“Lachlan,” Sloane says, shaking her head, “she doesn’t just have a streak. She has a full-on glitter parade of psycho.”
Rowan points his fork toward her. “She once rigged a glitter bomb in my car for the time I made Sloane cry and told her to go home. I spent a grand getting the car detailed and I still find glitter on a daily basis.”
“When we were in boarding school, this girl named Macie Roberts called one of Lark’s friends a ‘skanky cum bucket’。 So Lark got into Macie’s room and spent an entire night writing ‘I’m a skanky cum-bucket’ in fabric paint on literally every item of clothing Macie had, even her underwear.”
“Tell him about the sequins.”
“Sequins?” I ask as the two snicker.
Sloane’s brows hike as she pushes a bit of food around her plate. “A few years ago, Lark was living with her boyfriend of the time, a guy named Andrew. One weekend while Lark was out of town, he and their mutual friend Savannah hooked up at Lark and Andrew’s apartment,” she says as an irrational tidal wave of anger sweeps through me and back out again. “A couple weeks later, Lark broke into Savannah’s house while she was sleeping and spelled ‘cheating bitch’ on her face with Gorilla Glue and sequins. She stole Savannah’s bottle of nail polish remover and her phone and computer so she had no choice but to go out and buy more to get the glue off. Even once the sequins were gone, you could still see the marks. It was pretty awesome.”
I can’t deny I kind of love the ballsiness of that plan. I almost smile, but then I catch the exchange of a dark look between Sloane and Rowan. “What is it?”
“Well…Lark will neither confirm nor deny her involvement, but two months later, Andrew died in a freak fireworks accident.”
“Lark…killed someone…？ That Lark?”
Sloane shrugs.
“Don’t know why you’re still sitting here when she’s probably slicing Claire’s face off to make into a kite, but it’s your bail money, I guess,” Rowan says, and in a heartbeat I’m halfway to the door, my chair a loud clang behind me as it tips over with the force of my urgency.
The sound of Rowan and Sloane’s laughter follows me out to the street.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Thank YOU, for taking the time to come on this crazy journey with Rowan and Sloane and for spending time in their world. I hope you enjoyed the wild ride. It was an absolute JOY to write this story and I had the best time bringing these characters to life. I hope that joy came through from the page for you.
Big thanks to Najla and the team at Qamber Designs, who created the stunning covers for all three books in this series. It has been an absolute pleasure to work with everyone on that team - they did an amazing job bringing the essence of these stories to life!
Such huuuuge thanks to the amazing ARC readers of Butcher & Blackbird for taking the time to come on this journey with Rowan and Sloane. It means so much to me that you want to get involved and be part of this story’s life as it makes its way into the wild. I had really no idea where this would end up and it’s been a joy. I hope you enjoyed the ride.
Extra special thanks to Arley, who is always my go-to for sharing early chapters, and whose feedback has made Butcher & Blackbird into a better story. Arley - you really helped me to find the balance in it that I was hoping to achieve, and I thank you!!
Thanks also to Trisha, who has never failed to build me up and cheer me on. It means the world to me. Your willingness to share your advice and guidance has helped me to push through, even in the early days when I was like ‘what the fuck even is this story?!’。 Thank you! Please do yourself a favour and check out Trisha’s works if you haven’t already （I recommend starting with Lovely Bad Things!）
To Jess for being an early champion of Rowan and Sloane, and for always checking in on me. You always seem to pop up when I need your little boost of sunshine the most. Jess, your calming energy and unwavering support means the world to me!
And to my friend Lauren, who helped me get THE MOST out of David. When I was like, ‘is this lobotomized guy a step too far?’ Lauren was like ‘ABSOLUTELY NOT’ hahaha. This pint of cookies and cream is for you, you hot bitch. Please check out Lauren’s hitchhiker dark romances - start with Hitched! And Lauren - where the hell is my boxcar man?!
Last but certainly not least, to my amazing boys, my husband Daniel and son Hayden, who help to carve out time so I can write, who bring me coffee and smoothies, and who give the best hugs. I love you my boys. （Hayden don’t you dare read this, I’m talking to the universe.）