Out of Love by Jewel E. Ann

Author:Jewel E. Ann [Ann, Jewel E.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Fiction, romance, contemporary
ISBN: 9781734518276
Publisher: Jewel E. Ann
Published: 2020-09-26T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Twenty

Livy

“No visible marks,” Jessica warned as we taped our hands at an empty training facility near her house the day before Thanksgiving. “Your dad will know, and there will be hell to pay.”

I nodded.

“How’s Deb?”

I shrugged. “She’s fine, but she’s not you.”

“I’m better?” Jessica lifted an eyebrow.

“Yeah.” I grinned for a second before it fell from my face. “A week ago, Slade grabbed my neck.”

“What?” Her gaze shot to mine, her voice hard with concern.

“He did it on purpose to see how I would react. He knows I’m working with you.”

Jess nodded slowly. “And?”

“I did what you taught me to do, but before I could land my elbow in his face, he released me and stepped back. I think he thought I was going to kick his ass.”

“No, Livy. Don’t ever make the assumption that your opponent thinks you’re better than them. That’s a huge weakness on your part.”

“You mean to tell me you don’t think you’re better than me?”

“Of course, I’m better than you. I just don’t want you to think I’m better than you. Nor do I want you to think you’re better than me. We are only as good as our weakest day.”

I took a step back and adjusted my headgear. “How am I supposed to save a life—mine—if I’m only as good as my weakest day?”

“We fight with the strongest parts of our bodies. We listen to the voice of reason in our heads. But on our weakest day, we fight with every single cell in our body. We fight out of a passion to live or to save another life. We feed off the pain. We give everything only when we feel like we have nothing left to lose.”

“So fear is strength?” I dodged her first shot at me, and she nodded in approval of my move.

“No. Fear is crippling. Desperation will keep you alive. That moment you realize you will do absolutely anything to survive. Men have lost their penises to women who desperately did not want to be raped. Men have lost their lives to women who desperately did not want to be raped.” She avoided my next swing, but then I landed one in her side.

Sadly, that landed me on my ass.

An hour later, all our bruises were contained to the torso area. Jessica called it “ribs and abs day.” I didn’t know what she meant until I eased into the vehicle hugging my midsection.

“So this Slade, is it serious?” She flipped down her sun visor and sped out of the parking lot.

“I think so. Not sure. It’s hard to explain.”

“Why didn’t you invite him for Thanksgiving? If it’s serious, you won’t be able to hide him from your dad forever. And introducing him to the whole family at once would have been a great buffer.”

“I did invite him, but he’s spending the holiday with his uncle and mom in Florida, where his grandparents are in a nursing home.” I checked my phone for messages, thrilled to see one from him with a turkey emoji and “missing you” after it.

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.