Read Online Knockout (Fighting For Love Book 1) by Evelyn Glass - Free Book Online
Authors: Evelyn Glass
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chance, Gray , he reminds himself, and you blew it.
“Don’t worry about it, kid. We’re all fools when it comes to beautiful women, even you.” West gives him a look out of the corner of his eye and wraps his arm around Grayson’s shoulder. “At least now I understand where your head was this morning. A girl like that is enough to throw any man off his game.” West sounds thoughtful, but Grayson isn’t in the mood to find out what’s going on in his coach’s head; there’s too much going on in his own.
He remains silent as he picks up the pace, breaking into a run, like he’s just re-energized, powered up. The Adriana Effect , he smiles to himself. He holds tight to the napkin with Adriana’s number on it, feeling more hopeful than he has in years.
ADRIANA
“You mind telling me what that was all about?” Adriana flops down into the seat opposite Willow, succumbing to that weak-kneed feeling that she has come to associate with being around Grayson.
“What was what about?” Willow looks at her all wide-eyed and innocence.
“You hate blood. What are you going to do at the fight, wear a blindfold?” Adriana levels the approaching waiter with a glare that tells him she’s so not ready to order.
“I’ll figure something out.” Willow shrugs nonchalantly, before she buckles under the intensity of Adriana’s gaze. “Alright, alright, it’s like you’ve got little laser beams hiding in those peepers of yours.” She finally puts the menu down. “I was only trying to help. He likes you, you know?”
Adriana looks at Willow with her mouth open. “Who?”
“Who? The homeless dude over there carrying the sign, ‘Will drop pants for money’! Grayson! Who the hell did you think I was talking about?” Willow throws her hands up in despair.
“Sorry, were we at different conversations? Because from where I was standing, he couldn’t get away from me fast enough. He was uncomfortable and fidgety, and he wouldn’t even look at me half the time.” Adriana gnaws on her bottom lip, hating that she’d managed to catalogue a list of reasons that Grayson clearly didn’t want anything to do with her.
“Oh honey,”—Willow lays a hand over Adriana’s—“that man likes you, is it really so hard to believe?”
“He didn’t even remember me last night, Will. I had to remind him who I was. Do you have any idea how crushing that was for me?” Adriana puts her head down and repeatedly bangs it on the table, making their cutlery bounce and clatter.
“Adrie! Adrie, stop before you hurt yourself.” Willow waits until Adriana’s head is up and at a safe distance from the table before continuing. “Whatever happened, whatever the reason is that he disappeared without a word, that man has some unresolved issues with you. Haven’t you noticed the way he looks at you?”
Adriana shakes her head, miserably, all she had seen was how he tried so hard not to look at her, like it hurt him to see her. “I can’t see him again, Will.” This is what she’d come to tell her friend that morning, the decision that she’d made overnight. “When Grayson disappeared, it left me in pieces. I can’t go back there, not again.”
Willow looks at her with her no bullshit stare. “You can’t go around avoiding things in case they don’t end well, Adrie. This is your life, and you only get one. It’s not a rehearsal. Don’t shut yourself off from everything. Live a little.”
Adriana absorbs the words of advice, knowing that Willow’s right, that she can’t keep pushing people and opportunities away because she’s frightened of losing them. But it is hard to change a habit that she’d honed so studiously over the past ten years. The rule seems to be that she got left—first her mother, then Grayson, finally her father who had been her rock. But Grayson had come back, did that make him the exception to the
“Don’t worry about it, kid. We’re all fools when it comes to beautiful women, even you.” West gives him a look out of the corner of his eye and wraps his arm around Grayson’s shoulder. “At least now I understand where your head was this morning. A girl like that is enough to throw any man off his game.” West sounds thoughtful, but Grayson isn’t in the mood to find out what’s going on in his coach’s head; there’s too much going on in his own.
He remains silent as he picks up the pace, breaking into a run, like he’s just re-energized, powered up. The Adriana Effect , he smiles to himself. He holds tight to the napkin with Adriana’s number on it, feeling more hopeful than he has in years.
ADRIANA
“You mind telling me what that was all about?” Adriana flops down into the seat opposite Willow, succumbing to that weak-kneed feeling that she has come to associate with being around Grayson.
“What was what about?” Willow looks at her all wide-eyed and innocence.
“You hate blood. What are you going to do at the fight, wear a blindfold?” Adriana levels the approaching waiter with a glare that tells him she’s so not ready to order.
“I’ll figure something out.” Willow shrugs nonchalantly, before she buckles under the intensity of Adriana’s gaze. “Alright, alright, it’s like you’ve got little laser beams hiding in those peepers of yours.” She finally puts the menu down. “I was only trying to help. He likes you, you know?”
Adriana looks at Willow with her mouth open. “Who?”
“Who? The homeless dude over there carrying the sign, ‘Will drop pants for money’! Grayson! Who the hell did you think I was talking about?” Willow throws her hands up in despair.
“Sorry, were we at different conversations? Because from where I was standing, he couldn’t get away from me fast enough. He was uncomfortable and fidgety, and he wouldn’t even look at me half the time.” Adriana gnaws on her bottom lip, hating that she’d managed to catalogue a list of reasons that Grayson clearly didn’t want anything to do with her.
“Oh honey,”—Willow lays a hand over Adriana’s—“that man likes you, is it really so hard to believe?”
“He didn’t even remember me last night, Will. I had to remind him who I was. Do you have any idea how crushing that was for me?” Adriana puts her head down and repeatedly bangs it on the table, making their cutlery bounce and clatter.
“Adrie! Adrie, stop before you hurt yourself.” Willow waits until Adriana’s head is up and at a safe distance from the table before continuing. “Whatever happened, whatever the reason is that he disappeared without a word, that man has some unresolved issues with you. Haven’t you noticed the way he looks at you?”
Adriana shakes her head, miserably, all she had seen was how he tried so hard not to look at her, like it hurt him to see her. “I can’t see him again, Will.” This is what she’d come to tell her friend that morning, the decision that she’d made overnight. “When Grayson disappeared, it left me in pieces. I can’t go back there, not again.”
Willow looks at her with her no bullshit stare. “You can’t go around avoiding things in case they don’t end well, Adrie. This is your life, and you only get one. It’s not a rehearsal. Don’t shut yourself off from everything. Live a little.”
Adriana absorbs the words of advice, knowing that Willow’s right, that she can’t keep pushing people and opportunities away because she’s frightened of losing them. But it is hard to change a habit that she’d honed so studiously over the past ten years. The rule seems to be that she got left—first her mother, then Grayson, finally her father who had been her rock. But Grayson had come back, did that make him the exception to the
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