Free The Black God (#2, Damian Eternal Series) by Lizzy Ford Page B

up from Traveling with someone else.
Waiting to see what her body did, she blinked away the momentary
sense of disorientation and righted her senses.
    They were near the University in an alley
close to her apartment building. She’d been hoping he was bluffing
about knowing where she lived.
    “You aren’t going to have one,” Jonny told
her. “You can let go now.”
    Warmth reached her cheeks as she realized
how hard she was squeezing his hand. Ashley released Jonny and
started away.
    “Remember, Ash. Fuck with my vamps, I fuck
with you,” he warned her as she stepped away.
    Furious her plan for vengeance was ruined by
her own body’s weakness, she flipped him off without turning and
strode out of the alley.
     
    The next afternoon, Ashley slammed over and
over into the punching bag in the boxing gym down the street from
where she lived. It was quiet on a Sunday with only the hardcore
fighters in the ring or working various bags.
    Exhausted from her night as well as the
episode, she nonetheless pounded into the bag, unable to shake her
anger and embarrassment at how poorly she’d done the day before.
Not only had she been captured vamps, but Jonny – the man she
despised most in the world – had rescued her. She’d then failed to
seek her revenge because of her weak body.
    She deserved the bloodied knuckles beneath
her hand wraps and the bruises forming from her merciless attack on
the bag. She deserved to hurt or maybe … the physical pain
alleviated the humiliation of her night.
    She drove herself until she became too dizzy
to stand and wrapped her arms around the bag, chest heaving. Ashley
let the bag support her weight for a long moment, always leery of
any warning signs another seizure was eminent.
    “You got some moves,” one of the regulars
said from the bag nearest her.
    Ashley opened her eyes and pushed away.
“Thanks.”
    “Where did learn to fight like that?”
    “Um, stepdad mostly,” she said with some
awkwardness.
    “He a champ?”
    She snorted and offered the familiar fighter
a smile. “Not really. It’s a hobby I guess.” She retrieved her
towel from the ground and started away. “See you tomorrow.”
    He lifted a gloved hand.
    Ashley left the boxing gym and stepped into
the warm fall evening softened by a cool ocean breeze. She tossed
her towel over her shoulder and began walking slowly, more because
she was a little unsteady than because she had nowhere to be. She
had at least one assignment due the upcoming week and needed some
good sleep after her weekend. But it was hard when she wanted
nothing more than to scream every five seconds. Her enemy hadn’t
just saved her life but managed to remind her she had never meant
anything to him to start off with.
    Revenge wasn’t quite as
satisfying when the other person didn’t care. Ashley wasn’t certain
what to do about this fact, or the knowledge she’d spent four years
waiting for the moment she could see the regret in his eyes. Jonny
would never feel it. Her vengeance would never be complete.
She would never be whole again or reclaim
the trust in the world she’d lost when he’d betrayed
her.
    And Jonny would go on being the Black God,
oblivious to what she felt. In all her plotting, she’d never truly
considered he was indifferent to her and always had been. Vengeance
seemed futile in this light.
    “This is killing me,” she murmured and wiped
sweat from her forehead. She walked home and into her apartment,
where Brandon sat on the couch as usual.
    “What took you so long?” he asked, glancing
up from the laptop.
    “Just needed more time to punch stuff,” she
replied.
    “At least you were at the gym and not in
some warehouse.”
    “What’s that supposed to mean?” She paused
on her way to her bedroom and planted her hands on her hips.
    “I told you beating up vamps wouldn’t turn
out well.”
    “I’m not quitting, just because Jonny knows
where we live!”
    “Seriously?” Her brother sat back from his
computer.