Page 40 of Ruin Me Gently

He didn’t say anything. Just stood there, staring, eyes dark and unreadable.

“HasClark got you doing this?”

A pause.

His eyes widened. A rapid shake of his head. Not just a ‘no,’ but a ‘hell no.’

Clark’s brows had furrowed when he’d said, ‘what gifts?’ He was a bullshitter, but he’d never deny himself the credit of something he’d done. Because if he did something, he wanted you to know it was him.

Which meant…

“Was it all from you?”

He hesitated, shoulders shifting. Then he nodded.

Ah, there it was, my stomach falling out of my ass.

“You’ve been leaving gifts at my doorstep for weeks?!” My voice pitched higher, even at a whisper.

I took another step forward, but the second I moved, so did he, his stance shifting like he was about to make a run for it.

“Oh, no you don’t!” I snapped, lunging forward. “Get back here, I’m not—”

Too late. He was already walking. Not running. Just a supernaturally fast walk, like some kind of hoodie-wrapped cryptid gliding away into the fog.

I wasn’t about to be the crazy woman sprinting down the street half naked after some guy who had apparently been leaving me gifts for weeks.

And even if I wanted to?

Yeah, that wasn’t happening. I’d make it ten feet before my lungs staged a full-scale revolt. Nothing like a good old-fashioned asthma attack to really drive home the fact that I absolutely wasn’t built for dramatic chases.

I huffed, watching as he disappeared around the corner.

Coward.

CHAPTER ELEVEN

The ache wouldn’t ease,no matter how hard I pushed.

It burned low and constant, wedged beneath my ribs. Every pull of muscle, every bead of sweat sliding down my collarbones and bare chest only stoked it.

I gripped the pull-up bar tighter, knuckles aching, palms damp against the cold steel as I forced my body upward, again and again, ignoring the way my arms shook like they were seconds away from giving out.

Oxygen ripped through my clenched teeth, my lungs burning with every laboured breath, but it wasn’t enough.

Not enough to clear my head. Not enough to stop the tension twisting tighter in my chest. And sure as hell not enough to get her out of my mind.

It’d been days since I’d vowed to myself that I’d stay away from her, and I was barely keeping it together.

No more gifts waiting on her doorstep before sunrise. No more lingering in the background, keeping an eye on her when she didn’t know I was there.

The only thing I’d allowed myself to do was check the damn doorbell feed. Just in case. Because not knowing about at least one aspect of her safety wasn’t an option. That part hadn’t changed. Wouldneverchange.

But everything else? It was different. Off. Twisted into something I couldn’t name. And it was pissing me off.

The floor-to-ceiling windows of my private gym stretched out before me, the city sprawling beyond the glass in endless streaks of pale dusk and neon glow. From up here, everything had always felt quiet. Controlled.

But not tonight.

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