Page 172 of Vicious Butterfly
Tate face palms. “Fine. Tell us when it’s ready. Until then, we’re busy.” He shuts the door in McKinnon’s face.
“The guy was born under a lucky star, and the world bends to his will,” I say.
“It’s annoying.”
“Agreed.”
Tate pulls me into his arms, planting a sensual kiss.
“Fuck him. I’d rather be in a dark fairy tale with you any day of the week, dollface.” We kiss some more. He slides a hand over my ass. “I want you again. I want you forever. I love you.”
Still fucking surreal to hear him say those words to me, but looking back, knowing Tate like I do now, it’s the most obvious thing in the world. He wouldn’t have come running to me like he did if he didn’t need me more than breath. He would have simply cut out my eye and kept it in his pocket.
“If I die before you, I give my permission for you to carry a piece of me around with you forever.”No matter how fucking creepy that is, I don’t add out loud.
“No goddamn way, dollface. Remember what I said? If you have a cold, I want a cold. If you have pneumonia, I want pneumonia, too. If you die—which, let’s agree to talk about that never again—I’m fucking out of here. I’m racing so fast to the white light, I’ll show up in time to carry you the rest of the way. I’m not living a minute without you.”
I smile. “Hey, I keep meaning to ask you, how did you find me so fast? Kline’s wasn’t exactly the obvious option.”
His eyes widen, a sheepish hand rubbing the back of his neck. “Um, you know, there’s something I’ve been meaning to tell you.”
“Tate.”
“But first, I’m going to make you feel good, baby.”
“Tate!”
But his mouth is on my cock soon after that, and I lose interest in anything else but him.
EPILOGUE
Mid-April
Tate
My husband loves me way more than your husband loves you. Know how I know? This is what he said to me. His words, not mine: “What about something more permanent? Something that can’t be taken off? That you, I don’t know, weld onto me?”
He even left it up to me. License to put whatever marks of ownership on him that I wanted. I went with an ankle bracelet for now. It’s less of a bracelet, though, and more in the chain arena, which he called out but let me do anyway. It was the safest option for hockey, because it’s thin enough to tuck into his skate where it won’t get caught on anything. When he’s done with hockey, I’m replacing it with something thicker. More noticeable. But what he has now, I’d have to cut it off him with bolt cutters. That thing isonhim.
But he did it because he knows it’s my love language. He knows I have … issues. So he shows me he’s mine in all kindsof ways that calm my insides and shockingly make me less controlling. I make him feel safe and worthy, which makes him feel less like he has to put himself last. Less like he has to distract himself looking after others. It’s improving things with his brother.
I took the job at North Point. Literally. It wasn’t exactly available anymore, so I had to take the position. It took a lot of negotiating. Kazimir wouldn’t give me the same stature in the deal, no kingships on offer, but Coach Bruce was demoted to assistant coach, and I’ll be taking over next season. I’m on campus a lot for it being the off-season. Am I supposed to be? Not really, but Kazimir seems to like having me around. I think I’m growing on him.
It's imperative I’m here. I need to know every inch of this campus. Have many options for keeping Ryan and his brothers safe.
Speaking of brothers. Luke and I had a long-ass talk. It took an entire day. He wasn’t happy about all the lies and subterfuge. There’s still a lot he doesn’t understand, but because he wasn’t honest about his activities either, he was willing to let that go. Wipe the slate clean.
But I saw the moment it happened, the one where his heart fucking broke. Now that I’m no longer fully immune to pain when it involves Luke, my heart fractured, too. Seeing him in that much pain threatened to end me.
This was why I never let him know. This was why it was supposed to remain a secret. If I could bring Clarence back to life, I would so I could kill him again. Luke sobbed, reminding me of that day, the one that started it all, robbed of all his autonomy and dignity, crying in his room.
And then, McKinnon bounded in. He was waving the key around, the one Luke gave him via me.
“Luke. You guys done yet? We were supposed to go to your island palace so I could hunt for treasure with this. Um, oh. Am I interrupting something?”
Yes, he was. Again. At least McKinnon didn’t lead with calling him Daddy this time.
“Not at all. I’m ready to go,” Luke said, standing, straightening himself out. He wiped his eyes. Something interesting happened. McKinnon’s presence seemed to heal my brother on the spot. Any fractures and wounds that had been bleeding to the outside shriveled and disappeared.
