Days of Revelations (Night of Secrets #2)

Chapter 43 - To Not be an Idiot

Jax

"Ow... Ow... Ow!" Santos steps away from the punching bag, holding his hands up. "I'm done. I'm not holding the bag for you anymore."

I ignore him, swinging at the bag. Every time it sways towards me, I hit it again. And again and again and again. Sweat stings my eyes, and my knuckles throb, but I keep hitting the bag, solid thuds echoing throughout the gym. I grit my teeth with each hit, feeling Santos' eyes on me.

"Jax." I ignore him. "Jax." I punch the bag as hard as I can. "Jax."

I punch one more time, throwing everything I have into it before I straighten and turn to Santos. "What?"

He narrows his eyes, reaching out to hold the bag still. "What happened? Why are you so pissed off this morning?"

I try to gulp down as much air as I can, but that makes all the events from last night rush back to me. And I don't want to remember what happened last night. I never want to think about how Adeline cried and how I couldn't do anything to make it stop. How I never have been able to do anything to make it stop.

"Nothing," I say, ripping off my knuckle bindings. "Nothing happened."

Santos narrows his eyes. "Really? So if I text Adeline right now—?"

I glare at him. "Don't. She's probably still asleep. Let her sleep." She probably needs it. I throw the bindings in my duffle bag. "And why do you think this is about Adeline anyway?"

Santos gives me an exasperated look. "Because you always have dinner with her family on Fridays. And yesterday was the first time you really saw her since she broke up with you. I'd be surprised if you weren't feeling anything about it."

"Yeah, well..." I let out a breath and slump down onto the bench. I run a hand through my hair, making sweat spill down my face and sting my eyes even more. I relish the pain as I drop my hand, letting it hang between my knees. "That's fair..."

Santos sits next to me, putting a hand on my shoulder. "What happened?"

Nothing. Everything. A lot. Too little. All of that all at once. I don't say any of that, though. I look at Santos and say, "I'm in love with Adeline."

Santos snorts. "I know that. Everyone knows that."

I let out a breath, sitting back. "Adeline doesn't."

He narrows his eyes. "What do you mean? I thought you told her."

"I did, but it's not like she believes me. It's not like she believes anything I say about her." I stare across the gym. "I think last night I realized just how much she doesn't believe me and how I can't do anything to make her believe me." I turn to look at Santos. "I feel like a really useless friend."

Santos blinks before he leans away from me, his mouth agape and his eyebrows furrowed. "Are you fucking kidding me right now?"

I sit up. "No—"

Santos grits his teeth, exhaling sharply through his nose. "Jax, you need to shut the fuck up right now before you say something even more stupid to piss me off."

I blink. "But I—" He cuts me off with a glare, pulling out his phone. "What are you doing? If you're calling Adeline—"

"I'm not. I'm calling Aart and Ty, so they can hear how fucking stupid you are."

I glare at Santos, but all I say is, "They're probably not awake. It's seven on a Saturday morning."

Like I thought, they don't pick up, but that doesn't stop Santos from calling them over and over again until they do. It takes five tries before Aart picks up and seven before Ty picks up.