The Fae Book 3: Butcher and Raine

Chapter 22 (Raine): A Pep Talk

It was definitely odd walking out of my bedroom the next morning and seeing Butcher in my kitchen wearing only his jeans. His feet were bare, just like his chest. I averted my eyes because even though I'd never seen it bare before the previous day, I was utterly entranced by that broad, muscular chest, and I didn't want him to see me staring at it. Him. At all that bare skin covering those incredible muscles. No matter how hard I tried, though, I couldn't keep from staring.

But only because I was appreciative of a beautiful male form.

Eventually, I moved past him, and he turned from the stove and looked at me, taking me in from head to toe. "Morning."

"Good morning," I said, feeling off kilter because he'd just greeted me like a normal person, but then he cleared his throat and completely threw me off balance.

"Good morning, Alexandre," he said very loudly. He didn't give me any time to think about that greeting to our son because he immediately asked if I wanted some breakfast.

"You cook?" Somehow, I just imagined him existing on the souls he sucked out of his guests.

"Yeah. Don't most people if they want to eat?"

"I just figured you'd have someone at the club cook for you. The brothers or some of the girls."

"The brothers and I are each man for himself. And I don't like being around women, don't trust them, so no way would the club girls make my food."

"Why have them around if you don't trust them?"

"I trust my brothers, Raine, as much as I trust anyone. That's it. But a lot of the brothers like fucking the girls and as long as they stick to the rules I set, they can stay."

"Rules? You have rules for club girls? Like what?"

"Like a girl can't approach a brother unless he tells her to come over. The girls can't talk to or approach an old lady or a wife, and the girls have to be exclusive with the brother who picked their name out of a hat. That kind of shit."

I'd have to untangle all of that at a later date because what the fuck? 

"And they put up with this why?"

Butcher shrugged. "Don't know why and don't care. If they want to fuck the brothers, that's up to them as long as they follow the rules and don't cause trouble."

"Do you have sex with the club girls?"

"No."

"Never?"

"Never."

"Well, that's surprising," I said. I knew from experience that Butcher was an extremely sexual man. Of course, he'd just been doing whatever it took to distract me, so maybe he wasn't really like that. Maybe he only liked sex the third Tuesday of every month with the lights off and no foreplay. Her orgasm optional.

While I was thinking about his preferred method of having sex, Butcher took the eggs off the stove, put the bacon on a paper towel on a plate and checked the biscuits in the oven. 

"I wasn't aware I had all that food."

"You didn't. Had a prospect bring it by this morning."

"Does everyone do what you say?"

Silver eyes studied me once again. "You don't. But if someone's Mayhem or wants to be, they do."

"You said you were sorry last night. For what?"

He grabbed two plates down from my cupboard, entirely too familiar with where things were. "For scaring you. Are we done with the Q&A bullshit so we can eat?"