Free How to Catch Butterflies by Samantha Fontien

Jason.
He had David pinned against the front door.
“Where’s your Karate now?” He held a dazed David who wasn’t so steady on his feet now.
“Now fuck off,” he said while throwing David in the direction of the gate.
Jason stood in front of Rebecca as a sort of human shield in case David doubled back.
“Wait till the rest of the lads hear about this David. Wait till they hear what you’ve done. How many mates will you have left then?” The venom was apparent in his voice.
“This isn’t over,” snarled David as he made his way to his parked car. He jumped in and sped off.
Jason turned to Rebecca brushing the hair from her face, he could see she was shaking. He embraced her, holding her close to him. Jason was glad he was there as she melted into his chest. He wished he’d been there last week to have protected her.
He picked up her bags that were still on the ground, picking up the few tins that had rolled out placing them back into the bags.
“Come on let’s get you in doors,” he said taking the keys from her hand with a smile. He could see she was still trembling. Jason put his arm around her, guiding her through the doors until they were in her sitting room and he sat her down.
He made his way to the kitchen with the shopping bags thinking of the fight; David’s punches. A few of them had made contact and they hurt as he felt his ribs. He must have really hurt Rebecca with each blow he made. Jason shook his head. And the fucker does Karate, so he knew where to hit ? He shook his head in disgust.
How he hated David. He walked back into the living room Rebecca was still on the couch sitting where he’d left her. He sat beside her and just held her stroking her hair gently.
It was half an hour later when the silent phone calls started.
“It has to be David?” She whimpered.
“Why won’t he just leave me alone? Hasn’t he done enough? Just living with him nearly damn right killed me. Oh God, what am I going to do?” She cried her hands covered her face.
Jason didn’t know what to say or do; all he could do was to keep her safe. He wanted to reassure her. Tell her everything would be okay. But he knew David all too well; David wouldn’t give up that easy..... And that worried him greatly.

Chapter 8
‘Brothers In Arms’

Jason lay in bed with Rebecca; she had cried herself to sleep in his arms. He kept going over and over the altercation with David in his head. He was furious with David. He hadn’t seen him since last Monday when he had driven them to Rebecca’s. He had only done so because David had only told him that ‘ he had smashed up the flat after one too many’.
Jason lay there thinking about that Monday. When he had left Rebecca’s that night, he had wanted to beat the shit out of David. If he had done that, Jason would have hospitalized him. And it wasn’t the first time he had felt like that about him. He drove David back to his mother’s in silence; fists gripping the steering wheel tightly. He had to suppress the anger that was building up with every word that fell out of David’s mouth. It was a hard drive home for him that night.
He looked down at the sleeping Rebecca as she lay next to him. He shook his head. It was always left to him to clean up after David’s mess. He should have fought harder for her that night many years ago.
He had never crossed the line with Rebecca. She had made her choice, and was with David and he lived with that. The guilt flowed through him. Even when David had cheated in front of him, he had never crossed that line.
They were Brothers in Arms; had been, since they were boys. From the first day of primary school they had been inseparable. David had left school with no exams. Jason had kept his head down, studied hard and had gone on to University.
He worked hard for his money. Jason’s dad had a couple of Lorries; they owned their own work yard with two small warehouses.
The small business ran by his father had potential. Before he took over, his