Gabe approached him, his gaze scrutinizing. "You're supposed to be doing apartiallunge, not deep ones."
Damon grunted and made his movements smaller, but only because Gabe watched him. He fought the irrational urge to grab Gabe by the shirt and demand he tell Damon why he didn’t stop Grace from going to the party that night. Why he hadn’t sought justice on Grace’s behalf.
Taking his anger out on Gabe was stupid. Grace’s brother had no way to know what would happen that night. Nor was it right for Gabe to push Grace to press charges when it meant she’d have to relive the nightmare all over again.
Nightmares.
He had one about Grace last night. It wasn’t the first time she’d appeared in his dreams and probably wouldn’t be the last. But last night’s was by far the worst. It left him in a cold sweat with a racing heart for nearly an hour.
He’d tried so hard to get to her as she repeatedly screamed his name. But he didn’t have his prosthesis or crutches. He’d finally dropped to the ground and combat crawled, but he couldn’t move fast enough. The louder and more terrified her screams became, the harder it was to move. Until suddenly the screams stopped and a terrifying silence consumed him.
“Damon!” Gabe scowled at him. "How many have you done?"
"I lost count."
"You're only supposed to do three sets of ten. I think you've done double that."
Damon stopped lunging but didn't look at Gabe.
"You okay?" Gabe's quiet question had him looking up. The physical therapist's eyes narrowed.
"I'm fine." It was little more than a grunt.
It was a lie, but Damon didn’t want to cause a scene by telling Gabe why he was so upset.
Gabe gave a curt nod and motioned to the Total Gym. "Okay then, time for squats."
"I want to do my squats free standing, not on that." If he did them on the Total Gym, Gabe would slant the board, so he was only doing his squats at fifty or sixty percent. He needed a harder workout than that today.
"Fine." Gabe instructed Damon to stand near the treadmill, so he had something to grab onto if he lost his balance. "Don't overdo it. Shallow squats only." Gabe started walking away, then he turned back. "Three sets of ten."
Less than a minute later, Gabe chewed him out for doing too deep of squats. Frustrated, Damon lightened up. Despite the shaking in his left thigh, this wasn't working for him. He needed a hard workout to drive thoughts of Grace being violated from his head. He wanted to kick or punch something.
"What are you trying to prove?" Gabe's voice beside Damon made him jump.
"What do you mean?"
"Why are you punishing yourself?"
"I'm not."
"You look like you're trying to drive out demons from inside here." Gabe tapped the side of his head. Then he shifted his hand to his chest. "Or here."
Not my demons. Or maybe they are now that I know what Grace went through.
He sank into another squat. More than anything, he wanted to be the man Grace needed him to be, but he had to get his own crap together first.
"Stop already." Gabe's voice was firm. "You've done like fifty squats."
Damon stopped, paused for a heartbeat, then headed to the wooden boxes that mimicked climbing stairs.
Gabe put a hand against Damon's chest, stopping him in his tracks. "What's going on, man?"
"Nothing."
"You've only been coming here for a couple weeks. I've admired your drive and determination. But this...the way you're pushing yourself... It's dangerous. You're going to injure yourself." When Damon didn’t respond, Gabe went on. "Does this have something to do with Grace?"
Damon gave Gabe a sharp look.
