Page 16 of Compelling Urges

Putting her chin in the air and straightening her shoulders, Blair declared, “I’m as good as your wife.”

“Bullshit!” he bellowed.

“Well, if your friends hadn’t gotten you drunk so you missed our wedding, it would have happened,” she reasoned illogically. “And I’m pre…”

“More BS!” Bodhi interrupted her. “I told you time and time again that we werenotgetting married, and you carried on with that crazy charade. You sent out invitations and arranged an entire wedding even though at every possible opportunity I told you to stop.”

“Nonsense, darling,” she interrupted. “I understood you were just nervous and having normal second thoughts. It happens to all grooms, but I knew you would be there. If it hadn’t been for those…”

With a look so cold it could freeze lava, Bodhi stopped her by saying through gritted teeth, “Blair!” He took a deep breath and continued, “I didn’t go out and have a drunken bachelor party with anyone. I didn’t show up to that sham of a weddingon purpose. Now get yourself out of my house and as far away from my friends as you can get. I don’t ever want to see or hear from you again. Do I make myself clear?”

Blair simpered and batted her eyelashes at him before dropping the next bomb. “What about the baby? You’ll want to be a good daddy for him, won’t you?”

Bodhi scooted away from her like he’d been sucker-punched and collapsed in a kitchen chair. He leaned forward and put his head in his hands. He mumbled into them, “Please, Blair. Tell me this is just another one of your fucking lies and manipulation schemes. Tell me the truth foroncein your horrible, twisted life.”

Swooning, Blair grabbed for the kitchen counter and asked, “Where’s the bathroom? I think I’m going to be sick. It must be the smell of the cleaning lady along with my regular morning sickness.” She raised her free hand to cover her mouth.

Figuring someone had to take control while Bodhi and Ivy went catatonic, Cooper gently took her by the arm and led her to the hall bathroom. As soon as he closed the door on her, he heard retching. Not really knowing what to do, he waited until he heard the toilet flush and the tap going. He knocked lightly on the door. “Are you going to be okay?”

A moment later, Blair opened the door and peered out at him with watery eyes and a red face. She appeared unsteady on her feet when she asked breathily, “Is there somewhere I can lie down?”

“Uh… I guess you can have the guest… the… um… Bodhi’s bedroom for a while. It’s right here across the hall.” He led her by the arm and watched while she did a dramatic swoon onto the bed, kicking off her high heels in an efficient move. She lay back and ordered, “I’ll need some ice water and my bags, assuming a ruffian hasn’t made off with them by now. The maid left them all outdoors.” She let out a pained sigh and closed her eyes.

“Right. We have battling gangs of ruffians here in Del Mar. And they all camp out in Bodhi’s front yard,” he muttered sarcastically as he marched out the door. “It’s a regular hooligan paradise here.”

Nevertheless, Cooper dragged in Blair’s luggage and dumped everything in a heap by the front door. Surveying the suitcases, he chose the smallest one that looked like something a woman might keep nearby and rolled it to the bedroom.

When Cooper returned with her suitcase, she asked in a wan voice, “Do you work for Bodhi too?”

Incredulous, he answered, “I’m Cooper—Bodhi’s best friend.”

“Oh. He never mentioned you,” she replied sleepily with her eyes closed.

“Did he ever mention Ivy? She’s pretty important to him.”

“No,” she whispered in a put-upon tone. She barely cracked one eye open and watched as Cooper turned toward the door.

Cooper thought that either Blair knew a lot less about Bodhi than she thought she did, or Bodhi was a real two-faced shit. Unfortunately, he wasn’t completely sure which one was true. Cooper stomped out of the bedroom with no further comment. Even retrieving her luggage was more interference into Bodhi’s troubles than he wanted to pursue. Someone else could get the bitch some ice water. He was done with her.

∞∞∞

Back in the kitchen, he found Bodhi red-faced and loudly defending himself to an equally scarlet Ivy.

“I have no idea why she thinks I fathered a kid with her!”

“Well, duh! Obviously, you’ve had sex with her.”

Bodhi’s eyes looked pained as he answered, “I might have, but if I did, I don’t remember it.”

“What?” asked Ivy and Cooper simultaneously. Then Ivy continued, “How can you say that? Did you sleep around with so many women, you can’t remember them? That’s disgusting, Bodhi! You weren’t gonethatlong.”

“No! Of course not. For the first ten months or so, I didn’t do anything but work. I told you that. I barely had time to eat, sleep, and change my clothes. It was a ridiculous schedule, and I had no time for screwing around, believe me.”

“And then?” asked Ivy. “At some point you must have made the acquaintance of thelovelyBlair Hendrix who’s… where is she, Cooper?”

“I left her sleeping in Bodhi’s old room,” he answered sheepishly. He thought of the nameless women whose beds he’d hopped into before his relationship with Ivy and decided to remain mute on that particular topic.

“Cooper, no! You left her alone in the house? She’s completely nuts! You should have shoved her out the door. We have to get her out of here.” Bodhi jumped up and began pacing around the kitchen as they stared at him. “But… oh god… what if this time she’s telling the truth? What if sheishaving my baby? What am I going to do? I can’t let her have my kid. I mean… sorry that’s not what I mean… what I mean is, she can’traise my kid!She’s ahorrible person. I could never let that happen to a child.”

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