Broken Lion

by Devon Hartford

  Lion signed another one from the stack in his lap and handed it to Daniel while chatting with the teenager in the #TeamLion shirt about his last fight. As soon as Daniel took the photo, I made sure he said thank you and I ushered him out the door.

  I didn’t want to spend any more time with Lion because I was afraid I might start to like him more than I already did.

  And that was far more than a doctor should.

  Chapter 8

  BRIGID

  My phone vibrated in my lab coat pocket several days later while I was at the hospital.

  Donald: Can you take Daniel this Saturday? I have a business thing I can’t get out of.

  Me: On Saturday?

  Unlike me, his job was Monday thru Friday and he had relatively normal hours. I depended on his normal hours, especially having his weekends free because mine rarely were.

  Donald: Yes. Is that a problem?

  Me: I’m on call all day Saturday. You know that.

  Saturday was also the only day I had to go grocery shopping, pay bills, do laundry, clean house, etc.

  Donald: Can you change your schedule? Just this once?

  Me: You know I can’t.

  Nobody ever wanted to cover a Saturday shift. I was usually the one covering it for everyone else.

  Donald: Please don’t give me any grief about this. I need to do this business thing.

  Me: I’m not giving you grief.

  Donald: I don’t want to argue about it. Can you please take Daniel tomorrow to his karate thing?

  Not surprisingly, Donald had readily agreed to signing Daniel up for classes. He cared about his son, and Daniel desperately wanted to do it. The only thing I didn’t like about karate for Daniel was that it kept me tied to Lion Maxwell. If I had to be the one taking Daniel to class, how was I going to avoid the man? There was always my neighbor Heather. She was a stay at home mom who had kids Daniel’s age and babysat for me all the time. Maybe she could do it. I hated passing the buck, but I needed to steer clear of Lion.

  Me: I’ll see if Heather can take him.

  Donald: Can you please make it work? For once?

  I scowled at my phone. I could hear Donald’s haggard tone in my head. It was the tone he used so often toward the end of our marriage. The one that made me feel like an absentee mother.

  Donald: Let me know ASAP. If you can’t, I’ll ask Mom and Dad to cancel their trip to Palm Springs. I don’t want Daniel missing his first day of class.

  He wasn’t trying to make me feel guilty. His parents Ronald and Linda did more than their fair share of helping with Daniel. They were like second parents and they had made it possible for me to get through four years of medical school and then residency with a young son. So my guilt was genuine and I deserved it.

  Me: I said I’d ask Heather.

  Donald: Please make it happen. For your son.

  Ouch. That stung.

  Anyone who ever said women could have it all—a career, a happy marriage, children, and a sex life—were absolute liars. Being Super Mom sounded good in fantasy land, but in reality it was impossible. Someone was always disappointed: your husband, your children, your boss, you, your patients, or your bank account. In my case it was all of the above.

  Had someone told me in advance this would happen, I never would’ve gone to medical school. I absolutely loved Daniel. He was my world. My life. With the help of Ronald and Linda, which had included living with them rent free, becoming a doctor and raising a son had seemed completely doable. Add to that the fact my mother was the primary breadwinner in my family (she was a Nurse Practitioner), and I had wanted to be a doctor since I was six, and getting my MD seemed inevitable. Sadly, I had been in denial about how demanding the hours of med school and residency would be on my marriage. Something always had to give. For me, it had been my marriage. I wasn’t able to give it the time it deserved. I thought I had, but Donald thought otherwise. I couldn’t really blame him.

  I sighed.

  This was the life I signed up for. Before the divorce, it had been tolerable and often enjoyable. Whenever I’d had spare time, I spent it with Daniel. He was the brightest light in my busy schedule. I had tried to include Donald in everything we did, but he never seemed satisfied. At least he didn’t try to shut me out of Daniel’s life after the divorce. Our current relationship was workable and generally polite, and we always put Daniel first. But as always, my time was limited by my schedule. Maybe in a few years, after I gained more experience, I would join a private practice. Then I’d have more time for my son.

  Hopefully.

  Believe me, I beat myself up every day over my choices.

  Again, I blame the Super Mom fantasy.

  Me: I’ll make it work. Can you bring Daniel to my condo first thing in the morning?

  Donald: Would your highness like anything else?

  I hated it when he did that.

  He was the one who got treated like royalty. For all I knew, his business thing was an early morning golf game at the Beverly Hills Resort with prospective clients and he didn’t want to be late to tee off. Me, I didn’t have time to exercise. Going to the gym meant that much less time with Daniel. Schmoozing at the golf course was hardly what I’d call work. Clearing an impacted bowel or delousing a patient was work.

  Me: If you bring him over first thing in the morning, I’ll make sure he gets to karate class. Your parents can go to Palm Springs and you can do your business thing. Then everybody will be happy.

  My happiness wasn’t part of the equation.

  As long as my son was happy, that was good enough for me. Secretly, I dreamed of having a life of my own outside of work.

  Experience told me that wasn’t a dream I should hold on to.

  With any luck, when I brought Daniel to class on Saturday, Lion wouldn’t be the one teaching. He was a symbol of the life I wanted but couldn’t have.

  Hopefully he would have his staff teach for him and I could forget about him for good.

  Chapter 9

  BRIGID

  “Hey! It’s Dan the Man!” Lion was greeting everyone as they walked into the dojo late Saturday morning. This time, he was on crutches instead of the wheelchair and had his knee brace on. He wore a gold instructor’s karate uniform with black karate pants and a black belt. The top had various embroidered patches that made him look official and authoritative. Not that he needed any help. His physique alone was sufficient. I could see his chest muscles flexing in the V of the uniform top whenever he leaned on the crutches. But there was something about a man in uniform.

  Daniel was all smiles when Lion greeted him. “Hey!”

  “Hey, Brigid.” Lion grinned.

  I rolled my eyes, “Hello, Mr. Maxwell.”

  “Call me Lion.”

  “Fine. Lion.”

  “Do I call you Lion too?” Daniel asked.

  Lion grinned. “Call me sensei.”

  “What’s that?”

  “It means teacher.”

  “Oh. Cool. Hey, sensei!”

  “Hey, bud.” Lion smiled at me. “I like this kid.”

  “Me too.”

  “You ready for class, Dan the Man?”

  “Yeah!”

  Lion turned to the young man I recognized from the wheelchair demonstration the other night. “Hey, Robert? Can you and Melanie get Daniel a uniform and help him and the other kids get dressed for class?”

  Melanie looked about sixteen and was too cute in her gold instructor’s uniform. She and Robert nodded and led the kids into the back, carrying a pile of new white uniforms in plastic wrappers.

  There were other supportive parents sitting in chairs near the front windows, but for the moment, Lion and I were relatively alone.

  “What do I owe you for the uniform?”

  “It’s free if Daniel signs up for a regular class.”

  “Oh.”

  “Are you planning on signing him up?” He looked hopeful.

  “If Daniel likes it, his father and I agreed
we would.”

  Suddenly, Lion sagged and looked slightly sheepish. “I owe you an apology, don’t I?”

  “Why?” I could think of a hundred reasons why he did, but I honestly couldn’t think of a good one.

  “You’re married.” He said it with regret.

  “Divorced.”

  His eyes brightened and that adorable grin of his was back. “Really?”

  “Don’t get any ideas. Doctor, patient. Patient, doctor.” I pointed back and forth between the two of us.

  He chuckled. “Right, right. Rules.”

  “You remember!”

  “Course I do. Doesn’t mean I like it.”

  “Remember what I said about rules?”

  He smirked. “Sometimes they’re ridiculous.”

  “I’m impressed.”

  “I’m always impressive.”

  “That ego of yours is really ballooning out of control. If I had a pin handy, I’d pop it.” I pretended to poke the side of his head. “Pop!”

  “More like ka-boom.”

  I giggled. “Are you making fun of your giant ego?”

  “Yeah. I never take myself too seriously. You on the other hand…”

  “I’m not too serious!”

  “Keep on telling yourself that, Einstein.”

  “Einstein wasn’t serious. He was famous for his sense of humor, I’ll have you know.”

  “See what I mean? You sound like a librarian.”

  “There’s nothing wrong with that.”

  “I’ll say.” His eyes wandered all over my body. “You look hot in those yoga pants and that hoodie.”

  His penetrating gaze made me feel naked. “Would you stop? People are watching!” I looked at the parents by the windows, but they were chatting amongst themselves or checking their cell phones. Lion and I stood near the dojo’s office, out of earshot and in semi-privacy.

  “What can I say, Brigid? I like what I see. A whole hell of a lot.”

  I whispered, “Stop staring at me you dirty pervert!”

  “You like it dirty. Don’t deny it.” He said it quietly, but that voice of his was still that voice…

  “I do not!” I was getting turned on in a karate dojo for kids and I felt guilty about it. Was this in any way appropriate? Probably not.

  Lion checked to make sure no one was listening, then muttered, “Your denial is code for you love it. For all I know, you work as a dominatrix when you’re not at the hospital. Probably got a whole closet of tight black leather outfits and whips at home.”

  “I do not! I’m a soccer mom when I’m not at work. A plain old soccer mom.”

  “It’s a cover. Admit it. You’re hard core dirty behind closed doors.”

  “How can you say that?” Yes, I was enjoying this. But I wasn’t a dominatrix nor had I ever considered being one.

  “Because a woman as controlling as you likes to crack the whip in the bedroom as much as she does at work.”

  My face burned beet red. “I don’t even own a whip.”

  “But you like to tell a man what to do. Tell him what you want. Am I right?”

  I wasn’t denying it. But my red face was admitting it like crazy. Why were we talking about my sex life or lack thereof? I needed to hide.

  “Thing is, you probably don’t even know what you want because you don’t know what you’ve been missing.”

  “Oh? What’s that, Mr. Know It All?”

  “You want someone to take control of you.”

  “No I don’t.” I was about to tell him he could take control of me whenever he wanted.

  “You want to know what it would be like to have a man like me pin you down and fuck you senseless. The kind of senseless where you forget everything except how hard you’re coming all over my face while I eat you alive.”

  “I don’t want that.” My denial was pathetic at best.

  “Sure you don’t.” His eyes drilled into me. “You’re probably dripping into your thong right now.”

  “I’m not wearing a thong.” I wasn’t. Soccer Mom Surgeons like me wore granny panties. It was the rules. But I was starting to drip.

  He grinned lustily. “Mmm. Not wearing anything, Irish? I like the sound of that.”

  I had completely forgotten where I was. But I was seriously considering dropping my yoga pants and spreading my legs to see if he could live up to his exaggerated claims. In fact, the office next to us had a large desk. If he were to suddenly pick me up, take me into the office, swipe everything off the top of said desk, sit me down on it and go to town, I would probably let him.

  One of the parents sitting in the chairs by the front windows coughed, breaking the moment.

  “We should…” I muttered, unable to finish my sentence.

  Lion’s eyes searched mine. “Yeah we should.” He was obviously thinking about that desk too.

  “Mom!” Daniel ran out of the back in a white karate uniform with a white belt tied around his waist. He looked incredibly cute and was the perfect distraction. “Check it out, Mom! I’m a white belt!”

  “You are!” Trying to switch gears, I took a deep breath. Was there a ladies room around here somewhere? I needed a wipe down.

  “Sensei, when do we learn how to break a board?”

  Lion chuckled and patted Daniel’s shoulder, “We’ll work up to it. You ready to learn some jiu-jitsu?”

  “Yeah!”

  “Then line up with the other kids and we’ll get this party started.”

  Daniel ran onto the blue mats and lined up with the other children who ranged in age from about six to twelve.

  Lion flashed me the sexiest grin in history. “We can fuck after class.”

  “What did you just say?”

  “I said we can talk after class. About signing Daniel up.”

  “Oh. Right.” I needed a cold shower. Or an orgasm. Since neither was an option I sat down with the other parents to watch class.

  For the next hour, Lion wrangled the kids with the help of Robert and Melanie. It was obvious from the start that Lion had worked with children before. Even on crutches, he was a pro at wrangling them and keeping them semi-focused. He also looked ridiculously sweet working with them. Whether on his crutches or in his wheelchair (he switched between both), he instructed them on how to punch and kick and block while Robert and Melanie demonstrated. During group drills, he went from child to child, always encouraging them, always making them laugh, all while correcting them gently and teaching them. The kids loved him.

  More importantly, Daniel was having more fun than I’d seen him have since the divorce. All because of Lion Maxwell. The man was melting my heart and he wasn’t even trying.

  That was when I knew I was in serious trouble.

  Why did there have to be a stupid rule about doctors not dating their patients?

  When class was over, Daniel ran up to me. “Mom! That was so awesome! I can’t wait to do it again!” He threw his arms around me. “Thank you so much for taking me today! I love you, Mom!”

  To my astonishment, Daniel was once again the happy kid I remembered, the one who had disappeared into hiding when things between Donald and me had soured. Gone was the perpetual dark cloud that had been hanging over my son’s head for too many years.

  I hugged my son back as hard as I could.

  I was going to cry in front of everybody.

  And it was all Lion’s fault.

  <<<<<<<>>>>>>>

  It took an hour for Lion and his staff to sign up the interested families after the free class was over. Daniel insisted we wait around until I signed him up. I didn’t mind waiting. I was reluctant to leave. As long as Lion was here, I wanted to be here. There was nothing unethical about me being here. It was for my son. And I intended to enjoy every moment of it.

  When Lion finished with the last of the other parents, he came over to me and Daniel and smiled. “I take it you’re signing Daniel up.”

  Daniel looked at me hopefully.

  I rubbed his shoulder. “Of c
ourse we are.”

  “Then step into my office.” Lion pointed the way and Daniel ran ahead.

  Daniel was already sitting in one of the chairs facing the desk, practically bouncing out of it with excitement. I sat next to him and did my best not to remember what I had imagined Lion and I doing on this desk. I might think about it later when I was alone, but not right now.

  Lion walked us through the options and suggested I sign Daniel up for a month to month plan, which I did, and paid with a credit card. Lion swiped my card through a machine beside his computer and handed it to me with the receipt for me to sign.

  He grinned. “I guess this means I’ll be seeing a lot more of you, Brigid. You too, Dan the Man.”

  Daniel was smiling and kicking his legs up and down in his chair.

  My heart swelled. “Looks like it.”

  Lion finished stapling all the receipts together and handed everything to me.

  Robert, the young instructor, stuck his head in the office.

  “Everything is cleaned up, Sensei. I’m gonna take off.”

  “Sounds great, Rob. I’ll lock up on my way out.”

  I watched Robert and Melanie walk out the front doors together. They were laughing at something I couldn’t hear and smiling at each other. Were they an item? They sure seemed like it.

  Lion caught me watching. He muttered, “Young love,” and winked at me.

  I felt a sudden rush but pushed it away. “Thank you again, Lion. I think Daniel is really going to love karate class.”

  He grinned, “It’s technically a modified form of jiu-jitsu, but we do include aspects of Shorinji kenpo and traditional Shotokan karate in our curriculum.”

  “Who’s the librarian now,” I smirked.

  He chuckled. “When it comes to martial arts, yeah, I’m kind of a librarian about it.”

  Daniel said, “I wanna be a karate librarian!”

  “Don’t worry, Dan the Man, if you stick with it, you will.” Lion stood up. “Well, that’s about it.”

  I stood too. I was reluctant to leave.

  Daniel hopped out of his chair and ran to the front doors.