Page 117 of The Butcher

Do I say any of that, though? Do I respond to her in any way that would indicate either of those things?

No.

Of fucking course I don’t.

“Why the hell were you watching me?” I snap as I straighten my spine and narrow my eyes like a moron.

Which Indy must agree with because she rolls those pretty purplish-blue orbs and parks her hands on her hips. “I was in the kitchen and caught sight of something in the yard. You’re pretty fucking hard to miss.”

The dumbass goes unspoken, surprisingly, but the sentiment is there.

“I didn’t plan on staring at you. When I heard your truck, I had every intention of going to go hide in my nest until you left again”—ouch— “but I thought maybe you were in need of medical attention since you seemingly forgot how to walk up a goddamn hill.”

If I wasn’t pissed, I’d laugh at that.

My sweet little scent match is feisty as fuck, and she’s funny on accident, but she’s lambasted me every time we’ve exchanged words, and I’m pretty fucking over it.

Well, I’m over myself and the way I keep reacting to it. I’m sure the ass chewing could end up being some fucked up kind of foreplay later on, and it won’t piss me off nearly as much by then.

Pending I stop saying things like, “Why the fuck would that mean I need medical attention?”

“I don’t know, and I guess, since you didn’t, it just means you’re a lot stupider than I originally thought.”

“Excuse me?” I ask as I take a few steps toward the house. “What did you just say to me?”

“Are you deaf, too?” Indy crosses her arms against her chest and juts her chin out defiantly. “I said I think you’re stupid, Bramley. And, obviously, you can’t listen for shit.”

Ignoring how much I like hearing her say my name, I march toward her, smirking behind my mask as my omega drops her arms and takes a step back.

Not so tough now, sweetheart.

I think I might have won that argument, not that it does me any good since it keeps this goddamn wall between us, but… I frown as I stop short of the steps, my eyes dropping to her hands. She’s balled them into fists, but not because she’s going to hit me. I’m sure she wants to, but Indy has her fists clenched so tight her knuckles are white, and that’s all I can see poking out of the sleeves of her sweatshirt because she’s holding the fabric in some sort of death grip.

One that draws blood and has me feeling like someone just punched me in the junk, and knocked all the air out of my lungs.

She’s afraid.

Indy changed positions and backed up because she’s afraid of me, and I really want to kick my own ass because of it.

“I’m not going to hurt you,” I say as I lift my hands, trying to calm her down enough to let me get on the porch. “Asshole or not, I would never do that.”

She nods, swallowing hard in between quick, shallow breaths. “I know.”

“Do you?” Because after everything she’s been through, having an alpha my size come charging toward her, an alpha she still doesn’t know very well heading her way with a chip on his shoulder, it has to be scary as hell. And I hate that I didn’t think about that until it was too late. “You know for sure that I would sooner eat lead than ever lay a finger on you?”

“Yes,” she says as she relaxes some, a curious smile tugging at her full lips. “You’re a shithead, but I know you wouldn’t hurt a woman.”

I shake my head then take a few cautious steps until I’m standing at the bottom of the stairs. “That’s not what I mean.” Because I’ve actually killed women who worked for Harden in one way or another. “I need to hear you say you know I would never hurt you.”

Indy tries like hell to hide her smile, biting her lip in hopes that I don’t see how that makes her feel. “I know you wouldn’t hurt me, Bram.” And just when I think we might be getting somewhere, that I might actually be able to stop being such a dick to my goddamn scent match, her entire expression changes and she looks pissed off again. “You wouldn’t hurt me, but you’d tuck tail and leave me to go through the first three hours of my first natural heat all alone! That hurt pretty damn bad.”

“What the hell are you talking about now?” No one told me Indy went into heat. Not that I’ve been very good about using my phone in any capacity other than tracking, but still. I didn’t get any calls or messages about that, angry or otherwise.

“You are a real piece of work,” Indy huffs as she narrows her pretty eyes. “I went into heat almost as soon as you left, and since you took Nash and Clayton with you, I was completely alone when it hit. I figured you might skip out on something like that since you’ve been such a peach about everything else, but I didn’t think you were cruel enough to take the only two other people who could have helped me. I might not know very much about relationships and being in a pack, but I know it’s real fucking shitty to put someone in a situation like that, especially when they happen to be your scent match!”

“I have no fucking idea what you’re talking about!” I bark as she spins toward the back door. “How the hell was I supposed to know you were going to go into heat when you didn’t even have a clue?”

Indy makes an adorable angry noise, a huff and a scream of frustration combined, then lets the screen door slam in my face as I try to follow her inside.

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