Page 133 of The Clinch
I stop on the sidewalk and only then notice how tight I’ve been wound. Eden slides her sunglasses back on and looks entirely too pleased with herself.
“Well?”
I stare straight ahead. “I’m not discussing it.”
She laughs. “That bad?”
I think about Leo in the ring. The speed of him. The discipline. The ugly beauty of it.
“No,” I admit finally. “Worse.”
Her laugh gets louder.
She touches my elbow lightly. “Come on. I’ll drop you off.”
I let her steer me toward the approaching car, still feeling seen in a way I don’t know what to do with.
Back at the apartment,the silence feels different.
Not empty.
Charged.
I set the shopping bags down and pull out my phone. One text from Leo, sent twenty minutes ago.
LEO
Saw you
Two words,and I’m done for.
I type back.
LIZ
Eden’s fault
His reply comes almost immediately.
LEO
Good
I stareat that message longer than I should.
Because it doesn’t sound amused.
It sounds satisfied.
32
DEEP WATER (LEO)
The door shuts behind them with a final thud.
One second she’s there at the edge of the room with shopping bags at her feet and that look on her face like she wants to be disgusted by all of this and is failing.
The next, she’s gone.
