5. Allie
Chapter five
Allie
“ T hat is my recommendation,” I say firmly. I’m sitting with the team owners on the top floor of the arena where the executives’ offices are. I was just in the very bowels of the arena in the PT room having hot and sneaky sex with Jake about half an hour ago before I fled to the PT’s locker room to clean up before my daily meeting with the execs.
Coach isn’t here yet, and that worries me. I need him to back me up. I saw the tortured look on Jake’s face when I tried to preview to him what was coming—that it was very likely he would be benched; that I have tried and tried to figure out what is giving him continued pain, but have not successfully figured it out.
I knew even before we had sex that I would go to bat for him. I would never advise anything dangerous or special just for him to be able to play. But I do believe there is a method we have not tried yet.
The team’s owner sits back and smirks at me. This is the first time his attitude has been condescending. I notice Coach enter the room, then. He holds up a hand in apology and takes his usual seat opposite me near the foot of the table.
“Coach, just in time,” the owner says. “This PT here thinks she has solved our star player’s pain problems.” He waves at me. “Please, go ahead and repeat what you just said to Coach.”
Coach fixes his gaze on me and there’s something new in his eyes—a slight hue of mistrust. I gulp. What did I do to lose that open-eyed look of praise he used to give me?
“I talked with Jake about his recovery from a different perspective today. We’ve been so focused on everything he is doing that we didn’t look into what he’s not doing.”
I take a breath, feeling the resistance from everyone in the room. I stand my ground.
“He has not taken even one day off since he was discharged from the hospital.”
“But Juan said—” Coach immediately interjects, then stops himself. “Never mind what Juan said.”
Coach and I exchange a look, his eyes softer now as they look at me. When he came into the room, I felt like I was a grandchild of his who disappointed him. It felt terrible.
“He has been in the gym five days a week. He has been jogging and doing sprints four days a week, both on his ‘off’ days from the gym and after the gym.”
Coach frowns. “I didn’t know this. Juan represented something very different to us about Jake’s routines. He said he was on bedrest for ten days. Then Juan only cleared Jake for lower body workouts under supervision. Nothing else.”
I know that Coach is aware of the meds Jake was taking at Juan’s recommendation. Sure, the team docs prescribed them, and they are at fault too, but Juan advocated for the pain meds. I choose not to add that detail to this discussion.
“I think the constant strain on a freshly torn muscle has caused extreme inflammation and is contributing to his pain. I think in the next five days before the game, he needs full rest. No working out.”
“Absolutely not,” the team owner counters. “He’s our star player. And you want us to send him on the ice cold, with a week of bedrest behind him?” He looks at me like I have lost my mind.
Coach doesn’t, though. “Honestly, Ron,” he says to the owner. “We have tried everything else. Literally everything.”
Ron huffs.
“He’s been to the best of the best and they’ve each given him different exercises. Let’s try rest. I’ll still put him on the ice, but not to scrimmage. Just to skate.”
Another man sitting with the executives scowls. “Jake is a type A man. You really think he’s going to be totally fine with skating like a first grader on the ice while everyone else practices? He won’t do it.” The man sits back and crosses his arms.
All eyes turn to Ron. He stands and paces. This is his team. His success depends on every player, of course, but a lot of the burden falls on Jake. He clasps his hands behind him.
When he turns around to face us, I relax. He looks at me first. My opinion has won. I can feel it.
“We’ll let him rest. But we need someone to babysit him to make sure he rests.”
“An in-home nurse?” Coach says, nodding. “We can find one from a local hospital or private company.”
Ron shakes his head. “No. I want our PT here to do it. And I want you,” he says to John Jones, the lead doctor, “to check on him every morning. No exceptions.” He claps his hands together like a CEO concluding a business deal. “Let’s try this. We’ll run him through the exercises the day before the game to see if anything has improved.”
The doc looks at me. “Good luck keeping Jake in one place for any length of time.” He stands to his feet, striding to the door.
I look at Coach. “Who’s going to tell him?” I ask, clearly not wanting to be the one to do so.
Coach gets that look of disapproval in his eyes again as he says, “I will. I think you could use a break from our star player today.”
I blush as he stands and leaves. The way he says it makes me think he heard us having sex downstairs. If he did, I will never be able to look him in the eye again! Mortified, I slink out of the room, beeline for my car, and race to my condo.
***
“I really wanted us to go out tonight!” Kenz says to me. “I just got back into town and found out that you’re my brother’s PT and I matched on a dating app with a bartender who works at the hottest club in the city and he’s working a shift there tonight… but you want to stay in?” She is whining, and I feel just guilty enough about fucking her brother today to almost give her what she wants. Almost.
I had finally stopped ignoring her messages asking me which players I was working on as the PT and how hard the work was and so many more questions, just telling her that I was hired to use my old injury training to try to help Jake. I was careful how I worded it—I was only there to “help.” As far as I can tell, she doesn’t know that means I’m very hands on with her brother.
She has such a huge chip on her shoulder against athletes, that I know she’d blow a fuse if I told her I was getting a little close with one of them on the Eagles, and then if she knew it was Jake she’d likely feel betrayed.
As I close the door of my condo behind her, I notice she is definitely dressed to go out tonight—with or without me.
But I’m stuck in constant rumination over the sex I had with Jake… and now I’m questioning why it would be a bad thing for him and me to hook up again! I can’t trust myself right now. My mind and my emotions are all over the place. Why is Kenz so against me getting anywhere near her brother—is it just because he had a wild decade with lots of women and lots of partying? Or is there more to it?
“You look so cute,” I say, trying to change the train of thought I feel stuck in.
She shimmies a little, her tight skirt shimmering under the lights. “Please come out with me. It’ll be so much fun to gossip about the team and about my trip to Mexico if we’re out!”
I hesitate. I just showered the scent of Jake off of me before she came over. I have to process my feelings about him first.
But she’s grabbing my arm. “You will go out—I can see it on your face!”
She squeals, happier than she should be, given that I’m too guilty to even look her full in the face.
“Um, no, girl, I have work in the morning. I’m sorry.”
She doesn’t listen, though, dragging me to my room and throwing open my closet.
“We don’t have to stay long. Just long enough for me to meet this guy in person and then we can bounce.”
She yanks my pants down and holds up a skirt. “No, you can’t wear this, or anything too tight. I want him to only notice me.” She looks at me as I pull my shirt off, ready to be her doll that she dresses up cute, but not too cute.
I try on five outfits before she gives one the thumbs up. It’s the most boring mini dress I own.
“This is perfect. It’ll make you look on par with my clothes, but it won’t outshine me. I don’t want to look like I tried too hard tonight, so you definitely have to wear a dress. I want to look effortlessly chic.” She points to my long mirror. “Do a twirl. Let’s see what accessories you need.”
Kenz is a total boss when she has her eye on a prize—and in this case it’s meeting some new guy. Outside of these occasional bossy moments, she really is a good friend to me.
“I look really, really ordinary,” I say, frowning.
“Yep! You look perfect. Thanks for doing this for me. I really didn’t want to go by myself. We’ll be back in an hour or so, tops. I know you’ve got work tomorrow. And I have to take a plane out to Vegas and then back again the same day. Ugh! But for tonight, let’s just have a teeny tiny bit of fun!”
She thrusts some plain shoes at me and then pulls me to my front door. I guess makeup tonight is not an option, nor is doing anything with my hair. She opens my front door with a flourish.
Of all the things standing on the other side, the last one I expected to see is Mackenzie’s brother, Jake Williams.
Shit, I think, as I take in Kenz’s shocked expression, then her suspicious one that flits between Jake and me. It’s like she knows right away that I’m sleeping with Jake. Or rather, that I did today.
“What are you doing here?” she demands of Jake. Then she adds, “How do you even know where my best friend lives?” Her voice is spinning up into hysteria, fast. “What is going on behind my back here, guys?”
I have no words. I can feel myself starting to sweat. This feels as bad as getting caught in that storage closet today would have felt. I start to panic.
But Jake doesn’t. He shoots me a look. It’s almost like he’s mad at me! What the hell?
“I just heard that your friend here is going to play nursemaid to me for five days. What gives, Allison?” he says, clearly mad at the arrangement.
I am aghast. “I didn’t ask for it, asshole,” I say, genuinely offended by his attitude. “I was told that both the doctor and me would be there with you every damn day. What is your problem? You think I want to babysit you? You need to relax.”
Kenz is the one who relaxes once she sees us arguing. “Oh. That’s all this is? It’s about work? Geez. You two need to grow up. Look, Jake, Allie and I are going out. Whatever work issues you two have are not my problem. Save it for tomorrow at the office.”
She gives me a sassy smile and loops her arm through mine as the Uber she ordered pulls up. “Ready to go meet this hunky guy?”
I pretend to be excited, for her sake.
But as I turn around to look at Jake, who is dawdling by his sports car in my driveway, he flashes me a cheeky grin and a wink. Then he holds up his phone and types something. A second later, my phone lights up. I slide into the back seat with Kenz, who is messaging the man she’s meeting tonight on the app.
I secretly check my phone.
Jake’s message reads: Think we fooled her? ;)
I chuckle: Yep. Why are you here?
He types: You’re staying with me tonight.
I turn a deep shade of red as my whole body reacts to his text. And I can’t deny the arousal I feel.