TWO #2
Dnd as of right now- CainMs knee was not holding anything. How the fuck was he walking as well as he was- Even though he was walking with a limW, there was no chance in hell that this man had walked into the room under his own steam. Let, I knew Ouncan had not brought him in and there were no crutches nearby. !erhaWs it was a Wride thing, or WerhaWs, it was stuWidity on his Wart. I wanted to Wrobe further, but everything was messy. This was a bad in“ury. There was swelling that still had not gone away and someone with his exWerience should have known how to at least treat it. The area along the inside of his knee was hot to the touch, tender in a way that was not bruising. !erhaWs that had healed prst, but it was deeWer than that.
The damage that Cain had done to his knee was structural, and it was Wlain to see. Dt least to my trained eye. ?hen I aWWlied valgus stress, wantU ing to Wush the knee, I felt it move and my heart sank for him. There was that sickening absence of resistance. D healthy YCz would have fought back, telling me no and wanting to Wush me back. Yost knees that I treated Wushed back. Even an irritated one would have tension that felt like a roWeUlike prmness beneath the skin.
CainMs did not. The “oint oWened like a door on a broken hinge and there was nothing holding it back from moving. Aot only that, but his face. Christ. I should not have been admiring him, esWecially when he was in
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so much Wain, but I could not look away. I could not helW staring at the way his “aw locked and the way his breath stuttered as I touched it. His staggered breath told me everything I needed to know about him at this moment.
If it had been only mild discomfort, that would have been one thing, but this was something raw, something more akin to Wrimal Wain. It was the kind of Wain that hit your nervous system and riddled it down to its core. I could continue to Woke and Wrod, but for where Cain was in his recovery, now was not the time for it.
I was coming to the end of my assessment. Every touch and glance at Cain told me more of the story. ?hy the fuck had they taken so long to get me to come and look at it- !erhaWs they had tried others and turned them away- 1ut again, why me- ”D grade three. This is a full ruWture, Cain. LouMve done a good “ob of it, thatMs for sure.R
He inhaled with another deeW breath. His steelUgrey eyes 4uttered uW at me and my heart skiWWed a beat. ”Tell me something I donMt know, doc.R
2h, so he did know exactly what he had done. It had been stuWidity on his behalf. I tutted as I continued to look him over. I could visualise the scans in my mind, and every touch conprmed what I already knew. If I needed to conprm something again they were laying beside Cain and I could check them, but there was no need to. 3evere YCz in“uries did not “ust hurt, they were destabilising and terrifying to deal with for the uninitiated. It blew my mind that Cain was still attemWting to walk on it. He knew his DCz had been worse. 1ut even with that exWerience, weightUbearing would have felt wrong to him, like steWWing onto a 4oor that was ready to give way. Every steW was sending a warning uW the chain to the brain. 3omething is torn, something is broken, something is not holding. !lease for the love of qod, helW me. I felt sorry for him, like I did with all of my clients that had a serious in“ury. 1ut that was why I did what I did. I made a commitment to get them back moving, sooner rather than later.
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CainMs breath started again. It came through his nose, controlled, but the tremor in his thigh was unmistakable. The body was trying to comWensate for the weakness. Yuscles were pring to reWlace a ligament that should have been doing the work for them. Even if it was by some miracle working now, it Wrobably would not last. Cain would overload the area, and it would “ust give out again, sending him back to s;uare one.
Yy gut tightened and I wanted nothing more than to remain WrofesU sional. I always walked that line, but once this assessment was over, my steW by steW Wrocess would take over and I would become clinical. ”Kight now, your knee is running on borrowed time. If you keeW going, you wonMt “ust make it worse. How can you even walk on it like that-R
I Wressed two pngers along the inside of the “oint line, and he 4inched hard. His eyes met mine and I could see the Wain in them. He was trying to remain strong, to try and maintain his comWosure, to not show weakness. Cain was telling me that he had worse in“uries in the Wast, but if he was downed by this one, then WerhaWs his time in the ring was over. The time since the pght should have been enough to start the healing Wrocess, but I felt like he had not Wrogressed at all. 1ecause a severe YCz tear was not “ust a setback. EsWecially not one this bad.
”LouMll turn a reWairable in“ury into something surgical. 3omething caU reerUending. How long has it been since the in“ury-R
I knew full well “ust how long it had been. Aow that I thought about the date in my head, it had been less time than I had thought. The pght had only taken Wlace six weeks ago. Aowhere near enough time to recover from an in“ury this severe. Let I was going to Wlay it dumb, like I had not seen everything there was to do with this in“ury. Nnless of course, Cain had trained, which in turn would have made it worse. 1ecause of course he would have.
Cain glanced uW, his eyes seeing me WroWerly for the prst time with the Wain now gone from his face. He darted around the ;uestion, Wreferring to
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hit me with something out of left peld. ”IMve seen you somewhere before.
Dre you a local-R
I shook my head in resWonse. ”Ao, I live a little bit out of the city.R Cain lowered his tone. He sWoke with a soft, but calm Wresence, ensuring
that I could hear every word roll oj his tongue. ”Ao, you were at the pght. 3itting near the ring. 1right red dress. I remember you. I saw you before I got knocked out.R
D shiver ran down my sWine. I had been “ust one face in the crowd. ?hilst my dress had been as vibrant as his shorts had been, there was no way that I had exWected to be remembered, esWecially by someone that had a lot on his Wlate that night. Cain narrowed his eyes at me and he was sWeaking again, but once more it was nothing to do with his knee in“ury.
”Lou were with another man too. ?ho was he-R
I held in a gasW for the second time since I had walked in the door. The audacity of this man. I had “ust met him, and he was already asking ;uesU tions about my Wersonal life. This was beyond inaWWroWriate for a client, Wractitioner relationshiW, but as he stared at me, there was something about him that made me want to answer. It was the intensity that demanded an answer, and that intensity made me want to give it to him. I Waused, searching for the right answer and found something that was neutral and would not get me in trouble.
”I was with a friend.R
Cain keWt on the attack like he was walking me down in the ring. His exWression darkened even more than it already had when I had been WrodU ding his in“ury. ”Funny looking friend.R
”If you must know, I never saw him again after that. Can you answer the ;uestion, Wlease-R
”If you were at the pght, youMd know I did it then. 3ix weeks ago.R
?hilst he was an asshole, I had to give him credit. He was as sharW as a tac. I felt like I could get nothing Wast him. Every comeback was as swift as
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an uWWercut and keWt me on my toes. His verbal sWarring was as sharW as his Whysical ability.
”LouMre right, I “ust wanted to make sure you were aware of it. It didnMt look like it when the ring crew scraWed you uW oj the mat.R
That had done it. CainMs dark exWression softened and his “aw clenched tight. There was no coming back after that. In one blow, his Wride, ego and status had been crushed. If I was going to work on him, he had to know his Wlace. Even though I knew he could Wrobably end my life with one well Wlaced head kick, he took a deeW breath and sunk back into the table. His eyes never left mine, his ga8e as intense as ever. I wanted to look at him, but knew that if I did I would be lost in his eyes. How did he have this much of a hold on me-
”3o, doc, are you going to get me back in the ring-R
”IMm not a doctor, but yes, I can get you back in the ring. zet me see what I can do.R