Fix You: Bash and Olivia Read Online Free PDF Page A

what I hoped was a tough-girl glare.
    "Yeah, and you can take care of yourself. Like last night." He set the glass he'd been drying back into a rack behind him on the bar and slung the white dish towel over his shoulder. "Look, I know why you're here."
    His gaze drilled into mine and I could almost feel him reading my mind. I stuttered, struggling to think of a way to explain myself without sounding like a total flake, when he saved me from the effort.
    "You feel guilty for getting me fired. Poor, no-college loser got fired from his job and now he's going to have to bust his ass to find yet another dead-end job to replace it." He flexed his jaw and rolled his shoulders back. "But you can save it. I'm good. I'm only here for a couple more months and then I'll be boxing on the pro circuit. So all your little boyfriend did was push my schedule up a little. You can go back to your dorm and get a good night's sleep knowing that my life isn't ruined, okay?"
    For the second time that day, I was apparently dismissed. And why, after all the things that had happened in this shit-ass week, that was the thing that sent me over the edge, I’d never know. One second, I was standing between the door and the bar watching him walk away, the next, I'd launched myself in his direction, grabbed his biceps, and yanked him until we were face-to-face. Well, nose to shoulder, really. Jesus, he was huge.
    "I didn't come here because I feel guilty," I said sharply, tipping my head back to meet his doubt-filled gaze. "I came because I wanted to tell you something."
    His eyes narrowed as he looked down at me, and it took everything I had not to focus on that mouth.
    "I know what he did to me was wrong, and I’m not going to let it continue.” I took a breath and said the words aloud for the first time. “I'm not going to stay with Andy."
    I half expected him to say what he probably should have said. Something like, “What does that have to do with me? We don't even know each other.” Maybe that would have been enough to send me packing. To make me realize that the strange pull I felt between us was one-sided. That I was in it alone, and I should forget all about him. Instead, he stared at me for a long moment and something in his expression shifted.
    He ducked his head in a curt nod. "Well, I'm really glad to hear that."
    Warmth flowed through me, melting away just a little of the ice that had been lodged in my chest for the past week. So some stranger who helped me didn't think I was a total asshat. Huzzah. But for some reason, at that moment, it was enough.
    I nibbled on the inside of my cheek, wondering what else to say. The urge to tell him everything…explain about Andy and me…tell him about my mom and dad and the money…hit me like an oncoming train. I needed a friend right now. Maybe he did too.
    No guts, no glory.
    "Do you want to get a cup of coffee with me after you're done here?" At his blank look, I felt compelled to fill the awkward silence. "Or something. Like, if you don't drink coffee, we could do something else." That totally sounded like a come on. "Not like that kind of something.” I made an O with my thumb and forefinger and thrust the opposite index finger into the hole in the universal sign for sex, which I regretted instantly. Clasping my hands behind my back to stop them from moving, I pressed on. “Um, I just mean hang out. Or something."
    Dear God, make it stop.
    I was pretty sure my face was literally on fire when he finally took pity on me and halted my yammering.
    “I have something to do after work so I don’t know about coffee…or anything else,” he said, his full lips twitching with what might have been the start of a smile, “but I can definitely walk you home when my shift is over if you hang here for a while.”
    I could do that. The relief that settled over me was all-consuming. I felt like I could finally breathe again. Silly, since I hardly knew the guy. But just the thought that I’d have a few