Page 18 of Under Rusted Stars

“I’m sorry, Olivia,” he says gently.

“For what?” I ask quietly.

“I didn't realize the curtain was open. I will spare you the explanation, but I should have been more mindful,” he says sincerely.

Oh, this poor man. He doesn’t realize I watched him… He thinks I ran away.

“Uh…” I laugh.

“I’m serious. I should have been paying attention. I feel bad that I scared you like that.”

“You didn’t scare me,” I say. “I… Look… I… am going to hell… I’m going to hell, Bodhi, and it’s going to be because I most definitely watched you… I should be the one to apologize… I… Did you say… Wait, don’t answer that.”

“I won’t,” he says with a smirk. “But I will say that you are an amazing woman, Olivia. Can we get past this, okay?”

“Yeah,” I laugh.

“I’ll help you shut and lock these windows, and then you go get some sleep,” he says.

One by one, we go through and shut all of the windows. Once I check them all, he goes to the front door and turns to face me. “Thank you for feeding me,” I say.

“You’re welcome,” he says. “Sleep well, Liv.”

“You too, Bodhi.”

When he leaves, I lock the door and go to my bathroom to get ready for bed. I go through my normal routine of washing my face and applying lotion before sitting down to pee before bed. When I go to wipe, I hiss in pain. I have a bump or something right on the entrance of my vagina, and I am fucking terrified that it’s herpes. I can’t ignore it forever because it would be a shame to die of a pussy infection. I could drive to a clinic a few cities over, but I realistically won’t have time until after I go to court. All I can do at this point is keep it clean and not fuck with it. It’s already swelling, so I need to avoid it getting worse. Right now, it only hurts if something touches it.

As I am getting into bed, I look over and see that Bodhi is also getting into bed, but he is sitting up with a book. He is watching me curl up, but in a way that I can see him. He smiles sweetly at me, and I return the smile before letting my eyes close. Knowing he is right there watching over me is comforting enough that I can fall asleep.

Chapter Five

Olivia

I slept like the fucking dead last night and didn’t wake up in a panic this time. Instead, I woke up later than I usually do and was well-rested. Weird.

I have been sitting in my car, staring at the police station, for about thirty minutes now. I eventually do get out and force myself to walk inside. Right away, Dan sees me. “Oh my stars, look at you, girl!” Dan says as he walks over to me.

“Hey,” I say, letting him hug me. “How are you?”

“I’m good, Olivia. It’s good to see you,” he says. “Detective Garcia is in the interrogation room waiting on you.”

“Interrogation room? I didn’t do anything,” I say as I start to panic.

“I know that, and I’m sure he does, too, but you know how these boys are. They’ve gotta flaunt their power a bit to make sure you’re telling the truth.”

“Right,” I say.

“I promise you, Liv. If you were getting arrested, he’d have to have someone here do it so we could transport you to Dallas. That hasn’t happened, so you’re safe. Okay?”

“Okay,” I sigh. “Sorry.”

“Don’t apologize,” he says. “Go on so we can get rid of him.”

“Yeah,” I say.

I turn and walk through the station. When I get to the door, I take a deep breath before walking in.

Detective Jeramy Garcia is sitting, but glances up when I open the door. “Ms. Monroe,” he says.