Broken Butterfly_A Fortis Security Novel

by Maddie Wade

  “Okay Rhea, I need to go.”

  “Bye Margo,” Rhea said and hit the end call button.

  Walking to the crystal decanter on the sideboard she poured herself two fingers of whiskey and let the amber liquid burn her throat. Her head felt clearer for the first time in months.

  In three weeks it began!

  Chapter Nineteen

  Celeste was lying on her side, her head propped on her hand as she watched Zin sleep. He had made love to her so tenderly the night before, treating her like she was the finest china. She’d felt so cherished as he murmured to her, telling how beautiful she was and how much he loved her body. Their shared climax was so powerful and beautiful, her world has shifted on its axis. She knew it sounded trite and cheesy, but it was true, everything had changed and yet stayed the same.

  His lovemaking had been in stark contrast to the way he had fucked her so hard in the shower, she had loved that too. A gentle sigh of contentment left her as she continued to watch him sleep. The powerful way he had handled her and pumped into her making her feel fragile and yet strong; treating her like she was his equal and could take every thrust of his hips no matter how hard, giving him what he needed. It was as if he was taking all the pent-up energy and feeling that he didn’t know what to do with and giving it to her, turning that angry, futile rage into something beautiful and life-affirming.

  She loved that she could do that, and she loved that she never knew how he would take her, just that she was hot for him whatever he did.

  She pictured the desolate, devastated look she had seen on his face when she stepped into the shower with him. She’d been unsure if it was the right thing to do, but now she was glad she had. He had needed her, and she needed to do it for him.

  Seeing the unshed tears in his eyes had nearly broken her, so she had known what she had to do. Holding him and caring for him, showing him that someone cared, and he could let go knowing she would catch him.

  Holding him had allowed her to see all the things that he had done to the Surgeon and though shocking, as she watched it play out like a movie and saw the things that were said to him about Roz and the way they tortured her poor man, she understood it and in all honesty, she felt no pity for the Surgeon. In fact, she was glad Zin had snuffed out his life.

  His life had been ended, how his life had been lived, like an animal. What she did struggle with was seeing Zin the operative, and then seeing Zin, the man who cherished her. It was hard to feel they were the same man. But she knew they were, and she also knew it was eating away at him and his self-worth.

  The feeling that he was not worthy of her was just not true. The very fact that it did affect him so profoundly showed the kind of man he was. Everyone had demons, she just needed her man to see himself as she saw him.

  She would start by loving him and giving herself to him in every way she knew how, with her body, her mind, and her trust.

  The sun was starting to come up, and although it was early she knew he would wake soon, they had both fallen asleep early after making love the second time. The early morning sunlight bathed his perfect abs in a golden light. She thought how fitting it was, his body was like a bronze sculpture of perfection, his toned muscles perfectly formed, the ridge as his abs dipped into drool-worthy hips bones. That sexy cord of muscle made her mouth water.

  Leaning in, she ran a finger over those ridges of muscle and watched as they tensed, and she knew she had woken him. A smile teased her mouth as she looked at him. His sleepy, sexy face curling into a grin as his arm snaked out and he pulled her over him, her arms coming to rest on his chest.

  “Morning beautiful,” he growled huskily.

  “Good morning my gorgeous sex god,” she replied, and he chuckled.

  “Sex god?” he asked with a raised brow.

  “Well yeah. I’ve seen your bathroom, Zin, and you do have mirrors, you know what you look like. If you ask me when god was handing out hotness, he accidentally gave you two doses.” She smiled at the surprised look on his face. He did laugh then, his muscles rippling under her hands as he did.

  “You’re nuts, Pixie,” he said as he rolled her onto her back and pinned her beneath his weight. “You’re right about one thing though, I am yours. Whether I’m a sex god or not remains to be seen. As long as I have the title of your man, I’m happy,” he said as he dipped his head and kissed her long and deep.

  “Much as I want to take this to its natural conclusion, I have some news,” she said as he released her mouth. He frowned and pushed back on his elbows, but didn’t move off her for which she was glad, she wanted that contact.

  “Oh?” he asked, the look on his face cautious.

  “It’s good news, I think. I spent some time with Lauren. It turns out she can pull the virus in the chip out of me and into her body.”

  “That’s fantastic, but what did Dane say?” he asked a huge smile on his face.

  “He was reluctant at first, but we had a meeting this morning. It’s been agreed we will do it in small increments.”

  “Doesn’t it make her sick?”

  “No, it just disperses through her healing gift.”

  Zin sat up on the edge of the bed then, he wasn’t reacting like she had expected. It made her heart beat faster and not in a good way. She moved up to his back, going to her knees and leaning her arms over his front. He grasped her hands and kissed the palms.

  “I should have been there,” he whispered.

  So that’s what was wrong. She moved around him, ducking under his armpit, and straddling his thighs. “Hunny.” She took his face in her hands, making him look at her. “I love that you wanted to be with me, but you can’t be with me every second. Sometimes a girl needs to save herself or at least help,” said with a smile. She watched as shadows passed over his face and knew he didn’t quite believe what she was selling.

  “Look, baby, what you did for Roz and me yesterday, that is way more than any normal man can give. You offered a piece of yourself to take down that sick bastard.” She felt him tense under her and then lift her, setting her on the bed as he got up and paced, pushing his hands through his hair. His face had gone pale as he turned to look at her. He looked haunted again which she hated.

  “You saw?” he asked

  “Yes.” Celeste nodded as she curled her legs up in front of her, resting her face on her knees. She was glad she had put one of his t-shirts on earlier, she suddenly felt very vulnerable as he scrutinised her. He was pacing, butt naked and did even seem to care, although she found it quite distracting.

  “How much?” he barked.

  “All of it,” she said softly. Zin stopped and dropped to his knees in front of her, burying his head in her tummy, and as his arms came around her, she stroked his hair gently. “I’m glad you did what you did, hunny, and how. I know it hurts you, and it cost you, but it was what he deserved after what he did to Roz. I wish I could have done it. Thank you,” she said quietly.

  At that, Zin’s head came up. He looked at her in complete shock. “Thank you?” he asked.

  “Yes. You rid the world of a disgusting human being who preyed on the weak. He didn’t deserve to breathe air.

  “But did you see how I lost control?” he asked as if trying to convince her what a monster he was.

  “Yes, and do you honestly think that Dane, or Kanan, or anyone else would have reacted any differently?” She saw the cogs turning as he turned over what she had said.

  “Maybe not,” he said quietly.

  “Definitely not. So, stop feeling bad and feed your woman. I have a hankering for pancakes.” She watched his grin turn positively dirty as he pushed her back on the bed.

  “Umm, see, I have a taste for sexy Pixie, and I’m really hungry,” he said as he pushed the t-shirt up and over her head and feasted his eyes on her body. She shivered with need and then fed her man.

  ~~~

  Strolling hand in hand through the door of Fortis, Zin felt better than he expected. Although he kept waiting fo
r the axe to fall, today had started out perfectly considering how the previous one had.

  “So, tell me more about this girl’s night on Friday?” he asked. Girls night was a bit of a new concept for him. In fact, this whole being part of a couple was new. Zin was finding out things he had never heard of.

  His Pixie grinned at him as she stowed her bag under the desk and put water out for Samson. “All of us girls are going out for drinks and dancing,” she said with a smile and a wiggle of her hips.

  His blood heated at the sight of that sexy ass moving and he instantly hated the idea of anyone else seeing it. “And Zack and the others are fine with this?” he asked on a frown.

  “Well, yeah. Zack saw reason when Ava explained it to him.,” Yeah. He bet his left testicle that Zack was not okay with this.

  “And no guys are allowed?” he asked as he came to stand opposite her desk, his hand going out to pet Samson’s head.

  “Nope.”

  “Not at all?” he asked feeling slightly desperate. She shook her head, causing the scent of her to waft around the room. “Hmm, we’ll see,” he said and stalked towards Zack’s office.

  “Hey,” Celeste called, and he turned to see a pout on her pretty mouth, reversed his direction and bent to kiss her. She smiled a huge smile, and he wanted so bad to whisk her away and spend the next twenty years or so on a deserted beach with her, watching as she ran along the sand with Samson, hair trailing behind her.

  “See you later, hunny,” she said as he walked away, that gorgeous vision in his head.

  ~~~

  “Seriously, Zack,” Nate and Dane were saying as Zin barged into Zack’s already full office.

  “I understand what you’re saying but if I stop this girl’s night,” Zack said with a wave of his hand, “then I am in the spare room for a month and serious as fuck, that is not happening.”

  “Have you seen what they’re wearing, or should I say not wearing?” Nate said as a nerve ticked in his jaw.

  “No,” the other men said, and Nate pulled out his mobile phone and brought up a picture of what had to be doll clothes. There was no way there was enough material cover a grown woman.

  All the men blanched, Zin included.

  Jace walked in then. “What? A mother’s meeting and I didn’t get an invite?” he joked and then saw their faces. “What happened?” he asked all joking gone.

  “Girls night,” Zin said, and Nate showed him the picture.

  “No way! You get a load of drunk women together, with dancing, clothes that should fit Barbie, and some that can shoot a bullet through the eye of a needle, and it spells trouble with a fuck off capitol T. I forbid it,” Jace finished, and Zin and the others started laughing at the thought of anyone forbidding Lucy anything.

  When they had all finished wiping the tears from their eyes, Zin sobered. “Celeste really wants this,” he said quietly.

  “Yeah so does Skye,” returned Nate.

  “So, we make it happen. We have two choices men. Crash the party, and hope they are drunk enough to let us take them home and have drunk monkey sex with them or go in disguise. Let’s take a vote. Those for crashing hands up,” he waited, ‘and those for disguises hands up. That’s unanimous then we crash the party. Now we have that solved, I want a meeting in the conference room with updates from everyone in ten minutes,” Zack said as they all filed out.

  Zin had a very bad feeling about this, girl’s night, not a scary bad feeling just a feeling similar to the one he got when Lucy got a wild hair to chase down bad guys in fields in the snow.

  Chapter Twenty

  “This was such a great idea,” Celeste said as she sipped on the watermelon daiquiri that Lucy had made her. Lucy grinned as she plonked another six boxes of shoes down on the bed of the largest unused guest room at the Cunningham Estate.

  “It’s always so much more fun getting ready together,” Skye said as she passed around big pieces of cherry tart that she had insisted would line everyone’s stomachs and stop them getting drunk so quickly.

  All the girls had arrived ten minutes earlier, except for Roz and Lauren. Piles of shoes and clothes were everywhere, along with curling tongs, straightening irons, make-up. All the things needed for a proper girl’s night out.

  Celeste felt her tummy squirm in excitement. She had never done this and was already having so much fun. Zin had a been a little quiet when she left, but had kissed her soundly and told her to have a great time and that he and Samson were having a boy’s night in front of the television.

  She didn’t believe him for a second and voiced her thoughts out loud. “So, does anyone actually believe that the guys won’t turn up?” she asked her eyes on Lucy and Ava as they tucked into Skye’s tart like it was the only thing they had eaten this year. They both shook their heads and grinned.

  Megan who was still pretty quiet, shrugged and said, “I have no idea about men really.” she blushed then, and Celeste decided she would try and talk to the woman more tonight.

  “No way will they stay away. At some point, they will crash the party. Then we can let them take us home, after giving them shit for a while,” Ava said with a grin.

  Celeste laughed and turned towards the door as it opened suddenly, and Lauren came rushing in.

  “I need alcohol, stat,” she said as she slumped into a chair next to Emme who while quiet, seemed sweet. Lauren threw her feet on the table and sighed, she looked exhausted and yet still managed to look beautiful.

  “Do you want some cherry tart?” Skye asked as she passed Lauren a watermelon daiquiri.

  “Yes, please,” Lauren held her hands out as Skye passed her the plate. “So, what did I miss?”

  “We were just wondering if the guys will crash tonight,” Lucy said as she started taking out shoes from boxes and laying them out. Celeste was in heaven, Lucy had more shoes than Imelda Marcos.

  “Dane won’t be able too, he’ll be too busy with the kids,” Lauren laughed. “Which reminds, me I need to express soon, or these bad boys won’t be fitting into anything,” she said as she looked at her now enormous breasts.

  “So, what are you wearing?” Emme asked as she turned to Celeste. She had gone through her wardrobe and found herself short on going-out dresses, so had picked out cute cream shorts and a pale blue lace top. The outfit was pretty and safe. Celeste stood and walked to her outfit which was hung up by the door. She took it out and brought it over to show them.

  They crowded around and inspected it.

  “That’s cute,” said Emme, and Celeste watched her look at Lucy who was frowning.

  “Cute! The twins are cute. Celeste needs drop dead sexy, for when the boys crash, which they will. Gotta show them what they are taking home tonight.” She laughed with a twinkle in her eye.

  Celeste looked down, feeling dejected. “But it’s all I have that’s clubby.”

  “That’s what we are here for. We can all swap and change. That’s half the fun of girls’ night,” said Lucy as she wrapped an arm around Celeste’s shoulder and laughed.

  “Now, let’s have a look,” Lucy said and started pulling clothes out left and right and throwing them at Celeste. When Celeste had an armful of clothes, Lucy pushed her to towards the bathroom,

  “Try those on,” she demanded and shoved her through the door. Celeste turned and started to undress when the door burst open again. A hand came through with her drink in it, she took it with a smile. “Thank you,” she called.

  Quickly she stripped to her underwear and picked up the first dress. It was a peach bodycon, bandage dress. She surveyed herself in the mirror. The dress looked nice, flattering her in all the right places. Opening the door, she walked out to see the others looking at and discarding different outfits.

  “Well?” she asked as she gave a slow spin. They all came to her and started walking around umming and ahhing.

  “It’s nice, and it makes your butt look awesome,” Ava said causing Celeste to blush. “Try on the next so we can compare.” Ava pushed
her towards the bathroom.

  Next, she tried on the burgundy red velvet pencil skirt and black crop top., When she walked out, they all turned to look and shouted, “No!” making her laugh.

  Okay, last one to go. Celeste pulled the camel coloured leather skirt on and was shocked at how short it was, barely covering her ass. Next, she pulled on the silky cream camisole with the thin diamante beaded straps, that crossed over at the back, sweeping low and showing off her tattoos.

  It wasn’t her usual style, but she liked it, she liked it a lot. Turning she went on tip-toes and looked in the mirror, wow her legs went on for miles, and the pinstripes looked amazing. With a smile, she walked out for the verdict.

  “Yes!” shrieked Ava and came over to her, followed by Lucy, Lauren, Skye, Megan, and Emme.

  “You look freaking hot,” said Lucy as she walked to her vast shoe collection and pulled out a pair of black patent shoes with a red sole. “What size are you?” Lucy asked, holding them up.

  “Size 5.”

  “Perfect, here try these,” she said and thrust them at her.

  “Are these what I think they are?” Celeste asked in shock.

  “Yeah, but they’re only my fifteenth favourite, so we’re good,” she said and clapped her hands. “Come on chop-chop, I want to see how they look.”

  Celeste bent and slipped the designer shoes on and then stood feeling about 4 inches taller, probably because she now was.

  “Oh my god, you look sensational,” Megan gushed, and Ava nodded.

  “Yep, that’s the outfit,” Lauren said as she walked behind her. “And your tattoos are so sexy, we’re gonna need a freaking escort at this rate,” she laughed.

  Celeste grinned and tried to hide it, it was so big.

  “So that’s one down, now let’s get everyone else sorted,” Skye said and held her glass up, the rest grabbed a drink, and they clinked glasses.