Page 67 of Loathe at First Sight

I grin. “I think I’ll be okay.”

When she still doesn’t look convinced, I add, “Unless you’re scared, princess.”

I can practically see the fire ignite within her.

“Okay, you asked for it, Paul Bunyan.” She puts her mitts up and uses one of them to throw a punch.

“There you go,” I encourage. “Harder.”

She throws a punch with her other hand with a bit more force this time.

“Come on, princess. Is that the best you’ve got? Think about that asshole who took all of your money.”

Another hit.

“Think about how he took everything from you, and you had to move back home.”

Another.

“Picture that he’s right here, and you can hit him as hard as you want.”

That gets her amped up, and she keeps swinging away. She’s locked in and beating the shit out of the mitt. The look on her face is one of pure determination.

Her pace quickens as she continues to throw punches.

“That’s it,” I tell her. “Let all of that anger come out in each swing.”

As she keeps going, I see all of that rage bubbling to the surface. Tears well up in her eyes, but I can tell she’s doing everything she can to hold them back.

“Scream, Liz.”

“What?” She asks, not bothering to stop the punches.

“Scream. Yell into the universe about how pissed you are.”

She lets out what can only be described as a noise a cat would make.

“That’s not a scream,” I tease. “Let me hear you scream.”

“What if someone hears me?”

I use one hand to pull my phone out of my pocket and turn the music back on. With the thumping rock, no one is going to be able to hear anything.

“Happy?” I ask. “Now, scream.”

It takes her a minute, but finally, she lets out a yell that sounds almost primal.

“Tell me what you're mad at!” I prompt.

“I’m mad at the asshole who screwed me over.”

Punch.

“I’m mad at people in this town for hating me.”

Punch.

“I’m mad at everyone back in LA who abandoned me.”

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