Chapter 7
BODHI
If I hadn’t known any better, I would’ve sworn that Kiera stood there, staring up at me as if I were a murderer.
Feasibly, that was the case in her eyes, or perhaps it was what I needed…
hated to see. It truly depended on the moment and whoever faced me.
I wasn’t quite sure what I was supposed to say.
The idea that somebody was in my house when I hadn’t invited them should have made me rage.
I should have pushed past any feeble worries and forced her out of my house.
What right did she have to be there? Nobody stood in this house but my family, and even then, not all at once.
Never all at once. The family I had created had never been under this roof, and never set foot on my wood floors, or tripped over a throw rug.
They’d never sung and danced in my kitchen or messed with things in my office to get my attention.
They had never giggled their way into the bathroom, knowing it was bath time, and wanted to play instead.
Nobody had fallen asleep in the living room, only to be carried upstairs to the bedrooms.
I was the only one here.
Except I wasn’t.
Kiera was here. I should have been angry. Only I wasn’t.
“I’m sorry,” Kiera said after a moment. “I’ll go.
I didn’t mean to intrude on your privacy.
The door was just open, and I was worried, and I was looking for you, and I’m sorry.
” Her words began to come out so quickly that they were stumbling over each other.
She took a step forward, and I reached out, gripping her shoulder.
She froze like a deer in headlights, her throat working as she swallowed hard. “I’m sorry, Bodhi.”
“You were looking for me?” I asked, my voice rough, as if ripped from my throat.
“Yes. And I found you. I’m sorry.”
“Why do you keep saying you’re sorry?” I shook my head and let go, my fingers warm where they had touched her.
But I didn’t move from the doorway. I was broad-shouldered and tall, so she couldn’t move past me unless she pushed me out of the way.
And Kiera wouldn’t do that. With all her fierceness, the rashness that she craved sometimes, with those tattoos and piercings and colored hair, she would never push her way through anything.
Not unless someone was in trouble. Yet not her.
How did I know that?
How could I not?
“Why were you looking for me? I was just putting something away in the kitchen and left my coffee in my office. I painted the doorframe again, because I hadn’t liked the original primer. That’s why it’s open. Sorry for worrying you.”
I didn’t answer to most people. Yes, to my family, when needed, but usually I didn’t require it. They didn’t deserve my words.
Her shoulders dropped, yet she didn’t meet my gaze. “Oh. That makes sense. And very handy since that’s not something I would ever do. Since I don’t even know how to do it.”
My lips threatened to quirk into a smile. And I couldn’t have that. “It’s not that hard.”
“If you say so. Anyway, I should go.”
“Why were you looking for me? You said you were going with Teagan. Was everything okay?”
“So you did read my text.” Her eyes narrowed.
I tilted my head, confused. “I replied.” Not something I usually did, but I had.
I hadn’t wanted Kiera to worry, not with her stressing out over her ex.
I had been the one stressed out because I didn’t know if Jeremiah could be around.
For all I knew, he had followed her and had been waiting.
It didn’t seem like that to me, but how could I have been sure?
She scowled and shook her head. “No, you didn’t.”
“I did. Check your phone.”
She narrowed her gaze and pulled her phone out of her incredibly large purse. When her jaw dropped, I held back a smirk. Marginally.
“I missed it. How did I miss it?”
“I don’t know. I keep mine on silent all the time. I don’t even let it vibrate.”
“But you saw my text,” she said, her words slow.
I didn’t have an answer to that. My phone had just been there, and I had texted back.
She turned the phone to me, shaking her head. “And you used full sentences.”
“And?” I asked, confused even more. I’d barely understood women when I’d been married, and it was only worse now.
I didn’t know why she was showing me the phone. I remembered what I had texted.
Bodhi Ashford
Have fun with Teagan. Let me know if you need anything. Bodhi.
“You even texted me your name.”
“Yes.” Heat crawled up my neck, and I regretted this conversation.
“People don’t actually text and sign their names.”
“I did. Sue me.” I wanted out of this conversation.
Her hand dropped, and her teeth worried her lip. “Well, thank you. And I’m sorry for saying you didn’t text me.”
I really wanted to rub the sting out of that lip, so I put my hands in my pockets. “Why am I Bodhi Ashford in your phone? Full name?”
“I don’t know. What am I in your phone?”
I didn’t say anything, and her brows dropped.
“Am I even saved in your phone?”
“Why does any of this matter?” I asked, my sigh audible.
“It doesn’t.”
This woman. This freaking woman. “You’re Kiera. Just Kiera.”
Her eyes widened, and I had no idea what any of that meant. She perplexed me, and always had. And the sooner she got off my property, the better.
“Anyway, I wanted to tell you something that happened in town. And I don’t want you to worry.”
My mood immediately shifted, and I leaned forward, pulled my hands out of my pockets, and fisted them at my sides. “What happened? Are you hurt? Is Teagan hurt?” My heart raced as countless scenarios ran rampant in my head, each worse and more over the top than the last.
“We’re fine. Though your sister’s a badass.”
“Why did she have to be a badass?” I shouldn’t have let her go. I shouldn’t have let Teagan go. Even if I didn’t want to go to town, any one of my brothers or friends could have handled this. What the hell was I thinking?
“What. Happened?” I bit out when she didn’t answer right away.
“There was this man named Nathan…” She shook her head, even as a growl slipped through my lips.
When her eyes widened, she continued. “He said some terrible things. Things that aren’t true.
But I wanted to let you know that he is spewing them around.
The girls took care of him, though. And he scampered away with his tail between his legs. ”
My stomach fell, and I worked my jaw so I wouldn’t end up breaking a tooth. Nathan. The man who blamed me for Courtney’s death. Now he was going after my family members. Not to mention Kiera. The woman who meant—no, I wasn’t going to let that thought continue.
There was nothing I could do about Nathan, however.
I could go to the cops, the same department that had questioned me in light of my wife and kids’ murder.
Sure, that would totally work out. The same department that hadn’t done a damn thing about our father and hadn’t put him behind bars for killing our mother.
But had questioned me when the old man died.
No, there was no need to go to them. The only people in law enforcement I trusted were Thatcher and his team. Everyone else could fuck off.
“I’m sorry you had to deal with that.” I wasn’t sure what else there was to say.
Her face turned to a pout I hated seeing on her face. “You don’t need to be sorry. Nathan’s the one who needs to be sorry. He’s an asshole.”
I snorted. “Yes. He is.” My gaze shot to the front picture she had been staring at when I had walked in, and I didn’t know why I did it, but I let the words slip.
“Nathan blames me for my wife’s death. For my kids’ deaths.
They died in a fire, one not set by me, contrary to a few beliefs.
They caught the guy who did it, and he’s behind bars.
Though I wish he were dead.” I paused, knowing that wasn’t everything.
“And you know what happened to our dad…” I didn’t want to go into detail, and I couldn’t believe I was even saying the words. But there they were.
“I’m sorry. I know there has to be a better word for that, considering I help write lyrics for a living, I should be able to find one. But I’m sorry. About everything. But some of this town does suck ass.”
I looked down at her again, at the way the light glinted off her septum piercing, and at her raised brow. I could not believe those words had been uttered from her lips. In answer, I barked out a laugh. “Seriously?”
“They do. I don’t like mob mentality, and I see enough of it on tour.
So those who think you could actually do that to your family, they can fuck off.
You clearly didn’t do it, you aren’t a monster, and your dad should have been dead long ago.
I don’t mourn my parents, just the relationship I could have had.
But your dad? He seeped in his own misguided dumb-assery.
He was cruel—a fucking murderer. And this town did nothing.
So no, anyone who thinks that you did anything vile against your family can rot for all I care.
But the nice people, I like them. They seem to care.
Because people did stand up for you. Just saying. ”
I stared at her then, confused as all hell. Nobody was ever that blunt with me. They all walked around me on eggshells, and it was mostly my doing. Nobody ever mentioned Courtney, or Henry, or Josie. They were all so worried that I would break, they had let those names be forgotten in the wind.
“Come on a ride with me,” I blurted, and I had no idea what the hell I was doing.
She tilted her head at me before smiling. I had no idea what I had done to deserve that smile. But Kiera had been through hell. I knew that, and maybe we just needed fresh air.