Butcher & Blackbird (The Ruinous Love Trilogy, #1)

by Brynne Weaver

“I didn’t gouge them out, Butcher. I plucked them. Delicately. Like a lady.”

“That woman you were watching…?” My fingers tighten around his throat as he desperately nods. “She is mine.”

“No one competes with Sloane.” Rowan’s eyes anchor on mine, dragging me into the depths of a navy sea. “She just hasn’t realized it yet.”

“What are you doing?” I hiss. Rowan rests the handle of the ax against his shoulder and huffs before giving me a wink. “Getting revenge for hurting my girl, of course.”

“You’re all the best things to me, Sloane. No matter how many bruises are in your heart or on your skin.”

“I’ve been suffering for four years, Sloane. I’m begging you here. Get in the fucking bath.”

“Did I get the raven you left on the table tattooed on my back?” His smile is teasing, but there’s a hint of shyness in it as he finishes my thought. “Yeah. Appears to be the case.”

“I would kill for you, and I have. I would do it again, every damn day. I’d turn myself inside out for you. I would die for you. I don’t just like you, Sloane, and you fucking know it.”

“I fucking adore you, Sloane Sutherland. I wanted you from that first day at Briscoe’s. I have loved you for years. I’m not stopping. Not ever.”