Burn Butterfly Burn (Masked Duet, #2)

by Reese Rivers

“No, no, no, angel. You didn’t do anything. This isn’t your fault. Nothing that’s happened has been your fault. Savy, you didn’t deserve this and you didn’t deserve what I did to you. I’m so fucking sorry, angel.”

“I know you don’t want to hear that. I know you don’t want to believe me but I am. I was a fucking idiot with you. So fucking scared to love someone without bars between us that I did everything wrong. But I promise you, I’m going to do everything in my power to prove to you that I’m not that idiot anymore. Angel, I fell in love with you when you hid behind your mask and bars and then fell in love with the real you cursing like a sailor on shore leave in my house. I fucked up so bad and ruined it all. I’m going to fix it, Savy. I’ll do anything if you just let me love all of you this time.”

“Why are you fucking glaring at her?” Jude snaps at him, earning the right to have that glare turned on him. “Because she refuses to stay! The doctors want to keep her here overnight to monitor her but she’s insisting on being discharged.” Jude strides over to the opposite side of the bed and gently tilts her head up so she has to meet his gaze. “We gotta stop meeting like this, doll. My heart can’t take seeing you hurt in a hospital bed again.”

“We gotta stop meeting like this, doll. My heart can’t take seeing you hurt in a hospital bed again.”

“Not for fucking long, baby doll. If you think for a second we’re going to fucking walk away, you’re mistaken. You are our fucking life and you have been since the moment you stepped into our house all those years ago. I told you, four years, ten years, doesn’t mean shit. You’re ours, so get fucking used to it!”

“Who are all of you? What are you doing in her room?” Mark asks. Jude is quick to answer. “We’re her men and this is exactly where we belong.”

“No problem. I’ll marry her tomorrow and then you can keep the fucking name because she’ll have mine. You want to know who I am? I’m the motherfucker that will slaughter anyone who tries to hurt my doll again. That includes you!”

I’ll argue tomorrow. “We can argue for the rest of our lives, peaches. I’ll still be taking care of you.” He tells me in amusement so I guess I said that out loud. I need to stop being under the influence of medication around these guys.

I read once that dog spelled backward is God for a good reason and I’ve never believed that more than I do right now as he cocks one eye open to stare back at me and a pool of drool forms on my chest.

“Fuck that. Forever starts right now, doll. I’m going to keep telling you this over and over until you get it through your gorgeous head. You are mine, ours, and we aren’t letting you go. I love you, baby doll. I can’t live another minute without you.”

“Why now? You had years to come for me if you really mean that. It’s not like you couldn’t find me! You sent enough shit to my place and my office. No, this is some kind of game to you all. You didn’t believe in me four years ago and now I don’t believe in you. You want to screw around? Get off? Fine, bring it on. A couple of good fucks should burn me right out of your system but everything else is off the table. You, none of you - have any say or control in my life. There is no us and there sure as hell is no forever so get that through your delusional head!”

“Sorry. We’ve gotten pretty slick with a paperclip to pop those locks. Tanner locks himself in a room at least once a week.” He kneels down next to the tub and pushes my wet hair back from my face. “And I think you’ve spent way too much time alone already, baby girl. Some of that’s our fault. Some of that’s a bad hand dealt to you. Can you just let me, us, take care of you right now? Can you just lean a little bit on us, baby? Please, Savy?”

“When we met, I was a lot like him. I was immature, entitled, and a bit of a bully. Everything came pretty easy to me before that. Football, girls, popularity, I didn’t have to try for any of it so I just expected to get whatever I wanted. You were the first person to not want me, not give me what I wanted and it made me an even bigger jerk to you. By the time I realized I wanted you, wanted you like I had never wanted anyone before, you had told me to fuck off the first time. That’s when I started to change, to try to be a better person. You gave me a second chance and I felt like I had hit the jackpot but I was still learning to be a better person so even though I fell in love with you, I still fucked up. I let myself doubt you. I believed the lies Vanessa added to some truths about you. I fell back on being that entitled prick.”

“How dare she not tell me her real name? How dare she keep her job as the Butterfly from me? She’s just like the other women playing games, working an angle to get with me. I felt betrayed when I had no right to be. It took all of five minutes for Jude to force the truth from her and set us straight but it was five minutes too long and we lost you.”

His expression is filled with so much sadness and regret that tears slip from the corner of my eyes. “That was the worst day of my life, baby girl. Knowing that I had the best thing that would ever happen to me in my grasp and being too stupid to keep it. I knew that guy didn’t deserve you so I’ve been working every day since to change into the man that would.”

“Please, Savy, just give me a chance to show you that man. Be brave, and you’ll never have to be alone again.”

bath. I whisper his name just as he reaches the door causing him to glance back. “I was there.” His brow furrows in confusion. “The day you stepped out on the field for the first time as a pro player. I was there in the stands and I was so damn proud of you. You weren’t alone.”

“I was there.” His brow furrows in confusion. “The day you stepped out on the field for the first time as a pro player. I was there in the stands and I wa...

“He’s amazing, Beck. He’s not shy at all with me.” A soft smile crosses his face. “He wouldn’t be, not with you. He’s been hearing your name his whole life, darlin’.”

“Yeah, just like you need to realize that we aren’t the same dumb guys that fucked up with you. We’re grown men now, angel, and we all know what we want.”

I’ve just picked up the pajama top to slide on when the door opens and Ash comes in again startling me into clutching it against my naked chest. He freezes as hot jade eyes sweep down over my exposed skin and then my eyes flare wide as he reaches over his shoulder with one hand and pulls his t-shirt off. I stutter out, “A-Ash…I…” As ink-covered muscles move toward me. Heat flares between my thighs at how fucking beautiful his body is but he only slips his shirt over my head and tugs away the silk so I can thread my arms through the sleeves. His eyes are intense as he leans over me. “I never got to see you in my clothes, angel. I’ll sleep better knowing that you’re wearing me close to your heart tonight.”

I suck back a small gasp and his hands move from my shoulders up to slide into my hair. “I’ve waited six fucking years for this, sweetheart, but I can’t wait one second longer.” I swallow hard and ask, “W-waited for what?” His lips curve up. “To kiss my Butterfly. To kiss you, Savy, the woman I love.”

It’s not a passionate kiss. It’s a soul-destroying one. He packs so much fucking emotion into that kiss that my head spins and my hands lock onto his forearms to keep me from falling into a hole I’ll never be able to find my way out of.

“Worth every fucking minute of the wait. Good night, angel.”

“Yes! This is the biggest race ever. We need to rest up for it so we can be ready to race our best race! You won’t start without me, will you? I need to have a nap so I’m ready too.” And just like that, Tanner starts to nod his head in agreement. He grabs Savy’s cheeks and plants a sloppy kiss right on her mouth and tells her in his most serious tone, “Gotta west to be weady!”

“I want him to be yours too. I can’t change who gave birth to him and I wouldn’t because he wouldn’t be who he is if I did but you could be his mother going forward. We could be a family, darlin’.”

“I’m a big part of why they didn’t come for you sooner. His mother…she made a lot of threats to pull money from us. She’s the type of woman who would cross any line to get what she wants. We knew if we were with you, she would target you too. You’re a very wealthy woman, darlin’, and the press follows you closely. She would have found a way to use that against you, us, for an even bigger payout. We couldn’t let you be hurt by her.”

“She wouldn’t have been the first opportunistic bitch I’ve faced down but if that was the case, what’s changed now?”

“It’s…a lot to take in, Beck. I don’t blame you for Tanner, I never would. He’s an amazing gift to the world but I can’t just ignore what happened between all of us and all the years in between. You can’t just snap your fingers and make us a family. I can’t just hand over my heart to you, especially with Tanner. The stakes are so much higher with him in the mix. I barely made it through the last time you broke my heart. If I let myself love that child and all of this blows up again, it will kill me. I wouldn’t be able to survive losing him too.”

“Can I tell you what happened that night? Why my messed up brain automatically went to the darkest place even though I knew your sister was a toxic bitch?”

“I told you about her, right? How she killed herself when I was just a kid? I knew it messed me up but I didn’t realize until you walked away just how bad. I’ve never had a girlfriend before, and never made any kind of commitment to a woman. I realized that it was always in the back of my mind that they’d leave me too and I couldn’t take a chance on that happening again. My mom, the one person who should have always put me first…picked death over me. So if she did that, how could I trust anyone else to pick me? Peaches, when that bitch said all those things about you, I flinched back hard. Sucked all the love I was feeling for you away so when you didn’t pick me too, I would be able to survive. I was a coward and you paid the price for it.”

“I don’t want to be scared anymore. Having Tanner has shown me that love, real love, means you have to be braver than you’ve ever been before. You need to be a hero in it. That means being terrified out of your mind and doing it anyway. Please, peaches, let me be your hero?”

I chuckle, “You make it sound like a war.” He nods slowly as he gets to his feet. “That’s because it is. We’re in a war for her heart and our future together. Don’t stop fighting now, brother.”

“I love you, baby doll.” I shake my head and roll my eyes at him. “Why don’t you get your clothes off and fuck me like you don’t?” My gut clenches when I see the quick flash of hurt rush through his eyes but it’s replaced by something he’s never directed my way before, anger. “You want my cock, doll? You want me to pound it home? Want me to slay this slit of yours?” He snarls and pulls back to shed his clothes then fists his pierced cock with tattooed fingers and strokes it a few times, staring at me with burning eyes. He pulls my knees up and spreads them wide then strokes that cock down my slit to my entrance. I lift my hips in welcome and he growls angrily as he thrusts deeply. “I fucking love you.” I cry out at the burn and stretch of his size and for the words he says. His eyes are locked on mine holding me captive with anger and intensity. And then he pulls back and slams into me again with another growl. “I love you.” Again and again, he fucks into me while saying those words. “I love you.” Thrust. “I’ve always loved you.” Thrust. “I will never stop loving you.” He says it and fucks into me until I’m sobbing his name and on the cusp of another orgasm. He feels me tightening around his shaft and stills deep inside of me. He places a widened hand over my heart and whispers harshly, “I love you. Now say it back. Tell me the truth, doll - and I’ll make you come.” I thrash my head to the sides and try to jerk my hips for the last bit of friction I need to crest the wave ...

Jude rolls us to the side and holds me while I cry, stroking my face and back with gentle fingers until I calm enough to pull back and face him. “You h-hurt me. You didn’t believe in me. You knew how much she hated me and you still believed her.” I whisper brokenly.

“Yeah, one split second of doubt changed our course. I’m so sorry, doll. There’s no excuse I could ever give you to make it right. I fucked up so bad, baby. All I can do is keep promising and showing you every damn day that I will never doubt you again. Please, Savy - don’t keep punishing me for it because it punishes you too. Forgive me, forgive us. Make a family with me. Marry me, baby doll.”

“Quickly? Doll, I had a ring in my drawer the night I lost you. I’ve been waiting four fucking years to put it on your finger!”

“None of this has been quick. There’s over four years’ worth of my heart sitting on your phone. All you have to do is read it to know I never wavered except for that one moment.”

Jude swipes my phone from the bedside table and hands it to me. “Please, Doll?”

“My…therapist…she told me something once that burned through all my bullshit, all my excuses and reasons for being the way I was back then.” “You were in therapy?” Savy asks in surprise. “Still am, angel,” I tell her with a slight smile. “She told me that if you don’t heal what first hurts you, you’ll bleed all over the people that come after that didn’t hurt you. Angel, I bled all over you and none of it was your fault.”

“That night, I wasn’t there to watch the Butterfly dance. I was there to say goodbye to the girl in the cage because I was finally brave enough to pick you, the real you. I chose you that night, Savy.”

Her face crumples in pain and she cries, “Vanessa!” I brush away the tears that start trickling down her face with the back of my fingers. “Yeah, she found the exact right trigger to pull for me to blow it all up. Here I was finally taking a chance, finally trusting and she fed into my worst fears. I was furious that you were the Butterfly. It all felt like another betrayal and then she added all the other shit to it. You were a con. You were all lies. That’s all it took to steal my courage and believe the worst of you. And by the time we learned that she was the one conning us and lying…you were gone.”

Savy rests a palm on my jaw and says the last...

“God, I’m so sorry, Ash. I’m so fucking sorry I did that to you.” My mouth drops open in shock and then I’m sliding over her to fit myself between her legs bracing my hands on either side of her head. “Don’t you ever fucking say that to me. You NEVER…ever apologize to me. Fuck, angel! You didn’t do anything wrong. You could never do anything to apologize for.” She gives a quick shake of her head. “No, I should have told you from the start. As soon as I saw you when Tate brought me to your house. I should have told you I was the ...

This beautiful, sweet, heart-filled girl. I’m going to love her so damn hard for the rest of my life if sh...

“Angel, I love you. I love every version, every layer, every inch of you and your heart. Please, say you’ll let me love you. Say you’ll stay so I can show y...

I’ve waited for this with my fist being the only thing to touch my cock since she came into my life.

lift up enough to turn her on her side and bite down on my lip as my fingers trace the line of fluttering butterflies from the small one on her hip to the others that get bigger as the tattoo grows up her side. All her butterflies are behind black thorny vines. I lean down and kiss each one sadly. I know what this is, I know what it means. My butterfly might have stepped out of her cage but she created a new one full of thorns to keep everyone away. “I’m going to break you free from this, angel. I’m going to help you fly.”

“I don’t want to fly. I want to burn. Burn it all away, Ash. Make me forget?”

“Give it to me, come for me, angel. Come all over my cock!