Fighting Strong Read Online Free PDF

can’t tell anyone. Not ever. Not even Mia and Reena and Maggie know this part.”
    “What are you talking about?”
    She clutched his massive forearm and now her dark eyes were pleading and raw. “Promise me, Adam. Please.”
    Adam stared at her, totally lost. “OK. I won’t tell anyone.”
    She stood up shakily and he supported her. She unzipped her jeans and slowly tugged them down her long legs, wincing.
    “Careful,” he said. “Don’t make that cut worse, if possible.”
    She sat down again and extended her legs to his view. And that’s when he saw the burns: round, with jagged edges, all over her delicate upper thighs. Lots of burns. He stared at the raised white skin and his heart stopped.
    Katie couldn’t meet his eyes and she stared at her hands.
    “Katie.” His voice came out as a croak and he cleared his throat. “Are those cigarette burns?”
    She sat silent.
    “Katie?” Adam knelt down in front of her again and took her hands in his.
    “Just – just take care of the cut, Adam. Please?”
    He stared at her face and was amazed at the wave of worry and tenderness that came over him.
    “OK. I’ll be careful.”
    He turned his attention to the gash on her lower leg and saw that it was long but not especially deep and he almost sighed in relief. He’d been prepared to inject the lidocaine as a local anesthetic and stitch her up if he had to. After twelve years of pro boxing, Adam knew more than he cared to admit about quick patch jobs: he’d done dozens on himself and on friends. He knew he could do a good job, but now he wasn’t so sure how she’d have reacted. She may well have refused to let him drug her, even locally.
    “It’s OK, Katie,” he said. “You won’t need any stitches… I’ll clean it up and that’s going to sting like hell, I’m afraid. But then it’ll be over.”
    She was quiet as he cleaned out the cut, liberally applied cream and then wrapped and taped a bandage securely in place. He said nothing, but he couldn’t stop staring at the burns; he counted nineteen, and he saw that they went around to the backs of her legs too.
    Who the fuck did this to her?
    After he finished with her leg, he moved on to her arm. Carefully, he picked out six shards of glass with the tweezers and then poured disinfectant on the cuts. She bit her lip as the liquid burned and bubbled and he held her hand until she relaxed again. He put on some bandages and checked that they held.
    “OK, all done,” he said. “I want you to keep your legs bare for right now. I have some extra blankets here so you’ll be warm enough.” He wrapped a blanket around her shoulders and she clutched it. She still wouldn’t look at him.
    “I’ll set up a place for you to rest. You doing OK?”
    She nodded and started taking off her numerous silver earrings.
    Adam spread the sleeping bag on a stack of thin gym mats on the floor next to the far wall. He saw a stack of cushions and included one as a pillow. Then he went back to Katie and gently lifted her to her feet, helping her to walk across the floor.
    “Here, lie back.” He eased her down on to the sleeping bag, adjusted the cushion under her head and covered her with two blankets. “You OK?”
    “Yes.”
    “You want some water? A granola bar?”
    “No, thanks.”
    “You think you can sleep?”
    “I’ll try.”
    “Alright. I’ll be right over here if you need me.” He paused. “I’ll leave the flashlight on at night, OK?”
    Katie turned over and faced away from him. She stared at the barn wall and felt the tears running down her cheeks, unchecked. She fought to keep her crying quiet so Adam didn’t hear.
    Fuck, fuck. Why did he have to see them? He’s going to ask and keep asking until I answer, of course. I mean, I would. What am I going to say?
    She was sure that she would be awake all night, and it was a surprise when she started to feel drowsy. She heard Adam breathing and moving around behind her as he cleaned and bandaged the cut on