Black Butterfly

Chapter 19

Mason choked. 

"I- what?"

Mason's father smiled at me and said, "It's either that, or..." He waved his hand. 

"Or what?"

"I'm sure the boys could explain it to you." 

I looked at Mason and Nick. The latter looked sick but Mason was furious. 

"That was never an option,-" Mason started. 

"It was always an option. If she had become a liability, would you have sacrificed her or your family?"

Mason looked conflicted. I could tell he still wanted to fight, but the question knocked him off guard. We were all silent for a moment before Olivia said, 

"Jordan, please."

Mason's father glared in her direction, but she didn't back down. "We will talk about this later." He said, then looked at Ivy. 

"Take her home." 

Everyone at the table looked defeated, except for Ivy. She hopped up happily and grabbed my arm, hard. I started to say something, but stopped when I saw the look in her eyes. Her gaze was hard and unflinching and it seemed to say, s**t's about to get real, let's go. 

So I let her pull me up and away from the table. I glanced back and found everyone with their eyes on the table. Except for Mason's father, he sipped from his glass looking like he had just won some verbal war. I guess he had. 

Ivy led me out the door and into her waiting yellow convertible. She started the engine and backed out of the driveway. We sat in silence until I saw something out of the corner of my eye. 

"Why aren't you wearing your seat belt?" I asked.

"Honey, we all die eventually. My death will just be sooner than others'" 

"Why is that?"

"Because, you're the one Jordan picked."

I shot her a look.

She sighed. "Besides, when you live my kind of life, you do what you can now because it never lasts long." 

"That's a depressing outlook." I say.

Ivy chuckles. "It's the only one I got." 

The sun had set while I was in that house and the night blown wind blew through my hair without the roof of the car. I closed my eyes and sighed. 

"How'd you meet Ace?" Ivy suddenly asked me. 

"School. We were paired up to do a project." 

"Ah." Was her only reply.

"Do you have a Q near your ear?" I blurted. 

She quirked her eyebrow and then looked at me. "He did tell you everything, didn't he?"

I nodded. 

"I have a Q, but not near my ear." She twisted her head and pulled her red hair up and there, at the nape of her neck, was a small cursive Q. 

"Was it painful?"

Ivy shrugged. "I was drunk and I have a high tolerance for pain." 

We pulled up to my house and I gasped. "Oh s**t, what do I tell my mom?" 

Ivy only looked at me and grabbed my back pack from the back seat, "We've taken care of it." She pressed the bag into my arms and waved goodbye. 

I got out and walked to the front, knowing full well she would wait until I got into the house. When I opened the door I wasn't surprised to see Anthony in front of the TV watching some detective show. It was an old re-run that Id' seen before so I leaned down and whispered. 

"The wife did it. She wanted his life insurance." 

He batted me away. "Why do you ruin everything?!" 

I smiled and heard Ivy pull out of the driveway. 

"Mom's already asleep." Anthony said. 

"Doesn't that mean you should be too?" 

We both looked at each other. "I won't tell if you won't." 

I c****d my head and went upstairs, careful to skip the stairs that might creak. I reached my room and twisted the knob, when I heard a noise from inside. 

Shit! I looked around for anything to attack with. I settled for an old soccer trophy of Anthony's and held it up like a baseball bat. I slowly turned the handle and opened my door. A black figure stood at my window, presumably untangling himself from the curtain. He cursed under his breath and I charged. 

I ran and swung the trophy low, but he caught my wrist mid-swing and pushed it back. I staggered backwards, the trophy knocked from my hands. I scrambled to grab it when two hands grabbed me from behind and twisted me around. I struggled against the strong grip. 

"Calsy for Christ's sake will you stop moving?" A voice whispered in my ear. 

"Mason?"

He sighed. "No Calsy, Brad Pitt. Of course it's me." 

I twisted out of him arms. "What the hell are you doing in my bedroom, it's the middle of the night." 

The moonlight from my open window shone on half of his face. He looked at a loss, like he'd lost a fight. "I wanted to see you." 

"Why?"

Mason ran a hand over his face. "I don't know I just-" He sighed. "I don't know." 

He sat down on my bed, I turned on a light and sat next to him. "Mason, what did your dad mean tonight?"

The question hung in the air between us. Mason wrung his hands. "Usually when people know about us, they're in or they're an enemy. There's no one not involved who knows." He looked at me. "Except you." 

"Okay. Then why did you get so upset?"

"Because-" He took a breath. "My father- My father doesn't play fair."

I raised a brow. 

"He gave you a choice tonight. Join and help, or die." 

I blinked. "I-" I swallowed. "Mason, I-"

"Calsy it's all my fault." He stood up and ran his hands through his cropped brown hair. "I shouldn't have gotten you involved. I'll-"

I rose. "Mason, all of this is not your fault. None of this is your fault."

He turned away from me. "Mason look at me." I put a hand on his shoulder. "Look at me."

Mason faced me, silver lining his eyes. I reached out a hand to cup his face, his skin was hot beneath my hand, "Hey, it's okay. We'll figure this out. Together." 

He put his hand over mine and we stood there for what felt like forever. It was just him and I, the only people in the house. In the world. 

I kept looking at him, he looked anywhere but at me. Soon his gaze hit me and the full force of those brown eyes made my knees want to shake. But I didn't cower or hide. I kept his eyes in mine. He pulled my palm closer to his mouth and kissed it, stealing the breath from my lungs.

Mason took my hands and held them, then let them go and crawled back out my window. I stood there, unable to move, or think. Barely able to breathe. That small brush of his lips against my skin set my pulse racing. It was like a roller coaster was roaring through my stomach. 

So I stood there, half hoping he'd come back through the window, half hoping I'd climb out and run after him. Minutes passed, and nothing happened, so I got ready for bed. 

My palm still hot from the kiss.