Page 72 of Tied Over

“Got it. I’m not to come out. I hear you, and I promise not to leave this room. That is, as long as you bring me some food, because I’m starving.”

“Alternatively,” he began, “you could shower, shave, put on the white dress shirt I packed for you, and—”

“You lost me at shave. Have fun at the party, and I’ll just sit here and die from lack of food.”

“I—”

“Or I could have a pizza delivered.”

He growled at me. “I’ll bring you some food.”

“Thank you.”

He went to the door but didn’t leave, just stood there with his hand on the knob.

“Go already,” I teased him, because if I didn’t, I’d beg him to stay. Every time he left me to do something with Hayden hurt like gargling glass.

He didn’t move.

“Bodhi?”

Quick breath. “Hayden told me today that having us be partners again has been weird for him, and he’s not sure he can get used to it.”

“What does that mean?”

“He said we needed to have a discussion.”

A discussion? “About what? It is what it is,” I said defensively.

“Is it?”

I squinted at him. “The fuck does that mean?”

“I don’t know,” he muttered. He started pacing, walking to the door of the bathroom, then quickly swiveling around. “I’ve never seen him—I mean, I think he was mad, but I can’t tell.”

“You can’t tell if he’s mad?”

He shook his head as he walked by the bed, the pacing continuing.

“Why can’t you tell when he’s mad?”

“Because he’s never been mad.”

That didn’t make any sense. “No way. You do a hundred things a day that make me want to murder you. How can he not get mad?”

“I know,” he admitted, arms thrown up in the air, “and it’s the same for me. I’m homicidally angry at you at least ten times in a normal day.”

“And you’re a yeller,” I reminded him.

“So are you,” he shot back.

I gave him a head tip in agreement. “But you’re saying, he’s never raised his voice to you? Ever?”

Another shake of his head.

“Then how the fuck do you know if he really loves you?”

He stopped to stare at me. “Most people in love don’t yell.”