She rolls her eyes. “Last time I checked, bruises don’t scream nice person.”

I want to yell at her, but I can’t. Harper has a point, but she’s wrong. She doesn’t see the real Kohen. He has only shown his vulnerable side to me. He’s damaged like me, he has his problems, but so does everyone else. I can’t fault him for that. He loves me.

“He isn’t the monster you make him out to be,” I tell her as I pick up my purse.

She doesn’t seem convinced. “He hurt you.”

“It was a misunderstanding.”

“I don’t trust him!”

I shrug. “You don’t have to. You have to trust me.” I glance around and notice we’re making a scene. “I know you mean well, but causing problems between us isn’t going to help. You need to get over this, for me.”

“But what if—”

“No, Harper. You need to stop. I’m telling you, he isn’t like that.”

She searches my face for any sign of a lie. She finally nods. “You’re right, I’m sorry, Addie. Stay.”

My phone buzzes, I silence it. I’ll deal with Kohen in a minute. “No, I’m going to call it a night. I’ll talk to you soon.”

She moves to stand but I’m already leaving. I’m still pissed at her for texting him. She could have gone about it in a different way. Instead, she tried to make Kohen angry, and succeeded if the continuous calls from him are any indication. I don’t even have time to open the bar door before my phone rings again. I know I shouldn’t answer, but I do. I’d rather deal with him when we’re not face-to-face.

“I want you to leave now! I’m already on my way back to my place.”

He isn’t yelling, but he’s mad. Yup, answering was the wrong decision.

“Look, it was a joke. Calm down or I’m not going to see you.” I wait for a reply, but he doesn’t respond. “I’m already getting in a cab. Meet me at my place so we can talk.”

He hangs up. I throw my phone into my purse as I rave down a taxi. Once I’m settled in the backseat I rest my head against the cold glass. If he’s not at my place when I get home, then fine, we can talk tomorrow. I’m not showing up at his apartment to explain myself. When the cab pulls up to our building, I see him leaning against the brick. I shouldn’t have worried, Kohen isn’t the type to run away from his problems.

I grasp the straps of my purse, and square my shoulders. He doesn’t speak as he leads me into the elevator. It isn’t until we’re safely locked in my apartment that he breaks the silence.

“I don’t want you seeing Harper anymore. She’s a bad influence,” he says calmly as he hangs up my coat.

“You honestly think you have a right to dictate who I spend time with?”

When he turns around, he’s looking at me as if I’m stupid. “She hit someone. She didn’t care if she seriously hurt them, she just took off. Now she’s trying to start a fight between us. Why would you want to hang out with someone like that?”

My hands quiver while I listen to him. On a small level, I know he’s right, but he’s wrong about her.

“It was a fender bender, and she was terrified. It doesn’t justify what she did, but I can’t let one mistake ruin a friendship. If I did, would you seriously be standing here in front of me?”

His jaw tightens as his teeth grind together. I pissed him off. Good. He has no right choosing my friends.

“I just want what’s best for you, Addie. I don’t want you spending time with someone who could leave an accident without another thought. She’s a bad person.”

My throat feels dry because in any other circumstance, he would be right. But not now, not about Harper. She’s a good person, an even better friend.

“She’s my friend.”

He leads us to my bedroom. Silently, we get ready for bed together. I assume the fight is over, but as I climb into bed, I’m proven wrong.

“Just be safe when you’re around her. I don’t trust her.”

I don’t say anything. There’s no point in arguing with him. He joins me under the covers after setting the alarm on his phone. He pulls my head onto his chest and trails his fingers through my hair. As much as I want to, I can’t make my body relax into him. Instead I kiss him so he doesn’t think anything is wrong and face the other way.

His hand travels up and down my back. My body is at war with itself. It wants to rebel against his touch but it can’t. He brings me comfort. Slowly, at the speed of ice thawing, I melt into his touch.

Chapter Twenty-One

I add another five pounds to the weight machine. My arms shake from overuse, but I keep pushing, needing to focus on my muscles burning rather than the problems in my life. Kohen. Harper. Jax. In that order.

“Keep going like that, you’re going to hurt yourself, sis.”

“This is not my first time working out . . . I know, shocker.”

My brother stops what he’s doing and comes over to me. I’m too mad to care that I snapped at him. I ignore him as best as I can while finishing my current rep.

“For an athlete, you’re pretty stupid.”

I glare at my brother and move on to the next task. Squats. I hate squats. I sigh as I head towards the free-weight section of Logan’s home gym. Clutching the bar, I notice that my brother switched the weight for me. This simple task makes my anger die down a little, but I’m still ready to kill someone. Sadly, my brother witnesses my anger firsthand. I guess we know whose the better sibling.

“I’m not an athlete,” I remind him.

“Could have fooled me.”

“Whatever,” I say under my breath.

I know that Logan doesn’t deserve me acting like this, I really do, I just can’t help it. I’m so upset and I don’t know how to handle it. I even did a few laps in the pool earlier, but that didn’t help. If anything, swimming made it worse, because it reminded me of the root of the problem. Jax. It’s always Jax.

My brother does pull-ups while he watches me. He would always do this when we were younger. He would let me lash out at him and then wait for me to spill my guts. That’s not gonna happen this time. It can’t. I’m mad because of his best friend. Not something that I think he will want to hear. Plus I can handle it on my own. I’m not a child.

I snap, “What!”

“Nothing. You ready to tell me what’s wrong?”

I don’t say anything. I turn my head in search of a distraction. I need to keep busy. I need to find something to take my mind off everything. I still can’t believe swimming didn’t work. That would always do the trick. It’s because of Jax. He just had to be the one to get me back in the water. What a jerk!

I spot what I need in the corner. I eye my brother. He looks from me to the bag.

“We’re wrapping your hands, first.”

I mock salute him as I follow him over to the punching bag area in his private gym. I give Logan my hands so that he can wrap them up for me. When I’m all ready to go, my brother stands behind the bag and holds it for me.

“Lets see what you got, Ali.”

I plant my legs how he’s shown me and punch the bag as hard as I can. I’m not focused so the punch doesn’t do as much damage as it should have. I hit the bag again, this time with the result that I want. I picture the one person that I need to hit right now.

I see Jax’s stupid face instead of the black punching bag. I hit harder and harder each time. I imagine breaking his nose, hearing the crunch when my fist connects with it. I then land a kick. I can almost hear the grunt he would make if I landed it into his side instead of this bag.

“Adalynn, enough!” Logan snaps loudly enough to break through the mental image of me kicking Jax’s avoiding ass. I finally texted him back and he never responded! He texted me first!

I bend down at the waist, throw the gloves to the floor, and start peeling off the wraps. When my hands are finally free, I drop my head into my hands and scream. I let out the loudest, most frustrated scream anyone has ever heard. It would have done Hadley proud. I crumble to the floor on my knees, exhausted.