Butterfly

by Jo Brenner

Some people pinned butterflies to keep them close. I was going to make this one fly far, far away. After all, she was the most beautiful girl I’d seen in my entire life. I wanted her more than I wanted anything. And I hated her for it.

“Mason, what are you doing?” God, my voice sounded breathy. “I don’t know,” he admitted, finally releasing me. “But I recommend you stay away from me before things get even more out of hand.” I should’ve listened to him.

“You still don’t get it, butterfly. You made my life hell because I couldn’t have you. Not when we were both under our parents’ roof. But I’m done with that. I’m taking what’s mine.”

“I swear to god, butterfly, if you let another man touch my pussy, there will be hell to pay. For both you—and him.”

Was he telling her she was his, right now? Later, would they go back to her dorm room and he’d kiss her like he’d kissed me?

“Maintaining my reputation meant I almost lost something incredibly important to me. I hadn’t realized it at the time, but after, I decided in order for me to get it back, I had to change my outlook.”

“When you crave something this desperately, anything you have to do to get it is easy.”

“Why would I keep eating McDonald’s, when there’s a five-star, gourmet meal, right within reach?”

Oh god

I had plans for my stepsister—the long-term, own-her-forever, lock her down with a ring and plant-fucking-babies in her kind of plans.

“Any attention you think you’ve gotten from him is just him fucking with your head. How could he want his silly little, loser stepsister? What do you think you have to offer him, except boredom and ridicule?”

“Butterfly, I’d learn how to pilot a rocket ship, if I thought it would make you happy.”

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.