Fractured (Deep In Your Veins, #5)(4)

“You should be thanking me for that.”

I picked up my purse and followed him into the kitchen. “Thanking you?”

“You barely even knew the guy,” he said, pulling two NSTs out of the fridge. “But you were hurting. Something was bothering you, and you wanted to forget”—I’d wanted to forget there was a blonde trying to rub herself all over Butch at the other side of the club—“so you were going to go home with that *. You would have regretted it at dawn.”

Actually, he was probably right.

He pointed an NST at me. “If you wanted to be f*cked that badly, Imani, you should have come to me.” He slammed one bottle on the breakfast bar, twisted the cap off his own, and drained the bottle—his dark gaze never leaving mine.

“Did you really just say that?”

Chucking the empty bottle in the trash, he braced his hands on the breakfast bar. “I did. And here’s the thing: I’m done waiting for you.”

I tensed, confused by his words and stunned by the raw need that momentarily blazed in his eyes. I hadn’t seen that look in a long time. It took a few seconds before I could speak. All that came out was, “What?”

“I had to watch you with that human for seven months. Seven. Long. Fucking. Months. The only thing that stopped me from hurting him was that he made you happy. But then he didn’t, and now he’s gone. I decided to give you a month to get your head straight before I made a move. That time is now up.”

I shook my head. “I told you I was done with being a bed-buddy. I want—”

“More. A relationship. The problem is I’m not good for people. I don’t know how to make another person happy. That was why I let you go. And I’ve regretted it ever f*cking since. I didn’t think I’d get another chance with you. But I have, and I’m taking it. You want a relationship? Fine. But I won’t be easy to deal with, Imani. Know that straight up. I’m aggressive and selfish, not to mention dangerously f*cking possessive when it comes to you.”

He had to be kidding…but I knew he wasn’t. Butch was a direct person. He didn’t play games. “You’re serious, aren’t you?”

“Wouldn’t say it if I wasn’t.” He opened my NST and slid it to me. “Drink.”

Feeling a little dazed, I picked up the bottle. “Where is all this coming from?” It felt seriously shit. “You’ve never acted even remotely possessive.” Protective, sure, but that was different.

“Why do you think I almost snapped Leo’s spine?”

Leo was a member of the legion who I’d liked right up until he grabbed my ass and mentioned how much he’d like to f*ck it. “It was you that beat the shit out of him?”

“He touched what wasn’t his to touch.”

I could only gape. This whole conversation was just…I mean…what the f*ck? It had totally blindsided me. Seemed too bizarre to be true. I didn’t know how to process it, and I didn’t know how to feel about it.

He watched my throat work as I drank the NST. “Tell me what you’re thinking.”

“I’m thinking I need to go.”

His hand shot out and grabbed my wrist. “You know what I like about you, Imani? I don’t have to play guessing games with you. You let it all hang out. If you’re pissed, you show it. If you’re happy, you show it. If you’ve got something you want to say, you just say it. Right now, you’re closing down on me. Tell me what you’re thinking.”

I threw my empty bottle in the trash. “I find all this hard to believe.”

“You think I’m lying to you?”

I shrugged. “My mom always said that guys are like commercials—you can’t trust a single word they say.”

“I’m not lying, Imani.”

“Can you blame me for being doubtful? You made it clear eleven months ago that you didn’t want anything more than…”

“You beneath me,” he finished. “Back then, I didn’t. Things have changed.”

“What does that mean exactly?”

“It means that I want everything you are.”




(Butch)



I could see that my answer took her off-guard. It also spooked her. That was a smart reaction. Because I wouldn’t accept anything less than everything. And because, contrary to what little Imani Prince liked to think, I wasn’t a good guy. I was close to the sociopath that I’d long ago been branded. Yes, I was well aware of what people said about me. I didn’t care; that would require energy I could use on something else.

I’d been protective of her since the second she was brought to The Hollow. Limbs tight to her body and her hand at her throat, the pretty little doe-eyed female had regarded my entire squad with a wary gaze. She’d done her best to look calm and unafraid so that Paige would agree to leave her side and help the injured vampires around us. But it had been blindingly clear that Imani expected one of the squad to pounce on her.

Then she’d looked right up at me. Even as a human, people were wary of me. ‘It’s something about your eyes,’ so many had said. I’d heard my eyes be described as eerie, dead, and empty. I used to spook the shit out of my teachers as a kid, which had been pretty entertaining.