The Butterfly Box_A SASS Anthology

by Anthology

  “Why not?” She looks truly confused why I didn’t fuck a sure thing. I can’t possibly tell her the truth. I know she won’t understand at all. So I lie.

  “I’m not like that. I want a relationship.” My tone tells her to not question it farther, to drop it and soon the bar is filling up with regulars, keeping me plenty busy.

  For the next few hours Kelly and I barely talk while we get to work and stay busy filling up for people at the bar and out in the booths. I’m lost in my own mind and talking it up with customers when a familiar scent comes to my nose.

  I’m at the opposite end of the bar from Kelly when the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end, an annoying as fuck tingly feeling crawls up from my neck and into my hairline, into my ears.

  Cinnamon and honey.

  It can’t be.

  “What can I get ya hon?” My highly attuned ears pick up Kelly’s question at the other end.

  “Umm …” I’m shocked into a fiery of emotions I haven’t felt in forever with that stumble to find words. “A Bud Light, please.”

  Out of the corner of my eye, I watch Kelly hop off one of her boxes she needs to be up higher when working the bar and goes to the cooler to grab a bottle. “Here ya go.” Kelly puts a coaster down and then the bottle.

  I haven’t seen her yet, there are too many people lining the bar, but I know it’s her down there. A tanned hand and arm reaches out and hands Kelly some money. “Thank you.” Her voice has changed. It now has more of a sweet lyrical tone just like her mom.

  I can’t stand here anymore. I know she knows I’m here. There isn’t a way she couldn’t know I was in the same building, the same room as her.

  “I’ll be right back.” I nod to the men talking around me and start to storm down the bar.

  “D, everything okay?” Kelly looks up from the cash register.

  “Take my end for a minute, will ya?” Her brows pinch, but she nods. “Thanks.” I walk over to where she sits. Annabelle’s back is to me. She has grown into a breathtaking woman. Subtle curves, long straight neck with sun-kissed skin where visible. She isn’t dressed up like most women who come in here and if I was a betting man, I would chance to say she has boots on. The biggest difference is her hair. Gone is the long blonde locks and now a shorter style framing her face and off of her neck.

  My eyes train in on her elegant neck as the tiny hairs rise. I hear a small gasp and on a deep inhale can tell her body is responding to me being so close. She knows I’m here and hasn’t turned around yet. She is probably cursing her body’s reaction to me.

  Finally, she turns in her chair and her hazel eyes meet mine. I can’t help the scowl that causes her to flinch. She put it there years ago and now it is part of who I am.

  “Derek?” She gasps, her breathing coming in heavier and her whisper barely audible, but I still hear her over the music and the crowd.

  I set my jaw and harden my eyes as she looks me over. I don’t look like the boy she once knew. I have short hair compared to my once shaggy head and I’ve hardened my eyes. My eyes used to be expressive. Gram told me that all the time, so I learned to hide my emotions.

  I don’t know how to handle this. I never thought I would see her again. So, I end up letting my anger take over.

  “What the hell are you doing here?” I growl. I fold my arms over my chest, feeling them tighten. She gapes at me, not saying a word. “What. The. Hell. Are. You. Doing. Here. Annabelle?”

  I try not to back down when I see her recoil out of fear of me. I don’t ever want her to be scared of me; I just want her to know how hurt I still am over what she did.

  “Gram told me …”

  “Told you what?” I cut her off. “That I missed you? That I’d want to see you?” I sneer. “She’s wrong. I don’t want to see you. I never wanted to see you again after you ripped my heart out.”

  She draws back even more, removing herself from the stool and now stands there shocked and confused. I almost recoil now, but I don’t know what kind of manipulation she is trying to pull on me.

  “Go back to wherever you came from. No one cares about you here.” I stalk back down the bar, I don’t care …

  “How dare you!” I stop and don’t even flinch when a beer bottle hits my shoulder. “You’re the one who broke me! It’s bad enough living with a broken heart, but to say I’m the one who did it, pisses me the fuck off!” The whole bar has gone silent. Kelly moves closer to me, but I raise a hand to stop her and shake my head. “You chose!” I turn around. “You never came!” Anna pushes away from the bar and breaking out in sobs, she flees.

  And like the fool I am, I fight my instinct of going after her and stand there to watch her leave and not go after her, again.

  I can’t believe this. She was just sitting at my bar. Gram told her? Gram told her what? What the hell is that old woman playing at now?

  “I’ll be right back.” I grind out and leave the bar, heading to the back room to cool down. I won’t go after Annabelle. I won’t.

  Every single part of me has grown hard, including my dick.

  Fucker.

  I broke her heart?

  Me?

  Fuck that!

  I never would have guessed Annabelle to be a liar, someone to drive a knife in even deeper, and a complete stranger, but I guess you can never tell.

  I roar with anger, slamming my fists into the wall making all the spare bottles rattle.

  Why did she even come here tonight?

  How did she even know about here?

  Gram, it had to be her.

  Again, I wonder what she is playing at.

  I chose? What the hell did I choose? To live without her? That was her choice, not mine. I’ve been trying to get by every day since she left. I didn’t want to live with this constant pain.

  Me not coming after her?

  What the hell, she’s the one who picked someone else, who cast me aside. I growl as I start to pace the room. There is no way I can walk back out there and get to work like nothing happened with her scent still floating in the air out there. Because of her I am the way I am today.

  But, God, she was beautiful. Her heart-shaped face is just as angelic as ever, even with her shorter hair.

  And that hair, fuck, my mind hones in on what it would feel like grabbing it and holding tight while I piston into her tight, wet pussy.

  “Fuck.” I roar again. I can’t think of that now. I’ve done just fine without sex for this long, I can handle it longer.

  The door flies open and a very pissed off Kelly stands in the frame. Her glare pins me from pacing farther.

  “Are you going to continue being a bitch back here or are you going to come out and help me work, ‘cause this shit stops now!” She doesn’t give me the opportunity to answer, only turns on her heels and storms back to the front.

  Scrubbing my face, I follow her out, not wanting to let her kick my ass. I spend the rest of the night trying to fake a smile and attempting to make small talk with customers, and wishing I could take a girl home who offers me a night, like Regina, rather than thinking of the one who makes me madder than hell.

  NO MATTER WHAT time I get in at night, my internal clock still gets my ass up before eight a.m. every morning. This morning is just like all the others, except I’m still flaming from last night.

  I grab four donuts and a cup of coffee Gram has already made for me and go in search of her. She’s usually in the kitchen when I come down, but not this morning. I follow my nose and find her on the couch in the living room surrounded by magazines, clippings, and a couple of photo albums.

  “Mornin’ Gram.” I take a drink and drop down into the recliner across from her. “What are you doing?” I never knew she was into scrapbooking. I scarf down my first donut and set the others on the side table to pick up a magazine. It’s a World Wildlife Magazine with an amazing picture of some kind of monkey on the cover.

  I flip it open and scan through the table of contents.

  “You takin
’ up a hobby of collecting wildlife pictures?” I look up before going back to finish reading and see a wide array of animal pictures everywhere. They are incredible. I don’t know much about photography, but these pictures are remarkable.

  “You could say that.” She leans over, looking down her nose through her glasses to find the right clipping. I go back to the table of contents and find something startling.

  “Why is there a biography on Annabelle in this magazine, Gram?” I lift the magazine for her to see.

  “Because she has several of her pictures featured in that magazine and even the cover is hers.”

  “What?”

  “All these pictures are hers.” She gestures to the spread she has on the coffee table. “She’s become quite the successful wildlife photographer. She’s been all over the world. I’ve followed her career since Darling told me about what Annie was up to.”

  “And you never thought to tell me?” My temper starts to flare up again.

  “I never thought about it.” She acts like it doesn’t matter. Maybe it doesn’t, but it sure feels like it’s something I should know. “You never bring her up, so I thought you wouldn’t care.” She looks up at me. “And don’t talk with food in your mouth.”

  “Gram …”

  She sighs and sets her scissors down. Thank God. “I’m sorry.”

  I look down and quickly flip to the article. I skim it and find a name that guts me. Spence. That’s what Amos told me the man’s name was. Of course, he didn’t tell me until two years later. But on this it says he is a traveling companion, assistant when needed, and a photographer himself.

  “Do you know anything about this Spence, Gram?”

  “Oh! He’s a lovely boy. I met him yesterday.” When did she meet him? “I think he was more done up than Annie has ever been.”

  “What does that mean?”

  “I believe he is gay dear. But he is a charming boy. I’m glad Annie has a friend like him.”

  Gay?

  I shoot up from my chair, my donuts forgotten along with my coffee. “I’ll be back, Gram.” I hurry out of the house, glad I got dressed before I came downstairs.

  That asshole lied to me!

  THAT MOTHER FUCKING cock sucker! I slam my car door a little harder than normal due to my angered state. “Good for nothing, good looking bastard!” Once again, I left Derek behind and was not chased after, not yelled at, and once more … forgotten by the one man who I should have known would do it again.

  I got all the way back into Fetterman without looking back through my rearview mirror toward Rocky. I thought Dean and Amos were the only men who could piss me off like this.

  I march my way up the front steps of the still broken down porch and let myself into the house. I don’t bother trying to be quiet. I’m far too pissed and if Amos barks at me, I’ll be ready for a fight.

  “Stupid.” I mumble to myself as I take to the stairs, climbing them to get to my room where I know Spence is hiding away. Why did I let Spence talk me into going there without him?

  Damn you, Pearl Sumerland.

  It’s Gram’s fault. She planted the seed and Spence was the farmer to make it grow. So, while Spence stayed here, locked away in my room that we put together, I was out in Rocky getting my heart crushed again.

  I should have stayed here and got more work done.

  I make it to my room and find Spence lying on my bed with his phone still pressed to his ear. He’s leaning over to get as close to the outlet he can get.

  “Off the phone,” I growl, unlacing my boots and trudging over to the bed to take them off. “Please, I need to vent.”

  “Uh oh. Babe, I’ll talk to you tomorrow … Yep, love you, too.” Once he has hung up, Spence moves back on the bed and makes a grab for my brush in my bag at the end of the bed.

  “He’s a bastard.” I grumble, folding my arms over my chest, and trying to relax when Spence starts to brush my hair. “He works at the bar Pearl told us to go to.” I continue to stew in my anger.

  “I wondered why the old woman brought up that little random fact.” I feel the brush glide against my scalp, slowly taking my anger down. “It didn’t go well, did it?”

  “No, it didn’t.” I sit up, straightening my back, but letting him continue. “Derek was a complete jerk, Spence. He isn’t at all like the boy I once loved.” I feel the tears start to pool in my eyes. “He said I broke his heart. But he’s wrong. I’m the one who was broken.”

  “He’s an ass.” I love this about Spence. He doesn’t try to completely comfort me; he knows I need to get this out. He just sits and listens.

  “The shitty thing is he still makes me feel things for him, in a way no other guy has ever come close to.” No matter how hard I tried to forget about Derek and move on after I learned he did the same, I couldn’t. Something far deeper within me wouldn’t allow for it to happen.

  “Like?” He prods me. Spence loves romance and the drama that tends to come with it.

  “Alive,” I rest my head back on his shoulder. “Everything tingles, it’s an amazing feeling. No one else has ever come close.” I’ve told Spence anything and everything about Derek, except one simple fact; Derek is a werewolf.

  I start to run my hand through my hair, feeling calmer now that I’ve given myself a moment to breathe. “You know, you never did tell me how he broke your heart.”

  I move around and lay down with a pillow tucked under my chest. “You know my mom and I moved when I was sixteen. I was with Derek as a couple then. It took forever for us to get settled and mom waited a couple of months to get us a phone.” I roll my eyes. We both know how my mom can be. She doesn’t own a smartphone and the phone in her house can be found in the kitchen, attached to the wall with a cord.

  “I didn’t own a cell phone because we couldn’t afford for me to get one after our move. So, when we finally got a phone hooked up, I called Derek.” I sigh. I remember the excitement I felt making that first call and to hear his voice again.

  “Go on.” He moves and takes the empty spot on the bed next to me.

  I roll over and look up at the faded glow stars that still decorate the ceiling. “I called his cell phone and a girl answered. She was giggling.” I wipe my face. I won’t cry anymore for the asshole or the bitch known as Thea. “She told me Derek was busy and not to call again. He was done with me. I hung up and never tried again.”

  “Jackass.”

  “Yep, but what gets me is he never liked Thea before. What could have changed after I left?”

  “Loneliness can be a fickle thing, little bird.” Spence kisses my forehead. “Want me to beat him up?”

  I snort a laugh. “No, he’s too tough for you, sweetie, but thank you. He’d eat you alive anyways.”

  “What?” He shoots up from the bed, his wide eyes imploring me to tell him what I meant.

  “You’re not going to believe me, but Derek is a werewolf and I’m his mate.”

  “Shut. Up!”

  “ALL RIGHT AMOS, we will get this pile of bills sent off first and then the next pile until you are caught up.” After finding the kitchen table, I cleaned it, made a dozen trips out to the dumpster, and got the kitchen back in order.

  I put Spence upstairs after he came back with food, to stay away from Amos. The verbal onslaught he puts on me is bad enough, I don’t want him ripping into Spence as well. We opened a window up there that over-looks the back yard and he has been throwing trash bags of shit out of it all morning.

  Once I had the kitchen in order, I forced Amos to come to the table to discuss payments with me. He struggled to breathe with every step to get from the living room to the table, fifteen feet, that was it.

  He grumbles to himself, something he has been doing since I came down this morning.

  “Listen, I get you don’t want to deal with them now, but I do. Eventually they will end up as my problem. We are dealing with this now.” I slam my palms on the table and about to say more when my phone goes off.

 
; Groaning, I walk back into the kitchen and pull out my phone to see Dean’s number. I don’t need to deal with this now. I press silent and turn back to Amos, only to have a text notification.

  Spence: Dean just called me.

  Me: Ignore him, please.

  Spence: Will do.

  I put my phone on the counter and pull out the romaine tossed salad I put together. “Pearl Sumerland has been feeding you?”

  “Wretched woman.” He growls while scratching his stubble covered chin.

  “Okay,” I place the salad in a clean bowl with a clean fork in front of him. “I saw Derek last night …” I’m trying to get a reaction out of him, but have nothing. “He’s changed.”

  “Thought I did away with that wolf sniffing around long ago.”

  “What?” I stop mid-turn, and glare down at the old man.

  “Nothing.” With a shaking hand, he picks up his fork.

  “What did you say?” I come back and bend down to glare at him.

  His face fills with disgust, ignoring me and trying to eat. I don’t think he’s eaten this healthy since mom and I left. “Nothing.”

  “Tell me what you said! What did you do to Derek?”

  He doesn’t speak, just continues to slowly chew on his food. My rage starts to build again. For the last decade I haven’t had an anger problem, but in the last two days I’ve lost it.

  “I told him you moved on, so he would leave you the hell alone.”

  “You did what!” I scream. It is followed by a thud from above and then the booming footsteps of Spence running his way down to me.

  “He wasn’t going to have you as a mate. I won’t have another taken by a Sumerland.”

  “Meaning?” What the hell is he talking about, and how does he even know about any of this? When Derek told me, he said it was a secret. Not everyone knew about werewolves.

  “Nothing.” Amos looks down, just as Spence comes to the large frame that separates off the dining room and kitchen from the living room.

  “It isn’t nothing!” I shout. “I loved him!” I pull on my hair. “I thought he was the one who broke me, but it was you! You ruined me!”