Page 127 of Butterfly

“Oliver?”

Ollie glanced to the seating area where Seinfeld was getting to his feet, coffee cup in hand.

“Oh God.” Seinfeld shook his head. “What have you done?”

“He hasn’t done anything,” Captain snapped.

“You too?” Seinfeld asked.

Captain rolled his eyes.

Harrison pointed Captain towards a seat. “You can’t come any further.”

Captain bristled, but Jarvis quickly arrived and squeezed his shoulder. Captain relaxed his stance, but his eyes were hard.

“We’ll be here,” Jarvis said to Ollie.

“Thank you.”

Harrison took Ollie’s elbow and led him away from Seinfeld down a long corridor.

“Seinfeld’s still here…which means Teddy must be too.”

“Probably,” Harrison murmured.

“Can I see him?”

“Not until we’ve bagged up your clothes and taken your statement.”

A door off the corridor swung open, and Teddy stepped out with two police officers accompanying him. He didn’t look Ollie’s way at first but stared glumly at the floor.

“Ah shit,” Harrison hissed, pulling Ollie behind him.

Ollie tripped, his feet slapped against the floor, and Teddy looked up.

The two officers both grunted at Teddy’s abrupt stop and gripped his arms.

Ollie peeked out from behind Harrison’s back, who still tried to hide him from view, but it was too late, Teddy had seen.

His eyes were wide, like he didn’t believe what was in front of him. The shrill sound he made hurt Ollie’s heart, and he was shaking, twitching.

“You have to let me go to him,” Ollie whispered.

Harrison glanced over his shoulder. “What?”

Teddy began to struggle. His biceps tensed, and he curled his hands into the fists. The two officers holding him were telling him to calm down, calm down or they’d have to cuff him. Teddy didn’t appear to hear them. His gaze had locked on to Ollie, and it didn’t let go.

“Please,” Ollie said. “You don’t want this to get messy.”

“Okay, I’m trusting you,” Harrison murmured, resuming his walk. He tipped his head for Ollie to go ahead of him. Ollie rushed forward and threw himself at Teddy’s chest.

The two officers struggling to hold Teddy’s arms were flung away like they were nothing, then Teddy had his arms around Ollie. He turned Ollie away from the officers and smothered him against the wall.

Ollie looked up at him. “I’m okay.”

Teddy’s eyes called him out on the lie. It was obvious he wasn’t okay. He had deep set bruises beneath his eyes, a swollen nose and white tape holding a splint on his face.

“Okay, I’m notokay, but I am okay.”

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