Chapter 168 BILL

Chapter 168 BILL
Maverick’s POV

As I approached the door to the dorm room, a man dressed in all black, glanced at me and looked away. But as I kept coming closer and closer, I could feel his eyes on me again.

When I was close enough that he would hear me if I spoke, he stood up even straighter. He was tall already, taller than I was, and he seemed to add in a few more inches when he did that. “Good evening, sir.”

I nodded tiredly as I opened the door. The deep voice from the man stopped me again.

“Just to make sure sir, I’m obligated to ask you the following questions. Please tell me the name of your roommate.”

Um, okay. “Bohdi Singh.”
“And uh, the name of your partner?”

A small smile curved my lips. I really did have a boyfriend.

With everything happening, it felt like I was hallucinating. Not that I would hallucinate being in a relationship, with Bodhi or anyone, for that matter right now.

I lowered my voice as I repeated, "Bodhi Singh.”

He nodded solemnly and took a step back and I walked into the room with a sigh.

They'll find him soon.

I walked into the bathroom, and stripped. I raised my hands to my face, oddly surprised there was no blood on them. I mean, I hadn't bludgeoned him but there should be, shouldn't there? I had killed him. There should be some sort of a mark.

I got into the shower, and took a quick bath, stepping out of the shower still wet.

Did this change me? Would I be different somehow?

The man outside hadn't run away screaming when he saw me but maybe that was because he had met the new me. Would Bohdi take one look at me and know that something was up? Would he just need to glance at me to know I had done something horrible?

I should study.

I slipped on clothes and sat down, grabbing my notes as I passed by Bohdi's table.

Rocky's father would never read a book again. Did he read books?

I didn't even know his name. If I had heard it before, I didn't remember it. I wasn’t sure if it was a good thing or a bad one.

I blinked, trying to refocus my eyes when my phone rang. I stood and got it, answering the call.

Bohdi’s voice flowed from the speakers, worried. “Hey, are you back yet?”

“I am.”

“Why didn't you call me?” he asked.

“Sorry. I just got out of the shower.”

“That's okay, baby. But… remember I had something to tell you.”

Baby. I am Bohdi’s baby.

“I like when you call me that,” I whispered unconsciously.

Could I still be his baby if he knows what I did?

The other side of the line was quiet and then he chuckled, the sound light. “Okay baby,” he repeated and I could hear the laugh in his voice fade away, “but I have something to tell you okay? And I need you to sit down okay?”

I didn't like the sound of that but diligently sat down. “I’m sitting.”

“I sent you a picture. Tell me if that's your friend.”

Hands suddenly shaking, I took my phone away from my ear to check messages. “Yeah that's her,” I mumbled.

Whoever had taken the picture had tried to hide the blood, tried to angle it in such a way I could delude myself into thinking she was just sleeping if I wanted to.

“There's no easy way to say it,” Bohdi said quietly, “but I'm sorry, she's dead.”

I nodded immediately. I think I had suspected it, I think I had realized it deep inside but it was another thing entirely to hear the confirmation.

She was dead.

“I've contacted her next of kin…”

Joe was dead.

“—her body had been placed in the…”

Dead.

“Are you okay, baby? I'm on the plane right now, I'll be there soon.”

“Yes,” I whispered, clearing my throat so smoothen the crack I felt coming in my voice. “Yes I'm fine. Thank you for helping me with this.”

“Sure, you're welcome. And you… maybe… okay,” he sighed. “I'll be there soon.”

“Yes,” I said and disconnected the call, unsure if he wanted to still say something more.

Then I closed my book, put the phone down on top of it.

My eyes felt heavy but… I just couldn't cry.

I had always been pro tears if the situation called for it. How else was your body supposed to regulate itself if you didn't cry? But right now, I couldn't.

I didn't deserve to cry. A life had been taken from me, yes, but I had taken a life. I was a murderer, I didn't deserve to cry over death.

But I had really come to care about Joe.

Not just because she was helping me get justice for Stone and his mom but I began to like her. How strong she was, how strong she had to be but how it didn't stop her from being human. Her determinedness, how she'd felt like a big sister, or a mother, even though I must have been at least a foot taller than her.

Oh God. She'd wanted to be a mother.

My phone rang again. I blinked, shaking my head in case I suddenly couldn't see properly. It was Joe's phone.

There was no way. Bohdi had just said… was he wrong maybe? But how? I saw the picture.

I picked up the phone apprehensively, almost daring to hope but not quite. “Hello.”

“It's Bill, Maverick,” he sniffed. His voice was hoarse, most likely from crying, heavy with the weight of tears not yet shed. “I just wanted to tell you that— to tell you that you should stay away, that it's very dangerous because Joe —”

“I know,” I cut in. He probably didn’t want to say it, just as much as I didn’t want to hear it. “She was on the phone with me when, uh, I heard a sound and I called for help immediately. But yeah, I know.”

There was silence between us for a long time before he choked out, “she’s my life, man.”

“I'm sorry—”

“She’s everything. I've lost one set of biological parents, two sets of foster and four spouses in my life now, Maverick. God, I can't live without her.”

Bill burst into tears, a noisy, sharp set of sound that sounded like a wounded animal. I don't know what to say, so I shut my mouth and let him cry.

What could a murderer say?

“I can't,” he continued, drawing breath noisily, “I don't want to live with her.”

What? I didn't like where this was going.

“I won't,” he said strongly, as if coming to a decision.