Contracting around him, I screamed. Butch sank his teeth into my throat, drinking deep. At the same time, his spine locked and he exploded deep in me with a growl.

Feeling totally wiped, I melted into the mattress, panting and shaking.

He licked over the bite. “Needed that.” He rolled us so that I was sprawled on his chest with his cock still in me. His eyes roamed over my face. “Never thought I’d have you again.” The pain of that was in his tone. “This is gonna be a rough ride, baby.”

“I know.” We each had our issues to deal with, and people weren’t going to accept our relationship in a hurry.

“Are you with me?”

“I’m with you.”

“That’s all I need to know.” He tucked my face into his neck. “Sleep.”

CHAPTER EIGHT

(Imani)

Our plan to reveal our relationship was pretty simple: we’d tell everyone all at once by walking into the conference room, hand in hand. Then nobody could be pissed that someone found out before them, and we could get the whole ‘you two are making a mistake’ thing over and done with in one swoop.

However, Fletcher sent a text message to notify us that there would be no conference that evening. As such, Butch and I altered our plan so that we would make our relationship public when we entered the arena to begin our training session.

I wasn’t looking forward to it, but I was in a good mood since Butch woke me at dusk by shoving his cock deep in me. It was slow and sensual this time, but still just as phenomenal. Probably just because it was him.

Ready to leave, Butch gave me one last deep kiss as I opened the door. Then I heard a gasp…and realised our plan had just been fucked up. Paige and Alora stood gaping at us. But Paige’s expression quickly became a scowl.

Alora pointed from me to Butch. “You…and you?”

As he slid an arm around my shoulders, I replied, “Yeah, we’re together now.”

“But…you said you were done with the bed buddy thing.”

I nodded. “That’s true, and—”

“You said you were done with him. You said you were done with letting him use you.”

“I know, but—”

“How long has this been going on?” Paige snapped. “Is this why he came here the other night? You know what, I can’t believe you’d keep something like this from me.”

I’d known that would bother her most of all. We’d been through a lot together; she’d trusted me with all her secrets. “Paige, it wasn’t like that.” There hadn’t been much to tell until last night.

She took a step back, her smile bitter. “Oh, I see what it was like.”

“I was going to tell you, tell all of you, tonight. This is—”

“Bullshit,” Paige bit out. “It’s. Total. Fucking. Bullshit. You’re smarter than this.” She pointed at Butch. “And if you cared about anyone but yourself, you’d realise she deserves better. You’d walk away before you hurt her again.”

I held up a hand. “Paige, just let me talk a second.”

“Talk?” She barked a sardonic laugh. “You weren’t interested in talking to me about this before. How many times have I confided in you, Imani? How many times have I told you shit that I’ve never told anyone? Yet, here you are keeping things from me.”

“Paige—”

“Not that I need to ask why you kept this from me. You knew I wouldn’t like it; you knew I’d tell you that you’re being dumb, and you didn’t want to hear that. You didn’t want to hear the truth, because you didn’t want to face it. You wanted to live in a fantasy land where Butch actually gives a flying fuck about you.”

He puffed out a breath. “Didn’t have you pegged as the dramatic type, Paige.”

“Excuse me?” she hissed.

“You’re protective of Imani, I get it. You don’t want her to be with someone like me, I get that too. But this isn’t about you. And if you’d push past your protective streak and your hurt feelings and let her fucking speak, you’d hear that you’ve got this wrong.”

“No, Butch, you might be able to bullshit her, but you won’t bullshit me. Nu-uh.” With that, she stormed off with a majorly annoyed Alora close behind her.

Sighing, I rubbed at my forehead. “I can’t say that didn’t hurt. But I also can’t say I didn’t expect it to go like that. It’s going to be mere moments before this reaches the others.” Alora would tell Evan, who would tell Sam and Jared. Paige would tell the other girls, at which point Jude and Ava would tell their mates. Salem and Chico would then tell the other members of their squad. “Paige is seriously pissed at me.”

Butch kissed my temple. “She’ll get over it.”

“You don’t know Paige like I do. That girl can hold a grudge.”

“Having second thoughts?”

I frowned. “No. I knew when I made my choice that people would react badly. You were right; we have to be tight and stand against it.”

“So you’re still with me on that?”

“I’m with you.”

He nodded in satisfaction and twined his fingers with mine. “Let’s get to the arena and get the rest of this shit over with.”

As if by mutual agreement, we took a slow walk out of the building and to the arena. It seemed that neither of us were in any rush to listen to more people slate our decision. I kept my chin up as we walked inside, still hand in hand. To my surprise, none of the girls were there. I didn’t know what that meant, but I guessed it was an ‘I’m so pissed at you, I can’t even look at you right now’ message.

Butch’s squad was there, however. With the exception of David and Salem, they all scowled at him. The weight of their disapproval and anger set on my shoulders like lead. It also ticked me off big style. Who were they to freaking judge?

None of them spoke. They just stared at Butch expectantly, as if waiting for him to begin explaining himself.

Finally, Chico arched a brow at Butch. “Got something you want to tell us?”

Butch just shrugged, nonchalant. “You already know.”

“It’s not enough that you fucked her over once before?”