Page 53 of Hate It with You

He motions his hand toward my apartment in a silent question of whether he can come inside. I step aside, opening the door wider, allowing him to enter. With only a few short steps, he’s at the kitchen island, pushing an old pizza box and a box of donuts out of the way to set his mystery gift on the counter. He takes a sip of his coffee before turning to me.

“I found another box of these lying around my apartment last night, and I thought you might want to put them up in here.” He holds up the box to show me a pack of cameras, the same as the ones he installed downstairs in the shop.

Great, he must be as freaked as I am about the most recent note.

“I’ve already put up a few in the hallway this morning, and it won’t take me long to put up a couple in here if you’d like.” His voice trails off, the confidence in his offer wavering.

“Sure, if it’d make you feel better. It is your building after all.” I shrug him off, taking a sip of my tea, hoping he’ll buy my nonchalant attitude. Though deep down inside, I’m thankful for the offer. The fact that Frank made it to my front door undetected has been making me restless.

“Great, you can never be too cautious,” Alex says, opening the box, pulling the cameras out. “I’ve seen a few things on the news recently, so I thought I’d put more of these up.”

“Right, I’m sure if someone broke in, repairs on the building would be expensive.” I pause, setting my cup of tea down on the counter, now standing only a few inches from Alex as he keeps his focus on the cameras.

He hums mindlessly. “Yeah, exactly.”

My chest tightens at his confirmation that his only concern seems to be the building and not necessarily the people inhabiting it.

I leave it at that as I watch him install three cameras in my apartment. One in the corner of the kitchen, one in the corner of the dining room, and one in the living room.

When Alex approaches my bedroom with the last camera in hand, I interrupt his workflow. “I don’t think so.”

He looks back over his shoulder at me, a smirk overtaking his face. “What? Afraid another window situation will happen, but I’ll have the evidence this time?”

“No, I don’t trust you not to have that camera feed posted up on whatever flat-screen TV you have in your apartment over there.” I point in the direction of his apartment that shares a wall with mine.

He scoffs, then sets the camera down on a box near my bedroom door. “Fine, but when you eventually change your mind, all you have to do is plug it in, and it’ll work.”

“I won’t.” I take a step toward the front door. “You ready?” I say, perking up my voice. I’m actually looking forward to my training session today. Working out some of my pent-up aggression might improve my sleep schedule, since I barely slept a wink last night.

Alex nods, trailing me out the door, making sure to check the locks before following me down the stairs.

Halfway through the training session, I can’t catch my breath. Alex is pushing me harder than he has before today, more focused than I’ve ever seen him and I can’t figure out why.

“Harder,” he says, slapping the punching bag he’s standing behind as I pull my glove, ready to throw another punch.

I drive force through my arm, letting the glove connect with the bag once again as I’ve done repeatedly for the past ten minutes. Alex only lets out a disappointed sigh when I do.

“What?” I bite out.

“You should be hitting it hard enough that I actually have to work to keep the bag in place. Now c’mon.” He slaps the bag again. “Hit it as hard as you can.”

I punch the bag harder, my irritation with Alex’s focus growing stronger. I wanted to learn a few self-defense moves, not train to be the next MMA fighter.

“Better, but it still needs to be harder.” I punch the bag again, repeating the combo he has me working on. “Don’t lose form, c’mon. Again,” he says, eyes focused on my gloved hands.

His tone is firm, one I’ve heard him use on occasion with other clients when I’ve caught glimpses of his sessions, but never with me. Somewhere between the last session and this one, he’s become more determined to make me into his next fighting champion.

If I didn’t know any better, I’d say he was actually getting frustrated with me.

Thankfully, the gym is sparse this morning with only Tiffany working the front desk, and she’s usually scrolling on her phone in the mornings anyway.

I hit the combo again, this time as hard as I can, only for Alex to respond with “Harder.”

That’s the final straw. My blood boiling, I use my anger to hit the combo harder than I thought I could. Focusing on the bag, I sidestep, bring my leg up, and land a forceful kick to its side, my heel colliding with the bag. The force that runs through my legs sends the bag flying. Alex, standing behind the bag, is thrown off balance, his ass hitting the mat before I can properly catch my breath.

He looks up at me, clearly pleased with the force in which I used, but my blood is still raging. Alex stands as I’m removing my gloves, making my way to the nearby bench for my water bottle.

“That’s the power I’m looking for,” Alex says beside me. I take a long swig of my water, still working to catch my breath.