Page 75 of Butterfly

Ollie took a deep breath. “It will kill me if you don’t take this chance. I’m never getting out of here and you always were. You always had a life to start on the outside and I want it for you so badly it hurts. Please don’t turn it away. I can’t be the reason my butterfly stays locked in a cage any longer than he has to. You have to try. I may want you to stay, but I need you to be free. Do this for me.”

Ollie put the letter down on the bed. “Even if I appeal, it might fail. I might not get any years taken off at all.”

Teddy picked out sections to show Ollie.Please don’t turn it away. You have to try.

“Try,” Ollie whispered.

Teddy nodded, searching Ollie’s eyes. He pointed to his words again.You have to try. For me.

“For you?”

Teddy’s eyes were wet.For me.

“You are my everything, though.”

Teddy shook his head, searching through the dictionary to reply.

Worthless.

Ollie narrowed his eyes. “I hate the person who made you feel like that.”

Teddy sucked in air and leaned away to get a good look at Ollie.

Ollie had never seen that look on Teddy’s face before, like surprise and anger were competing on his face. He knew he had two choices, either apologise for what he’d said or double down and make his thoughts clear.

“I hate them,” Ollie said with a curl to his lip. “Whoever they are, they’ve made an enemy out of me.”

Teddy patted his chest.Me. I’m the person.

“Then you’re wrong,” Ollie snapped. “You’re not worthless. I’m telling you you’re not, but you just give me that same smile and ruffle my hair like I’m a kid who knows nothing.”

Teddy had his hand up, about to do just that. His smile faded.

“I know the worth of you.” Ollie squeezed his eyes shut. “You must know how I feel about you.”

When Ollie reopened his eyes, Teddy gazed at him softly. Of course he knew.

Teddy flicked through the dictionary. “Unnatural.”

Ollie blinked. “What?”

Teddy shook his head, searching for another word. “Circumstance.”

“You think the only reason I feel like this is because we’re in here.” Ollie glanced around the cell. “You don’t think we’d have been like this if we’d met on the outside?”

Teddy shook his head. He pointed out words, and Ollie looked with a sinking sensation in his gut.

Not meant to be.

It hurt. Ollie cupped his chest where he’d felt the sharp pain. His ribs were brittle, and he took slow breaths in and out in case they might crack and cut into him.

He hadn’t said the words, those three little words, but they’d been there, and rather than Teddy saying them back, he’d called Ollie’s love unnatural, born of circumstance.

Not meant to be.

There was no forever. Ollie knew it, but he didn’t like to dwell on it. It could be nine years; it could be only one more day if the governor had either of them moved.

They wouldn’t have a happy ending, not in the traditional sense.

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