Novels by Dee Butterfly

Wren’s POVIf feelings had a volume knob, mine got twisted all the way up and then snapped off somewhere around my ribs.I tried to act normal. I really did. I nodded when people talked, laughed when something vaguely sounded like a joke, even unwrapped one of Lucas’s chocolates like I hadn’t just walked back into the group holding Kai’s hand like it had always belonged there.Like it didn’t change everything.But my brain? My brain was a crowded room with too many voices.Kai’s voice, low and steady: Yeah.The way he said it. No hesitation. No shame. Just… truth.And Lucas—quiet now. Not defeated. Not gone. Just watching in that way that made me feel like I was standing under a spotlight I didn’t ask for.I glanced at him once.Big mistake.Because he was already looking at me.Not angry. Not even upset, really. Just… aware. Sharp in a way that made my chest tighten. Like he was recalculating, reshuffling, deciding his next move.And somehow, that made everything worse.Because this

Kai’s POVI knew exactly what Lucas was doing.That was the problem.If it had been random, careless, just him being his usual loud, attention-hungry self, I would’ve ignored it. Would’ve brushed it off like background noise. But it wasn’t random. It wasn’t careless. It was deliberate. Every move he made today had intention stitched into it, clean and precise, like he’d planned it down to the second.The ball.The touch.The note.The roses.The chocolates.Each one landed exactly where it was supposed to.And Wren noticed.That was the part that sat wrong in my chest.Not because she did anything wrong. She didn’t. She wasn’t encouraging him, not really. But she noticed. She reacted. She smiled. And Lucas… he fed off that. I could see it in the way his shoulders straightened just slightly every time her attention shifted toward him, like he was collecting wins in a game I hadn’t agreed to play.But now we were here anyway.Standing in the park just outside school, the air still damp

Lucas’ POVI’d been trying to blend in, laughing with the guys, tossing the ball around like I wasn’t thinking about anything serious. Like school wasn’t a chessboard and I wasn’t three moves behind what was happening between them. But of course, I noticed. I always notice.The subtle way Kai’s eyes followed her hand when she adjusted her sleeve. The small tilt of her head whenever he leaned in slightly. I caught the almost imperceptible shift in her posture—the little pauses, the little sighs, the way she let him occupy space around her. And it was driving me insane.Not that I wanted her. Not like that. At least… not that way. Wren was Wren. Dangerous, brilliant, chaotic, and completely not mine. But right now? I had to stake a claim. Had to remind everyone in the room that I was still part of the picture. That I still had a place in her orbit.And so I waited. Patiently. Or tried to.The ball flew toward me, careless, reckless. I caught it with one hand, spun it slowly, letting it

Kai’s POVI knew that name before I even saw the screen.Lucas.It didn’t matter that she hadn’t said it yet. I felt it. The shift. The way her body went just slightly tense under my hands. The way her breathing changed like something delicate had just been dropped into the middle of the room.And I hated how fast I noticed.Hated how fast I reacted.My hands stayed on her waist.I didn’t even think about moving them.Didn’t want to.She hesitated.Of course she did.Because now there was a choice sitting right there in her palm, glowing back at her.Me.Or him.Not fully. Not yet. But close enough to make my chest tighten.“I should… answer,” she said softly.Careful.Too careful.Like she was trying not to set something off.My jaw tightened before I could stop it.I didn’t like how that sounded.Didn’t like that she felt like she had to tread lightly with me.Still…“Yeah,” I said.Calm.Too calm.“Answer him.”Because I wasn’t going to be that guy.I wasn’t going to cage her.Even

Wren’s POVMy brain was short circuiting every five minutes.I was sitting cross-legged on my bed, textbook open in front of me, staring at the same paragraph for what had to be the fifteenth time.I hadn’t read a single word.Not one.Because all I could think about was—His hand in mine.His mouth on mine.The way he said you’re mine like it was the most obvious thing in the world.“God,” I groaned, dropping my head into my hands. “Get it together, Sinclair.”My phone buzzed beside me.I didn’t even hesitate this time.Kai.My stomach flipped before I even opened it.Kai:You alive?I rolled my eyes, but I was already smiling.Me:Barely. I’ve been trying to read the same page for 20 minutes.Three dots.Fast.Kai:Yeah? What’s it about?I glanced at the book like it might suddenly cooperate.Me:No idea.His response came immediately.Kai: Come over.My heart stuttered again.It was getting ridiculous at this point, I should definitely get checked.Me:Kai…The three dots danced on

Wren’s POVYou'd think that this morning would be celestially different, but it wasn't, no brighter skies, no heavenly orchestra singing or slapping me fir my crazy decisions, considering I had practically lost my mind in Kai’s room last night. Considering his hands had been on me, his mouth on me, his voice in my ear saying things that still made my stomach flip just thinking about them.And his mom.Oh my God.His mom.I dragged a pillow over my face and groaned into it, legs kicking against my bed like I could physically shake the memory out of my body.“Why am I like this?” I muttered into the fabric.Because I went to his house sex crazed, climbed onto his lap, and...I stopped the thought right there.Nope.We were not replaying that. Not at 8:12 in the morning when I still had to function like a normal human being.I rolled onto my back, staring at the ceiling.My phone buzzed beside me startling my little heart.Stupid. So stupid.I reached for it anyway.Kai.Of course it was

MATILDA’S POVThe noise of the den didn’t feel the same when we walked back in.It was still loud. Still alive. Music humming low under conversations, glasses clinking, boots dragging across concrete floors. But there was something underneath it now. Something quieter. Sharper. Like everyone knew something had just happened… and no one was saying it out loud.Blossom walked beside me, but slower this time.Not her usual bounce. Not her easy glow.Just… smaller.I didn’t touch her. I didn’t know if she wanted that. Didn’t know if I even had the right. So I stayed close instead, guiding her toward the bar like that alone could hold her together.The bartender looked up the second we approached. Her normally hard face dissolved into concern immediately she saw Blossom “Hey,” she said softly, already reaching for a glass. “Sit.”Blossom didn’t argue. She slipped onto one of the stools, fingers curling lightly around the edge like she needed something solid.A glass of water was placed in

GIDEON VALEI walked without slowing, without acknowledging anyone who crossed my path. People moved out of the way instinctively anyway. They always did. There was something in my expression that told them not to test it.Good.Because I didn’t have the patience for mistakes today.By the time I reached my office, my jaw was still tight, my mind still louder than it should have been. That… rarely happened. I didn’t carry things with me like that. I handled them. I ended them. I moved on.That was how control worked.But today something had followed me into that room.And I didn’t like it.The door slammed harder than intended behind me, the sound cracking through the space like a gunshot. Silence followed immediately, thick and suffocating.I stood there for a second.Just standing.Breathing.Letting the last remnants of that room drain out of my system.It didn’t.My hand moved to the bar without thought. The glass was already in my grip before I registered it. Scotch. No ice. No h

GIDEON VALEThe door closed behind me with a quiet finality that most people would have mistaken for calm.It wasn’t.The room was soundproof. Clean. Deliberate. Built for moments exactly like this, where noise didn’t need to escape for damage to be done. The man stumbled forward the second my men let go of him, catching himself on shaking hands before turning back, eyes wide, breath uneven, panic already setting in like rot.I stepped forward slowly, rolling my sleeves up with measured precision, my gaze fixed on him in a way that made men understand, very quickly, that this was no longer a situation they could talk their way out of.“I didn’t— I didn’t know—” he started, his voice breaking over itself as he backed up a step. “I didn’t know she was—”“Mine?” I finished calmly.The word hung in the air. Not loud. Not dramatic.But absolute.His throat bobbed. “I wasn’t trying to— I just asked for her number, that’s all. I swear, that’s all—”I tilted my head slightly, studying him lik

MATILDA’S POV“I thought you said we need to talk,” I said, my voice cutting clean through the silence. “So talk.”The words sat between us like something thrown, something sharp enough to draw blood if it landed wrong.Gideon didn’t answer immediately.Of course he didn’t.He never rushed anything. Not words. Not decisions. Not people.He sat there in that perfectly tailored three-piece suit, like he had been carved into it instead of dressed, posture relaxed but not careless, one arm resting along the back of the chair like he owned not just the room, but the air inside it. And his eyes—God.His eyes moved.Slow.From my face…Down.Deliberate. Unapologetic. Like he was reading something written on my body that I didn’t even know was there.And I hated that I felt it.That awareness crawling under my skin, making me hyper-conscious of everything—the fall of my dress, the way I was standing, the fact that I had walked into his house like I wasn’t stepping straight back into a proble

GIDEON VALEI can’t get her out of my mind. She’s turning my carefully built world upside down and it’s fucking annoying. I’m slipping up. I don’t ever slip up. I couldn’t afford it.The thought doesn’t come once. It loops. It presses. It lingers like something unfinished, something scratching at the inside of my skull, refusing to be ignored no matter how many times I try to file it away under irrelevant.Matilda Monroe.Even her name feels like disruption. Too sharp. Too alive. It doesn’t sit quietly the way everything else in my life does. It doesn’t obey structure. It doesn’t fit.I stare at my phone longer than necessary, thumb hovering just above the screen, already knowing what I’m about to do before I actually do it. This is not hesitation. I don’t hesitate. This is calculation. This is correction.Distance is necessary.Control is necessary.She is neither.Don’t come in today.I type it out. Simple. Direct. No room for interpretation. No room for her to twist it into somethi

MATILDA’S POVI woke up expecting him.Not in my room, of course! Not physically.But… something.A message. A command. A location.That was the rhythm now, wasn’t it?Sleep. Wake. Gideon Vale.My hand moved before my brain did, reaching for my phone like it had already learned him. The screen lit up, too bright for the hour, too loud for the silence in my chest.There was one message from him.I stared at it longer than I should have.Don’t come in today.That was it. No explanation.My brows pulled together slowly. “What?”The word came out quiet, more confused than annoyed. I sat up, the sheets falling to my lap, heart doing something strange. Not racing. Not calm either. Just… off. Like it had been expecting a different script and now didn’t know how to behave.Don’t come in today.I read it again.And again. And somehow, it got worse every time.Why? The question slipped in before I could stop it.Why wouldn’t he want me there? My jaw tightened immediately.Not want me there? Sinc