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“But I do.” He jerked his arm away from me and stepped back. My hand fell to my side as I looked up at him.
I couldn’t bring myself to say anything else. The words died on the edge of my tongue.
* * *
My stomach lurched, and my skin grew clammy. Adam would be stepping into the ring tonight. This might be it. Maybe he would fight this last time, and that would be it for him.
But I doubted it.
I hadn’t tried to reach out to him again after our confrontation at the gym. I knew better. Still, I couldn’t get him off my mind.
What if he got hurt?
I thought about what happened to Owen, the man he’d paralyzed five years ago. What if Adam killed someone this time?
I circled my fingertip around the rim of my wine glass and stared down at the burgundy liquid. I’d barely touched it, but I needed to drink something if I was going to survive the night. Kate was out on a date, so I had the large apartment to myself.
I glanced at my wristwatch.
Nine o’clock. Adam’s fight was at ten.
I raised the wine to my lips, hoping to calm my nerves, but a sudden knock at the door had me lowering my glass.
My heart raced in my chest. Was it Adam? I knew I was stupidly hopeful, especially since he seemed to have changed his tune between Sunday and Wednesday.
I set the glass down on the coffee table in front of me and rushed to the door. I didn’t bother to check the peephole—I swung it open as fast as I could. A glimmer of hope glided through me. It was a McGregor.
But not the one I’d wanted.
“Hi, Holly. What are you doing here?”
Wearing skinny jeans, brown boots, and a cream-colored sweater, she looked like she’d stepped out of a catalog. I dropped my gaze to my outfit. Ugh. I was wearing sweats and a graphic tee.
Holly pushed her long locks to her back and cocked her head to the side. “Can I come in?”
I’d been standing like a statue in the middle of the doorway. “Sorry. Come in.” I stepped back, and she slowly walked past me, her coat draped over her arm.
I shut the door and waited to see what she wanted.
She glanced around the foyer of the apartment.
“How’d you know I was at Kate’s?” I asked, folding my arms.
Holly’s eyes flashed my way. “This was the address you listed at the office.”
Oh yeah. I had changed it after I moved out of the hotel.
“So, why are you here?”
“Well, I was sitting around my flat staring at the clock. My nerves totally shot. I thought that maybe you’d be losing your mind, too. Maybe you’d want company.” She slipped a hand inside her enormous, brown and gold designer bag and produced a bottle of wine. “Looks like you had the same idea.” She tipped her head toward my wine glass.
“Um.” I didn’t know what to say. Did she know Adam and I were, well, not so much an “Adam and I” anymore? Based on our last conversation, I was pretty sure we were done.
We were done, right?
God, how naïve was I to even question it? And yet some idiot part of me clung to the idea that Adam would apologize, explain, and all would be well.
“Have you ever seen Adam fight?” I walked to the temporary bar that Kate had set up in the living room and grabbed a long-stemmed wine glass for Holly. I poured her a drink from my already opened bottle.
