Page 34 of Fight

He sighed heavily. “Look. I was wrong last summer to judge you and treat you like I did. But, you have to see that this kind of thing is not for you. You’re too…soft for it.”

“Too soft?What’s that supposed to mean? You’restilljudging me.”

“So you want to do this thing that’s going to hurt you. That’s going to be hard for you. And you’re doing it with that douche bag who's nearly as clueless as you are and looks at you like he wants to eat you for lunch.”

“That’s ridiculous. Daniel is a nice guy. He’s just under a lot of pressure from his uncle. I get him though. We’re both from the east coast so we speak the same language. You don’t understand that kind of pressure. You float through life with your muscles and your pheromones, running up mountains like some kind of machine. As soon as someone who has to actually work for something comes along, you get all bent out of shape. Both of us are tougher than we look.”

Jake’s face recoiled in momentary confusion before he narrowed his eyes at her and stood up, towering over her in shades of the sadistic hiking dictator from last summer. “Are you going to kisshim,too?”

Lena recoiled like he’d slapped her. "Daniel’s my friend. He's never treated me with anything but respect. That's way more than I can say for you though, right?"

“Lena—“

“I'm going on this hike with Daniel. And I amnotsleeping with him in the woods and I’mnotkissing him—not that it’s any of your business.”

She stomped across the shadows on the floorboards and opened the front door with a jerk before turning on him one last time. “And get used to me not kissingyouanymore. Because I’m done withthat.”

Jake watched Lena slam the front door behind her loudly. He was sure Morgan was cursing her name by now with all that racket, and he really didn’t blame her. He sat on the front steps for a few seconds staring around at the peaceful setting in confusion. Everything has been fine—until it simply wasn’t anymore. Why?

Because she's a spoiled brat.

Jake shook his head and jumped off the front steps, crossing the yard in long strides before entering his and Ian’s house. Pulling his shirt off over the back of his head once he entered his room, he quickly redressed in his cycling clothes and slammed his door as he stomped back out again.

“What the hell man? What’s with all the doors slamming around here?” Ian stuck his rumpled head out of his own room with a scowl on his face.

Ignoring him, Jake flew through the front door of the house and grabbed his bike out of the unattached garage.

Within five minutes of storming off Lena’s front porch, Jake was on his bike. Fixing his left foot in the peddle, he swung his right leg over the frame in one easy motion and began to push his bike forward.

Their houses sat on the crest of a low hill and Jake felt relief wash over him as he swooped down the hill and followed the road toward the lake where he could pick up a bike path and ride for a few miles. Hopefully, he’d burn off some of this frustration in the process.

Soon after hitting his stride, he began replaying their conversation in his head. The good and thereallygood, in addition to the bad, and thereallybad. Why did everything have to be so hard with her? Every conversation they had deteriorated into some massive misunderstanding and argument. Why did she have to react to everything he said in such a dramatic way? And why did he have to respond to her drama in the absolute worst way possible? He wasn’t completely blameless here. Was he forever going to be arguing with her?

She'd acted like instead of asking her not to do something unreasonable—go on a strenuous hike, a hike that most peopletrainedfor, in the middle of nowhere with a complete tool—he was instead asking her to sacrifice her first born or get a face tattoo. They’d been having such an easy time, talking and kissing and she had to go and ruin it with her stubborn refusals.

As he pushed and pedaled, sweat broke out on his forehead and his muscles began to burn. His heart was pounding in his chest, but he didn’t know if it was from the adrenaline resulting from the cycling, or from his conversation with Lena.

Well, did she ruin it, or did you ruin it?

No, nothim. All he'd done was ask her not to go. He asked her, right?Right?Jake stopped pedaling, and as his bike slowed, he stopped and leaned on the front of it. He hadn’t asked her. He'd told her.Shit.

Jake leaned over the handlebars, breathing heavily and staring down at the pine needles strewn over the side of the road, criss-crossing in the dirt like pick-up sticks.

He might not have handled that perfectly, but it didn’t excuse her acting like a spoiled brat. Storming off with her drama and proclamations. At this point he knew that about her, though. She wasn’t easy. Hell, that’s kind of what he’d always secretly liked about her. She was fun; a challenge. Things were never boring with her.

Propping his hands up on his bike, Jake started to push himself forward again.He should give her some space, give her some breathing room and go up Dalak.He didn’t like it, but she was a grown woman and could make her own decisions.

Someone like her needed to cool off before you could reason with her about anything. He was still doubting that she could make it through this Dalak trek, but he needed to let her do it. He wasn’t really worried about her and Daniel, at least not on her part. He didn’t trust Daniel, though. And if he heard that asshole did one thing out of turn, well then Jake would be there waiting for him.

Damn, this is complicated. As he pedaled forward at a faster pace than before, he thought wistfully that if he was interested in a Sadie type, this wouldn’t be an issue. But apparently he was a masochist, because the only woman he could see in front of him as he cycled forward was the one who’d just slammed a door in his face.

Chapter 11

“So,you’reclimbingupa mountain with a guy?” Cori drew the question out slowly through Lena’s AirPods.

Lena was on her lunch break at work and using the time to get some fresh air and bank some steps (practice for the big hike?). She caught up with Cori while she sipped an iced vanilla latte from the Golden Carafe.

“You hate hiking, Lena,” Cori continued. “You’re so bad at anything that requires even the slightest bit of endurance.”

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