Page 34 of Butch

“Butch, I swear I didn’t mean to make her cry. I didn’t think she was going to sob,” Reaper quickly said.

Arms wrapped around her, but they weren’t Daddy’s. That’s when she smelled sandalwood and knew Reaper was hugging her.

“Little Miss, please stop crying. I don’t think I can deal with your tears anymore. They make me want to give you anything to make you stop crying,” Reaper said. “I’ll do anything to get you to stop. You just need to tell me what it is you want.”

“I don’t think anything will stop her from crying this time,” Levi said. “You have her a stuffed animal that has the same cochlear implant as hers. Of course she’s going to cry.”

She gripped onto his shirt and continued to cry as he held her.

“Oh, Little Miss. You’re breaking my heart right now with all your crying,” he whispered. “Your Daddy is also glaring at me. and I know if I don’t stop you from crying, I’m going to get my ass beaten.”

“Language,” Daddy growled.

Raelynn giggled as she looked at Daddy. “I’ve heard you say ass before. I’ve said ass and a lot of worse things. Not when he was around, but when I felt like cursing him out whenever he left the house.”

Those were some good memories. Rae had gotten so creative in what she called Edmund behind his back that just thinking about it made her giggle.

“Ah, good, you’re not crying now. I, for sure, thought I was going to die today,” Reaper said as he let her go.

“Just because you’ve said those words or heard them doesn’t mean you need to say them now. I don’t want to hear you saying them, and I want to shelter you from hearing them as well,” Butch said. “I don’t want you to get any ideas and have a sailor’s mouth.”

“Good luck with trying to stop everyone from cursing in front of her. It’s ingrained in us. There’s no way you’re going to get that to happen,” Levi said as he walked further into the house.

Rae tilted her head as she looked at him. “Present?”

Levi rubbed the back of his neck and looked away. “Well, you see. I didn’t know what you liked, and I didn’t really want to get you anything and something be wrong with it.”

“So he came empty-handed. He asked me whether I could say the koala was also from him, but I said no,” Reaper whispered to her. “I didn’t want him to get any credit for it.”

Raelynn shook her head and walked over to Levi, looking up at him. “Present next time,” she demanded.

“Little Fairy,” Daddy warned her. “He doesn’t owe you a present. He is just visiting.”

Rae pouted. “But you should never come to the house without a gift for someone. It’s impolite in some cultures to show up empty-handed.”

Levi and Reaper chuckled while Daddy stared at her, giving her a pointed look.

“Do not encourage her, guys,” Daddy said. “She knows what she’s doing is being naughty.”

“I’m just my sweet self. I can never be naughty,” she replied. “I’m your precious Little girl. Your Little Fairy who can do no wrong.”

Reaper snorted and shook his head.

“What did we talk about the other day when you said this exact same thing? What happened just a couple of hours later?” Daddy asked.

“I don’t want to talk,” she mumbled.

“Oh, but we want to hear about it,” Levi chimed in. “So please tell us.”

Levi and Reaper were now sitting on the couch. She looked to her right and left before settling on the couch that Daddy was walking to.

“Come sit on Daddy’s lap,” he said. “Then you can tell them your story of what you did.”

She shook her head and gripped her stuffed animal even tighter.

“Be careful. You don’t want to hurt your stuffed koala,” Reaper said. “She might want to breathe a little bit right now.”

Rae looked down in horror as she loosened her grip on her koala.