Hurricane Butterfly (14 page)

He cocks his head, and I can almost see what’s going through his mind. I was so worn out that I could sleep through an earthquake.

“Does Alice know you’re here?”

“No, it’s a surprise.” I catch a glimpse of something in his eyes.

“Oh my God she’s going to freak out; she’s been missing you so much.”

He gives me a lazy smile, “I’ve missed her, too.”

I can feel my smile going all the way around my head, “Really?” I am jumping on the balls of my feet now.

I jump back into his arms, and he catches me. “You girls must think I’m stupid,” he says with a smile.

“I’m so happy for you.” I kiss him on the cheek when Josh clears his throat behind me.

“Okay that’s enough, come here woman, are you trying to make me jealous or something?” He grabs my arm and pulls me into his chest. I feel my face heat up as he places his finger on my lips looking at me as if he’s getting ready to eat me.

“Are you jealous?” I mumble as he nibbles on my lip.

“Fuck yeah.” He groans in my mouth.

“Okay you guys, not on an empty stomach, please.”

Ben stomps past us into the kitchen. “I’m starved, Annie.”

We look back into the house at Ben who towers over Annie as she dishes something up for him. They talk and laugh before he sits down and starts to eat. I catch Josh’s expression before he looks back at me. It’s a mix of sadness and joy, all wrapped up in one.

“I wish my mom could be here to see this.”

I feel my heart break just a little bit. I wish there was something I could do to make it a little better. He’ll never know how much he’s changed my life, and even if whatever we have doesn’t work out in the end, I’ll always have this, the memories of the time in my life when it was all a fairytale, when I fell hard and fast for the bad boy who swept me off my feet, and made me whole again.

“Coffee?” Josh leans over and inhales while nuzzling his nose into my hair.

“Yes please.” I look up and he pecks me on the nose.

Ben lifts his head as we walk hand in hand into the kitchen. “Soph, you should try the pancakes, they are my favorite.” He stuffs his mouth with another, and Annie puts some more on his plate.

While Ben has breakfast I slip out to the lounge and call Alice. She’s beyond hysterical and in tears by the time I hang up. Josh was on a call when I got back into the kitchen, and I took my chance to ask Ben how all of this happened. He said Josh called him and told him everything, about the photos in the file, my mom, and the headlines about Lilly. He said that Josh told him he’s never cared for anyone as much as he cares for me and that he wanted Ben to be a part of us.

“I’ve never been this happy, Ben,” I say under my breath as he walks up and stands next to me.

“I’m glad.” His hand brushes against mine.

I open my mouth to say yes, but something stops me. “What happened, with you and Josh?”

I can’t look at him; instead I just gaze out over the water, my hands clenched around the railing.

“We agreed to disagree and move on.”

“Is that the only reason?”

“No. Because we care about you, and we don’t want to make the same mistakes again.” His voice is low.

This is so weird, talking to Ben about Josh and me, but I’m relieved that I can.

“I’ve missed you.”

He pulls me closer, “I’ve missed you too.”

“Do you think he’ll be okay?”

Ben lets his arms drop to his sides, resting his hands on the railing. “He’s feeling what it feels like to care for someone for the first time in his life, and he’s afraid of losing that.”

I turn my head, and our eyes meet. “But, how do I…”

“You can’t fix it. It’ll take time.”

“Is that why he can’t say he loves me?”

Ben frowns, shifting his weight. He exhales loudly, “Have you?”

I nod slowly, “Yes.”

Ben huffs. “No wonder he’s freaking out.” He touches my arm. “Trust me, I’m the last person to blow smoke up his ass, we’ve been through too much, he can’t bullshit me. He really cares about you, but his emotions are like a ticking time bomb, and I think what he’s been avoiding for so long has now become unavoidable. Even if he’s not saying it, he’s in love.”

I keep wanting to pinch myself because all of this was just so surreal, like my wildest dream come true. Josh said I was his. He reached out to Ben, and they were able to move forward. This is my perfect day.

Chapter 32

Josh walks back with a cup of coffee, and we stop talking. My insides tug as I take it from him, and our fingers brush against each other. Wanting him near is becoming a bit like needing oxygen to breathe.

“I have to go into the city for some business, but after that I’m all yours.” He snakes his arms around me and holds me against him. I like how he’s always touching me, how he shows his affection and makes me feel wanted, all the time.

I feel a slight pang in my stomach, but I brush it off as nerves. He’s got stuff to take care of, and I’ll be here when he gets back. Everything’s okay.

“Yeah, sure, I’ll be fine.”

He looks up at Ben. “You ready?”

Ben nods, his eyes flitting between the two of us.

“Oh, you’re going along?” I didn’t expect him to go with Josh.

“Yeah, we have an appointment with the Lawyers.”

My jaw drops. “I’m really glad you’re doing this. It’s the right thing.”

Josh gives an approving nod then gets up and pulls me in for a kiss, deep and slow.

“We’ll be back as soon as we can, then I’m taking us all out for dinner. Call Alice and tell her to get ready, we’re picking her up at eight. Annie’s here, she will get you anything you want, okay. Call me if you need me.”

I hold onto his hand as he starts walking away. “I need you already.”

He turns around with a wicked gleam in his eyes. “Don’t tempt me, baby.”

I let go of his hand and watch the two men in my life walk out the front door. When the front door closes I take a moment to let it all sink in. How did this happen to me?

My eyes sweep over the large ornate mirror with the heavily engraved gold frame. My reflection stares back at me. Grace Roxwell was a woman of good taste. Every little detail was perfect, from the tassels on the heavy ivory curtains in the formal lounge, to the highly decorated trimmings against the ceiling.

A voice behind me pulls me out of my daydream. “Is there anything I can get you Miss Sophie?”

Annie stands behind me. The crinkles around her eyes tell me that she’s lived a happy life. She’s seen these two boys grow up; she’s been with this family through the good and the bad. I turn around and walk towards her.

“No, I’m fine, thank you.”

She nods and turns around, “Annie, can I ask you something?”

“Anything, Miss Sophie.”

“Can I see the gardens?”

She smiles, “Off course Miss Sophie, I’ll get Charles to take you.”

Three hours later Charles drops me off by the side entrance of the west wing with the golf cart. He is a sweet old man and reminds me so much of Pops. He tells me stories of Josh when he was little. How he would take the jet ski and go off on his own for hours. How he stole the mustang when he was fifteen and later told Charles he met a girl. That sounds like my Josh.

After a shower to cool down I change into a light blue dress with lace trim and call Alice to see if she’s ready. I sent her a few videos on Instagram when I was walking through the garden. Both of us practically breaking out of our skins with excitement. The men in our lives don’t want to kill each other, and we are both in love. It can’t get much better than this.

Annie pops into the room to see if I need anything, and I told her she could go home. I know Josh wants her to be here for me, but I don’t need anything. Charles puts the outside lights on before they leave and the whole garden lights up. The front door closes, and I am alone.

I grab a soda from the fridge then step into the glass elevator next to the stairs. The door closes and I stand there with wide eyes as I descend into the unknown. The doors open into a wide white corridor, with broad ivory tiles and thick woven carpets on the floor. At the end there is a large entertainment area, complete with a big screen and cinema chairs. I pull my phone from my pocket and take a few pics, and then send them to Alice.

My insides flip as Josh’s name appears on my phone and I answer it.

“Hey baby.”His voice on the phone is ever sexier.

“Hi, where are you?”

“We’ve just finished with the lawyers, so we’re on our way to get Alice. Is everything okay?”

I can’t help but smile. “Yeah, Charles took me for a drive through the gardens, and then I had a shower and changed for tonight, and now I’m sitting in the theatre room curled up on the chair.”

“I’m sorry I wasn’t there with you baby, but I promise I’ll make it up to you later.” I can hear the smile in his voice.

“Is Annie still there?”

“No I told her to go, I’m fine, just chilling.”

“Okay baby, see you soon.” The line goes quiet, and I decide to fix my makeup and hair before they get back. The house is quiet as I step into the kitchen where a big glass container with homemade cookies is sitting on the middle of the counter. I grab a glass of water and head upstairs to Josh’s room. On the way up, something catches my eye as I pass Lilly’s room.

I push her door open, and there, on the bed is a guy, sitting quietly, looking out the window. I gulp, looking around in a panic.

“Hello, can I help you?” my voice sounds brittle as I push the door open all the way and switch on the light.

Shivers run down my back as he turns his head, slowly, and then looks back at me with a crooked smile. “Hello, my name is Colby.”

Chapter 33

The glass drops to the floor as every vein in my body turns to ice. “Colby?”

He gets up slowly and stands by the edge of the bed. He is small-built but athletic. The serpentine-like smile fades slightly as he turns his head away from me, looking at the dressing table.

“She had long blonde hair, just like you.”

Lilly had black hair. Who the fuck was he talking about?

“Who are you talking about? “

He looks back at me, his eyes glazed over. The brown sweater he wears has food or vomit on the front, and his pants are muddy on the knees.

“Do I need to call someone to come get you?”

His smile grows, and he lets out a sinister little laugh. He takes a step forward. “I’ve come to see Mary’s replacement.”

“Who’s Mary?” I reach backwards for the wall, but only air pushes through my open hand.

“My sister, she loved him, just like you. Couldn’t stop talking about how wonderful Joshua Roxwell was, as if he was a god.” He looks down and then takes another step forward.

“He fucked her, over and over and over until she was bleeding. I watched them…‌fuck, before she got sick…” his voice goes deeper, and when he looks up again, his bottom lip is trembling.

He takes another step towards me. His eyes dart across the room as he turns his head with jerky movements.”That’s when he threw her out, just like that.”

“Josh?”

I feel sick. Colby is seeking revenge for his sister’s death. He wants to hurt Josh, and he’s going to use me to do that.

He lifts his hand in a fist, and my back hits the wall. “She had a baby inside her when they killed her.”

I can feel the air being sucked from the room. Every cell inside of my body is telling me to run, but he’s too close. I have to try and distract him somehow.

“Who had a baby?” I stumble over my words watching him take another step. He has a deep gash on his cheek, and his one eye looks grayed. The tips of his fingers are taped, and his red hair is thinning on one side.

Suddenly his whole demeanor changes, and I watch him become someone else. “Lilly. It was mine.”

Has he told you about me, how he pounded his fists in my face so hard that I had to get reconstructive surgery?” He snorts.

“Or has he been too busy fucking your brains out?”

His lips pull up into a malicious smile before he leaps across the floor. My blood freezes as everything happens in slow motion. I turn to run, but he gets me by the leg and starts pulling me back into the room, his cold bony fingers digging into my naked skin.

“Let go of me!” I yell, holding on to the doorframe, but he grabs a handful of my hair and pulls me back, hard. Pain shoots through my skull as he pulls harder.

“Tsk tsk tsk, come now, the fun is just starting, princess. We don’t want Josh to be disappointed when he finds you, we want to make it memorable, and I want him to know why his sister died. I want him to suffer for all the pain they brought to my family. My sister couldn’t breathe; she suffocated to death. I stayed with her, watched her gasping, clawing at her throat, until she stopped.”

I scramble to get up as he drags me along the carpet by my hair, into the tiled bathroom, and into the shower. I turn my head as he stands up against me, lifting my hands. He pulls out a cable tie and ties my hands to the exposed steel pipe against the wall. Pain shoots through me as he lets go of me, and my toes hardly touch the ground. The plastic cuts into my skin, burning and stretching my arms above my head.

He wipes his oily hair from his face and steps out of the large shower, and then leans back against the cabinet looking at me. “Are you ready to die for the man you love?”

I freeze, unable to move, as his words hang in the air like daggers, pointing straight at my heart. He pushes himself away from the cabinet and walks over to the bath, leans over, and opens the tap.

“Please let me go, I’m sorry about Mary, and I know it must have been hard for you losing her, but hurting me isn’t going to bring her back.” I gasp for breath, tears running down my cheeks, trying to keep myself up on my toes.

He looks up and out the window. “It helps with the pain, for a while it’s not my pain, but yours that I feel.” He drifts off for a moment.

He checks his watch then gets up and walks over to the room and comes back with my phone. “You know what’s even better, when your pain hurts someone else, like your beloved Joshua. I want him to suffer just like I’m suffering, every fucking day. All those girls I hurt, it’s all because of him. Their blood is on him.”