#Chapter 122: Mixed messages

“Spooky…” Evan was leading me through the boxing gym. It was bigger than I expected. It was a long, narrow building with a single room that just went on and on, with tons of equipment stations, punching bags, and full-size boxing rings. “Why?” Evan asked. “Cuz it’s empty? You’re the one who wanted privacy.” The sarcastic tone that Evan used kind of stung. We’d talked about why I didn’t want to be in a crowd… It wasn’t that I wanted privacy. I just had to be careful about my safety, now I was a public figure. I know he didn’t mean anything by it – it was just the way we teased each other. But it felt kind of insensitive. Just a little glimmer of the old Evan, the one who made fun of me for things I couldn’t control. He reached a spot near a punching bag and dropped his stuff. “Well, we got the run of the place. Let’s start with the bag.” I nodded, avoiding his eyes as I tried to shake off the feeling of being offende