“Okay fair enough. It is a small tear so we may be able to heal it up enough for you. When does it bother you?”
“Certain maneuvers, twisting, cutting, sometimes jogging. Not all the time though.”
“Okay we can work with that. Anything else?”
“That’s it, Doc,” he smirks.
“Normani is gonna set you up with some heat and stim first, then some exercises. Let her know if any of them bother you, okay?”
He nods and I explain the exercises to Normani, walking back towards my office. I pick up my phone on the desk and dial my aunt’s number.
“Hey Bells, what’s up?” she answers.
“Damon Johnson. Why?” I ask frustrated.
“I…” she laughs and I shake my head. “He needed a PT and of course I’m gonna recommend him to Double Play.”
“Lacey told you, didn’t she? New patient, I ain’t stupid.”
“She might have mentioned somethin’.”
I hear the sneakiness in my aunt’s tone and shake my head.
“Why can’t everyone just mind their damn business? What I do on my own time is private.”
“Well from what Lacey told me, I think you made it the whole apartment building’s business. I hope you were careful.”
“I was! Uh, she is such a loud mouth! She really wants to start this, huh? You wanna know how many guys come and go through our apartment?”
“No,” my aunt says quickly, “I really don’t. She knows how I feel about that, but if she’s careful there’s nothin’ I can do. Y’all are grown woman, I was just recommendin’ the greatest physical therapist I know to one of my nice, handsome clients.”
“Did he know it was me?”
“I didn't mention your name but it ain’t a secret that you run it Bells.”
I scoff.
“How are you holdin’ up with the whole Connor thing?” she asks turning serious.
“I’m fine. I should have listened to y’all from the beginnin’. I’m just happy I didn’t catch anything from that dirtbag. I ran right to the doctor to get tested. Jackass,” I say shaking my head.
“Hey, sorry to interrupt but we need some help in here. I’m tryin’ to explain this exercise to him but he ain't gettin’ it,” Normani says from my doorway.
“Yeah my ass he ain’t,” I whisper. “I gotta go Aunt Sav. By the way, Normani is...I know what you're tryin’ to do, ya know.”
“What are you talkin’ about? She's part of the Second Chances intern program, I'm just doin’ my duty, that's all,” she says with a slyness to her tone.
“You know Devin is gonna take one look at her and she'll be doin’ the walk of shame the next day. She seems nice, but I'm gonna need another replacement before I write her first paycheck.”
“I think she'll be okay,” my aunt says confidently.
“Yeah, yeah, you and your plans. Keep outta my business, ya hear? Do what you want with Devin, but my life is off limits, got it?”
“Sure thing Bells. Enjoy,” she says, amusement in her voice.
I hang up the phone and walk back to the training room. Damon is sitting on the table, a big smug smile on his face.
“What’s the problem?” I ask annoyed.
“I’m tryin’ to show him the leg lift exercise to test his range of motion but he keeps doin’ it wrong,” Normani says.
“You just sit there and lift your leg, what’s so difficult about that?”
“It hurts a little bit to extend, I may need some help.”
I nod to Normani and she walks over to Damon, her hand on his upper thigh and the other hand under his calf. Damon’s eyebrows shoot up to his forehead looking at me and then to Normani.
“I’ll help ya lift it as high as you can go,” Normani says quietly.
I watch Damon ease back on his hands behind him and his leg lifts slowly, the muscles in his thighs flexing and I clench my sex.
Shit.
Normani’s hand moves up a little further as he lifts his leg and I know that’s what she is supposed to be doing but I feel my blood start to boil.
“Like that?” Damon asks softly.
That shithead knows exactly what he’s doing.
“Yep, keep goin’. Let’s see if you can push it a little more,” Normani says.
Damon smirks lifting his leg higher.
“Oh, I can push it a lot more.”
“Normani, I got it from here. Why don’t you go in my office and transfer the notes? Check on the other patients for the day and make sure all the paperwork stuff is in order,” I say quickly walking to Damon’s side.
Normani let’s go of his leg quickly and shakes her head.
“Right yeah.”
She scurries away and I curse.
“Dammit Damon, stop it! You know full well what you’re doin’,” I chastise.
“Angel, I’m just doing my exercises, like you said.”
“Oh, so you weren’t usin’ Normani to get a rise out of me? Tryin’ to make me jealous?”
“Now why would I do that? Clearly last week wasn’t up to par for you. My phone has been radio silent. There’s nothin’ you should be jealous about, right?”
He studies me and I try to keep my expression passive.
“Well, I didn’t hear much from your end either. Pretty sure my phone wasn’t blowin’ off the hook with messages from you.”
“Fair enough. I’m not trying to do the girlfriend thing again angel and you clearly want that.”
“I...I never said I wanted a boyfriend.”
“No?”
“No. Didn’t work out so well for me last time and I’m sick of people assumin’ I can’t have meaningless sex with someone!”
I’m breathing heavy, my emotions getting the best of me. Everyone is telling me to be careful, watch out, do this, do that. I’m so damn sick of it.
“You wanna go out with me tonight angel?”
“I...what? You just said you don’t want the girlfriend thing.”
“I don’t. We go out, then maybe go home and have a repeat of last weekend. I haven't gotten the taste of your pussy off my tongue all week, and I don't really want to.”
I blush at his words and I feel my center clench. She remembers very well how that tongue felt and she wants it again. I feel the desire creeping up my body to my brain, effectively shutting it off. I’m in charge now, it says.
“Okay yeah. Let’s go out. I can do that. I just...can I bring Lacey?”
“Sure, I’ll bring my brother,” he says smiling.
“Let’s finish these exercises and get you out of here then. No screwin’ around.”
“I wouldn’t dream of it.”
We move through the rest of his exercises fairly quickly until it comes to the massage portion. I squirt some lotion into my hand and rub through the muscles we worked out today, focusing on the inside of Damon's knee. I kneed his tight muscles and watch his nostrils flair out of the corner of my eyes. I smile, knowing this contact is having the same effect on him as it is on me.
“Good?” I whisper.
“So good,” he whispers back.
My eyes roam back down his body and stop at his crotch.
Oh my god.
I can make out the outline of his hard cock down the side of his right thigh, the thigh I’m massaging, and I feel my fingers inch up, itching to touch it. My hands move with a mind of their own, up his bulging thigh.
His hand grabs my wrist to stop my intent and he growls, a low deep rumble from the back of his throat.
“Careful angel, we both know I have no control when it comes to you. We don’t want to give the rest of your patients a show.”
I shake my head, glancing around the room and see Normani talking with a patient at the next table. Another patient is at reception and there is another waiting in the waiting room. What the hell am I doing?
“I...yeah you’re right. Let me just hook you up to the stim machine again, with some ice and get you on your way.”
; I get up from the stool, walking over to the sink to wash my hands.
Breathe Bella, just breathe.
I swear the temperature in here increased about 15 degrees. I take off my hoodie and make my way back over to Damon. I grab the stickers for the machine, placing them around his knee and then hook each wire to them, slowly increasing the electricity, gauging his reaction.
“Too hard or good?” I ask.
His gaze drops down to my breasts and he smirks.
“Not hard enough angel.”
I feel my face heat at his insinuation. I close my eyes and chastise myself for wearing a thin bra today.
“This is good for now, we don’t wanna do too much the first day. I'll tell Normani to wrap you up with ice for twenty minutes then you’re ready to go.”
“Thanks Doc. See you tonight,” he says winking.
“I didn’t even give you my number.”
“I’m familiar with your apartment building, remember.”
Right, well that was stupid. Good thinking Bella, bring a complete stranger to your apartment so now he knows where you live.
“Relax, I’m not a stalker,” Damon laughs, sensing my reservations. “Nico and I will be by around seven. That work for you ladies?”
“Yeah, sure. Nico huh? You think he's Lacey's type?” I ask.
“I have a feeling they'll hit it off just fine.”
I smile and hope he's right. “See ya tonight.”
I head to the waiting room taking our next patient, Beatrice Hanson. She is an older women in her seventies that recently got her hip replaced. Usually we only take younger patients with sports injuries, but Beatrice is a good friend of my grandmothers.
“Hi Beatrice, how are you today?” I ask guiding her to the closest bed.
“I'm fine dear. Who was that gentleman you were talkin’ to? He's quite a looker,” she says pushing her glasses further up on her face.
“He's a baseball player.”
“Friend of yours or Devin's?”
“No...just a baseball player.”
“Well if I knew a baseball player that looked like that, I sure wouldn't be lettin’ that new girl handle him. I'd give her the old frumpy patients like me and handle that man with care myself.”
I glance over and see Normani wrapping up Damon’s knee and they're laughing. I can't help the jealousy creeping up my spine.
“She needs to learn the ropes. He's just a patient,” I say trying to make the words true if I say them out loud.
It doesn't work. My blood boils hotter and I know I am in big trouble. I have no claim on Damon, but my body is sure acting like I do.
Shit.
Chapter 7
Bella
“So how do you think your first official day on the floor went?” I ask Normani as we pack up the equipment and get ready to close up for the night.
“It was okay,” she says shrugging her shoulders.
I don’t know her very well, but I can tell by her tone she’s upset about something, call it women’s intuition.
“What’s up Normani?” I say leaning against one of the beds and folding my arms across my chest.
“I...I don’t want you to think I was hittin’ on Damon. He’s all yours I just...I don’t wanna start off like that. He’s really not my type...like at all,” she says exhaling.
I laugh and shake my head.
“We aren’t...it was just...I don’t even know, but thank you, for sayin’ that. I really didn’t think you were, he was tryin’ to get a rise out of me. He shouldn’t have acted like that towards you, it's completely unprofessional. I’ll talk to him next time.”
“Okay good. I don’t have many friends so I would hate for us to get off on the wrong foot,” she says smiling.
When she smiles with her whole face, I notice a small scar on her right cheek and squint my eyes. She notices my observation and turns away quickly.
“Of course not. We’re good,” I assure her.
She still has her back to me and I see her nod, putting the towels into the hamper by the wall.
“You from around here? I noticed the accent.”
“Yeah. I grew up a couple towns over then ended up at Second Chances which I'm sure you've heard. Went to college in San Diego and...came back.”
“My aunt might have mentioned you were from their intern program. How’d you end up there?” I ask walking towards the other table and taking those towels to put in the hamper too.
“It’s a long story,” she says exhaling.
“Did you always know you wanted to become a physical therapist?”
“Um...yeah, kind of,” she says turning around slowly.
She looks at something on the wall behind me and seems to focus on it before she opens her mouth to speak again.
“My mama became paralyzed. I uh...went to her therapy appointments, helped her through the exercises, I kinda fell in love with the idea of helpin’ people through somethin’ they believe they can't get through.”
“Wow...I hope I'm not bein’ too forward but, how did that happen?”
“A uh...freak accident in the house. She fell down the stairs,” she says quickly, breaking out of her trance.
She’s lying and I wonder why she would be? If she was at Second Chances that must mean…
“Did your mama ever end up walkin’?” I ask kicking myself because I already know the answer.
“No,” she says quietly, “She died a couple months after her accident. Got an infection in her leg that they couldn’t stop. Spread to her whole body and she died in the hospital.”
She’s lying again and I close my eyes, wanting to smack myself across the face for asking. Of course, her mama died otherwise she wouldn’t have been at Second Chances and she clearly doesn't want to talk about it if she's feeding me lie after lie.
“I’m so sorry Normani, I shouldn’t have-”
“No! It’s okay, really it’s fine,” she says plastering a smile on her face.
A smile I know is fake and reserved for this exact exchange, when people find out about your terrible life and you need to pretend it doesn’t bother you.
Shit, I suck.
“Do you have plans tonight? My cousin Lacey and I are gonna head out with Damon and his brother. I can get my brother to come along if you want? It could be fun to get out and meet some people?”
“It’s okay,” she says with a small smile. “I have to get home, I have some stuff to do in my new apartment.”
“Well if you need some help, let me know. I’ll see you tomorrow,” I say squeezing her shoulder.
We walk out together and I lock up our door. I wave off Normani as I walk across the hall to Double Play.
“Hello. Who’s still left workin’ this late?” I ask walking down the hall to my aunt and parents offices.
I hear shuffling so I turn to my mama’s office and stop in my tracks when I see her sitting on her desk making out with my dad.
“Come on! What if I was a client?” I complain, shutting my eyes.
“Oh God, Bella! What time is it? I thought everyone was done for the night,” my mama says quickly.
“Hey Bells,” my dad laughs.
“Hi Daddy.”
I open my eyes slowly to make sure the coast is clear and see my mother with her arms folded over her chest.
“Why am I gettin’ the attitude? Y'all are the one makin’ out in the office,” I say throwing my hands up in the air.
“Why are you workin’ so late?” my mama asks.
“I had to show the new girl a couple of things before we left. I wanna make sure she’s ready to do it on her own when I’m gone for the month.”
“You excited?” my dad asks hopping up on the desk.
“Yeah, it’s nothin’ too crazy though, normal stuff. I am excited to get away for a little though.”
I see my daddy eye my mama and he hops off the desk, kissing her on the cheek.
“I gotta get home for Avery and relieve the babysitter. I’m gon
na see ya before ya leave for Florida, right?” my dad asks.
“Yep. I’ll check in before I go, don’t worry.”
Ballers with Benefits (Double Play Series Book 3) Page 6
