Page 58 of Run for Her Life
“You’re telling me to calm down?” Everything inside her burned. “You’re a piece of shit, Jim. And you know what, I’m glad that I didn’t get pregnant because I don’t want any part of you.”
Anguish was written all over his face. He dropped his hands to his side limply. “Nothing even happened between me and her. We didn’t sleep together. It was only?—”
“Don’t!” She whirled back round, unable to face him. Her breathing still uneven. She tried taking long swallows to calm herself. “Don’t downplay what you did. I was trying so hard, working long hours?—”
“Maybe that’s the problem,” he snapped. “I’m sick of you trying so hard and constantly rubbing it in my face, Lisa. These past months, every moment with you, I’ve feltless.” His voice climbed and quailed. “You’ve made me feel like a sloth, like a chump. So yeah, I slipped for a moment because it felt good to get away from the constant stress of being around you!”
She stared at him wide-eyed. “Are you seriously blaming me for being too supportive? You were the one who rejected plenty of opportunities because you thought you were too good for them.”
He dug the heels of his palms into his eyes and shook his head. “I’m sorry, Lisa. I didn’t mean to hurt you.”
“Nothing matters. You don’t matter to me,” she whispered, numbness silencing her churning thoughts.
He staggered back from her words like he’d been hit. With a curt nod and tight jaw, he stormed out of the house, slamming the door shut behind him. She didn’t care where he went, she didn’t care if he came back or not. Sobs raked her body as tears streamed down her cheeks.
The warning signs had been right in front of her. He’d been too disengaged. But she’d ignored all the signs and let them slowly carve into her like a blunt knife.
THIRTY-FIVE
“Fight! Fight! Fight! Fight!”
The faces were delirious. Their eyes hungry for violence. Zoe could feel the primitiveness pulse through this basement that lay beneath a shuttered warehouse. She smelled the sweat, blood, and the sharp sting of cheap liquor. The only light came from flickering overhead bulbs, casting long, jerking shadows against the stained concrete walls.
Through the cacophony of voices, only one sound stood out: that of bone meeting flesh.
In the corner, a man wiped his nose with the back of his hand, blood smeared across his knuckles. He smirked, wild and reckless, teeth slick with red. Cigarette smoke curled in the stale air, distorting his smile. He liked the challenge.
Zoe’s body was wired and drenched in sweat, her muscles throbbing and drawn tight under the sickly yellow light. The ring was marked by flimsy ropes atop a bare slice of concrete at a slight elevation. Outside the ring bodies pressed tight, shouting, jeering, fists raised in anticipation.
She was winning this round. She’d fought stronger men before. But she needed this. She didn’t come here to seek a challenge; she came to quell the guilt.
Promise me you won’t look into it if anything happens to me. Promise me.
A dull thud echoed as a punch landed solid across her face, the wet sound of spit and blood hitting the floor. Her head felt like it was going to explode. She stumbled back, almost losing her balance. Shockwaves rocked her skull, leaving her vision blurred. She clenched her hands into fists, twisting her arm, ready to deliver an uppercut.
But she stopped. She gave him a window to hit her again. And he did. A brutal kick to the stomach and she was on the floor, curled into a ball, white-hot agony ripping through her body.
Another kick to the side of her face, and her teeth rattled from the impact.
A punch to her ribs, and her world tilted.
She could have fought back; she had the strength. But she didn’t even try. The sharp pain searing through her body in dizzying waves was almost addictive. She deserved this pain. She deserved it because she’d let Rachel’s killer walk free, because she had been lying to Gina for years that Rachel killed herself, because she was sick of seeing too many wrongs.
Benny jumped in and declared her opponent the winner. Money exchanged hands in the crowd. But she didn’t care. As her eyes swept over her surroundings, something—or someone—caught her eye.
Aiden.
He stood in a corner, his arms crossed and his eyes unreadable behind thick glasses.
Panic roared hot in her blood. Heknew. She closed her eyes and let the darkness swallow her whole.
A few hours later, Zoe was staring at her bruised reflection.
Damn it. How was she going to explain any of this at work?
After being woken up by Benny and convincing him she didn’t have a concussion, she had searched the crowd for Aiden. But he was nowhere to be seen. For a moment, she wondered if she’d imagined it. But she hadn’t. She knew it in her bones.
The rain battered the motel window, unrelenting. There was a low roll of thunder, and the thin walls shook. The dim glow of the bedside lamp stretched long shadows across the room, flickering every time lightning split the sky outside.
