Eyes Unveiled by Crystal Walton

Author:Crystal Walton [Walton, Crystal]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Goodreads: 24000048
Publisher: Impact Editions, LLC
Published: 2015-02-01T05:00:00+00:00

chapter eighteen

Second Chance

Monday’s catastrophe still burned in my lungs. My New Balances pounded the treadmill until the soles started to score the conveyor belt cycling beneath them. Adrenaline surged. Sweat poured. Barely able to breathe, I forced my feet to either side of the moving runway, guzzled half my water bottle down, and doused my face with the rest.

What was I thinking? I had one task. One. Earn a stellar performance review. Not tout grand proposals about making a difference, like some wet-behind-the-ears idealist. And certainly not lay my heart on the board table for corporate suits like Jack Peters to trample over. I should’ve kept my head down and mouth shut. Got the job done. That was it.

My heart thudded against my sweat-soaked T-shirt. I bashed my fist into the rails—once with full force, a second time, lifeless. I’d failed. Again.

A girl with a curly ponytail down to her waist advanced from the opposite wall. She flung her arms across her chest, apparently appalled I hadn’t dismounted the machine before she reached me.

The cramp in my left side flared with a pang of agitation. “Can I help you?” Maybe with some manners?

“You’re done, right?” she said, lips pursed. “I mean, you stopped running like five minutes ago, and every other machine is taken. So . . .”

“Right.” I lumbered off the treadmill. “Sorry.” I snagged my book bag from against the wall, rammed through the exit doors, and crashed smack into a walking Nike commercial. White Jordans, black mesh shorts, a charcoal Nike hoodie, and a basketball stowed under his arm.

“Whoa, Steamroller.” A. J.’s hands supported both my arms, his grin as lopsided as ever, even after the library incident. “You know, you’re starting to make a habit of running into me.”

The wind clung to my damp shirt and stung my eyes. I tried to push past him before he saw.

“Hey, hey, hey.” He drew me back around and lifted my chin. “You okay?”

I ducked out of his hold and batted away all signs of emotion. “I’m sorry, A. J. For a lot of things, but I can’t talk right now.”

The wind raged, but I didn’t stop running until I reached the library. Bent over, hands on my knees, I fought for breath and the control I was losing. A gust from behind took another stab at me. I hardened. It’d be fine. Everything would be fine.

I wrenched open the Book Return kiosk and whirled my bag around my arm. The books jammed the harder I pushed. A shriek of anger shattered through my façade of composure. I shoved them in, pounding until I finally tore the pack off my shoulder and left it hanging there in the wind. I slid down the kiosk’s metal side and landed on the sidewalk.

The cold leached through the concrete and chafed against my leggings. My hands locked behind my head. I knew better than to let my heart run away with naïve hope for more out of life than what it always gave.

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