Blocked by Jennifer Lane

Author:Jennifer Lane
Language: eng
Format: azw3, epub
Publisher: Psyched Publishing
Published: 2014-10-20T23:00:00+00:00

Chapter 16

THE NEXT DAY, all I heard were my steady breaths and the thumping drumbeat of my favorite band as its music piped through my earbuds. I tucked in my chin and added a muscle-burning kick as I zoomed up a steep incline. “Attraction Infraction” was next on the playlist, and I wanted to crest the hill before that song, which always made me think of Lucia. Sadness and longing didn’t pair well with a get-it-out-of-your-system hard run.

When I neared the end of the metro park trail, I slowed to a walk, feeling alive and exhausted. My quad muscles quivered, and sweat poured down my spine. A few minutes later, my agents came up on either side of me. I yanked out my earbuds.

“Thanks for bringing me here—I needed that.”

A bead of sweat dripped from China’s chin as she nodded. “Thanks for asking us to drive you instead of engineering your own transportation.”

We shared a smirk.

“Can we…stop a second?” Brad gasped for air, and I came to a halt on the dirt path. His drenched T-shirt stretched across his sprawling chest, and gym shorts squeezed his sizeable thighs. He’d started the run ahead of me but had fallen behind in the first mile.

“C’mon, Brad, how will you keep up with assassins if you can’t keep up with me?”

He continued breathing hard. “I doubt assassins…have the stamina of…a scholarship athlete.”

“That was a punishing pace, Dane.” China’s eyes flared with excitement, and I knew she thrived on tough workouts just like I did.

“Well, I had to make up for missing practice this morning.” As soon as I spoke, the reality of my suspension hit me, and with it came the deflation of my positive mood. Maybe “punishing” was an apt description for this run…punishing myself for my stupidity yesterday.

“I have to start facing my problems, instead of avoiding them,” Lucia had said last night. I grimaced. She was right. By the time I’d awoken from my beer bender, she’d already done just that by eating breakfast and leaving for weights. I assumed her mother and brother had flown back to Texas.

On the ride back to the greenhouse, I glanced at my phone to find more missed calls from my mother. I closed my eyes and leaned back against the headrest until we made it home. Then, after a shower, I clenched my teeth and called Mom from my bedroom. To my surprise, I didn’t have to go through Steve this time.

“Oh, Dane,” my mom said, and the concern in her voice made me want to cry. “Thank you for finally calling back, honey.”

“Sorry.” I took a deep breath. “How’s the campaign?”

“We’re not talking about me. How are you doing?”

I swallowed. “I might…I might get kicked off the team.” I hated the hitch in my voice.

“That would be devastating. I hope your coach can appreciate the pressure you’re under.”

“I think he does, but that’s no excuse for how I acted at practice. And that was before I got drunk on national TV.”

She paused. “There’s more? I’m almost afraid to ask what happened at practice.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.