Page 36 of Butch

Rae had tried several times not to show how much she cared for Butch, but he knew exactly what to do and how to get a reaction out of her. Edmund had kept several of the things she had gotten from him over the years they were together. Whenever she did something particularly naughty, he would take them out and destroy them in front of her, leaving no possibility to fix it.

“If he does something to Rosie, I’ll get you a new one. I’ll get you all the stuffies you want in the world,” Daddy said.

“And I have no doubt that people at the clubhouse, when they find out about Rosie, they’ll get you new ones, too, so that you’re never alone,” Reaper said.

“I got one at the clubhouse that I meant to give to you before you had surgery, so you had a friend to wake up to, but your Daddy was pretty overprotective about who you saw,” Levi said, shaking his head. “I’m sorry that I forgot to bring it today. I was excited to see you after your surgery. It completely slipped my mind.”

“It’s okay,” Rae whispered. “But you guys don’t have to get me anything. I should be content with Niko.”

Levi gripped his chest and groaned. Raelynn pushed away from Daddy and turned toward Levi, worry coursing through her body.

“Are you okay?” she asked, rushing toward him. “What’s wrong? Where does it hurt? Is your arm also numb? I think we need to go to the hospital, Daddy!”

Levi cracked a smile and let his arm go limp. “My heart hurts.”

“Hurts!” she yelled. “Oh my goodness. Your heart hurts, which means something is wrong, and we need to get you checked out before something bad happens. Daddy! Get the car ready!”

“You would go to a noisy hospital for me?” Levi asked.

“Levi! Stop talking. Reaper, help me get him off the couch and to the car,” she demanded.

No one moved, and Rae growled.

“Why aren’t any of you moving? Why are you not helping me get Levi to the car so we can get him to the hospital?” she asked as she looked around.

“Why don’t you take a peek at Levi again and tell me what he looks like?” Daddy suggested.

“Daddy, we don’t have time for this. He said his heart was hurting!” she whined.

“Ask him why his heart was hurting,” Reaper said.

Taking a deep breath, she glared at Daddy and Reaper before turning to Levi, who was relaxed against the couch, looking at her.

“Le-Levi?” she hesitantly asked.

He smiled at her.

“But you were hurt,” she whispered.

“I wasn’t actually hurt. Well, I was, but nothing serious that we need to go to the hospital for,” he explained. “Why don’t you ask me?”

Tears pooled in her eyes, and she looked away from him. How could he pull something like this when she was worried about him?

“I’m sorry, Little Miss. I didn’t mean to make you cry. I just wanted to tease you a little. My heart hurt because you said you didn’t want any other stuffies and I already have one at the clubhouse, waiting to be in your arms. She can’t wait. I know she will be sad when she hears that you don’t want her any longer, and it hurts my feelings,” he said. “I got really sad, and my heart hurt because of it. It wanted to show you that you really need the stuffie. You should get several others, too.”

“Meanie.” She glared at him.

“That’s no way to look at Uncle Levi,” he said. “I was just teasing you. There is no harm in that.”

“There is harm in that.” She raised her voice. “I was genuinely worried that something happened to you, Uncle Levi!”

Uncle Levi pulled something out of his pocket and showed it to her. “I’m sorry for making you really worried. Will you forgive me?”

She eyes the candy in his hand and then up to him.

“You won’t do it again?” she asked.

He scratched the back of his head with his free hand. “Well, I can’t promise that, but I promise that it won’t be anything like a heart attack again. Those are serious, and you showed me what I did wasn’t good.”