Page 51 of Drop Three

Bodhi’s misery is evident in his stare as he looks at me head-on and shouts, “How can I not worry about you? You are rooted in my fucking soul, Navy. You’re a treasure to me, and I can’t even have you. It’s killing me inside. At least if I know you’re safe, I can rest a little easier.”

I’m livid.I’m his treasure? I don’t know what kind of treasures he keeps around, but it surely isn’t me.

If he can shout, then so can I. “If I’m such a treasure to you, Bodhi, then explain to me why you would toss me away like a disposable piece of trash?”

He dares to look shocked.Please.

“You seriously think I wanted to hurt you like that?” He charges me again and backs me up against the wall once more with his body and face inches from mine. “I’d rather never hold a baseball again if it meant not hurting you the way that I did.”

A baffled laugh escapes me. “Could have fooled me.”

“Either way, I refuse to lose you as a friend, Navy. I know I don’t deserve it, but I want it,” Bodhi admits.

I expected this and won’t make a big deal about it. That would be too easy for him. “Friends by default, got it. Are we done here?”

A wicked smirk comes across his face. “Not even close.”

My focus on Bodhi is interrupted when I feel cold metal on the palm of my hand. I don’t have a chance to look down and see what it is before Bodhi holds up the crinkled receipt I forgot I was gripping tightly.

“What the fuck is this?” he asks.

Oh, now he’s playing dumb. “It’s a receipt. What does it look like? Give it back.” He holds the receipt in front of him like the sight alone burns him.

“Trust me, I’m aware it’s a receipt. What I’m wondering is, why the hell do you still have it?”

Excuse me? Does he think he gets a say in whose number I keep?

The second Bodhi had a chance to taste my goods, he thought he could claim ownership over my actions. Well, he thought wrong. “Because I intend to use it, you son of a bitch,” I snap back.

A loud laugh erupts from his mouth, and if I didn’t know him, I’d be worried about the deranged sound. “Strike one.”

I laugh out of spite. “Strike one? Bodhi, just move so I can leave.”

I glance at the metal in my palm and find a set of silver keys connected to a circular ring. “Trash the number,” he commands.

I laugh nonchalantly before maneuvering myself away from him since he seems too distracted to move. “Nah. It’s been forever since Briggs and I havereconnected. Could be fun,” I tease him.

I hope it stings.

Bodhi’s chest rises and falls with heavy breaths. It’s useless to pretend I’m not looking at him. He’s hard to miss. I’m not sure any woman could miss a larger-than-life man, staked out in a dark alleyway, covered in black and leather—and don’t forget looks that could kill.

Dreamiest red flag known to man.

“He’s not good enough for you,” Bodhi admits with a deep sigh.

Ha!“Oh, but you are?” An eye roll from him is all I get.

“Definitely not.”

At least we can agree on something.As much as I hate him for what he did to me, I hate that he believes this about himself even more.

If only he could see what I do.

The nerve of this man. I ignore the part where Bodhi thinks he can control who I date, too, and I rethink the room offer, because why not.

I’m pissed at him, and this sounds like a great way to pisshimoff and have a safe place to stay. I’d never admit to him how disturbing the motel actually is.

I could have worse options than his house.

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