Chapter 18
BUTCH
“Daddy is just going to be in here, talking to Deccan. If anything happens, you come to me right away,” Butch said as he knelt right in front of Raelynn.
“Daddy, I’m going to be okay,” she replied, giggling. “I’m just going to be in this room while you talk to him. I’m not going to disappear.”
But that was what he was worried about. What if something happened to her while he was talking to Deccan and he wasn’t there to save her?
“I don’t think I’m ready for this,” Butch said as he stood up, grabbing Raelynn’s hand.
“Where are you going?” Deccan asked.
“I’m not ready for her to be out of my sight. There is still very much a threat against her life,” Butch said. “We can have this conversation another day.”
Deccan shook his head. “This is important.”
“Daddy!” Raelynn tugged on his hand, pulling his attention to her. “I’m going to be okay. Reaper said he’ll be in the room with Echo and me. The only way to enter is through the door. There are a lot of other guys between the outside and us.”
“We also have alarms on any door or window that isn’t the front door. We’ll know if something happens before they can even attempt to do anything,” Deccan said. “She’s safe here.”
Butch sighed and knelt in front of Raelynn once again. “Are you sure you’ll be okay in the room? We can push this meeting to another day.”
Rae shook her head. “I don’t think you can. Deccan said it’s important. I’m okay being a little while. It’s not the whole day, and you’re coming right back to me. I’m not worried. You’re the one who is worried about leaving me here, which means you’ll be back.”
Butch cupped her face in his hands. “Of course I’ll be back. This meeting won’t take long. I’ll be right back. Maybe after we can go get some ice cream if you’re a good girl.”
“I’m always a good girl.” Ahe smiled.
Butch chuckled. “You’re always my good girl, but even good girls can be naughty, and you, Little Fairy, can be naughty sometimes.”
“No way, Daddy.” Ahe giggled. “Go, I’ll be fine with Reaper and Echo.”
He placed a kiss on her lips before standing and walking into Deccan’s office, hating the feeling of already being away from her. He should be with her right now. He should be making sure that she’s safe and comfortable. What if something loud happened and she got overwhelmed?
“She’s going to be fine,” Deccan said as he sat down. “I wouldn’t let anything happen to Echo, and Raelynn is with her right now. I won’t let anything happen to her. So, for right now, you can pay attention to this meeting and not worry about her.”
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.”
Deccan nodded. “Levi is watching over Flemming from a distance. Echo is with me at all times. I’ve told the owners of BTS to keep their women close to them since Echo hangs out with the other Littles a lot.”
“What about the girl who works at our bar down the street?” Butch asked. “Do you have someone watching over her?”
“Why would I have someone watching over Demi when she isn’t involved in anything?
No one knows we own the bar,” Deccan pointed out.
“It’s a quiet place and only regulars come in to nurse their broken hearts or get away from all the noise.
We’ve made sure that the bartender, Neil, is pretending to be the owner. ”
“But Neil is part of the club.” Butch shook his head.
“No one knows that. He was born and raised here. It works out for us. People go to the bar and talk. If anything important comes up, he tells us. He has eyes and ears everywhere. He has connections all over the United States to help us in the long run,” Deccan reminded him.
“Everyone thinks he’s an innocent young man who wanted to open a quiet bar for people. It works out for the town.”
Butch sighed. “How did he even get all those connections? Do we know everyone?”
Deccan scoffed. “No, we don’t, and he won’t tell us. But we know he’s close with Dimitri. If he’s friends with him, we don’t want to know who else he knows.”
“Fuck.” Butch hung his head. “And he wanted to join the Springfield Sinners? Are you sure he isn’t a spy for him? We don’t need another problem right now.”
“He promised that he wasn’t. Apparently, he thinks of us as family. He just wanted to hide that he was part of the club because he has siblings who still live here,” Deccan explained.
“Do you think we can use him? Ask him to contact some people to see if he knows where Raelynn was for the past seven years?” Butch asked.
“I can ask hi—”
An ear-piercing scream startled both of them. Butch yanked open the door and ran toward the girls’ room.
“Daddy!” Raelynn yelled.