Chasing Butterflies

by Terri E. Laine

  We all waited a second in silence as we watched for the rise and fall of his chest. When he did, one of the hooded guys nodded at me. I turned on my heels and left with Chance in tow. We ascended stairs we weren’t supposed to know about. Sawyer and Ashton had got us in with their fraternity. A group based on how many zeros your family had in their bank account. And it showed because sublevel rooms just didn’t exist very much in these parts. But apparently, some wealthy alumni had it built long before our time. Our lips were sealed, never to speak of what we knew. I’d eagerly agreed for the opportunity to make my mission clear to the asshole.

  Chance prattled on about the fight on the short drive home. I was ready to see that Lenny was safe. Ox wasn’t a threat, but my protective instincts were on high alert. And growing up the way I did, I understood that Ox wasn’t the only threat in the world.

  What I didn’t expect was to find Lenny curled in a ball on the corner of the sofa. She had her arms wrapped around her legs with her phone next to her and what I learned later was a baby monitor curled in her hand.

  “Damn, man, I’m not creeping on your girl or anything. But she looks cute as shit like that,” Chance whispered. “And she snores.”

  She did, so I nodded. “Don’t laugh. I like her snoring. It’s soft and at least I know she’s breathing. And you don’t have to be so quiet. She sleeps like the dead.”

  And she didn’t stir, but I bet money if Mason cried out for her, she’d be on her feet in a nanosecond.

  “You should get that straight between you and her.” I glanced over at the guy who was fast becoming my closest friend. “Hey, I’m just saying. You don’t always get a second chance.”

  Either he didn’t realize he’d said his name or he was in his own head.

  “What happened between you and Brie?”

  He sighed heavily. “There isn’t enough time to explain it all now. Let’s just say, when you leave your house for the first time in your life and have freedom—I mean the real kind—and pussy is everywhere in all shapes and sizes, I wanted to have a taste of it all before settling on the one. And when I realized who the one was, it was too late. Now get your girl. You don’t want Sawyer to see her like that.” He laughed and left me alone.

  Sawyer was a huge flirt and spent too much time trying to help Lenny settle in. Sawyer wouldn’t cross the line, but Chance was right. What if Lenny saw she had way better options than me? Should I let her find out?

  She was so light in my arms when I scooped her up. I couldn’t believe Ox thought he was a man hitting her. It boiled in my gut and reminded me of my dad. A part of me had wanted that fight to go on forever as I rained down my fury from pent-up aggression from all the years my father had beaten Mom and me. Somehow, I managed to keep my head, but little did he know how close I’d been to snapping his neck.

  “Kelley?” Lenny stirred in my arms.

  “Yeah.”

  “Where are you taking me?”

  “To your room. You need your rest.”

  She wiggled in my hold. “No, take me to your room.”

  “Lenny,” I began.

  “I have the baby monitor.”

  I made the mistake of looking into her eyes, and they were red and puffy. Damn if seeing her like that didn’t make me feel like I’d been run over by a freight train.

  “Please,” she begged again.

  There was no denying her looking so lost. I changed course and headed upstairs. Gently, I stretched her across my bed and freed the baby monitor from her clutches. I listened to the breathing through the monitor before I rested it on the nightstand and stared down at her.

  “Now what?” I asked at a loss. “Who made you cry?”

  Frantically, she shook her head, and she closed her eyes tight as if she were holding back more tears. I fisted my hand at my side, daring not to touch her.

  “You have to tell me what happened if you want me to fix it.”

  Tear-streaked eyes met mine. “You can’t fix it unless you’re ready to fix us.”

  “Len, you need time. You just got out of a bad relationship. Don’t you want to have some time on your own?”

  Her head moved slowly side to side. “But if you don’t want me, just give me one more night. I don’t want to think, Kelley. There’s too much to think about. I just want to feel.”

  She rose to her knees and crossed her arms over her belly as she tucked her small hands under the hem and lifted her tank top before I could protest. Her gorgeous tits bounced slightly as her hands fell to her sides. She stared expectantly at me.

  “I’m not a saint, Len.” My dick wanted out from behind my fly. It pulsed as every thought I had headed south for the foreseeable future. “If this is what you want...” She nodded. “Lean back and take your panties off.” She did as I commanded. “Spread your legs, baby, because I’m going to eat you alive.”

  As I complied, he tugged off his own shirt and thumbed open the button on his jeans. Anticipation made me squirm as thoughts of him inside me made me wet.

  He said nothing as his eyes skimmed over me. I closed mine, afraid he might see something lacking, and I didn’t want to know if he did.

  “Open your eyes and watch me.”

  I opened them in haste as the bed dipped under his weight. He lifted my legs as he positioned himself between them.

  I nearly came as soon as his tongue made contact. Reaching over my head, I closed my hands around the sides of the mattress. His little flicks and quick sucks weren’t everything I needed. I must have made a sound of protest because he chuckled darkly.

  “You want more.”

  “Yes,” I complained and arched my back, wanting his mouth on me again.

  Done with tormenting me, he slipped a finger inside along with his tongue. His thrusts drove me wild, and I bucked underneath him. When he moved to suck my clit, I was pushed over the edge with the addition of another finger for perfected friction. Or it could have been when he stroked that spot inside me.

  I’m not a screamer, but I let out an ear-piercing one. Kelley moved to cover my mouth as I continued to ride out my pleasure. When I came down from the high, I bit my scream back and listened for my son. Kelley rose up and only turned back to me when he was satisfied Mason hadn’t woken up.

  “You’re going to have to keep quiet if you don’t want Chance to know what we’re up to.”

  Too late for that, I thought a second before he slammed into me. He stilled as my eyes found the back of my lids. I’d never felt so full except when he was inside me.

  “Fuck,” he growled. “You never answered me before about the pill. Are you on it?”

  “No, not really,” I said, slightly annoyed he hadn’t moved.

  “Okay, we’ll talk about that answer later. But I’m okay if Mason gets a little sister or brother.”

  My mouth opened, but he covered it with his own. He kissed me like there was no tomorrow and we would be joined forever. I gave as good as he did, meeting his thrusts with my own.

  “Fuck, baby, you’re so goddamn wet, I’m not going to last.”

  There was nothing soft in the way he fucked me. I knew I’d have bruises the next day and didn’t care. I couldn’t get enough. My insides felt raw but in a good way.

  He’d had to cover my mouth a second time when I found my next orgasm. When I could think, I bit his hand.

  “So you want to bite me, huh?”

  Wickedly, I grinned. He pulled out and flipped me over. Lifting my hips, he rammed into me again, and damn if that angle didn’t send me flying over the edge.

  Too soon, his rhythm lost its precision as he squeezed my breast and spilled into me just as my pussy clamped down for a third time.

  He groaned and tumbled us onto our sides after a few more jerks inside me. With his dick still sheathed, he pulled me close and cupped my breast.

  “So we’re going to do this?”

  I should have been shocked how easily he switched gears or maybe even a little surprised. But I’d been thinking
about the very thing.

  “Yes, if you want to.”

  “I’ve wanted to the moment I saw you. I wanted to give you time and space.”

  “We’ve talked about this. And frankly I feel cheated. What we had was just building when you left.”

  “We were just kids.”

  “And now we’re not. And I know what I want.”

  Of that I was one hundred percent sure.

  “Okay, but we’re taking it slow. I’m going to take you out on a proper date.”

  Flashing a teasing smile, I said, “Does that mean no sex?”

  He rolled me and ended up on top of me. His cock was hard and ready. “Fuck no. I’m going to burry myself in your pussy every chance I can. You’re going to think I live here,” he said, testing my wetness with a finger.

  “But one thing is for sure, living here, you’re going to learn all my bad habits.” He thrust into me.

  Catching my breath, I said, “And you’re going to learn mine.”

  He paused and caught my lip between his teeth before letting it go. “Like your snoring.”

  I slapped at his ass, a damn fine one. “Not funny.”

  “I am, but not right now.”

  And he was right. There was nothing funny about what came next. Pleasantly sore and on my way to drifting off to sleep, he spoke in the darkness of the room.

  “On a serious note, I wondered if you’d come to my last game here.”

  He sounded as though he thought I might say no. “Of course. I’m sure Mason wants to see his dad play.”

  His arm tightened around me and it felt so surreal. I never thought I’d see Kelley again, let alone be in his bed. I fell asleep, feeling safe and warm. That meant he and I scrambled to find our clothes when Mason started knocking on the door first thing in the morning.

  Later that week on Friday, he didn’t have practice and was waiting outside my classroom door.

  “What are you doing here?”

  He’d insisted I give him a copy of my class schedule, and he’d given me his as well. I’d learned from Ox’s parents that he’d withdrawn from school. It wasn’t clear if he’d been asked to leave or if he’d left on his own because the school had received information about the assault. Still, Kelley wanted me to be cautious, though he assured me Ox wouldn’t be that stupid.

  I hadn’t been stupid either. That night he’d found me curled on the sofa, I’d seen his bruised knuckles and other bruises on his body. But I’d said nothing. I’d wanted him, knowing what he’d probably done to protect me.

  “I’m here to take you out on our first date.”

  Smiling like a loon, I took his hand as we walked down the campus. We got curious looks and some glares from girls probably pissed off I’d claimed one of the good ones. I didn’t care. I felt like I was walking on the moon.

  “Where are you taking me?”

  He eyed me with a wide grin. “It’s not like there’s a whole lot to do in this town. I thought maybe mini golf, but if I did something like trip because I’m too busy looking at you instead of where I’m walking, Coach would kick my ass.”

  I giggled. “I’m going to give you points even though you don’t need them. I’m a sure thing.”

  “I don’t know about that. I have a feeling if I don’t keep my A game, you’ll have twenty guys waiting in the wings for you.” He was crazy stupid, because the only guy I wanted was him. “So anyway, with the hazards of mini golf, I figured it’s a movie and dinner if that’s fine with you. We’ll do something else when the season’s over.”

  “Sounds good.”

  He let me pick the movie. I hadn’t been to see one not kid related in, well, forever. I chose a romantic movie about a bull rider because I’d read the book.

  When it was over, Kelley squeezed my hand. “You know, if that’d been you and me, I would have given up riding way before that guy did.”

  “How do you know?”

  “Because I was ready to give it all up that day you showed up needing me.”

  Damn, he made me weak in the knees.

  “Are you ready for dinner?” he asked.

  “Would it bother you if we went home? I haven’t seen Mason all day, and I miss him.”

  He chuckled. “I have to admit I miss him too. Chance will be disappointed.”

  “Why?”

  “Because Brie’s there.”

  “What do you know?”

  He shook his head. “Are you going to tell me what Brie’s thinking about my boy?” I moved my head to signal no. “I guess we are keeping secrets from each other now.”

  “That’s the only secrets. I would tell you if it impacted us or our son,” I said. “Now let’s get home before all the pizza’s gone and then we can take Mason for ice cream.”

  I glanced up, and he nodded in agreement.

  We didn’t get to go to his game that Saturday because it was far away. I didn’t want to put Mason through a three-hour road trip each way since we wouldn’t be staying the night. But I half watched it on TV and played with Mason, missing Kelley the entire time. They won, but barely. And that was important based on how he’d explained it. If certain things happened, they might get to play in a bowl game after next week’s game. Whatever that meant. I needed to study up on football, just so I wouldn’t feel so clueless.

  We went out a few more times alone and once with Mason. We took him to mini golf despite the unseen tragedies waiting to happen. Kelley made it unscathed, so I didn’t have to explain to his coach that we’d taken a careless risk. We laughed about it the entire time. Poor Mason wanted to know what was so funny. Kelley would just whisk him on his shoulders, giving our son the time of his life and freaking me out in the process.

  By Saturday, I sat in the stands with Brie, Shell, and Mason on my lap.

  “He’s so hot,” a girl in front of us said. “I’d like to be his ball right now.”

  “Get over it, ladies,” Shell admonished. “He’s taken, and his son is listening, so keep it PG.”

  The girls turned back with sneers until they saw Mason. The day was bright and clear and his bi-colored eyes could be easily seen. Their mouths parted as their twin expressions grew to epic proportions. Then they huddled to no doubt talk about us. I didn’t care, I watched Kelley snap the ball. And then I watched him go down as a guy twice his size, who wasn’t blocked, took him down, making Kelley resemble a chalk outline.

  “Is Daddy okay?”

  I didn’t know how to answer my son. I was surprised he even grasped who his Dad was on the field.

  “I hope so.”

  In a daze, I lay wondering how my life might have just gone to shit in three seconds. In that time, I might have failed my son and his mother. I didn’t want to be my father. If I believed in such things, I would wonder why a curse had been put on my family. And better yet, I prayed that it ended with me and not got passed down to my son.

  Muffled sound came from everywhere as a bright light passed over my eyes. I hurt like a motherfucker, but that was to be expected when a three hundred plus defensive linebacker drilled you into the ground so hard they would need a spatula to get me off the turf.

  Questions were hurled at me in rapid succession.

  “Three,” I said, counting the fingers placed in front of my face. “No, my head doesn’t hurt.” Just every other bone in my body. “No, I don’t feel like vomiting.” I answered to unseen faces.

  Finally, I had enough. I pushed up to a sitting position and noise erupted like a lion’s roar from the stadium. Helping hands were there to get me up, but I did it on my own. I prayed I hadn’t scared Mason, so I waved at the crowd in the general area he and Lenny should be sitting.

  More noise and I was ushered off the field. It was protocol with the fear of concussions. I had to sit out at least one play to be further evaluated.

  “I’m fine.”

  Back slaps from my teammates didn’t help the ache. But I endured. The doctor ran a few more tests, and evidently I passed because I w
as pushed back toward the field. There wasn’t much time left. And if I had any chance in hell in playing in a bowl game, we had to win here. And my future career meant not letting my team down. More importantly not letting my family down.

  I glanced at the sideline where the coach looked like he was doing a rain dance with his signals for the next play.

  The guys were in the huddle. “Okay, Minnie Mouse swept right.” It was a bootleg play to the weak side of the defense. It had a crazy name, but the guys wouldn’t forget it. It was four down and less than twenty seconds of play left. Despite getting mowed down by the human lawnmower, I trusted our guys to protect me. So when the ball was snapped in my hands, I stayed in the pocket for a second or two. We had two wide receivers, including Ashton, and my right hand tight end, Chance, in the play, getting in position. But since our starting running back got benched, it was Sawyer who was there to help me sell the fake handoff. He ran left, and I ran right after, pretending to give him the ball while I surveyed the field. He sold the play as I had time to find an opening before a defense end came barreling toward me. I let the ball fly.

  The clock ran out and the field was soon flooded with parents but mostly students. We won in spectacular fashion, and I was lifted up on shoulders as the hoots and yelling came to a crescendo.

  More than anything I wanted down. That moment wasn’t for the crowd. It was for me, my girl, and our son. But when I was finally let on my feet, a microphone was shoved in my face.

  “So what’s next for you, Kelley? Will you be entering the draft?”

  I gave non-committal answers to every question. I hadn’t had time to think. Pam, my stepmom, should have been at the game and was meeting me at the house. More importantly, I needed to see Lenny and Mason.

  So after some polite brush-offs, I jogged off the field, searching every face along the way for them both. When I saw them, I stopped. Mason scrambled out of Lenny’s arms and ran for me. My heart swelled with gratitude that he’d accepted me. And I’d spent every second I could with him, making up for lost time.