Broken Butterfly: Fallen Brook Series: Book 3

by Jennilynn Wyer

  “We used to be friends. Please help me. I can’t go to jail. My life will be ruined. Your lawyer won’t even discuss a plea deal with mine. I could get a hundred twenty days in jail, Lizzie. I swear to you in front of these people that I will never come near you again. You will never hear from me, ever. I’m begging you. Please, Lizzie.”

  Elizabeth holds up her phone. “Just so you know, I’m recording every bit of this conversation. You’ve broken your restraining order, and your attempt to get me to drop the charges against you is illegal. Before I send this to my lawyer, do you have anything else you want to say to me?”

  “Damn, kitten. I love it when your claws come out.” Fallon grins at Elizabeth and her lips twitch in response.

  Elizabeth stares at a silent Maria for a quick beat, then turns around to go back upstairs when Maria doesn’t say anything.

  “Marshall! It was Marshall,” Maria frantically blurts out and drops down into the chair, her hands over her face. “Marshall and I have been dating since senior year. Since the prom. After I saw you at the party, I was so angry.” She looks at me now. “All I ever wanted was for you to notice me. For you to want me like you wanted Lizzie. It wasn’t fair. So yeah, I posted the pictures.”

  “What does Marshall have to do with it?” I ask her.

  “He lost it after Lizzie beat him at the Fields. She humiliated him again in front of everyone and he couldn’t take it. He was the one that messed up her car. He was the one who pushed her in front of the car. But I had nothing to do that. I wasn’t even there! I was in Charlotte! I never knew he would take it that far. When he told me the next day, I broke up with him.”

  Everyone in the room starts shouting, but it’s Fallon’s declaration that has us all abruptly shutting up.

  “I’m going to kill that fucker!” Fallon shouts, and Trevor has to restrain him from lunging at Maria who jumps out of the chair and shrinks back in terror at his aggressive move.

  “Maria, he pushed her in front of a moving car. She could have died!” I yell at her.

  “I know! I know! I’m sorry. I didn’t think Marshall would do anything like that! I’ll agree to testify against him if I can get a plea deal. Whatever you need me to do. Please Lizzie! I can’t go to jail even for a day!”

  “You are still such a conniving bitch.” Elizabeth turns on her. “You’re as guilty as he is. The only difference is that you’re willing to throw Marshall under the bus to save your own pathetic ass. How could you be so cruel? You knew what happened to Hailey, to my mom and dad, to me! They loved you and were good to you. I lost my family, Maria! I almost died! I was in a coma for months and had no memory of my life when I came out of it. None of that mattered to you. All you cared about was your own jealous spite. What the hell is wrong with you?”

  Maria lowers her head and shakes it from side to side. “My life will be ruined,” is all she whispers, still not acknowledging the facts Elizabeth placed before her. Was Maria ever her friend? Did she care at all about Elizabeth? Does she even have a conscience? A soul?

  “Your life is already ruined, and you have no one to blame but yourself,” Elizabeth retorts.

  My dad moves from where he’s been silently watching from the kitchen. Unable to listen anymore, he yanks Maria up from the chair. “You’re not welcome in my home. Get the hell out.”

  “I’ll call Mr. Worthington and tell him to make the deal. Your full confession and testimony against Marshall and I’ll agree to drop the charges if Marshall is officially charged.”

  Several shocked eyes raise up in confusion in the room. “Baby, don’t let her get away with it. She deserves everything that’s coming her way.”

  “It’s Marshall we need to make sure gets taken down. Look at everything he’s done to our family. He hurt Julien, he started the fight at Fallon’s party that could have ruined your lives, he tried to run you off the track when you guys raced. He was the one who destroyed my car. He was the one who pushed me into the street. Marshall should spend the rest of his life behind bars. Her?” She points at Maria. “Yes, what she did was despicable, but if she can help us bring down Marshall, then I’m willing to pay the price by giving her leniency.”

  Elizabeth goes to Fallon’s side. “Besides, she knows what he’ll do if she ever does anything to us again,” she says, looking up at Fallon. He gives her a slight nod of the head and wraps his arm around her waist, pulling her to his side.

  “Fallon, call Mr. Worthington and have him make the deal. And you—” She looks at Maria. “You know I have a recording of everything you just said. I have a room full of witnesses. After all this is done, I never want to see you or hear from you again.”

  Maria backs up until she’s a foot from the front door. “Thank you, Lizzie.”

  “Don’t you dare thank me. Do the right thing for once in your life. We’re done here,” Elizabeth tells her and walks back upstairs with the other girls and Jack right behind her.

  I meet Maria at the door.

  “Ryder, I’m sorry.”

  My gaze snaps to hers. “No, you’re not. I will never believe a word out of your mouth. Get this in your head: I never loved you. I never could love you. I pity you. Oh, and one last thing. You were right. You never could measure up to Elizabeth. Now, stay away from my fiancé.” I emphasize the word, knowing it’ll get a reaction.

  Fallon must be rubbing off on me because I get great joy in watching Maria’s face crumble as I slam the door shut on her and lock the deadbolt loudly into place.

  Chapter 36

  I feel the bed dip and my body pulled backward as Ryder molds his chest against my back, one of his legs going between mine, and one of his hands wrapping around to splay a possessive hand flat on my stomach. I twist my head to capture his kiss, rolling over to snuggle deeper into his warmth. I love how it feels when our naked skin touches. I’m not in the mood for words or gentle platitudes. I don’t want anyone else to ask me how I am feeling or if I am okay. I want to lose myself in Ryder, and let his touch heal my wounded heart.

  “What do you need, sweetheart,” he murmurs against my lips, his other hand roaming up and down my arm and back in a manner that is as seductive as it is soothing.

  “Just you, Ryder. I just need you.”

  “You’ve got me, baby,” he promises, and I give myself over to him. Completely.

  Ryder worships me with his touch while placing open-mouthed kisses along every inch of my sensitized skin. He blazes a path down my quivering stomach, devastating me in a delicious way until he reaches my mons, dragging a finger through my folds to my bud that is throbbing and needy for him. He holds down my hips, anchoring me in place as my torso tries to arch off the bed, my breathy moan a testament to the pleasure he’s giving me. No sooner do I begin to tumble down from the high of my first orgasm, Ryder amps me back up again, spreading me wide and licking me until I’m falling once more.

  Boneless, quaking, and thoroughly replete, I urge Ryder back up so I can kiss his full lips that are slick with my arousal. He settles on top of me just the way that I love. His heavy weight pressing down on me is exactly the thing I need right now. We spend what seems like forever like that, more than content to relish in our leisurely exchange of kisses. Something so simple, yet it is everything.

  I wrap my arms around Ryder’s neck, inhaling the heated muskiness of his skin, and I’m instantly calmed. I give a small shove to his shoulder and he rolls with me so that I am now on top. I rub myself back and forth over his rigid length, my hands positioned flat on his chest. I ease myself down, taking him inside of me, and squeezing my internal muscles until he grunts. My smile is wide, and I do it again. Those gorgeous brown eyes hood with desire and he sits up to take one of my nipples in his mouth, steeping me in sensation. I moan again, low and long.

  We take our time. There is no rush to the finish for us tonight. Ryder makes love to me, cherishing me like only he can. My friend, my lover, my forever. I climax for a third time, the sweetness of the rolling waves that con
sume me make me feel weightless and floaty. As I’m free-falling back down from the high of endorphins, Ryder thickens and pulses inside of me. I seal our mouths and drink in his release, capturing the sound and vibrations with my tongue.

  Still seated securely inside of me, he holds me close to his chest and finger-combs my long hair. I feel the stickiness of his release and make a contented sigh. Ryder has always taken me bare. The likelihood of me getting pregnant is low while on birth control, but every time we make love, I always wonder whether our love has created life inside of me. I burrow closer into him and run my index finger in small circles on the top of his shoulder.

  “How many children do we want to have?”

  Ryder considers my question thoughtfully. “In my dreams, I’ve always seen us with a big family.”

  “You’ve dreamed about our children?”

  He pecks the tip of my nose. “Well, yeah. I’ve been dreaming about our future together since I was nine years old. What about you, babe? How many kids do you want?”

  I scrape my fingernails feather-light up and down the side of his face, feeling his day’s-worth of stubble, liking how it tickles my fingertips. “Three or more. I would like nothing more than a bunch of cute little mini-Ryders pitter-pattering about.”

  “You want all boys? God help us.” He chuckles, the rumble of it jostling me around on his chest and sending me into a fit of giggles.

  Catching my breath, I say, “Just think, we could have our own little racing crew.”

  “That’s actually not a bad idea.”

  “Boys or girls. It doesn’t matter to me as long as they’re all half you and half me.”

  “We’re going to have such a good life, baby.”

  “I’ll be married to you. It’s going to be a fabulous life. Did you want to try to start a family soon or wait?”

  Ryder takes his time in answering. “I want you to have your dreams, Elizabeth.”

  “Our dreams,” I argue.

  “Our dreams,” he concedes. “If you want to finish college and medical school first before starting a family, that’s fine with me. If you want me to knock you up tomorrow, I’m down with that too.” His grin is downright lascivious. I punch his chest and kiss him silly.

  “The only thing I really want is you, Ryder. Everything else is just the whipped cream with a cherry on top.”

  “Ditto.”

  We lie in our intimate bubble stroking one another. I may have dozed off for a minute if I’m being honest.

  “Do you think he’ll come back?” I ponder aloud.

  “I don’t know, sweetheart. For you, I hope he does. If he doesn’t, I would think he would definitely come back for Julien and Elijah’s wedding.”

  Freda and Mitch came over with Julien and Elijah this afternoon. We all sat down and had a long talk. Jayson called his parents earlier today and spoke with them. He told them that he wasn’t going to come back home anytime soon. He doesn’t know where he’ll end up and he said that he was going to let the road take him wherever it leads; he needed time to figure out what to do with his life; one without me in it. Freda and I cried together for a long time. I was sure that she and Mitch would blame me, even hate me, but they don’t. They’re heartbroken over how things ended; not only because their boy is gone, but also because they always expected me and Jayson to eventually marry. They ended the conversation by telling Ryder and me they loved us and congratulated us on our engagement.

  Before leaving, Julien gave me a letter from Jayson, one he apparently wrote before he left. I’ve been too scared to open and read it.

  My thoughts are interrupted by a light knocking on Ryder’s bedroom door. It’s past one in the morning, so my first thought is that it’s Fallon.

  Ryder slips on a pair of boxers and pads over to crack the door open. “Hey, man. What’s going on?”

  I hear Trevor ask if I’m awake and decent. I slip out of bed and throw on the clothes I left hanging over the bathroom doorknob. Then I join Ryder.

  “Hey Trevor. I’m up.”

  “Fallon needs you guys.”

  I step out into the hallway. “Is something wrong with Fallon?”

  Trevor’s breath catches a few times. “His father… my father… Fallon just got a call. Both his parents were killed tonight. Their Cessna crashed in Maryland soon after take-off. That’s all I know right now.”

  “Take us to him.”

  I don’t know what to expect when we find Fallon. His relationship with both his parents—if you could call them that—was basically non-existent, and what was there was filled with years of abuse and hatred.

  We follow Trevor outside to the back patio where Fallon is sitting on the steps in the dark. I go over and drop down beside him. He looks over at me like a little boy who is lost in a world that has been turned upside down and doesn’t make sense.

  “They’re gone, kitten. Should I feel bad that all I feel is relief about that?”

  I gather him in my arms, and he rests his head on my chest. “You have a right to feel whatever you are feeling, especially about them.”

  Ryder and Trevor join us on the steps. Trevor places his hand on Fallon’s knee. “I’ve got you little brother. I’ve got you.”

  Chapter 37

  We’re at the Montgomery mansion in Highland helping to box things up and doing what we can to make things easier for Fallon. Ryder and I postponed our New Year’s trip so we could be here for him. Trevor has really stepped up in the big brother role, and—along with Mr. Worthington and a slew of other lawyers and business partners—has been helping Fallon navigate what needs to be done. The long list includes funeral arrangements, maneuvering Fallon to step in as interim-CEO of Montgomery Pharma, and dealing with the hoard of press and paparazzi that have descended around Fallon like vultures eager to pick the scraps off of bones. He’s holding on by a bare thread as more and more responsibilities get heaped at his feet. I know it’s only a matter of time before he either explodes or implodes. And I refuse to allow Fallon to slide back into that dark place. He saved me and brought me back from the brink. I hope I get to return the favor for him.

  “Babe?” Ryder calls me from somewhere within the expansive mansion.

  “In the kitchen!” I answer, adding more turkey slices to the hoagies I’m making for everyone.

  The last time I was in this kitchen was at Fallon’s party in high school. Not the memory lane I want to skip down at the moment. That party was all sorts of fucked-up—from the big fight with Marshall and his football goons, to Jayson getting slipped a roofie in his beer and me finding him half-naked in bed with Jacinda later that night, to Ryder coming through my window in the middle of the night, then lastly to visiting Jayson in the hospital the next morning.

  “I always forget just how big this place is.” Ryder walks in and comes over to give me a kiss before swiping a piece of turkey and eating it.

  “Hey!” I smack his hand away, then I add some lettuce and fold the two halves of the hoagie roll together and hand him the completed sandwich.

  “Thanks, babe. I was starving,” he mumbles with his mouth full.

  “Fallon sent the staff home for the next couple of weeks, which means no chef-prepared meals. I’ve made him a few things he can just zap in the microwave or eat cold.” I open the kitchen’s huge luxury refrigerator and show him the stacks of Tupperware I prepared. “So, what have you guys been up to?”

  “I’ve been in the study with Fal looking over some business papers with him.”

  “See? All those business classes you’re taking are paying off already. Maybe Fallon will offer you a job.” I grin at him.

  “Hell no. I like working on cars, not wearing a suit.”

  “But you look sexy in a suit,” I reply dreamily, an image of him in his prom attire popping to mind. God, he looked so good that night. I snack on a dill pickle spear while daydreaming and Ryder’s heated gaze watches me.

  I pop the pickle out and wag it at him. “What is it with guys fixat
ing on women eating phallic-shaped foods like pickles, bananas, or popsicles?”

  “It’s food porn, babe. No guy can watch and not imagine his woman’s lips wrapped around him like that.”

  “Makes sense, I guess,” I reply with a shrug, then lick the juices off the side of the pickle before biting into it just to rile him up. I’m rewarded for my efforts when he has to adjust himself. “I promise to take care of that later,” I tell him, my eyes zeroed in on his crotch.

  “Babe.”

  I look up. “What?”

  Ryder throws his trash away and leans over the granite counter island. “Trevor left a little while ago to take care of a few personal things. You know, I don’t think he’s acknowledged to himself that it’s his dad who’s gone too.”

  “He really didn’t know Phillip that well. I know he said they talked and all, but that man was a shit father. I’m glad that Fallon is letting Trevor help. They’re going to need each other.”

  “Fallon also needs food. He hasn’t eaten since you forced that bagel on him this morning.”

  “Point me the way to the study and I’ll take Fallon his lunch.”

  “Across the foyer, down the hall, third door to the left.”

  “Got it. I’ll be right back.” I pick up the plate I made for Fallon, snatch a bottle of water from the fridge, and give Ryder a pickle-infused kiss that has him emitting a deep belly laugh.

  As I walk down the long hallway, I slow to look at the various portraits and paintings hanging on the walls. If I didn’t know any better, I would swear two of the paintings are authentic Monet’s, which means they probably are. On a side table against the wall sit a few framed photographs. One of them is a family photo that I stop to look more closely at. Fallon was adorable when he was a little boy with his scraggly blond hair and crooked smile. A smile that was hiding the punches and bruises from his father. The older boy with the blank, dead eyes must be Peter, the older brother Fallon told me about. Chills race down my spine at the sight of him, so I quickly look at the two adults in the photograph. Fallon’s parents.