Re: [punching, the redux]
Adrian was struck by deja vu as he came through the door, with Patrick already well into working out. "No," he said. "Probably not." There wasn't any malice in it, but he didn't really see the point.
He hadn't come here to pound Patrick's face into the floor. He wasn't that kind of angry. But he was done with pretending he wasn't angry, and that he wouldn't be angry for the foreseeable future, for reasons that did and didn't have anything to do with Patrick. And he hadn't missed the lack of contact from Newt. He must have heard what had happened by now. It made sense, probably. Nothing had changed for anyone else, even if everything was different for him. The gym smelled like stale sweat and pale antiseptic cleanser lingering on the equipment.
He dropped his gym bag against the wall. His stomach was churning. "Let's get in the ring," he said. He didn't like the taste in his mouth of fighting his brother bareknuckle on the gym floor. He didn't really know what he wanted from anything, but he knew it wasn't that.