Page 71 of Tear Me to Pieces
Butch pulls in a deep breath, straightening to lean back. “It’s not that I’m worried she’ll break. Becca’s just different. She analyzes everything. Picks it apart to the point she’s driving herself crazy. She doesn’t eat. She doesn’t sleep. Her brain won’t shut off, and it’s going to push her over the edge.”
I go to sit on the other couch, lowering to the cushions. “Has she found anything?”
Butch doesn’t respond.
“Fuck, man.” I scoff. “You still want to keep secrets?”
Butch scrubs a hand over his face, scratching at the shadow of growth lining his jaw. “I don’t want you guys to be any more tangled up in this than you already are.” His hand goes to his hair, raking through the dark waves. “I thought I could just break into one of the vacant houses, hunker down knowing there were cameras everywhere, and you wouldn’t even suspect we were here. I didn’t plan for you guys to ever know what was really happening.”
“So why didn’t you? I told you which place was empty. You could have just gone in there and laid low.” Even as I say it I know it’s not true. Someone was checking that house every day to see if Butch was back. He would’ve never gone unnoticed.
It’s the same conclusion he must’ve also come to.
Butch laughs, the sound a little bitter. “Are you trying to tell me you guys didn’t have eyes on that house twenty-four-seven after I accidentally broke into Myra’s place?”
“Then why come back here at all? This can’t be the only place you have to go.” We obviously weren’t a huge part of Butch’s life. Not the way we all thought anyway. Surely he had friends and family—real friends and family—who could have helped him out.
Butch looks me over, hesitating just a second before admitting, “It wasn’t all a lie, Simon. Most of what I told you guys about myself was true.” His head drops. “You were my first undercover assignment. The department was trying to take King down, so I assumed when he went to prison I’d be reassigned. Instead they kept me in place because they wanted me to start investigating all of you.” Butch shakes his head. “I couldn’t do it. I understood how you all ended up where you were, and there was no way I could let them—” He sucks in a breath, straightening.
“I tried to turn their focus to The Horsemen, and for a while that worked. When King got involved with them, I thought I was in the clear. Thatyouwere in the clear.” He runs his tongue across his teeth. “But then King was killed and they pushed me right back on you. I kept telling them there was nothing. That you guys were all clean.” He stands abruptly and begins pacing in the small space. “I would manage to get moved to another assignment, but they always dragged me back here. Kept trying to make me give them a reason to take you all down.”
“But we haven’t done anything in years.” I reconsider. “Well…”
“It didn’t matter. My boss had a fucking hard-on for you guys and he wouldn’t let it go.” Butch shakes his head. “It never made sense.” He stalks past the kitchen. “I stayed in the department as long as I could, but then shit started going sideways and I—” He turns to me. “I don’t know who they might try to send in to take my place.” He walks toward me. “Don’t fucking trust anyone. Not a single fucking person, understand?”
I swallow hard. “You think they’ll still try to take us down?”
“I don’t know what they’re capable of.” His eyes drift in the direction of Myra’s house where she and Becca are hanging the curtains Myra and I bought on our way back from the hospital yesterday. “I never would have thought they’d be caught up in something like what’s going on with Becca and her sister, but here we fucking are.”
I shake my head at him. “You can’t take this on by yourself. I’m sure you’re capable of shit I don’t even know about, but one man is still only one man.” I lean forward, trying to catch his attention as he continues pacing. “And if this group has connections in the police department, they’ve got them other places too. You need help. Let us help y?—”
“No.” His rejection is sharp and immediate. “You guys aren’t getting in the middle of this.”
“Okay.” I drag the word out slowly. “What about Christian’s friend? Zeke. The one who works for that security company. We could call him and?—”
Butch comes straight at me, grabbing me by the front of my shirt and hauling me upright. “Don’t you fucking dare call them about this.”
I grip his wrist, holding it as tight as he holds me. “Calm the fuck down, man. Zeke’s a good guy.” Good is relative, but still. “He can help us figure this?—”
Butch gives me a little shake, expression teetering on the edge of unhinged. “I saidno.” His eyes drop to where he holds me, widening like he hadn’t even realized it. Letting go, Butch steps back, putting space between us. “I think they might be a part of all this.”
“You’re kidding.” I can’t imagine any of the men I met when Zeke and his team came here to Memphis needing help from Christian, would have anything to do with a human trafficking ring, let alone one kidnapping underage girls like Becca’s sister.
“I meant it when I said don’t trust anyone.” Butch snaps.
“Fuck.” I blow out a breath. “Is that why you were out in the woods that night? You were trying to figure out what we were up to and if you could still trust us?”
Butch’s brows pinch together. “The woods?”
“The night you broke into Myra’s place. You were in the woods earlier. We both saw you.” It was what brought me into Myra’s home.
Into her bed.
Butch barely shakes his head. “I didn’t come through the woods. I hopped the fence behind her house.” His skin pales. “And that was the first time I’d been here.” His eyes hold mine. “If someone was in the woods, it wasn’t me.”
My whole body goes cold, the chill sinking straight into my bones. “I’ll be right back.”
Butch is right behind me as I turn for the door. “I’ll come with you.”
