Page 68 of The Butcher

For having them in my mouth a hell of a lot over the better part of the last two decades, I had no idea how big Bram’s balls are. They’re fucking huge for thinking he can kick our omega, his goddamn scent match, out without a fight. Honestly, he’s lucky he didn’t get more of one.

Nash was ready.

I swear that alpha was going to charge Bram’s room at Nan’s house and beat the shit out of him, bullet holes or not, and even though it was totally warranted, I managed to talk him out of it.

We went down that road already, it didn’t work, and since I’m not about to ask Indy to go talk to him, we needed a new plan.

Now, we’re handling things my way.

“Do you think Indy will like this?” Bramley’s shoulders bunch up to his ears as I turn my phone toward him. His back is to me, and it has been this entire time, but it doesn’t really matter. “I think so. She looks so good in dark colors. Against her complexion, it makes her eyes really pop.”

His cleaver comes down like a fucking battle axe, cracking against the wood block, and misses the rack of lamb entirely.

He’s so pissed.

Bram hasn’t said one word since I decided to come annoy the hell out of him at the shop. Nothing. Not even a fuck off. And I’m taking it as a good sign.

My alphas are on the outs, I don’t know if they’ve even seen each other since he tried to give Indy the boot, and that’s working in my favor as well.

He won’t say it but it eats at Bram when he and Nash are fighting.

Right now, I’m banking on it because I think it’ll only help with my plan.

They’re on the outs, Bramley feels like shit about it. Indy is still here and she’s hurting, Bramley feels like shit about that, too. I’m the only one who’ll have anything to do with him and I’ve done nothing but talk about Indigo Rae, and that makes him feel like shit and drives him crazy.

I’m going to get this man to crack, I know I will, and when I do, we can get on with our happy, horny, murdery little life.

Going without sex and murder is getting to me, not to mention I love being in love with these people, so I need to get us back on track.

“Oh, this is cute.” I turn my phone again, showing the huge stuffed unicorn to the back of Bramley’s head before I add it to my cart. “It’s cuddle size.”

He pauses, shakes his head, and goes back to hacking up the new order of sheep.

Then I grin to myself as I start searching for something else. “Indy is a great cuddler.”

The cleaver goes flying, shooting backward right out of Bram’s hand before it crashes into the stainless steel counter then slowly skids before it stops.

“Goddamn bullshit,” he mumbles as he lumbers over to the sink and retrieves his last clean butcher knife—because he’sdone this three times already—and as soon as he passes me, I push off the adjoining counter and shove my phone in his face.

“What do you think about this?”

Bramley freezes, goes stock still, but those cold, blue eyes speak volumes.

They widen over what’s on my screen, then they blink a few times, then they narrow to slits before lifting to mine. “Why in the fuck do you need that?”

Dramatically rolling my eyes, I lean back and cross my legs at the ankle. “It’s not for Indy. Not really. Not directly.”

Bram’s eyes turn into slits. If I could see his knuckles, I know they’d be white.

“It’s for me,” I say matter of fact, adding the item to my cart as my alpha tries to burn a hole in my head. “I mean, it’s for both of us.”

“I repeat,” Bram growls, his voice low and menacing. “Why. The fuck. Do you need a strap on?”

Lifting my gaze right along with my shit eating grin, I decide now is exactly when I’m going to push my big unhinged man directly over the edge. “So, hear me out. I already explained all of this to Nash and he thinks it’s a good idea.” I swear I see smoke coming from his ears. “We don’t know where she came from, but it’s obvious that Indigo Rae has some serious hesitation when it comes to men, and not just because she was half dead when she came to us.” Bram’s hands ball into fists and I can’t help but grin. “My educated guess is, Indy was abused, treated very poorly, and given minimal to no control over anything in her life.”

Which is the truth.

Nash and I have talked a lot about it, actually, and we came to that conclusion. He thinks she could have spent time in Blackhurst like he did, her appearance and demeanor would support it, but I disagree. Indy doesn’t have the rough edgethat someone who lives in an asylum earns, even if it checks off several other boxes.

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