Page 99 of Bully Roommate

“Yeah. They got him.”

Mom looked out the window. “Good.”

Josie looked down at her legs while an awkward silence took over the truck. “Where am I taking you? Home?”

Mom nodded. “Yeah.”

I started the engine, letting it warm up a few seconds before heading home. Mom cleared her throat. “This won’t stop him, ya know.”

I backed out of my parking space and pulled onto the street. Josie glanced over at me, her brows lifted toward her hairline.

“What do you mean, Mom?” I asked.

“He has so many people that work for him—,”

“The police are taking care of it,” I said. “They’d already saved more than thirty girls in one night—,”

“Don’t you get it?” she snapped. “Derekisthe police, Maverick. How do you think he’s gotten away with this for so long?”

I swiped my palm down my face. “They called in the FBI, Mom.”

“I hope you’re right,” she whispered.

Josie tensed beside me. I didn’t want her to feel scared or afraid to go out in public. “Should I have killed him?” I asked into the cab.

Josie looked up at me with haunted eyes. “Could you live with that?”

I didn’t know. I’d wanted to kill him on more than one occasion, on my search to find Josie and when I pinned him on the garage floor. I felt like I could do it, but Josie was right, could I truly live with killing someone?

I sighed. “I don’t know.”

“I think that’s your answer,” Josie said. “Two wrongs don’t make a right, Mav. You’re not like Derek. You’re not a sociopath that feeds off fear. You’re … selfless and kind.” She chuckled.

“What’s so funny?” I asked.

“If you’d asked me four years ago if Maverick Booker was kind, I would have kindly suggested glasses to whoever asked.”

Mom shifted. “What happened four years ago?”

Josie eyed me, and I winked. “Nothing to worry about now.”

We pulled up to the house and let Mom out. She stopped at the door and said, “Thank you.”

“You’re welcome,” I said.

She walked toward the porch, opened the front door, and waved. It felt unreal to see her sober, and acting like a human. I was thankful she didn’t show her ass in front of Josie.

“Where are we going now?” Josie asked.

Glancing over at her, I traced her pretty eyes and soft lips with my gaze. “We’re going home.”

Epilogue

Josie

Four Years Later …

His fingers slid against the inside of my thigh, beneath my flimsy black thigh-length skirt and up to the lacy panties, I wore just for him. It’d been four years of this and it still felt like the first time he touched me in the hallway of our old apartment.

---