Page 41 of Strike

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I did what I did best and remained silent. That way, my mouth wouldn’t get me into trouble.

“You broke your arm,” she stated as I turned to face her.

“Hamish took me to the hospital,” I said. When her eyes narrowed, I snorted. “He didn’t tell you.”

“No.”

“I’m not surprised,” I drawled, falling back on old habits. “Ginger always knows how to play his cards.”

“Stop it,” Lori said, snarling. “Just stop it, Storm.”

“Stop what?”

“Stop covering up your pain like that.” She shook her head. “It’s not helping anyone.”

“So?”

“So?” she scoffed. “That’s a flat-out lie, and you know it. You wouldn’t have come here if… Why did you come here?”

I shrugged. I was beginning to wonder myself.

“Does it have something to do with that fire?” She watched my reaction closely, and when I scowled, she added, “It must be hard having all that shit dragged up again. I’m sorry.”

“What? You’re not going to accuse me of staging it?” I cradled my arm against my stomach. “I could have used it to get back into the UFC’s good graces or at least tried for the AUFC.”

“The two most important words in that tirade wascould have.”

Lori sighed, pushing a strand of blue hair behind her ear. Just like Callie did. At the thought of her, my pain seemed to intensify. My arm throbbed, and I felt like I was going to have a heart attack. I stared at Lori as the foyer seemed to shrink, and the noise from the gym dulled.

“This is about something more, isn’t it?” she asked, tilting her head to the side.

I didn’t say anything.

“You know, it’s infuriating when you do that.”

“So I’m told,” I drawled.

“What’s happened to you?” she murmured. “When you came to see me that day… When you told me the truth…” She sighed and glanced away. “I thought you would be okay, but it seems like the opposite happened.”

“I suppose it did.”

“That woman in America…” she said. “It wasn’t your fault.”

“It doesn’t matter.”

“Of course, it does,” she exclaimed. “The woman you saved from the fire…”

“Don’t,” I snapped.

“You care about her, don’t you?”

“I saiddon’t.” My hackles rose, and I felt like storming out of there and never coming back, but I was stuck to the spot. Maybe deep down, I wanted her help, and that was why I came here in the first place. Or maybe I wanted to see what her life was like after dumping me because that would be Callie…getting on with shit without me. Her life was better without me in it.

“You know, I can read you like an open book,” Lori stated. “She found out before you could tell her, and you didn’t stick up for yourself. You’re still punishing yourself for no good reason. You’ve isolated yourself, and for what? Yeah, you hurt me, but you made amends. I forgave you. And that other thing… It wasn’t your fault.” She took a step closer and inspected the cast on my arm. “You made mistakes, Storm. You’re human. The difference now? You know you did, and you made up for it, but pushing everyone away, being hostile and believing you’re the bad guy? You’re wrong.”

“I’m not,” I said, my throat tight.

“Fuck, you’re such a dumbass,” she cursed. “You deserve to be happy, Storm. If you care about her, go tell her the truth.Fight.”