Page 10 of Under Rusted Stars

“I’m going to change clothes while y'all do that,” I say.

I turn and go to the bedroom, pushing the door closed behind me. All I did was set my bags on the bed because there’s a lot I still need to get. I took a lot of fucking money from that bank account, but I spent a lot of it on the car, motels, and things I needed to survive.

I find pajama pants and a simple tank top before stepping out of my shoes. I pull my shirt off, and I’m standing in just my bra when the bedroom door opens. I give Luke a deadpan expression when he grins at me. “Sorry,” he says. “Do you want pizza?”

“That’s fine,” I say, unbuttoning my jeans. He slaps his hand over his eyes, and I laugh as I change into pajama bottoms and pull on the tank top. “I’m good.”

“Oh, good. I was having prom flashbacks,” Luke says, laughing when I frown at him. We leave the bedroom, and the door is back on. I watch as Rhett steps onto the deck and Bodhi shuts it behind him, flipping the lock. Bodhi watches as Rhett tries to get inside, but then unlocks the door and opens it.

“That’s better,” Bodhi says. “We will need to stain the wood, but I can do that later on.”

“It looks good,” I say. Bodhi spins around and looks shocked. “Thank you for helping to fix that.”

“Uh. You’re welcome. I’ll get the tools out of your way. Just give me a…”

“You can stay, Bodhi,” I say. “At some point, you and I need to sit down and talk. I’m in a place in my life where I desperately need peace, and I’d really like for that to begin with you. Kate says you’ve changed, so I’ll give you the benefit of the doubt, and we can talk. Okay?”

“Oh… Uh… Yeah. Sure. I mean, definitely. I’d love that. If you’re okay with it. I don’t want to…” he starts to ramble, but stops abruptly. His nervousness is very evident.

“Maybe sooner rather than later,” I laugh.

“So whatcha…” Rhett says, nudging my shoulder. I flinch hard, and he immediately hugs me. “I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay,” I sigh. “I’m just jumpy. It’ll take me some time to get used to being around people.”

“What does that mean?” Luke asks.

“Let’s go sit,” I suggest. He nods, and we all go to the back deck. Luke and Kate sit on one couch, while Rhett takes the armchair. That leaves me on the other loveseat. Bodhi hesitantly sits next to me, and Rhett sits back to look at me.

“What’s up?” Rhett asks me.

“So… Jason… He was charged with attempted murder, aggravated assault, and domestic battery,” I say. “They were trying to get him for… uh… they were trying to get him for human trafficking.”

“Mhmm,” Rhett says. He is calm, so I just focus on him.

“I didn’t show up to court, so all the charges were dropped,” I tell him. “I don’t have a restraining order because it will give away my address. I also took money from our joint account, so… there is a good chance he will come for me… the night I left, he was so damn angry…”

“What happened with the trafficking?” he asks.

“Oh. He would… I didn’t say no or anything, but…”

“Stop,” Rhett says. “Don’t even say that, Liv. I don’t care if you say yes or no because we all know you didn’t have a choice if you wanted to live.”

“Yeah,” I say tearfully. “He would just use me to close deals and let men pay to use me.”

“What the fuck?!” Bodhi growls.

“He doesn’t know where I went, but he will look for me,” I say. “I don’t know what to do, but I do know I don’t want to find out.”

“I’ll talk to Dad and see what we can do as far as patrols,” Rhett says. “You’ll have Bodhi next to you, and I’m just down the road. Really, you’ll have plenty of people around if he shows up. We can get some cameras up, too.”

“What led to his charges?” Rhett asks. I explain to him what I had told my parents, from the coffee to nearly dying, but I go into more detail than I spared my parents.

“I was in the hospital for a bit,” I say. “They were afraid he broke something in my throat. I don’t remember what, but it was hard to breathe for a few days. They had me on oxygen to help while the swelling went down.”

“Do you have pictures?” Rhett asks.

“Yeah, but it’s on my old phone. I’m afraid to turn it on because he tracked me. If I turn it on, it will tell him exactly where I am,” I explain.