Running Game(11)
As far as I could tell, the years had been good to her.
Real good.
“Are you married?” I interrupted.
“What?” she asked, her eyes widening.
“I was just wondering what happened to you. You disappeared off the face of the Earth, embarrassed the hell out of ol’ teenaged me, and I never heard from you again. What have you been doing with yourself?”
“Oh. Well, this is it,” she replied. “Been going to school, trying to become the best PT I can be.”
“You must be great if you’re working here.”
“I try.”
“So, you’ll be working with me? The whole time?” I asked.
“Yes, Mr. Collins,” she nodded.
“Maisey, stop calling me Mr. Collins, for fuck’s sake.” I wanted to remind her that my cock had been inside of her, but I refrained, because she was so uptight that she’d probably explode.
“Right. Sorry. Jesse,” she replied.
“Looks like we’re going to get a lot of time to get reacquainted, huh?” I asked, my eyes raking over her curves.
“Look, Jesse. I’m here to help you get better,” she snapped. “That’s all. We don’t need to waste time talking about the past.”
“Wow, you’ve become quite serious, haven’t you?” I mused. I could have sworn I saw a slight blush creep into her cheeks, and it surprised me how much it pleased me that I’d gotten to her, even if it was a small victory.
“I take my job very seriously. Let’s just get started, shall we?” she said, clipping her words.
“Sure, baby, whatever you want.”
“Don’t call me baby. Please.” She turned around and put her hand on the door handle, before turning back to me. “Actually, Mr. Coll — Jesse — I’m going to need to do an exam. Please take off your clothes and put on the gown lying there on the chair. I’ll be back in a few minutes.”
She was gone before I could comment, which was too bad because I really wanted to make a joke about her asking me to get naked. Instead, my laughter echoed behind her in the empty room.
Maybe this rehab thing wasn’t going to be so bad after all.
6
MAISEY
“I don’t understand the problem, Maisey,” Larry said, his voice growing increasingly full of annoyance. This was the third time I’d asked him to take me off Jesse’s case.
“I don’t know. It’s just a feeling I have. I don’t think I’ll be able to do the best job for him.”
“That’s nonsense. You’re the best in your field. You’ve brought athletes back from worse injuries, you’ll be just fine. I don’t know why you’re so upset about this,” he said, shaking his head, “any other woman would be jumping at the chance to work on Jesse Colorado’s body.”
“Larry, that’s so unprofessional,” I replied, rolling my eyes.
“We’ve already established I’m not the most professional guy in the building, haven’t we?”
I sighed, completely defeated. There’s no way in hell I was going to tell Creepy Larry why I didn’t want to spend another minute in the room with Jesse.
“Alright, fine, then I don’t want to be alone in the room with him.”
“What? Why not? Are you afraid he’s going to assault you or something? That seems out of character. Maisey, is there something you aren’t telling me?”
“No! No I’m not afraid of him, I just - just - oh god, never mind, Larry.”
“Well, you know we’re short-handed. I don’t really have anyone I can spare for the long sessions he’s going to require, and there isn’t a damn person in the building better suited to making Jessie ready for the next football season. In fact, I’m taking you off all your other cases, so you can focus on him. You’re going to have to just buck up and handle this, Maisey. Can you do that?”
“Yeah,” I relented, sighing again.
“Maisey, when I hired you last year, I had the utmost confidence you were the right person for this job,” he said, peering into my eyes. “I hope you don’t make me regret that decision.”
Fuck! Maddy’s face flashed in my head, reminding me that I couldn’t afford to lose this job.
“No, Larry, it’s fine. I’ll deal with it. Forget I said anything, okay?”
“Good,” he nodded, “make sure you do the best job you can, Maisey,” his voice growing serious. “A lot is riding on this. Not to pressure you, but bringing the golden boy of Colorado back to full form could bring us a lot of great press.”
“I understand,” I nodded, standing to leave as I hid my shaking hands from his view. I had to figure this one out by myself. I had no choice.