Page 124 of Vengeance

“Bodie, please,” she begs, and the tears fall. “I loved you, and you quit on me. I thought you were dead!”

“Who is it, Evie?”

“No one you know, I promise.”

He nods and steps back. “I see.”

“Don't leave angry. Please,” she begs. “I thought you were dead.”

“So you keep saying.”

The door opens, and he sees a man a few inches taller than him but much thinner. “Evie, what's going on? Why are you crying?”

“Go inside,” she says to him. “I'll only be a minute.”

“I'm not going inside until you tell me why you're crying.”

“She just saw a ghost,” Bodie says. “That's all. It was good to see you, Evie. Take care of yourself.”

He turns and walks to his bike, and he feels like she just stabbed and cut open his chest. His chest with his new, good heart.

“Bodie, wait!” she calls, but he doesn't listen. He just revs his engine and takes off until he reaches the gas station at the city limit line.

There's no way he can stay in Black Valley knowing he'll run into her. She had a right to move on, but it doesn't mean he can sit around and watch her with someone else. No, he can't.

He pulls out his phone and calls Chicago.

“Bodie?”

“Pres... I mean, Chicago. I need a transfer.”

“What? Why?”

Swallowing, he looks back, and part of him hoped she hopped into her car and followed him. To stop him from leaving. But she won't. Not now that she has a new man’s shirt to wear.

“I went to see Evie. She's with someone, and I don't think my heart can take seeing her around with that asshole.”

“Take a few days to think about this-”

“I need to get the fuck out of Black Valley!” he shouts. “I can't be here. I need to leave. Griffin's Beach. Summerville. I don't give a shit where.”

Chicago sighs. “Look, I can't just tell you that you can transfer, but I'll talk to Psycho. You gotta pick where you'd want to go so I he can reach out to the President-”

“Summerville. It's the furthest away.”

“Okay, I'll talk to Psycho and ask him to talk with Dax. I'm sending you an address. It's Colt's, and I'll let him know you're on your way and need a place to crash for a night or two. But Bodie, promise me something.”

Rolling his eyes, Bodie sighs. “What?”

“Don't do anything reckless or stupid. You got a new heart, so we gotta make sure you stay alive with it.”

“Yeah, okay,” he says and hangs up, staring at his phone until the message with Colt's address comes through.

When it does, Bodie takes off and heads towards Summerville, his eyes continuing to look in the rearview mirrors, hoping to see headlights coming to stop him. Of course, they don't come, and he feels a weird pull as he reaches the bridge over the highway. He sees a car parked on the side with its four ways on.

He slows down, and a woman stands with her arms out, and he stops his bike behind her car. “What’s going on?”

“She's going to jump!” she exclaims, pointing to a woman on the outside of the bridge.

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