Page 30 of Under Rusted Stars

“I’m not doing this for any other reason than to hurt Jason,” I say. “I want him to rot in prison for everything he did to me… I spent months before coming here working through my trauma and facing the reality of it all. If I have learned anything, it’s that I am the only person I can count on, and if I’m going down, I will burn this motherfucker to the ground with me. I am done being his victim. I’m done being scared. I just want happiness, and if I can’t have that, no one can.”

“Please marry her,” Marcy says to Bodhi, and he laughs.

“I’ve got to get her to fall in love with me first,” Bodhi says, smiling at me.

“Here’s what I’ll do,” he says. “We will meet you at the courthouse in Dallas on Monday. I am going to get a friend of mine to take you on as a client. He looks mean as hell, but he will be the best at making sure you are protected.”

“Is it Jett Prescott by chance?” I ask. “He came to see me in the hospital and looked like he blended kittens into his protein shakes.”

“Yep, that would be him,” Tim laughs. “Jett helps a lot of trafficking victims beat prostitution charges, but he also has clients who get arrested for killing their rapist or abuser.”

“Yeah, he is the one who told me I could legally wipe out Jason’s account while he was in jail because my name was on the account,” I say. “I have his card somewhere.”

“Well, I’ll have him meet us,” Tim says.

I take my necklace off and open the locket. Inside is an SD card containing everything they need to take down a trafficking ring, or at least Jason. I hand it to Tim, and he places it in his suit jacket pocket.

“Thank you,” Tim says. “Are you staying at the cabin?”

“No,” Bodhi says. “I’m having her move in with me.”

“Oh yeah?” I ask him.

“Yes,” he says without hesitation. “I will sleep on the floor if I need to; you are not staying over there alone.”

“I know you want to fight this and maintain this feeling of independence,” Tim says. “But please… This is the time you need to be accepting help from people who are willing and able to help.”

“I don’t want him to get hurt,” I say.

“It’s the price we pay to take care of people we care about,” Rhett says.

When we get back to Bodhi’s house, I am exhausted. The cabin appears to be empty, but we don’t go over and check. Instead, we go inside. I yawn until my eyes water, and Bodhi chuckles.

“Okay. Do you want me with you, on the couch, or something else?” he asks. “I’ll have you in my bed because I’m not about to have you out here on the couch.”

“Uh… with me?” I ask. “I just don’t want to be alone…”

“Okay,” he says with a sweet smile. “I can get you something to sleep in. Is there anything you need tonight?”

“No,” I say. “I’m so tired.”

“Well, let's go lie down,” he says. “Want to help me lock everything?”

“Yeah,” I say. It’s a weird ask, but it means so much to me. Maybe he’s seen the way I obsessively lock doors at the cabin.

We go from window to window and door to door. He locks it, tests it, and then I check it before we move to the next. We make sure all the curtains are shut, too, because that’s a whole other level of paranoia.

He doesn’t judge my paranoia or call it silly. He respected it by showing me that the house is secure. We end at the alarm pad, where he has me press the button to arm the alarm.

When we go to the master bedroom, he pulls a t-shirt out and hands it to me before pulling his shirt off. “Can I shower?” I ask.

“Absolutely,” he says. “I can go over and get what you need, or you can just use what I have.”

“I can just use what you have,” I say. “I’m not picky.”

“There should be towels in there,” he says, gesturing to the bathroom. As I go to open the door, he pulls me back and steps in my way. “Wait.”

“What?” I ask.