Page 74 of Butterfly

Lucy’s eyes were wise and wide in her freckled face. “It’s good that you care so much about your mom, but Leslie, have you ever thought about your own happiness? If other people’s opinions didn’t matter, if your mom and his dad gave you their blessing, what would you do?”

I looked down at my hands. “I’d be with him,” I whispered. “I think…no, IknowI love him.”

“Wow. Okay then.” She blinked, clearing her throat. “Do you want to look back at your life one year, five years, fifty years from now knowing you could have been with someone who made you happy, but you weren’t because you were scared of what other people would think? What if he ends up with someone else? Would you ever be able to get over the fact that you gave up what you needed because you thought youshould?”

“No. But you don’t know what he did.”

“What did he do?”

“Put cameras in my room, and then beat the hell out of Chris. And then heliedto me about it.”

Her eyes got even bigger.

“Okay, the first one is fucked up, I won’t deny it. But Chris is a creep, and probably deserved it. Did he deserve it?”

I sighed. “Yes.”

“Look, some guys think we can’t handle their truth. And if that’s a dealbreaker for you, that’s completely valid. But if it isn’t…it’s just another ‘should’ getting in the way of doing what’s right for you. Is the violence or the secrecy a dealbreaker, or another hurdle? Because I won’t lie, I think it’s kind of hot. Toxic as fuck, but hot.”

“A hurdle,” I admitted.

“Well. Then.” She dusted off her hands, temporarily forgetting the bottle of tequila was in one of them. It fell to the floor and rolled around. Fortunately, there was so little tequila left, no liquid spilled out.

“We should get that.”

I hopped off the bed, but the room spun around me, and I fell on my knees. Giggling, I crawled over to the bottle.

“What are you doing down there?” Lucy asked.

“Retrieving the rest of our liquor,” I told her. “Oh god, it’s really gross down here on this carpet. Did they not like, clean it before we moved in?”

We both burst into another round of giggles…

…And the door burst open.

Mason framed the doorway, his golden hair in his eyes. Seeing him made me dizzy again—in an entirely different way. He scanned the room, landing on me.

“Leslie, what are you doing on the floor?” he asked.

“Swimming,” I told him, and my silliness sent Lucy off into another round of giggles.

“You’re drunk,” he stated.

“Very,” I chirped.

He glanced at Lucy. “You did this to her?”

She nodded.

“Nice work.”

I peered up at him. “Are you being sarcastic, or serious? I can’t tell right now, my brain is too foggy to pick out your voice.”

“Both.”

“You aren’t supposed to be here,” I reminded him. “You were going out with the team tonight.”

“I know,” he said.

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