Page 79 of Broken Butterfly
“What the fuck are you talking about?” Fallon asks his brother.
Meanwhile, Julien remains silent, but I can see his anger. Hearing Trevor’s choice of words hits too close to home for us.
Liz bristles, “Do you know how freaking tired I’m getting with having to explain stuff over and over to everyone?” She slams her hands flat against the wall in frustration. “Can I not catch just one fucking break?”
“Elizabeth.” Ryder reaches for her.
“Just give me a minute.”
“Yeah, screw that,” Ry says and hauls her into his arms. “I promise, baby, we will find out who did this.”
“You bet your ass we will,” Fallon says.
“Why? Why me? I don’t understand. What did I do to deserve that?” She points at the phone on the table, its screen now blank.
I look into the eyes of each man standing there and reflected back at me is the same emotion: rage.
Liz dries her tears and kisses Ry on the shoulder. “I just need a minute, okay?” she brokenly says and walks off toward the exit to the stairs. The five of us watch her go like a bunch of stupid, helpless assholes.
“You’re not going after her?” I aim at Ry.
“She said she needed a minute. Respect what she wants and give her space,” he responds.
“How did you find out about this?” Julien asks Fallon.
“Preston.”
Ry looks shocked. “Preston?”
“Who the fuck is Preston?” Trevor asks, and for a split second the similarity between him and Fallon is so striking that no one would doubt they were related.
“Doesn’t matter who he is. He saw it and called me. I’d told him to let me know if he ever saw kitten again. I’m just pissed that I hadn’t learned about it sooner. Whoever posted that trash is going to fucking pay.”
Julien spears his metallic eyes at Trevor, his anger visibly growing. “What did you mean when you said she was getting assaulted and harassed?”
“Some girls said a bunch of shit to her yesterday, and then some guys today. I handled it.”
Fallon looks like he’s about to blow a fuse. Ry says, “I’m hoping this will die down, but just in case it doesn’t, I wanted you all to know what was going on so we can keep our eyes open and protect Elizabeth. Besides, when I find out who did this, I’m going to need your help.”
“You don’t even have to ask,” Julien says. “Christ, it feels like high school all over again.”
I explain for Trevor and Fallon. “We had to walk Liz to every class in our senior year afterhisex-girlfriend, Maria” —I gesture to Ry— “and two other girls, Jacinda and Samantha, kept messing with her.”
“You can cut that shit out right now, Jay. And let’s not forget that Jacinda wasyourproblem,” Ry rounds on me.
“I handled Jacinda,” Fallon says, and my brow cocks up in disbelief.
“You may think you did,” I return.
Trevor speaks up. “I know I don’t have the whole ‘growing up together’ relationship with Elizabeth that you guys do, but I care about her. She’s been a good friend to me since we met. Trust me when I tell you that those girls yesterday, and the guys today, did not get away lightly with the shit they said to her.”
“Well,that shithas been going on for days, hasn’t it? And unless you beat the ever-living fuck out of all of them, then I say they got away too lightly,” Julien seethes. My brother is usually the calm and controlled one. The peacekeeper. You know things are really fucking bad if he loses his cool.
Ry circles back around. “A lot of those pictures are recent on campus, but the one of her and Jay is from high school. It’s like I told Fallon, it’s stalkerish.”
“You think Liz has a stalker?” Julien asks with concern and motions for Ryder’s phone so he can take a look at the images again. He taps something out and I hear his phone ding. He must have sent the images to himself.
“Honestly, I don’t know what to think,” Ry tells him.
