Read Love & War Book 1 in The Arcadia Falls Chronicles Page 7

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  It was time to talk to Drew. Whether he wanted to talk about it or not, it had to be done. A week had passed, and things were weird in the house because of us. After school the next Monday, I found him at the gym, beating the crap out of a hanging punching bag.

  I wore my workout clothes. Even though we were fighting, I had still kept up with my after-school training the previous week. I just hadn’t been doing it at the gym. He was doing a great job of ignoring me at home, too. Not that I tried very hard to be around him.

  I stood back and watched him. He was shirtless with only his workout shorts on. His muscles rippled each time he slammed his fists into the bag.

  "Drew?" I approached him slowly. "We have to talk."

  "There is nothing to talk about," he told me and kicked the bag with a round house.

  "Yes, there is."

  "No, you made it clear what you want. There is no reason to talk about it."

  I sighed. "I understand why you’re angry. I would feel the same way."

  Kick, punch, kick.

  I tried to ignore the fact that he was doing his best to ignore me.

  "I didn’t do anything," I told him.

  He spun around toward me so fast I took a couple of steps backward.

  "You didn’t do anything? You kissed him!"

  I shook my head. I really didn’t want to blame Gavin, but I had to. "He kissed me. I didn’t kiss him."

  "I saw you." He spun and hit the bag again, causing it to swing backward.

  "You saw him kissing me. I didn’t instigate it or ask him to do it. I went there to be alone, and he showed up."

  "I know what I saw." Right, left, right, left, he let loose several quick punches and then stopped, lowering his taped hands.

  I reached out to touch him, and he jerked away.

  "Seriously?" I cried out. "Fine!"

  I don’t know what happened to me but I lost all sense of trying to be civil and punched him in the stomach, hard.

  "What the…." He crouched a little bit because he hadn't expected it.

  "Oh, my god! I’m sorry!" I stepped forward out of instinct to make sure he was okay. His surprised eyes were wide, but I couldn’t read what was in them.

  Then he lowered himself and with one quick sweep of his leg, he knocked me to the ground. I landed on my back as the air gushed out of my lungs.

  "Drew!"

  I tried to get up, but he was on top of me holding my arms down.

  "Knock it off," I grunted at him.

  "No. You want to play it this way? We can play it this way."

  "I didn’t kiss him. I just responded to him." I flung my legs up and wrapped them around his neck. "I’m sorry."

  I yanked down with my legs and Drew fell back. I kept my legs around his neck and squeezed.

  "Chloe," he wheezed out as my thighs tightened around his neck. He grabbed my legs and tried to pry them away from him, but I squeezed harder.

  "Damn it, Drew. I picked you. I’m not a cheater."

  "Sure looked like you were." He finally pried my legs away and escaped. I turned over and tried to crawl away but didn’t get far. He grabbed my legs and yanked me back toward him, and then he tried to straddle me again.

  I slammed my fist into his cheek bone.

  He didn’t say anything, but he grabbed my hands again and held them above me while I lay flat on the mat. I tried with my legs again, but he had already been taken that way so he was onto me. I wiggled and squirmed beneath him.

  "Let me go. I’ll leave you alone if that’s what you want."

  He lowered his head until our lips were almost touching and stared me in the eye. "I don’t want you to leave me alone. I want to be yours. I want you to be mine. Alone. I don’t like sharing, especially with him."

  "Drew," I sighed and relaxed my body. His lips came just a little bit closer.

  "You know, Chloe. This sort of thing really doesn’t help my trust issues."

  "I’m sorry," I told him. "I don’t know what else to say. I love you." The last came out as a whisper.

  Suddenly he was crushing his lips against mine and tingles shot through my body. At the same time, there was a huge burst of applause. Startled, Drew and I both turned our heads and every single person in the gym was clapping and even a few ‘woohoos’ came from our unexpected audience.

  "Oh, my god," I whispered as I hid my face in Drew’s neck.

  He laughed and rolled off of me. "Well, it’s not like it’s been a secret that we’ve been fighting."

  "Wonderful," I moaned.

  Our audience was disbanding and going back to their workouts.

  Drew held his hand out and helped me to my feet.

  "Don’t ever do that again," he told me, bringing me close to him for another super-awesome kiss.

  "I won’t," I mumbled against his lips.

  I couldn’t help but think of Gavin’s lingering words about fighting for me. At least he would be gone for a while, and we wouldn’t have to worry about it.

  I just wished they could get along so we could all be friends.