My bravado lasted approximately ten punches. Muscles screaming and sweat pouring, I braced my hands on my knees. “Holy shit.”
“Come on, Ry,” Dominic said. “You can do better than that.”
“Nope,” I wheezed. “Can’t.”
Dominic raised a brow. “You don’t quit, Shadow. That’s not what we do. We’re fighters, and we keep fighting.”
Somehow, I didn’t think he was talking about the punchbag. But it was enough to get my fists swinging again. I lost count of how many hits I landed before I was back, braced on my knees, sweat running into my eyes. “Fuck.”
“Give me a few more,” Dominic coaxed. “You can do this.”
“Don’t think I can.”
“Well I know you can. You have more stamina than this.”
Ignoring the aches, I forced myself upright. “I have stamina where it matters.”
Heat flared in his eyes. “I remember.”
I froze. “I thought we weren’t talking about that.”
“Maybe we should.”
I searched his face for some sign that he was messing with me, but there was just a quiet certainty.
Fuck.
Oh fuck.
He was serious.
“You want to…talk about this? Whatever it is?”
Dominic shrugged. “If we want it to carry on, sure. I thought maybe ignoring it was the way to go, but I don’t think it’s working. Not if it’s making you feel this way.”
I didn’t say anything, just glared down at my trainers.
“I don’t…” Dominic’s frustrated sigh had me lifting my head. A muscle was jumping in his jaw as he seemingly searched for the right words. “I feel like I’m hurting you, Shadow, and that’s the last thing I want to do.”
If that was true, then he had a funny way of showing it. “And ignoring me during the day isn’t hurting me?”
His throat bobbed. “Until today I hadn’t realised it was. I thought it was for the best. I thought…”
His voice trailed off.
I toyed with the cuff of the glove. “Hadn’t realised you’d been thinking about it so much.”
I thought it had been just me.
“Course I have.” He scowled at the bag, lightly tapping it with his hands. “I’m not heartless, Ryan, even if you think I am.”
“I don’t.”
“This isn’t working,” Dominic muttered. “I don’t even know whatitis, but whatever it is, ignoring it isn’t making it go away.”
He was right. It wasn’t.
“So what I propose is this,” Dominic said, his chest expanding as his serious eyes met mine. He gave the bag another few taps, punctuating his words. “We talk about it. We figure shit out and decide where to go from here.”
