Page 7 of Butch

She didn’t, but he never came, and then she was thrust into Edmund’s house with no means of escaping.

How did this happen?

She sighed and shook her head. There was no way she was going to tell him.

I want to know what happened. I want to know who it was so I can go after them.

And that was why she didn’t want him to find out. What was he going to do to Edmund? There was no way he would be able to touch Edmund without landing himself in jail for the rest of his life.

Little Fairy, I want to know.

Her eyes fluttered shut after she read the nickname he had given her all those years ago when life had been so much different.

Rae desperately wanted to hear those words from his mouth just one more time. It had been her dream since he’d, but she never expected it to actually happen.

Something she thought would never happen since she had lived with Edmund.

“Can I please just leave?” she asked for the tenth time. “I really need to go before he finds me or figures out that I’m with you.”

Butch shook his head once again. It was the same thing over and over again. She would ask the question, and he would always tell her no. She had hoped that with her asking so many times, he would finally give up and allow her to leave, but that hadn’t happened yet.

“Butch, please,” she begged. “I need to leave.”

He wrote on the whiteboard and held it up for her.

You aren’t leaving until you tell me who did this. I want a name, and I want to know everything he did to you. Then I’ll consider allowing you to leave.

Rae clenched her teeth together as she took inhaled through her nose. She was getting nowhere with Butch, but what did she expect? He had been very stubborn in high school, and it didn’t seem like it had changed.

Butch’s head turned, alerting her that something was happening behind her. She hated this. She hated that she trusted Butch to keep her safe right off the bat, but she still had the itching sensation to be on guard. It took everything in her not to move to the corner of the room so she could see everyone and anyone who came in.

It would require her to get out of bed, and Butch was sitting right next to her, so she couldn’t. She had tried several times, and he always positioned his body so she couldn’t get off. It was frustrating as hell. All she wanted to do was yell at him, but she held back each time.

Rae didn’t know how he was going to react, and she didn’t want him to do something bad and taint her memories of him.

The doctor walked around the bed and stood next to Butch, grabbing the whiteboard.

How long have you been deaf in one ear?

She sighed. “Three years, I think.”

She watched their faces closely as she said those words. Rae wasn’t expecting them to look so shocked, nor was she expecting the anger on Butch’s face.

And you’ve never had any type of assessment to see whether you could get anything to help you hear?

Raelynn shook her head. “Never. He wouldn’t pay for it.”

She hated saying those words, but she had been at his mercy for years. With no job and unable to go outside, she didn’t have any money to her name. The little she had when she escaped was what she had stolen over time.

Butch started talking to the doctor, and Rae tried to catch what he was saying, but he wasn’t facing her, so she could only make out insignificant words.

“Wa-wait,” she stuttered, fear coursing through her.

What were they talking about? Why did they both look so angry?

Butch glanced over at her, and his face dropped every trace of anger.

“What are you saying?” she found herself asking, hoping they would be honest with her.