All Amity Allows (Fall for You Book 2) Read Free Page B

for a good workout.
    Perhaps he should have stolen one of her precious photos, he mused to himself when he ripped off his suit and pulled on a pair of gym shorts. Not because he wanted to see that prick, Evan’s, face again, but it would have made a great addition to Drew’s punching bag. He could have used the image as inspiration to exact some semblance of revenge and pretend he was beating the shit out of the guy’s smug face and tacky smile. If nothing else, it would have been a little extra motivation to hit harder and faster than he usually did.
    Drew headed for his garage where he'd left the beginnings of his rudimentary gym. With only the bag and a treadmill, it was fundamentally lacking in equipment, but it would do. He had a membership to a more professional establishment in town, but at that moment, he didn’t need fancy equipment. More than anything else, he needed to smash his fists against something until his arms ached and his body protested. He wanted his breath to leave his body for all the right reasons and not just because he found it hard to breathe around the gaping wound in his chest.
    As he yanked on his boxing gloves, he stretched and warmed up. Bouncing from foot to foot, he pictured encountering that fucker in a dark alley.
    With steady, calming breaths, he let his imagination run away with him until it was easy to believe the punching bag in front of him was a brown-haired, hazel-eyed, girlfriend-stealing bastard.
    Drew’s fist connected with the side of the bag with a sturdy thump. He’d used more strength than he usually did, drawing on the power of his entire side to force energy into his fist. He only wished that inflicting pain on this analogue would make the real Evan feel the same things, like some sort of gym-inspired voodoo doll.
    “We’re just friends,” he growled at the bag as his other fist smashed into the bag with all of the strength he could muster.
    They were words she’d uttered to him whenever he’d expressed concerns about the fact that her friend was far too obsessed with her to be normal.
    “He’s gay,” he said again, shoving his right fist against the bag again.
    I told her he wasn’t, he thought to himself, delivering another blow.
    He paused as a sickening thought entered his head. Had she known that all along ?
    Had she just wanted to see how many lies Drew would believe before seeing the truth? For all he knew, Becca and Evan had been an item since before Drew had ever arrived. Was it possible that they’d been having a good old chuckle behind his back after every date?
    He released a primal cry and hurled his fists at the bag in a fast flurry, each hit that landed making his knuckles scream in protest. The agony made him more desperate for a violent outcome, so he ignored the pain and hit harder. Even though part of him was conscious of the fact he would regret it in the morning, he was more than willing to endure aching limbs if it dislodged the agony of losing Becca from his chest.
    “Trust me,” he said in a mocking impression of her singsong voice. “You have nothing to be worried about.”
    That was almost a mantra for Becca, especially in the last few months. Nothing to worry about my ass .
    “Are you in love with him?” he spat at the bag. What sort of a question is that ? Why didn’t I demand she explain the photos ? Maybe I misunderstood and she actually still wants me, but I left before she could find the words .
    He shook his head.
    You know she doesn’t, he thought, stamping down on the hope before it had the chance to swell into something that would cause him further pain.
    The part of him that clung desperately to the hope like a life preserver in a sea of tears reasoned that she’d never actually answered his question. If he’d waited a little longer, maybe something more would have been revealed.
    She didn’t have to answer the question, Drew thought to silence the voice. Her apology and the look on her face had spoken volumes.