Free Impact (The Fight for Life #2) by K.A. Sterritt Page B

won. I’d lost. I’d fucking lost. Fuck!
    I sat down on the bench. “I’m sorry.” My voice sounded cold and harsh. I’d deserved to lose. I would’ve deserved for my face to meet the canvas with a powerful thud. It was dumb luck that Lucas hadn’t knocked me out.
    “What are you apologising for?” She sounded confused and edgy.
    I shook my head, breaking eye contact with her. “Nothing. I’d just like to be alone for a bit.”
    She didn’t say anything, and eventually I looked up from my hands that I was unwrapping. We looked at each other and neither of us spoke. Her expression was unreadable, and I felt like a dead-end fuck-up. I certainly wasn’t proving her mother wrong. In fact, if she could see me now, I think she’d probably be thrilled.
    Juliette couldn’t belong to me any more than I could belong to her. I wasn’t worthy and she was worth too much.
    “Stop.” I snapped my head up to Juliette holding her hands up in a firm demand. “What are you doing, Leo?”
    I didn’t answer because I didn’t have an answer. I had no idea what I was doing.
    She squatted down in front of me and placed her hands over mine. “You freaked out seeing your mum, you agreed to a fight you shouldn’t have and you lost. Get over it.”
    “Get over it?”
    “Yes. Shit happens. Get over it.”
    “Shit happens?”
    “Are you going to repeat everything I say?”
    I pulled my hands from hers and stood up, walking over to my locker. Rage overtook me and I slammed my hand against the metal door five times in quick succession. “Shit doesn’t just happen, Juliette. People make shit happen.”
    “Why won’t you tell me what is really going on?”
    I turned around, expecting to see fear in her eyes from my sudden outburst, but instead she was standing tall, her shoulders back and her eyes intense.
    “Do you really want to know?” I asked, stalking back to her. “Do you really want to know why I’m a complete fuck-up?”
    She closed the distance I had put between us. “You’re not a fuck-up, Leo. I don’t know why you’d think that. One loss in a stupid unfair fight doesn’t make you a fuck-up.” Her voice softened and her eyes filled with tears. “You’re the best person I know. Please don’t push me away now.”
    “I’m not good for you,” I whispered.
    “Says who? Certainly not me, and the only other opinion that matters is yours, and I don’t think you believe that. I think you’re scared to trust me because you don’t fully trust anyone, including yourself. And I’m pretty sure it has a whole lot to do with your mother.”
    My body stiffened. “I can’t do this now.” I sat down in front of my locker and buried my face in my hands. I looked up to see her shaking her head. “Go back to the hotel, Jules.”
    She closed her eyes and exhaled before opening them. “Fine. Have your little pity party. I’m sick of your cryptic bullshit. I know you want to love me. You have to trust me to look after your heart or we have no chance.”
    I stared at the space where she was standing long after she had disappeared from the room, trying to process her words. “I know you want to love me” was on constant loop in my head.

Chapter Twelve
Juliette
    Watching Leo in the boxing ring had been impressive, but… well, it had been disappointing. I knew he could have ended Lucas Albright in a New York minute had he been at full strength. As it was, he appeared lethargic. In the cage, his movements had appeared effortless and instinctual, but tonight, it was almost too hard to watch. To his credit, he still put up a good fight, and if Lucas hadn’t had the hometown advantage, Leo actually could’ve claimed victory. Leo had needed to be the clear winner, and he clearly hadn’t been. I was devastated for him, but it had been pretty fucked up thinking he could beat a local champion in his state. His behaviour after the fight had made me think he knew it too.
    Leo had pissed me off, and I was relieved to have a