Butterflies & Vicious Lies

BUTTERFLIES & VICIOUS LIES FRACTURED RHYMES BOOK 1 KAYLEIGH KING Copyright © 2023 by Kayleigh King All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review. This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events, locales, and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental. Cover Design: Cat Imb at TRC DESIGNS Copy Editing: Ellie McLove MY BROTHER’S EDITOR Copy Editing: Amanda Rash DRAFT HOUSE EDITORIAL SERVICES Cover Photographer: Michelle Lancaster (@lanefotograf) Cover Model: Morgan Waterhouse BLURB * * * I told her my secrets and she told me gilded lies. The words that dripped from her lips like honey were nothing but empty promises. Her betrayal blindsided me. Posie had been my constant. My anchor. My calm. Until she wasn’t. Now she’s my enemy. Before I could even the score, she fled to the other side of the country where she thought she was safe from my wrath. She was wrong. It didn’t matter how far my butterfly flew, I always knew where she was. All I had to do was wait and prepare for her return. After six years, Posie has flown back into town, and I have her cage waiting. CONTENTS A Note From the Author Playlist Prologue 1. Rafferty 2. Posie 3. Posie 4. Rafferty 5. Posie 6. Posie 7. Rafferty 8. Posie 9. Posie 10. Rafferty 11. Posie 12. Posie 13. Rafferty 14. Rafferty 15. Posie 16. Posie 17. Posie 18. Rafferty 19. Rafferty 20. Posie 21. Posie 22. Posie 23. Rafferty 24. Rafferty 25. Rafferty 26. Posie 27. Posie 28. Rafferty 29. Rafferty 30. Posie 31. Posie 32. Rafferty 33. Rafferty 34. Rafferty 35. Posie 36. Rafferty 37. Posie 38. Posie 39. Rafferty 40. Posie 41. Rafferty 42. Posie Epilogue Golden Wings & Pretty Things Preview Also by Kayleigh King Acknowledgments About the Author A NOTE FROM THE AUTHOR * * * TRIGGER & CONTENT WARNING - Please Read Triggers include but are not limited to: Drug and alcohol addiction, overdose, suicide, child abuse, sexual assault, questionable consent between MC’s, drugging, grief, car accident, parent suffering a stroke, strong language, and sexually explicit scenes. If you need further details or explanations of any of these listed TW/CW, please email [email protected]. We’ll be happy to answer any questions. For those who love even when it hurts. i hold onto the pain because it is all i have left of you. AVA PLAYLIST * * * LISTEN HERE: spoti.fi/3ImLVtq Edge Of The Dark - Emmit Fenn Youth - Daughter While You’re At It - Jessie Murph I Don’t Hate You - Kyla La Grange Where You Gonna Go - Gregory Alan Isakov Let Me Hurt - Emily Rowed Mum - Luke Hemmings Love Like This - Acoustic - Kodaline There’s Something Dark - Dustin Kensrue My Eyes - The Lumineers Lie - Sasha Alex Sloan Cold Feet - Callinsick Death of Me - PVRIS PROLOGUE POSIE I hear those three little words at night when I sleep. I hear them in my dreams as I relive that night over and over again. Sometimes, I swear I can still feel his breath on my cheek when he leaned in close to whisper them in my ear. My heart still jumps at the memory, my palms still get sweaty. Three little words that changed everything. The passion that burned in his eyes as he stared at me on that dark street, flashing police lights bouncing off the houses, still makes my skin burn. The way his voice cracked as he spoke still makes my chest ache. Three little words that broke my heart into a million sharp pieces. Three little words that hold so much weight, they’re almost suffocating. I know what you’re thinking. I know exactly what three words you think I’m referring to, but you’re wrong. I wish on shooting stars to this day, wishing that night could have ended differently. Instead, I was left with nothing but three little words and a broken heart. I hate you. This is our story, one that started in love but ended in hate. That line between love and hate? I’m here to tell you that it’s not as thin as you’ve been told. It’s an impenetrable steel wall. It ONE RAFFERTY When you’re injured, they ask you to rate your pain on a scale from one to ten. One being something as simple as a splinter, ten being a gunshot to the abdomen. If anger was rated the same way, I would say that I live at a constant five. It’s a persistent ache just under my skin. Some days, like today, it’s more prominent, but for almost six years now, the continuous rage has been my shadow. It clings to me, following me wherever I go. Coming home to a house full of drunk and high coeds isn’t helping. Especially after I’d told Paxton just this morning that I didn’t want anyone at the house this weekend. My brother has his own reasons for wanting the house full of people, and that’s the only reason I didn’t send everyone packing the second I walked through the front door. Instead, I weaved through the sweaty bodies, ignoring the people shouting my name and removing the grabby hands of overzealous females from my body, and escaped through the glass sliding door at the back of the house. The only company I have out here in this quiet solitude are the ever-present thoughts in my head and the cigarette between my fingers. It’s a habit I’ve harbored for years, and at this point,