Chapter 71

He didn’t run so much these days, not since Luca had come along and made Tav’s life better, not since he had proper reasons not to get into brawls and get sent off to juvie, but—

The effect hadn’t changed. Thu-duh, thu-duh, thu-duh―

This was calming. The T-shirt sticking to his back from sweat even though it was the middle of winter. The harsh rasp of air—inoutinoutinout—and the stuttering punch of his heart against his ribs. The shriek and burn of muscles both eager to stop and eager to be stretched even further. The rough shock of a hard running track shooting up his legs with every step.

“Tav!”

Tav had no intentions of ever going pro with this—much as the coach wanted him to—but he could see why people would. To get away from everything, every day. To be able to just switch off and not let anything bother you, like…like Luca’s stubborn face at the lockers and his bloody-minded refusal to fucking act about Jack Collins being a fucking psyc―

Thuduhthuduhthuduh―