Clarity Read online

  Grabbing the phone, I quickly answer it.

  “Nick?”

  I know I’m still hung-over, but the voice on the other end is definitely not Taylor’s. “Yes,” I hesitantly answer.

  “Hi, it’s Katie from Chicago Sports General. I was calling to inform you that you’ve been reassigned and I’m now your current sports physical therapist. I just wanted to notify you so you won’t be alarmed at your next appointment.”

  Confused, I ask, “Wait, my new what?” Rapidly sitting up, my stomach contents threaten to rise.

  “Your new therapist,” she repeats.

  “What happened to Taylor?”

  The other end of the line goes silent for a moment before I hear a sigh.

  “Taylor put in the request this morning to have you reassigned to a different sports therapist.” My hand fiercely grips the phone as I force myself to not scream into it. “Nick?” The girl worriedly questions from the other end.

  “Yeah, I’m still here,” I grimly reply.

  “Do you prefer to keep your appointments in the afternoon?”

  “Yes, afternoons are better,” I answer since it’s clearly evident I can’t keep my morning ones to save my life.

  “Great. I’ll see you Monday afternoon,” she cheerfully replies before we end the call.

  Throwing the phone across the room, it hits the wall, shattering as it makes contact. Next, my head lands on my pillow as I wonder how the fuck I let this happen. Grumbling to myself, I realize I know exactly how this happened: my stupidity. I knew the moment I woke up next to Tracie in my bed that I’d fucked up last night by drinking too much. My drunken stupor had gotten the best of me and I had brought her back to my apartment. Thankfully, she’d been the one to wake me in the morning or else I would have slept the entire morning away. Her voice begging for another round instantly woke me up. The hangover I was nursing kept me from leaving my bed or performing any other activity for that matter, further pissing Tracie off and sending her stomping from my apartment. Her tantrum was the least of my problems at the moment. My only concern was how upset Taylor was going to be at me for not showing up on time when I finally realized what time it was—twenty minutes after nine by the time my eyes popped open. With dread, my fingers dialed Taylor’s office, but the call went straight to voicemail, which is why I’d tried to sound as apologetic as I felt.

  I knew my little firecracker would be mad, but I never thought she’d go as far as having me reassigned to another therapist. If she thought for one moment that I was going to allow that to happen, then she was clearly mistaken. There was no way in hell she was getting rid of me that easily.

  The day goes by normally. The rest of my morning patients come and go. Lunch is over and done with and I’m happy with the day as it passes through into the afternoon without any problems. As my workday draws to a close, I sit in my office reviewing the files for the next day, preparing myself for the rest of the week. Suddenly, I see Nick walk into my office, stopping to stand just inside the doorway, furiously looking at me.

  Looking past him into the hallway, I wait for the security guards to quickly swarm him, but am disappointed when all I hear is silence. I’m going to make sure someone gets his ass fired if this keeps happening.

  Glaring at him, I say, “What do you want, Nick? I’ve already told you you’re not allowed back here.”

  Cocking his head, he stares at me a moment as if considering his answer. “I got a very interesting phone call from my new therapist this morning,” he conveys, using his fingers to make air quotations to emphasize the words new therapist. “Apparently, someone put in a request for it. Would you happen to know who did? Because I’m pretty sure I didn’t,” he says, eyes glaring back at me.

  Obviously, he’s pissed about what I did, but at this point I don’t care anymore. He threw away any chance of me caring about his feelings the moment he decided to not show up.

  “You brought it upon yourself,” I casually answer.

  He seems taken aback by my response.

  “I called you. Did you not get the message?” he throws back at me.

  “It doesn’t matter. We had a deal. You broke it,” I reply, powerfully attempting to control my temper. He’s angered me to a point that my blood is boiling, as it usually does when he mocks me. It makes me want to strangle him. “I refuse to work with someone who isn’t willing to give me one hundred percent of their dedication to their recovery. And since you don’t seem to take yours seriously, I think it’s best you work with someone else you can easily fuck over,” I growl at him through clenched teeth.

  Bravely, he steps further into the office and shuts the door behind him. “I had the flu, Taylor, what part of that is refusing to give you one hundred percent? Would you have preferred for me to be in here puking my brains out on your floor?” he barks back at me, his echoes vibrating in the room.

  Refusing to allow him to intimidate me, I slowly rise from my chair. “Don’t lie to me! I know you were hungover! I refuse to put the reputation of my work on the line so you can pick and choose when you decide to show up!” I snarl at him, my voice rising with each word.

  His jaw tightens as he takes a step further in my direction. “Oh, so I get it. If I fuck up, you look bad,” he declares. “I bet you’ve never fucked up before, have you, Taylor? You’re worried because you might have actually found someone who will jeopardize your reputation. Am I right?”

  I’m still trying to keep my temper under control, my hands curling to grip the edge of my desk, allowing me to physically take my anger out on something besides Nick. “No, I’ve never had anyone fuck up before because I’ve never given anyone the chance. You’re lucky your ass got transferred to another therapist or else you’d be begging your manager to give you another chance!” I exclaim. His eyes are wide as I continue. “Now I’d appreciate it if you’d leave, because you don’t have any other reason to be here!” I shout at him, my hands growing numb as my grasp tightens.

  His mouth opens to argue back, but he is rendered speechless when Katie enters. “What the hell is going on in here? We can hear the shouting all the way down the hallway and it’s starting to worry the patients.”

  Looking past her, I take in the security guard now standing in the doorway. Oh, now he decides to show up. He takes a moment to assess the situation before turning to usher away my co-workers who have gathered at my door before shutting it.

  Mortified at how out of control I’ve gotten with Nick, I slowly slump back down into my chair. Closing my eyes to take a breath, I once again attempt to temper my rage. I’ve never raised my voice to a patient and I can’t believe I’m doing it now.

  Snapping my eyes open, I look directly at Katie. “I’m sorry, Nick was just leaving. I promise no more shouting,” I tell her as I stand to try to leave the room. Nick uses his body to block my escape, making me glare up at him to try to ward off his move, failing as he scowls down at me. “Like hell it’s over. I don’t want somebody else.”

  My heart starts to beat erratically. My body tenses as my breathing comes to a complete stop, my rage now slowly rising from his refusal.

  Katie steps between us, her body facing Nick. “It’s obvious that you and Taylor have issues with each other, so maybe it’s a good thing you were transferred,” she calmly states.

  “I already told you, I don’t need to be transferred!” he argues back.

  “Well, too bad because it’s done. Either you take it or leave it. It’s your decision. I gave you the benefit of the doubt and you screwed me over!” I say around Katie, shoving my finger into his chest.

  Catching my wrist with his hand in a gentle grip, we lock eyes, both stubbornly refusing to break eye contact. Surprisingly, the feeling of his hand wrapped around my wrist calms me, his simple touch somehow managing to send a shiver down my spine. He sighs as his shoulders drop in defeat. “Fine,” he growls through his teeth, “but this isn’t the last you’re going to see of me, Taylor. I don’t give up so easily,”
Nick says, gently dropping my hand.

  The comment leaves me both puzzled and speechless as he turns to walk out the door. From the corner of my eye, I can see Katie standing there with her mouth gaping open, looking just as perplexed over the situation before she rushes over to shut the door behind him.

  Glaring straight at me, she asks, “Care to tell me what’s going on?”

  “Nothing,” I clip out, still irritable. I’m starting to tremble now that Nick has left the room. My heart is still rapidly beating and I take a deep breath to calm it. My mind is still trying to comprehend what happened as my anger gradually begins to fade. Forcing my leaded feet to move back over to my desk, I find the comfort of my chair. My hands go straight for my head, taking a fist full of hair in each.

  “Apparently it’s more than nothing.” I ignore her comment as my shivering begins to subside and tears slowly build up, forcing me to blink to push them away.

  Tilting her head, as if considering something, she asks, “What exactly did happen after you both left the club?”

  “Nothing happened,” I mumble, but her expression doesn’t falter an inch. “You know me better than that, Katie,” I add, somehow feeling the need to defend myself, lowering my elbows onto my desk to grab at my hair as before.

  “Then why did I get a lecture from Sarah for fawning all over Nick at the club? Had I known you had something going on between you and Nick, I would have backed off,” she says then sighs.

  Letting go of my hair, I look straight at her. “I already told you there isn’t anything going on between us. I just got tired of him playing games and showing up when he wanted to. You’ll find out soon enough when he starts pulling the same crap on you,” I clarify, waving my hand and breaking eye contact with her. “Anyway, I’m not even his type,” I mutter.

  “And what type would that be, exactly?”

  Rolling my eyes, I know she’s pulling this conversation out longer than needed. “You know exactly what I’m talking about,” I say, eyeing her up and down, realizing she’s anyone’s perfect type. “Someone like you.”

  “Taylor,” she sympathetically drags out my name. “You’re just as beautiful, but in the girl next door type of way. You just refuse to see it. And since when do you start arguing with the patients?” she asks, as if attempting to change the subject. “Normally you wouldn’t care if a patient didn’t show up.”

  She’s right. Nick isn’t the first patient who has attempted to pull this stunt, but for some reason though Nick has gotten under my skin, and it’s annoying me.

  “That’s beside the point. Didn’t you want to get your hands all over him?” I ask, grabbing for the first chart I see on my desk, pretending to review it.

  She still stands in front of my desk, her brow arched as if she’s unconvinced. “You can lie to yourself all you want, Taylor, but it’s written all over your face,” she scorns before turning to walk out of the office, leaving me gaping at her.

  A minute passes as I wallow alone in silence. Tossing the chart onto my desk, my head leans back onto the chair and my eyes close as I wonder how I managed to get myself in this situation with Nick Hunter. The man is clearly a danger to my sanity. Thankfully, he’s Katie’s problem now and I won’t be seeing anymore of Nick Hunter anytime in the future, regardless of his threats.

  SURPRISINGLY THE NEXT couple of weeks go by smoothly and I actually manage to keep Nick from creeping into my mind more often than I’d expected. He was still slightly weaseling his way into my thoughts every now and then when Katie spoke of his progress. According to her, he was obedient and on track to returning to the field soon. Her praise only made me resent him. It’s evident he was better at following orders when it came to his appointments with Katie than he was with me. That pissed me off. Why couldn’t he have just done that with me from the beginning instead of giving me a fight? I kept telling myself it shouldn’t matter, but it felt like a rusted knife stabbing at my emotions. I’d finally resorted to snapping at her to change the subject when she’d mention him, insisting I didn’t want to hear about it.

  It worked.

  At least I’d thought so.

  One day Katie and half the staff called in sick due to them catching the summer flu that was making its way around the building. It left Sarah and I to handle five employees’ worth of clients, on a Monday. If I didn’t already hate Mondays, this would have been reason enough.

  We were lucky, though. We both didn’t have too many patients on the books this day. Many patients were convinced to reschedule, and the ones that couldn’t we divided amongst each other. It left us working through our breaks, but our focus was making it through the day.

  I’d left Nick up to Sarah to reschedule, but apparently he was one of the few who insisted on coming in so I designated Sarah to take him for his therapy session. She didn’t argue, feeling privileged enough to touch him. Rolling my eyes at her, I left her to go work with him. At the end of the day while sitting at my desk with the only break I’d have for the day, I’m in the process of returning important phone calls when Sarah walks in looking troubled.

  “What’s wrong?” I ask, already having a feeling it involves Nick.

  “Um, I don’t know how to say this, but we need to swap positions at the moment,” she says, biting her lower lip, looking worried.

  Drawing my eyebrows down at her, I ask “Why?”

  “I seem to have a little problem with Nick Hunter. He was expecting to work with you since Katie was sick. But when he saw me he refused to cooperate,” she rambles.

  Sarah’s a big pushover with strangers and apparently Nick was taking advantage of it. Standing up and taking a deep breath, I make my way over to the therapy room with Sarah following close behind me. When we enter, Nick is sitting on the exam table with a smug look on his face as he eyes me. He’s clearly happy to see I’ve reacted to his bait. “Well, Ms. Taylor, it’s a pleasure to see you again,” he says, clearly happy with himself.

  Stopping directly in front of him with my hands on my hips, I say, “Since you’re badgering my co-worker here, I can’t say the same. What seems to be the problem, Nick?”

  “You’re here now, so I don’t see the problem anymore,” he smugly replies.

  “I’m only here to tell you to stop giving Sarah your shitty attitude and let her do her job. If not, you know where the door is and you can reschedule when Katie is feeling better,” I snarl at him.

  He leans forward and the hint of cologne I recognize from the night he drove me home has my heart picking up speed.

  “But it’s really you I want touching my body today.”

  His husky whisper mixed with his warm breath caressing my ear forces me to shut my eyes as the shiver runs throughout my veins. My heart starts rapidly beating and my breath is taken completely from my lungs. I’m using every ounce of willpower to keep myself from collapsing as my knees weaken.

  I’m angry with myself for allowing his seductive tone to overtake my emotions, but I’d be lying if I said I didn’t miss his voice. Especially since it’s not screaming back at me. Slowly my eyes open again to find his blue eyes gazing at me, his mouth mere inches from my own. If my heart weren’t already racing, it’d be now. His lips gradually curl up to the side as he waits for my response.

  Yanking my head back to put distance between us, I shake it to clear the fog that has overtaken my mind. “I’m not falling for your crap, Nick. I don’t know who you’re trying to compare me to, but I’m not one of the many bimbos who throw themselves at you,” I growl at him just above a whisper for only him to hear.

  He’s taken aback by my response. It gives me the chance to turn and walk out of the room. Whether he stays or goes, I don’t care anymore. It’s his problem not mine and I’m sure as hell not going to stress over it.

  The closer I get to my office, I remember how Nick had followed me there before and I’m pretty sure he’d be brave enough to do it again. So instead, I go to the one place that I know I can escape to without the f
ear of him following me: the bathroom. It worked before. It’s not the best hiding place, but it will have to do, even if I don’t have to go. Once my emotions are under control, I slowly creep the door open, making sure the hallway is empty before I make my way back to my office.

  Thankfully, it’s empty when I return. Sitting in my chair, I find a Post-it note sitting directly in the middle of my desk. Picking it up to read it, the scrawling across it has my earlier emotions returning full force.

  I can’t control the smile spreading across my face, or the warm fuzzy feeling that erupts throughout my body. Placing the note inside the pocket of my scrubs, I wrap my hand tightly around it, not wanting to sever contact with it just yet. After a minute, I pull myself together and force myself to get back to work.

  This Monday may not have been so bad after all.

  I never intended to upset Taylor. My goal was to spend time with her. It was my first thought when Sarah called and tried to reschedule my appointment. I immediately knew after she explained it was only her and Taylor that it was possible Taylor might take over my appointment. The plan apparently backfired on me. Hopefully, the note I left her will help smooth things over. For the past two weeks, I endured my appointments like a good boy, but I’d used them as time to question Katie about Taylor. If I wasn’t able to peel the layers myself, then I’d do it through the next best person. Evidently, I’d gotten much more as well after discovering Katie was her roommate. Katie still hasn’t revealed how she’s come to be the little firecracker that Taylor is, but it had to be something deep from the way she keeps emphasizing Taylor just needs time to trust. It was the reason why she was pushing me away.

  If I thought Taylor was a firecracker, Katie was just as much an equal, which I discovered during our first appointment. She came marching into the therapy room looking like she was out for vengeance. The sweet, flirtatious girl I’d first met was no longer there. She was now replaced with a girl who was ready to fight. My mind wanders back to the memory of that first session