodded. “We have no solid proof that they are with him, but who else would be looking for her?”

“What did you do with the men?” Butch asked.

“I made sure they knew that this is our territory and not to start anything,” he replied. “They said their boss is on the lookout for this woman—his woman—and wants her back.”

Butch pinched the bridge of his nose, and he let out a sigh. “He knows I’m part of the Springfield Sinners.”

Deccan cocked his head to the side. “What made you come to that conclusion?”

Butch stood up and started pacing back and forth in the office, trying to keep himself calm. He needed to know who this person was, but every time he brought it up to Raelynn, she told him he wouldn’t believe her and then proceeded to say that she should leave so he would be safe.

“Because it’s someone from the town we grew up in. Raelynn told us that if the man found the stuffed animal I gave her, he would destroy it. The haunted look on her face told me more than she wanted to give away. That man will get rid of anything related to me, which means he knows who I am and who I am to her,” he explained.

Just the thought of what he had done to Rae didn’t settle well with Butch. Every piece of information he was getting boiled his blood further. It made him want to go out for revenge.

“And you have no idea who it is?” Deccan asked.

Butch shook his head. “I haven’t seen those people in over eight years. Before that, I didn’t really hang out with anyone but Raelynn. She was the most important person to me, and everyone knew it. Why did I leave her there?”

The regret he had felt over the years grew when he realized how much she had suffered.

“There’s no use in dwelling on the past. You can just try and make the present and future better,” Deccan explained. “That’s what I have had to do.”

“I’ve looked over pictures, but none of the people seem to be anyone who could do something like that. It’s a man we know, for sure. And we’ve asked her to look over some pictures and have narrowed it down,” Butch said.

“I’m assuming you have Ace and Reaper looking into it as well,” Deccan questioned. “Have they found anything?”

Butch shook his head. “Why don’t we take one of the guys who was looking for her and torture them for information?”

“No.” Deccan’s voice was hard. “We don’t know who we are up against. From the little I’ve heard, Raelynn says he has connections and is powerful. We don’t want to make an enemy yet when we don’t know how we are going to defend ourselves.”

Butch punched his hand into the wall and took several deep breaths. “If we wait, then she’s in greater danger of him finding where she is and not being able to do anything!”

Did Deccan not understand where he was coming from? That not knowing who had taken Raelynn was killing him inside? Butch was defenseless, and he didn’t like that.

“We are going to figure out who he is before anything happens,” Deccan promised. “You have Ace and Reaper on it. They’re going to find out who this guy is, and we are going to deal with him.”

“What if we’re too la⁠—”

“Thinking what-ifs is very dangerous. Once you start, it’s very hard to stop,” Deccan interrupted him. “Don’t start doing that.”

“Have you made sure that every person is accounted for?” Butch asked. “If his men are here, they’ll go after other people who have connections to us. It’s what I would do if someone had my woman.”