Jude hums a noise of satisfaction. “You can’t see it. Something else is getting in the way. Or is it someone else? Hey Ash, maybe if you look real hard and see clear enough, you’ll get every damn thing that you want.”
I snarl out, “Fuck you!” but he just laughs at me and turns to the others.
“I forgot to ask her. Does anyone know if she’s staying here for the holidays or going home to her parents?”
Beck’s expression turns down. “She doesn’t have parents.”
That has all of us gaping at him. He rubs his hand across his grim-set mouth before he continues.
“She told me about it the night she was upset by the storm. We talked for a while when I stayed with her after the nightmare. Her mom died giving birth to her and then her dad died in a car accident on her twelfth birthday. That’s why the blizzard triggered her so hard. She was trapped in the car with his body for over two days in a storm. All she’s got is a shitty stepmom and that bitch stepsister.”
Tate jams a hand through his hair with his heart all over his face. “Fuck, we have to convince her to stay here with us. She can’t go spend the holidays alone or worse, with them.”
Jude starts bouncing in place. “Alright, alright, alright! We need to be baby doll’s Santa daddies. We need a tree and all the shit that goes with it. I already have her Christmas present up in my dresser.” His face turns serious as he looks at each one of us. “She’s mine all the way to the end, but we’re a family so I’m good with her being all of yours too. Are you in?”
Beck is the first to chime in. “I want her more than I’ve ever wanted any woman so, yeah, I’m in.”
Tate starts nodding. “All I’ve done is fuck things up with her but I’ve been making progress to fix all of it so if she’ll have me, I’m in too.”
They all turn to look at me expectantly so I do the only thing I can right now. I grab the blender and dump it into the sink before walking away.
I lock myself in my room for the rest of the day and evening, too pissed off to deal with any of my brothers. The two bracelets are laid out side by side on my bed and I’ve been pacing back and forth trying to sort my messed-up head. Both of those fucking women have me wound up in chains.
I know everything I need to know about my Butterfly. I know when she’s having a bad day, I know when she’s sad and angry. I can read every line of her body as it moves for me and she can read me just as well. She knows when I’ve had a day of shit because she spends more time focusing on me. Her body moves for me with a promise that everything will be okay. But I crave so much more from her. I want her to surrender to me and give me all of herself without bars between us.
And then there’s Savy. She annoys the fuck out of me but only because I’m drawn to her. I know she wears a different kind of mask. She hides who she is inside, only allowing us to see glimpses behind the mask now and then. And every damn thing I’ve managed to see so far draws me closer to her. She’s so fucking…pure. She doesn’t play games that I can tell. She’s just as real as she can be with us all and I want to rip her mask off to see all of her just as badly as I want to see behind Butterfly’s mask.
I glance at my alarm clock and growl. I’ve lost the whole damn day on this deranged merry-go-round of eenie meenie miney mo. I hit the shower, change into jeans and a dark blue Henley, stack my leather on my wrist, and turn to the bed to look at the charm bracelets.
Time’s up motherfucker…choose.
My hand swipes out to snag my choice and I stuff it into my front pocket. Fuck.
The club is crazy busy as it’s the last night before most of these fucktards fly home for the holidays. I’m pissed that Tate, Beck, and Jude refused to come with me so I take shot after shot of whiskey at my empty table and watch my Butterfly with sad eyes. I pull the bracelet from my pocket and swirl it in a circle sending tiny charms flying and glinting under the flashing lights. I’m here to solidify the decision I’ve come to.
She’s wearing red tonight. Red wings, red hair, red heels, a black leather mini with a red thong, and a cropped red see-through shirt with a black bra cupping her gorgeous tits underneath. I think she knows something’s off with me because she keeps turning my way. Does she know what I decided? Does she know how much of a struggle this is for me? How badly I want something real, something more?
Someone blocks my view of her but instead of walking on by, a woman climbs onto my lap and straddles me. Before I can dump her off on her ass, she grabs me by the head and moves right up against me until her lips are against my ear. I can see past her now and spot Butterfly freezing in a deep crouch with her fingers clutching the bars. Her electric blue eyes are locked on mine, full of hurt, and her perfect lips drop open. No! I can’t let her think that. I can’t hurt her that way so I dig into the woman’s hips to push her off of my lap but before I can she whispers in my ear.
“My sister has been lying to all of you. She’s been playing a game and turning you all into fools.”
I hear her words but I’m so focused on my Butterfly that I dump Savy’s cunt sister off of me to the floor and move to step over her so I can get to my girl’s cage, leaving the bracelet full of book charms on the table.
Butterfly slams a hand against her bars and turns her back on me just as some drunk fucker reaches in between her bars and grabs her by the skirt and yanks.
Two strides are all I need to reach the cage and I plow my fist into his face for daring to touch what is still mine for a few more hours. My head turns back to her but she’s looking over her shoulder down at her skirt so my eyes follow hers and that’s when every fucking thing explodes inside of me in rage as I zero in on the pink and blue butterfly that I last saw on Savy’s fucking hip.
SAVY
Something’s wrong with Ash. I’m not surprised to see him here on the last night the club’s open but I am surprised that he’s here alone and pounding shot after shot. He seems…sad. Almost like he’s resigned about something but his eyes never stop watching me so I do what I always do when he comes in here in a mood. I dance for him and him alone. With every move, turn, and thrust of my body, I tell him I see him and that he’s not alone.
A blond girl steps between us but then she drops into his lap and his arms go around her and her lips drop to his. The pain is fierce and instant like a piece of me was just ripped away. My whole body locks in place as I stare at the betrayal. He’s never once taken a girl on his lap like the others used to in all the time he’s come to watch me. To see that it’s her, my sister, the one who hates me the most, who has put me through so much, it devastates me.
I slam my hand against the bars and then spin away and clutch my arms around my waist like I can hold in the damage he’s done. I move to leave the cage, this place, but some asshole reaches through the bars and grabs the hem of my skirt, jerking me back. The fabric pulls down exposing a good portion of my ass on that side and I half turn to snarl but the sound gets stuck in my throat when I see Ash lunge up to my cage and punch the guy right in the face. I look down my side to see if my skirt’s ripped but land on his shocked gaze, staring right at my ass.
I twist more to see what he’s looking at and spot my butterfly tattoo on full display.
Memories of that night in the kitchen slam through me. The night he first put hot, rough fingers on my skin as he traced over the tattoo and it has a choked whine of despair escaping me. I yank the skirt back up but it’s too late. The damage has been done. He slams into the bars only inches away from me. The fury and rage I see in his jade eyes has a hard ball of sick forming in my belly. Ash’s jaw is rock hard as he growls out between clenched teeth.
