Page 99 of Broken Butterfly
“Smart-ass.” I smile and flip her off. She returns the gesture with a slight lift of her hand.
“Babe. Think you’re up to answer some questions? There are two police officers outside who’ve been waiting. I’ve already given them my statement. Jay, Jules, and E gave theirs too.”
“She’s not saying a damn thing until Charles gets here,” I argue.
“Fallon, it’s alright. I can speak with them. It’s just questions, right?”
“Perhaps Fal is right. Sweetheart, I saw what happened. I’m sorry I was too far away to get to you.” Ryder chokes up again. “The bastard got away even with Jay and Jules chasing after him.”
“Kitten, you do realize that things have escalated to attempted murder, right?” Her eyes go big when understanding dawns on her. “So, we’re waiting for fucking Charles and that’s not up for a fucking discussion.”
“Okay,” she says.
One brown eye. One blue eye. The devil has come for me again.
“Look at me Elizabeth! I need you to see! Don’t you see?”
“No, I don’t see. I don’t understand. What do you want from me?”
“All I ever wanted was for you to seeme.”
“I did see you, you bastard! You killed my parents. You abused and destroyed my sister before murdering her right in front of me. I saw the knife you used on my sister before you used it on me! You killed my unborn daughter! I saw everything!”
Helaughs at me. It’s such an ugly sound, one I never want to hear again as long as I live. “No, you didn’t. You never did.”
A figure dressed in black appears from the mists of my dream and begins to circle me. Round and around until I’m dizzy with trying to track him. I can’t turn my back onHim. I won’t run. I’ll stand and fight.He’staken too much from me. I won’t allow him to have anything more.
“Then tell me.”
“I can’t. You have to learn the truth on your own.”
“You’re a fucking coward.”
“You would never know. You never allowed yourself to see.”
I feel another presence enter and every hair on my body rises. I can feel the hate and anger pulse around me, almost drowning me with its ferocity.
“I’m coming for you, bitch!”
I feel the shove from behind and the force of the impact as a car slams into my side. “No!”
“Elizabeth! Baby, wake up!”
My eyes open to see Ryder above me, his face pinched with concern.
“Fuck,” I groan, reaching up to cup his face. “I’m sorry. Did I wake you?”
“How bad this time?” he asks me.
Since being released from the hospital, I’ve been running on coffee. I basically had to beat all the guys off of me just to be able to go onto campus to complete my final exams. We leave for Seattle tomorrow. Wait, it must be tomorrow now. I glance over and see that it’s three in the morning. We have to be at the airport by nine. Fallon was not happy when I refused his offer to take one of his private planes.
I refocus on Ryder. “Same as before,” I answer. I’ve been having these dreams every night this week, and every night Ryder has been there to make the nightmares go away.
He settles down on top of me and kisses me sweetly. I crave his weight pressing down into me and he knows it. He’s trying to comfort me, to wrap me in his warmth and protection. My bruises have faded and there are only a few places left are still stiff and sore from where the car impacted my side. The police have been investigating but they still no leads.
I’m distracted from my dark thoughts when I nuzzle my nose in the crook of Ryder’s neck. He always smells so goddamn good. My hands run down his defined biceps and slip over his warm, smooth skin to splay across his ribcage before holding on to his waist. His body is such a marvel and I am completely addicted to it; the need to constantly touch him every second of the day is overwhelming. I know Ryder feels the same way because of all the little touches and caresses he gives me too.
I lean up to nip his bottom lip. “I want you,” I tell him and feel him harden against my stomach as his heartbeat and breathing increase. We’ve always been opposite poles of a magnet. Two souls that are only complete when together. Our bodies speak of our love without words. Our hearts beat only in tune with each other’s.
