Page 92 of Butcher

My eyes narrowed on him, then slid over to Toxic. “Nothing.”

Butcher also looked over at Toxic, who tried to nonchalantly shake his head. “You’re frowning,” Butcher insisted.

The lightbulb went on. Butcher wasn’t very good at reading social cues, not that I was great at it myself, and Toxic was helping him to understand that he needed to check in on me. “I’m just worried about Heliaz Relay, I guess,” I lied. Well, it wasn’t totally a lie. I was worried that the rest of the board members would find out what happened to Danners and decide to come after us again.

“Don’t worry about them,” Butcher told me, reaching out to tuck a piece of my hair behind my ear. That hadn’t been prompted by Toxic, so I knew it was something he just wanted to do. It made my heart skip a beat. “Gail is taking care of that for us. She’ll contact our formerhigher ups and they’ll explain to Heliaz Relay that we aren’t worth pursuing.”

“What if they don’t listen?” I asked.

“Then they’ll die, too,” he said with a shrug.

That was easy for him to say. He’d have his brothers there to watch his back. After this plane ride it was going to go back to just me and Ms. Murder Mittens. My heart sank. She was going to be so upset. She’d already bonded with Butcher. I caught him feeding her some of her favorite treats right before we left.

Butcher shot Toxic an expectant look, and I had to hold back the laugh when Toxic shot him a discrete thumbs up.

They left me alone after that, thankfully. I fully planned to tell Butcher about this, but only once we got back to the clubhouse. I didn’t want the others listening in while I bared my damn soul. It was hard enough to do for him. The men kicked back, dozing, while I continued to overanalyze and worry the rest of the flight home.

“Welcome home!”

Kit’s warm words and hug nearly had me breaking down into sobs. I wasn’t usually a crier. But it was sinking in, now that we were back at the clubhouse, that this was coming to an end. I wouldn’t be able to hang out with the women, or teach the children any new moves, or help the men take out enemies.

Murder purred and rubbed against my legs. Breaking off the hug, I reached down and picked her up. “Hi, Ms. Mittens,” I said, hugging her close. Looking over, I frowned at Auron and Jecht, who were sitting like the best-behaved dogs on the planet, both giving me doggy versions of grins.

“They’re friends now,” Seek said with a shrug and smile.

“What did you do?” I asked.

“There may have been an intervention with the three of them while you were gone,” she admitted with a secretive smile.

My eyebrows shot up at that. “I would have liked to have seen that.”

“Oh Sweetie,” Sloane said, interrupting whatever Seek had been about to say. She reached out and lightly touched the deep bruises on my neck. “That looks like it hurts.”

It did, but I wasn’t about to admit it out loud. “It’s okay.”

“I have some cream that will help with the pain. I’ll be right back.” She hurried off before I had the chance to say anything.

Her kindness and the other women circling around me, checking in on me and welcoming me home made tears spring to my eyes. “Excuse me,” I told them, clutching Murder so hard to my chest she yowled in displeasure. I all but ran away from them and up the stairs. I didn’t stop until I was in Butcher’s new apartment.

I set my cat down and flopped into one of the dining room chairs, covering my face with my hands. What was wrong with me? I needed to get some damn pride and make this easy for Butcher by walking away dry eyed. I didn’t want to make him feel as though he owed me anything. He didn’t. I was just some girl who’d tried to kill him—and fucked him instead.

The sound of the door opening and shutting made me quickly wipe a stray tear from my cheek and look up.

Butcher was frowning as he walked toward me. “What happened? What did the women say?”

“Nothing,” I told him with a shake of my head. “They’re amazing.”

He looked at me with even more confusion. “Then why are you up here? Looking...upset?” he guessed.

I would have laughed if it wasn’t time to have this stupid talk. “You have such a great family here, Butcher.”

“I do.”

“They need you.”

He just blinked at me, waiting for me to get to my point.

“I’m leaving.”

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