Page 197 of Fury

The shit had a heart.

I leaned back against the wall of the abandoned building. “There’s no question, now that she’s Catch’s woman, one of ours. You cool with Nina and Catch?”

He shrugged, an eyebrow lifted. “Of course I am. She’s having his kid. They want to be together, they should be.” He wasn’t lying. He looked relieved.

“I’ve been holding Reich since we busted him at the cabin where he was holding Tania. Tomorrow, we’re going to be putting on a little show for him, and you’re going to have a starring role. You bring Nina and her stuff to my clubhouse at noon.”

“Okay.” Butler rubbed a hand down his face. “Now, I have a question for you, and it needs answering.”

I knew good and well what was on his mind, I’d been waiting for it. Those baby blue eyes of his were smudged with dark circles, tired, heavy with strain. Was it guilt or anxiety?

“Tell me.” His tone was dark, urgent, throttled with frustration and anticipating the worst.

“Tell you what?” I pushed back from the grimy wall.

“Why the fuck did you kill Jump?” he spit out.

“That keeping you up at night?”

His face tightened. “Yeah, it is.” Butler had a conscience after all?

“An unpaid bill that had to be paid. In full.”

His eyes narrowed. “I realized you liked being friendly with me because you knew Jump didn’t like me much.”

“Yeah. And you were way friendlier with me than I think Jump and your national president would have liked, nomad.”

“I was. I took the risk, but that’s between you and me,” he said. “You liked that. I let you in, and I let you take advantage of that.”

I hooked my hands on my waist. “And you got your in with me.”

“And I got my in with you, and we pissed off Jump—”

“And Reich.”

“—which benefited both of us,” Butler added. “But Jump was my president, Finger. What did he do to you? You looking to step in, take over the One-Eyed Jacks like you’re planning on doing with the Blades? Or maybe you’re going to throw me a bone to distract me, shut me up, install me as your puppet and drain the Jacks dry until there’s nothing left? ’Cause that is not going to fucking happen.”

“I considered it, but that’s not what I want. Not from your club. No, Jump and I were never about the Jacks,” I said. “It was all about Jump.”

“I need to know.”

I held his unrelenting gaze. He needed to know the truth. He wanted to know how much of a monster I was.

“Once upon a long time ago, I was in trouble, needed help,” I said. “I’d gone underground, and I was on the run from the Smoking Guns. My own brothers didn’t even know. It was an impossible situation, and I’d put everything on the line, everything, but I had no choice.”

Butler lit a cigarette, taking a long drag. “Was this before or after they held you prisoner?”

“After.”

I told him about my rescuing “Rena,” without telling him it was Lenore. About not being able to reach Dig when we were bleeding on the side of the road, about Jump being an asshole and refusing to help me. I didn’t mention meeting Tania. That was up to her to share or not share with him.

“I managed. I survived, and got done what I had to get done.” I ended the tale. “Jump...that fucker. I was never going to forget what he’d done to me.”

“That was ’cause of me, you know—Dig getting married out of the blue. They’d kicked me out for flirting with his old lady, sent me to the chapter up north. He married her in a flash the next fucking week. Things were crazy for a while there.”

I let out a laugh. “Well, don’t expect a thank you from me. Things might have worked out differently, who the fuck knows. Doesn’t matter now. I got safe. Here I am.”

“You’re a patient man.”

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