Free Fix You: Bash and Olivia, Book 3 by Christine Bell Page A

syndrome just dying to make an example of him in the neighborhood? By not wanting my girlfriend to throw away her education because her dumb jock of a boyfriend can’t take care of her? I warned you, this is the man I am.”
    He pointed an accusing finger in my direction, his angry gaze locked on mine now.
    “And you said you wanted in. So now tell me what I'm supposed to do. Give me a solution that I can fucking live with. Give me something that won’t keep me awake at night and I’ll do it, Liv."
    I covered my mouth with a trembling hand and shook my head. This was a waste of breath. He didn’t get it. Maybe I didn’t have the solution, but he didn’t trust in me or think I was strong enough to even come to me with the problem.
    I wanted a partner. Someone who saw me as an equal. I didn’t want to be some needy princess who couldn’t stand on her own two feet. I was made of sterner stuff than that.
    So I called on every ounce of that sterner stuff and walked the fuck out.

 
     
     
     
    Chapter Seven
     
    Bash
     
    Three days and three nights. I hadn’t seen or heard from Liv since the morning she’d walked out my door.
    “ You going out tonight?” Reid asked, taking two quick jabs at his own face in the floor-length mirror.
    “Stop doing that,” Matty said, barely looking up from behind the desk where he sat reading the sports section of the newspaper. “You’re a terrible boxer. Stick to what you know.”
    “What I know is, if I took a year out to practice, I could kick both of y’all’s asses in the boxing ring if push came to shove. But the ladies prefer martial arts, so I’m going to stick with that.”
    Matty snorted and the light in Reid’s dark eyes paired with that cocksure smile almost made me smile back at him, which was clearly the goal.
    And then I remembered everything still sucked, and Liv was never coming back to me. I punched the heavy bag with all my might, wincing when the force of the blow sent a stinger up my arm.
    Reid turned away from the mirror and came to stand next to me.
    “Enough is enough, bro. You’ve been at it for days now, nonstop. You’re going to hurt yourself.”
    “Kid’s right, Bash. Six weeks until fight night, and the last thing you need is another injury. That eye is looking good. If we can keep you healthy, you got a real shot. Eye on the prize.”
    Reid murmured an “amen to that,” but I wasn’t interested in talking about the fight or the prize. For the first time, when I pictured myself winning, all I felt was…nothing. Hollow. Like what the fuck did it matter if I didn’t have Liv to share it with?
    I punched the bag again with a grunt. “ Butchie will be here soon. We’ll let him decide if I’m pushing too hard.”
    I knew he’d say I was. Hell, he was old but he wasn’t blind. Maybe I was punishing myself for being stupid enough to let Liv get away. Or maybe I was punishing myself for not being good enough for her in the first place. Guess it didn’t matter which. All I knew is that I was fucking miserable.
    “You ready to talk about it yet?” Matty asked. He’d laid his newspaper down and was eyeing me in that way he had. Like a psychologist probing into my brain, and it freaked me out.
    “Nope.” Not now, not ever.
    “I know you pretty good, so I’m going to take a stab at it,” Matty said, kicking back until he could swing his sneakered feet onto the desk. “You fucked it up with her and now you don’t know how to fix it. Am I close?”
    His cocky drawl made me wish he were fifty feet closer so I could pop him one in the gut.
    “Maybe it wasn’t his fault,” Reid said, bouncing on his toes before executing a neat roundhouse kick toward the mirror. “Maybe she did something wrong.”
    Matty grinned and shook his head slowly. “Oh, grasshopper, how green you are.” He folded his hands behind his head, warming to his role of grand master and making me want to punch him even more. “She is crazy about him and he’s crazy