Page 141 of Sincerely, Butterfly

“Strawberry lemonade?”

“Okay,” she sighs. “You can come in.”

“I’m glad,” I laugh, moving to join her on the bed.

She unravels herself from her blanket burrito and sits up slowly.

“You look rough,” I point out, getting a good look at her.

She slowly turns her head towards me, her messy hair covering half her face as she shoots me a death glare.

“Love you, too,” she grumbles, snatching the bottle out of my hand. “I bet your night ended better than mine.”

“How did yours end?” I ask.

“With my head in the toilet."

“I’m sorry, babe. If I were there, I’d have held your hair back,” I tell her sympathetically.

“I said I don’t want you seeing me puke,” she mutters. “Plus, Gary did it for me.”

My brows shoot up. “Garrett stayed after he brought you home?”

“Not because I wanted him to,” she huffs. “He was convinced I’d choke to death on my puke in my sleep.”

“I mean, it is very possible,” I tell her. “Wait, you’ll let him see you puke but not me?”

“I don’t like him,” she argues. “He doesn't matter.”

Oh, I feel like he does. But I won’t say anything.

“Now, tell me about your night.”

“So after you left, I went to go find Rebeca, but after searching for her for a while, I had no luck.”

“Well, that sucks.”

“But!” I tease enthusiastically. “As I was driving home, guess who was hitchhiking for a ride back to town?”

Her eyes fill with the slightest signs of life. “Did you kidnap her?”

“No,” I chuckle. “Even better. I ran her over.”

Callie’s jaw drops. “You did not!”

“I did.” I nod, grinning like an idiot. “You should have seen her fly, Callie.”

“I’m so mad I missed that,” she pouts. “You don’t bring me on murder dates. I feel like that should be mandatory.”

“I’ll keep that in mind.” I grin.I really do love this girl.

“What did you do after you hit her?”

“I brought her back to the morgue, stitched her up because the girl was in rough shape, then brought her back. Now I’m just waiting for the news to announce that the Butterfly Killer has struck again. I’ve been checking, but so far nothing. I’m sure it’s still too soon. I bet her body was found this morning during the morning work rush.”

“You get to have all the fun,” she huffs, leaning her head against my shoulder as she takes bites of her toast. “I wanna kill people, too.”

“No one’s stopping you,” I tell her. “Anyone particular in mind?”