Page 59 of Butterfly

“It’s not him, I mean.” A long tendril of my hair falls over my cheek, and I brush it back. “It’s just that…I want to be with him, but there are things he doesn’t know about me, and I’m worried that if he knows these things, he’ll hate me.” I’m rambling among sobs and shaky breaths, but Tyler lets me talk. “I can’t deal with all these emotions. It’s scary.”

“If he cares about you as he says he does, he won’t hate you.”

“And I’m having all these thoughts…”

“I’m here at your door.”

I unlock the front gate from the intercom. Thuds resound until a knock comes from the door.

I fling the door open, and Tyler sweeps into view. He crushes me in a bear hug that steals my breath and soothes the ache inside me.

I’m shivering, but he holds me tightly. It’s the first time I’ve had a breakdown in front of someone. I’m not sure I like it, but at the same time, my body seems to crave the connection with someone who cares about me.

He leads me to the sofa and sits down with me. “I know you care about him, but you can’t give him this power over your happiness. No one should have this power over you. Especially if you’re having bad thoughts about yourself and your life.” He takes my wrist, the scarred one, and presses his thumb there. The gesture is strangely soothing. It calms my quick heartbeat. “Take deep breaths.”

I do as he says while he keeps his thumb on my wrist. The pressure is almost painful, but somehow, it slows my erratic pulse.

He presses harder. “Whatever happens with him, you have the strength to overcome this moment.”

“I’m not sure.”

He takes my chin in a firm grip. When his gaze hardens like that, it’s easy to imagine him as a soldier, pushing his men to go forwards to their limits. No matter what. “You’re stronger than you think, and you must live. If something happens to you, I’m going to kill that rich bastard.”

“Oh, please. You’re a dad now. You don’t want to go to prison.”

“I’m offended. Who said anything about going to prison?” He smirks. “Do you think I can’t kill Alex without leaving any traces? I learned a thing or two about killing.”

Blimey. He’s serious. A laugh bursts out of me, but it’s a painful one. It scratches my throat raw and hurts my chest. As I do a mix of crying, shivering, and laughing, Tyler hugs me, muttering that he’s going to have a word with the pretty boy.

Nineteen

Alex

THE MOMENT I leave Sienna’s home, I feel like an arsehole. We’re both adults. We should talk things through, instead of ignoring each other. After spending fifteen minutes pacing in my sitting room under Dart’s watchful gaze, I grab my car key and head to Sienna’s again.

It takes her a moment to open the front gate after I give her a ring. I run up the stairs—no lift in the old building—and knock on the door, the sound echoing in the stairwell.

“Sienna—” I skid to a grinding halt as I face a menace dressed in a tight T-shirt.

Tyler is a massive wall of muscles in front of me. I can’t even enter the flat.

“What are you doing here?” I don’t sound nice to my own ears.

“Tyler called me and decided to come,” Sienna says from the sofa.

“I need to talk to you,” I say, entering the flat, but Tyler almost tackles me as he steps closer, forcing me to walk away from him.

“I need to talk to you as well,” he says.

I cast a glance at Sienna. Her cheeks are red and streaked with tears. Even the tip of her nose is the colour of strawberries.

“I fucking knew it.” Tyler touches my chest with a finger once we’re alone in Sienna’s bedroom. “What did I tell you?”

“I’m trying to protect her.” I swat his hand away. “And don’t touch me.”

“Protecting her? Yeah, and you’re doing a great job.” Ice steels his voice. I have no doubt he can squeeze the life out of me with a hand. “She needed me. She said she had dark thoughts. And you know what that means.”

It hurts that Sienna confided in him instead of me. That she talked to him even after I’d asked her several times how she was doing.

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