Broken Butterfly: Fallen Brook Series: Book 3

by Jennilynn Wyer

  “Told you before. I had other things to worry about,” he answers vaguely.

  I reach into my bag and pull out the gift that I bought Trevor in Barcelona. “Before I forget, this is for you. You can open it later.”

  Trevor accepts the wrapped item from my hand. “Elizabeth, you really didn’t have to get me anything, but thank you.”

  “I got a bracelet.” Meredith shakes her wrist at him completely forgetting that she already showed him yesterday when we were all hanging out in her dorm room.

  “Firecracker, how much did you drink yesterday?”

  “Not enough.” Meredith taps me with her pencil. “When and where should we meet you?”

  “It’ll be someplace outside of town. Jayson will let me know once he gets a text later today.”

  “Very clandestine.” She giggles. “I love it!”

  “I can’t let the two of you go by yourselves. Count me in.”

  “Ryder is coming, possibly Fallon. Will you be alright with that?”

  Trevor rolls his eyes at the mention of his half-brother but says he’ll behave as long as Fallon does. Our conversation is cut off when Professor Hallenger and his TAs walk in.

  “Alright class. The semester is almost over which means your final exam is imminent. It counts for the majority of your grade. While Terry and Francine pass out study guides for it, could Elizabeth Fairchild please come up if she is present today.”

  Why does he want to speak with me?

  “I’m here,” I call out and make my way up to the front. I pass the girls that Meredith flicked off earlier and they start giggling again.

  “You wanted to speak with me, Professor?”

  He motions me to the side and addresses me quietly so that other students can’t hear our conversation. “Good morning, Miss Fairchild. I apologize that I haven’t gotten much of an opportunity to meet one-on-one. There’s just too many of you.” He chuckles. “The dean has personally spoken to me about your extension, and I wanted to make sure that you understand what that entails and ask if you have any questions.”

  I look at him blankly. “Extension?”

  “For your leave of absence.”

  Oh shit. And the dean is involved? That means that Daniel probably knows that I’ve been absent from class for a month. I play along, wanting to strangle Fallon for not giving me a proper head’s up when he told me “everything was taken care of” when it came to my classes.

  “Oh, that. Right. Could you explain again what I need to do?”

  “You’ll have until January twenty-first to finish up your assignments and the two quizzes you missed. You will take your final exam sometime in the last week of January in my office. We will schedule the exact date and time later. Since the next semester will have already begun, I hope you will be able to handle a couple of extra weeks of work to make up for the month you were gone.”

  “Yes, absolutely. Not a problem. Thank you so much.”

  “I hope I’m not being too forward, but may I ask if everything is alright? I was told by the dean that you were on medical leave. I hope it was nothing serious.”

  “I’m good now. That’s all that matters, right?” I brightly evade with a smile on my face. I thank Professor Hallenger and return to my seat. Several eyes follow me as I go.

  “What was that all about?” Meredith asks.

  “He just wanted to go over my missed work. I have until the end of January to get everything completed.”

  “You know we’ve got you covered,” Trevor says.

  “Thanks, guys.”

  For the rest of the class, we go over what the final exam will entail and are given our last novel assignment. When we’re all dismissed, Trevor, Meredith, and I leave together so I can wait for Ryder at the bottom of the steps outside.

  A male voice catches me when we near the glass doors at the exit. “Elizabeth Fairchild, right?”

  Three guys are blocking our way. I think two of them are probably on the football team based on their build and the jersey shirts they’re wearing. The third guy is more preppy-looking than his friends with his baby blue V-neck sweater and brown loafers.

  “Damn, she’s prettier than in those pictures,” one of the bigger guys says.

  What pictures?

  The tall preppy blond steps forward. “Heard you liked to fuck multiple guys at the same time. Me and my friends are interested. Want to meet up later?”

  He reaches out to slide a finger down my cheek and I’m about to smack his hand away and tell him to fuck off when Trevor steps in front of me and shoves the guy hard, slamming him into the doorway. Meredith jumps in ready to join the fight, even though she’s more than a foot smaller than all of the guys. I grab her hand to stop her.

  “What the fuck did you say to her?” Trevor growls threateningly.

  Before preppy can respond, the door opens behind him and two campus security guards walk inside. They slow down when they notice Trevor and preppy guy facing off.

  “Everything good here?” one of the officers asks.

  Preppy guy wipes his hands down his jeans and gives a nod. “All’s good,” he says and thumps his two friends to signal they should leave. Trevor watches the guys until they are out of sight, while I stand there completely confused.

  What the hell was that all about? How did those guys know my name, and what pictures were they talking about?

  Fallon: Get to my frat asap.

  Me: On my way.

  Fallon sent me the text right after I kissed Elizabeth goodbye at Mason Hall. His frat is about a ten-minute walk, so I should be back in time to pick Elizabeth up after her class. When I turn up the walkway to the house, Fallon is sitting outside on the steps. He doesn’t look happy.

  “I’m here, so what’s up?”

  Fallon’s indignant eyes flick toward the front door. “Come inside. I need to show you something.”

  Several of his fraternity brothers are hanging out in the living room. One is passed out face-down on the couch, snoring loudly. The lucid ones cautiously watch Fallon stalk up the stairs to his room, with me trailing behind. He goes to his laptop and hits the space bar then jerks his head at me to come over.

  “I found out about this shit last night. It took a while for me to get it taken down, but I screenshotted everything so you could see. By the time I was told about this, it already had over three hundred views.”

  My ass falls into his desk chair, my brain disbelieving what I’m seeing. “What the hell is this?”

  “Someone is trying to mess with our girl.”

  On his laptop, I flick through screenshot after screenshot of images of Elizabeth posted on some random campus social site. The more I see, the angrier I get. Someone uploaded pictures of me and her kissing in the quad; Jayson and her in high school when he carried her into the school after her big fight with Maria; her with Julien out jogging; me, Fallon, and her at the bowling alley we went to on Thanksgiving; and Trevor and her in the student parking lot. In every picture, Elizabeth is either kissing me, Jayson, or Julien, or she’s hugging Fallon or Trevor. Included on each picture is a commentary about Elizabeth—how she likes a good dicking, how she likes to fuck more than one guy at a time—preferably twins. How we all pass her around like a fuck-toy.

  Then I get to the last picture. It’s clearly a fake, but someone took the time to photoshop all of our faces on a gang-bang picture where a woman with Elizabeth’s face is on all fours with a group of guys having sex with her at the same time. The entire thing is vile and disgusting. Fury like none I’ve ever felt overtakes me. I swear to God, if I find out who did this, I’m going to break every bone in their worthless body.

  “Who?” I seethe, so angry my teeth clench.

  “I have someone looking into it. Hopefully by tonight, we’ll have a name and address.”

  “I can’t keep this from Elizabeth.” I scrape my hands over my face a few times. “God, I want to.”

  But I know only relationships based on trust are the ones
that survive. I kept my past with Fallon from her, thinking I was protecting her. Daniel kept her daughter a secret from her. Jayson kept things from her all the time in high school. She’s had too many people in her life hide things from her, justifying it was the right thing to do because they were protecting her. And still, the bad stuff happened. I’m breaking that cycle.

  Fallon closes his laptop. “My bet is on Marshall. Kitten has humiliated him twice now.”

  “Marshall is too afraid to go up against you.”

  “I never said that dickhead was smart. Maybe I need to send him a reminder.”

  Marshall was livid when Elizabeth beat him at the Fields a few days ago. He was in town for Thanksgiving break then so he could have seen us at the bowling alley and taken pictures of Elizabeth and Fallon. But how did he get a hold of the high school one of her with Jayson? Or the ones here on campus? It’s like someone has been following her around, stalking her. It’s damn creepy. Every protective instinct in me flares to life.

  “I need to get back. Elizabeth’s class will be ending soon, but she said she would be dropping by here later. Do not say anything to her. I need to be the one to tell her. Send me those screenshots.”

  Fallon claps me on the back. “You got it, hoss. I promise, whoever this asshole is, we’ll make him pay.”

  Someone is targeting my girl and I need to find out who and stop them. I decide to loop in the twins.

  Me: We need to talk. It’s about Elizabeth.

  Jayson: Do I need to ask?

  Julien: Just saw her this morning. Is she ok?

  Me: I’ll explain everything later. It’s important. Meet me and Elizabeth at the main library in thirty.

  It takes me longer to walk back to Mason Hall than I expected. As I cross the center quad, I see Elizabeth, Trevor, and Meredith walking out of the building but even from a distance, I can tell something is wrong. I jog the rest of the way and the relief that explodes across my girl’s face has me taking her in my arms as soon as I get within reach of her. Trevor is cursing under his breath and searching the quad for something or someone. Meredith is hovering at Elizabeth’s back giving me worried looks.

  “Someone going to tell me what’s going on?” I ask them.

  Elizabeth talks into my jacket. “Just some jerks mouthing off.”

  Trevor makes a scoff of disgust. “Not just some jerks. Three guys came up to Elizabeth as we were leaving and straight-out asked her to fuck them; said they’d heard she liked taking on multiple guys at the same time.”

  “It’s straight-up bullshit is what it is,” Meredith spits out.

  “Where?” I follow Trevor’s line of sight as he continues his search of the quad.

  “Campus police came in and they bolted. But I’ll recognize them again if I see them.”

  Fallon said the post had over three hundred views before he was able to get it taken down.

  Elizabeth tilts her head up to me. “I thought something odd was going on yesterday when I went to see Meredith. A couple of girls called me a slut. Trevor was there. He went off on them. Then today, people kept staring.”

  I thought I was angry before, but now I’m fuming. Elizabeth never said anything to me about that last night or this morning.

  “Elizabeth, why didn’t you tell me?” I ask her at the same time Trevor says, “You didn’t tell him?”

  “That’s what I would like to know as well. You should have told me too,” Meredith tells her. “If those girls live in my dorm, I want to know who they are.”

  “Why is everyone getting mad at me?” Elizabeth asks us.

  I bend down and kiss her. “I’m not mad at you, baby. I’m mad about what happened.”

  “I need to go grab something to eat before my next class, so you, girl, are going to tell me everything tonight,” Meredith threatens while pointing at Elizabeth. Elizabeth turns around in my arms to look at her, but I don’t let her go. “And you and Trevor better text me what those two girls look like. I know almost everyone in that dorm. I mean it! Text me! You also need to text me where we’re meeting up tonight,” she yells over her shoulder as she walks off toward the cafeteria.

  “You really do need to ask her out on a proper date,” Elizabeth tells Trevor.

  Trevor shrugs. “Already told you why that’s not such a good idea.”

  I interrupt. “Babe, I need to talk to you about something and it’s kind of important. It can’t wait.”

  Elizabeth is distracted as she watches people walk past, so I look at Trevor. “I’m meeting the guys at the library. You’re more than welcome to come.”

  “Why do I have the feeling that it’s not good?”

  That catches Elizabeth’s attention. “What’s not good?”

  She’s still wrapped in my arms, so I tip her chin back and kiss the side of her mouth, happy when she shifts her sole focus to me and not the assholes I notice who are watching. She’s had to endure this for the past two days?

  “I love you,” I tell her.

  Elizabeth sighs and melts into me. “I really needed to hear that.”

  “Come on. We’re heading to the library.”

  “Why?”

  Trevor chuckles. “You really weren’t paying any attention, were you?”

  Chapter 22

  When Julien and I get to the library and I see Fallon and Trevor standing next to Liz and Ry, my good morning disintegrates. Why the hell are those two douche canoes here? My main concern is Liz. Her face is pinched with what could be worry or irritation. I can’t tell which.

  “We’re here. What’s going on?”

  “That’s what I want to know,” Liz says.

  Ry ushers us inside the building. Once we find a floor that is empty, we walk to the back of the stacks. We find a lone table and four chairs there. Julien and Trevor take a seat. Fallon stares bullets into Trevor who stares right back. Liz bites her thumbnail, and Ry takes out his phone. Well, if this isn’t awkward as hell.

  Liz looks over at me, silently asking if I know what’s going on. My shrug communicates back to her that I have no fucking clue.

  Without taking his glare off Trevor, Fallon barks out, “Kitten, stop biting your nails.” She drops her hand.

  I’m tired of waiting. “Ry, come on, man,” I start, but he interrupts with, “Give me a sec.”

  Finally, he places his phone on the center of the small table so we all can see. What the fuck?

  “Fallon found out about this last night and told me about it this morning. We don’t know who posted it yet, but before he could get it taken down, a lot of people had already seen it.”

  Liz snatches up the phone, her eyes wide with shock. “Oh my God!”

  Julien and Trevor hunch over Liz’s shoulders to see and both release a few choice expletives including a very loud, “goddammit,” from Trevor. I’ve seen enough. I reach over and take the phone from Liz’s hands, ignoring her protests, and I stab it back at Ryder. “She doesn’t need to see that. What’s wrong with you? And people think I’m the insensitive prick,” I say heatedly.

  “She needs to know,” is his response. “We all need to know so we can figure out what to do about it.”

  “Then use your words next time. Liz has been through enough already without having those visuals seared in her brain.”

  “Jayson, it’s alright. It’s sick and disgusting, but at least now I know why I’ve been getting all these creepy stares for the past couple of days.”

  “You’re getting verbally assaulted and harassed is more like it,” Trevor scowls.

  “What the fuck are you talking about?” Fallon asks his brother.

  Meanwhile, Julien remains silent, but I can see his anger. Hearing Trevor’s choice of words hits too close to home for us.

  Liz bristles, “Do you know how freaking tired I’m getting with having to explain stuff over and over to everyone?” She slams her hands flat against the wall in frustration. “Can I not catch just one fucking break?”

  “Elizabeth.” Ryder re
aches for her.

  “Just give me a minute.”

  “Yeah, screw that,” Ry says and hauls her into his arms. “I promise, baby, we will find out who did this.”

  “You bet your ass we will,” Fallon says.

  “Why? Why me? I don’t understand. What did I do to deserve that?” She points at the phone on the table, its screen now blank.

  I look into the eyes of each man standing there and reflected back at me is the same emotion: rage.

  Liz dries her tears and kisses Ry on the shoulder. “I just need a minute, okay?” she brokenly says and walks off toward the exit to the stairs. The five of us watch her go like a bunch of stupid, helpless assholes.

  “You’re not going after her?” I aim at Ry.

  “She said she needed a minute. Respect what she wants and give her space,” he responds.

  “How did you find out about this?” Julien asks Fallon.

  “Preston.”

  Ry looks shocked. “Preston?”

  “Who the fuck is Preston?” Trevor asks, and for a split second the similarity between him and Fallon is so striking that no one would doubt they were related.

  “Doesn’t matter who he is. He saw it and called me. I’d told him to let me know if he ever saw kitten again. I’m just pissed that I hadn’t learned about it sooner. Whoever posted that trash is going to fucking pay.”

  Julien spears his metallic eyes at Trevor, his anger visibly growing. “What did you mean when you said she was getting assaulted and harassed?”

  “Some girls said a bunch of shit to her yesterday, and then some guys today. I handled it.”

  Fallon looks like he’s about to blow a fuse. Ry says, “I’m hoping this will die down, but just in case it doesn’t, I wanted you all to know what was going on so we can keep our eyes open and protect Elizabeth. Besides, when I find out who did this, I’m going to need your help.”

  “You don’t even have to ask,” Julien says. “Christ, it feels like high school all over again.”

  I explain for Trevor and Fallon. “We had to walk Liz to every class in our senior year after his ex-girlfriend, Maria” —I gesture to Ry— “and two other girls, Jacinda and Samantha, kept messing with her.”