Page 100 of Three Pucking Words
She snorts, making a small grin appear on my face. “You give me too much credit,” she says, her eyes glassy and red as they find mine. “It wasn’t the girl at the bar who changed you.Youchanged you.Youdid that for yourself. For Gemma.”
My thumb lowers, brushing against the corner of her mouth until I feel her warm breath as she exhales a deep breath. “I don’t know why fate led us together that night, but I do know that this is a second chance. I’m going to make it up to you.”
Her head begins moving, dragging my thumb along her mouth. “You don’t need to—”
“I know I don’t,” I promise her. “That doesn’t mean I’m going to try like hell to show you that this is worth it. Whatever this is. You’re not a bad person, honey. You were in a loveless relationship. I’m going to do my damndest to give you the kind of love that he never could. No matter how long it takes. Do you understand, Honor?”
She stares at me for a long time before she moves her head up and down slowly.
Her damp face makes my chest ache as I try drying her skin with my fingers. “I hate seeing you cry,” I say helplessly.
She sniffles and offers me the tiniest, fragile smile. “Crying isn’t always a bad thing, Bodhi.”
My brows furrow together.
Honor lets out a shallow breath. “They say that crying over someone means you care. It’s when you stop that the hope is gone.”
My body tenses at the thought of her giving any ounce of a fuck over her ex-husband.
She smooths her palm over my cheek, letting her thumb brush over the corner of my mouth. “I haven’t cried over him in a very long time.”
It’s her way of reassuring me of what I refuse to ask. She’s telling me she doesn’t care.I’m done,she’d told him only weeks ago. And she meant it.
I relax against her, letting her cradle my cheek. “If I ever do anything to make you feel the way he did, tell me. I’m not perfect. I’m going to make mistakes. But I will learn from them, if you’re patient with me.”
When her glassy eyes meet mine, they aren’t full of sadness at all. What they are full of can only match mine.
Love.
Unspoken, but felt all the same.
“Come on,” I coax, standing and extending my hand out to her. “Let’s get washed up. I don’t know about you, but I’m exhausted.”
She looks up at me. “You want to go to bed?”
An eyebrow quirks. “Don’t you?”
Her teeth dig into her bottom lip. “Kind of, actually. Crying takes a lot out of a person.”
I huff out a laugh. “It’s up to you where you’d like to sleep tonight, but I’d be lying if I said I didn’t want you next to me.”
She blinks, her rosy cheeks turning pinker before she takes my hand. “Lead the way.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
Honor
Iwake uppressed against warm muscles and sunlight peeking through the crack in the beige curtains. Glancing down at the object keeping me in place, I see coarse blond hair on the thick arm wrapped around my waist and slowly remember where I am andwhoI’m with.
Last night, I finally told Bodhi the truth.
It took approximately twenty different panicked texts to Mila to finally rip the Band-Aid off and say what I should have said to Bodhi months ago. And, frankly, it had little to do with my best friend’s less than encouraging replies to my internal breakdown, which were anything but helpful in calming me down.
Mila:I’m not friends with a chicken shit
Mila:Tell him or you’ll regret it!!!
Mila:That sounded way more threatening than I meant it to be
