Page 61 of Butterfly

Oh my god, he’d been watching me.

He’d beenwatching me.

For all I knew, he was watching me right now.

Maybe I could’ve forgiven the violence. Ihatedit, but I understood Mason well enough now. He’d been protecting me, and as horrible as it made me, it also made me feel safe. Besides, he’d done it before I’d shared my ultimatum with him.

But he’dlied.He could have told me what he’d done. That he’d beat up Chris, and that he’d placed cameras in my room. Even though, if I were honest, it was completely in line with who he was. Why wouldn’t the man who’d drugged me so he could have sex with me set up cameras in my room so he could watch me without my knowledge or consent? He’d manipulated me, tortured me. How was lying to me any different? It all pointed to the same thing: he wanted me, but he didn’t respect me. I was nothing more than a possession to him.

I couldn’t trust him. Not now, not ever.

My phone began buzzing. Mason.

I must have missed a camera.

I picked up my phone to answer, then threw it on the bed. He’d have some excuse, some way to manipulate me back into his arms. No, I needed to be strong. I couldn’t be with someone who bulldozed my desires for his own needs.

It kept buzzing, then finally fell silent.

It was almost a relief, having a reason to end things with him. This served as well as anything.

It’s an excuse because you’re scared.

Maybe. But I was clinging to it. He was, as Chris had said, psycho. He had no respect for my boundaries. If he’d gone this far to have me, how much further would he go? What else would he lie about? Would he one day grow bored of me, and turn to another woman? What if he already had? What if there was something going on with Emily, and I was the side piece, just like my mother had been?

I was spiraling. I knew it. But his actions had triggered my greatest fears, and I couldn’t win against them. It was a good thing. If they were right, I’d get hurt. By my stepbrother, of all people. This was still fucking wrong.

I was done. My heart hurt, and I climbed into bed, hiding under the covers. I was sure there was another camera, and I didn’t want him to see me. I didn’t want him to know how sad I was, or he’d use it against me.

I was so, so tired.

I’d end things tomorrow.

Of course, that’s when the lock turned in my door and it opened, revealing an irate Mason.

22

LESLIE

“Of course you fucking have a key,” I said.

He pushed into the room, closing the door behind him—and locking it.

“We can talk about that later. Right now, I want to know why you’re ignoring my calls.”

“Oh, fuck off,” I said. “You know why.”

“Fuck off?” His voice got low, quiet, dangerous. He advanced on me. “Last I checked, you were in this. And now you’re telling me to fuck off? I’ll tell you what we won’t be doing. We won’t be playing this game where you flip back and forth between admitting you want to be with me and hiding from me.”

Even though there was some truth to what he was saying, it was only more manipulation. He thought it would work on me, that I’d give in. Lucky for him, I was about to disabuse him of that notion.

“Let me tellyouwhat we won’t be doing. We won’t play like you care, like you respect me as a person, when you installedthesein my bedroom and attacked my RA for getting drunk andstupid in my room. Andliedto me about it.” I held out one of the tiny cameras to him.

He stilled, giving me some satisfaction. At least he knew he’d fucked up.

“How’d you find the cameras?” he asked.

“It didn’t take long to deduce, after I saw my RA’s face,” I said.

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