Flutter by, Butterfly

Chapter 26

I blacked out. I vaguely recall the feel of our silky blankets as I slowly woke.

"Jani? Jani! Talk to me baby."

I was unresponsive.

"Jani, please baby, please."

I could feel him start to break. He began to cry. I placed my hand on his cheek, too late. Hugo was gone, as was any other part of Alejandro I had held as of yet. The man before me now had the eyes of a thousand sorrows. My compassion for him overcame my own hurt.

"I need..." I arced my back to him.

With a tortured groan, he slammed his hips into mine, divided only of the cloth between us. He did not waste any time fitting the pieces together. Our clothes remained on. This ride was full of desperation and despair. We clung to one another in the throws of fitful passion. We both moaned into one another's climax.

"You finished," I said, thinking of Lobo. "That has never happened before."

"Are you disappointed?"

"Never." I cupped his face in my hands. "You are a part of one another."

"Who are you?" he asked.

"I'm your butterfly."

His breathing hitched. I began to feel him grow hard again, still inside me.

"Mine?" I know what it feels to say those words; to be all alone, but have one person willing to stand by you, come what may.

"Yes." Yes, I am. Forever and always, if you let me.

This one was more gentle than the others, save for Romeo, but it was still as if he was starved for affection from a loveless lifetime. We held onto one another, and then we just held one another.

"I remember you," I said. "You were singing onstage at the night show. I've also seen you look at me sometimes."

He raised his head, looking at me, somewhat looking concerned.

"How old are you?"

"I just turned eighteen."

"Is that all?" I knew what his unspoken concerns were.

"It wasn't easy for the rest of them to wait for me, but they did."

"They waited? I didn't, they didn't,-"

I gently placed my hand over his mouth. "Nobody hurt me."

He sighed in relief and held me close. "I've never done this before."

"What?" I asked.

"I've never held somebody close like this. I've had my stolen moments, but nobody's ever wanted just me."

"Join the club."

"What?"

"You were my first."

"Me?"

"Well, not you as just you, but other parts. You are also my first kiss, and my one and only. I really would like to keep it that way." My voice began to crack at the last. "Please don't turn me away." I began to tremble.

"Why would I ever do such a thing?"

"Carlos..."

He raised his head up and looked at me. "What happened?"

The knock at our door cut me short.

"Alejandro, we need to speak to you."

A knowing look passed between us. I was terrified. He could feel it. He placed his hands on my shoulders and separated himself from me as gently as he could. I pulled back down my skirt as he zipped back up his pants. He opened the door and I tried to comb back my hair with my fingers as best as I could.

"Alejandro?" he asked.

"Yes?"

"They didn't dispose of the body."

"Body?"

"Yes sir. Do you want the ones that failed you to be dealt with?"

"Do what?"

"You wanted us to throw the body overboard."

"Body? Did I kill someone?" This one must have been buried deep for so long. I could only imagine how it could feel to wake up this confused.

"It was me," I said. I began to cry. "It was ME!" I cried in anguish.

He ran to me. The guard quickly followed. He looked a lot like Clark Kent.

"Jani, tell me what happened."

I told him everything: of Carlos getting a little personal with that woman, of him blanking out when she whispered something in his ear, of her trying to lead him away from me. I began to tremble when I described her almost saying the words to me, and what I was afraid she was going to order me to do.

This unnamed part of Alejandro pulled me closer to him, comforting me. I've kept him with me for only those brief moments, but it feels like I have held him near all along, as with the others. He could feel it too. I could feel his fear of losing me, even as I felt his anger of how this woman crossed the line.

"Yes. Throw the body overboard. Those who have hesitated, I will deal with later. Meanwhile, inform all of our guests in our private circle that this is my butterfly. No one else is to touch her. As for those that have crossed me, I believe now is the time to make that old hit-list of ours useful."

So my lover was in the business of killing? Was this my life now? I couldn't help but note how I was feeling. I was not afraid at all. After knowing people such as my parents and the others, some people need to be eradicated. He was I good person. I knew it, and he protected me and the world at great cost.

"Yes sir." He began to walk away.

Wait, was that man a hit-man? He appeared so harmless, but when I tuned in.... I could sense something dangerous hiding in the deep, something that I could sense he didn't bring out unless he absolutely had to.

"Alejandro," said another guard, or non-guard. He looked like Bruce Wayne. Looks like it was my day of comics and superheroes. "We have a couple of kids on board. Nobody knows what to do with them. They were staring at you during the incident and their eyes said that they knew too much."

"Bruno and Sandy?" I asked.

"Yes?" said the guard, looking at me questioningly.

I looked at Alejandro. "Take me to them."

He did. I walked into whatever room they were interrogating them in. Bruno was in the middle of telling Clark Kent "Have you ever considered getting therapy, because dude, you are CRAZY!" He looked very dubious, but I could tell that he was just putting on a show.

"They know," I said to both of them.

"Oh my god, they know?" asked Sandy. "Is that good or bad?" Bruno meanwhile looked pale as a ghost.

"They work for Alejandro," I said.

"Oh thank god!" said Sandy. Bruno just kind of fell back on his chair like he had just lost his spine, his breath exhaling in relief.

"Are you okay?" asked Sandy.

"I'm fine," I said. I turned to Alejandro. "Can we go home now?"

He looked at Bruno and Sandy, then over to the guard.

"Don't worry boss. They passed with flying colors."

"Wait, what? Passed what?" asked Sandy. "Were we on some kind of test?"

"If we don't crack under pressure here, we're unlikely to in the outside world," said Bruno.

"Oh," said Sandy. "So what happens now?" I said those same words many times.

"I just want to go home and pretend none of this ever happened," said Bruno.

Sandy had a look on her face that made it clear she thought it was a good idea.

I looked at Alejandro. "Your place or mine?"

Alejandro looked at me hungrily.

"Yours it is," I said.