Chapter 16 #4
“Doc. I hate to point out the obvious, but don’t you forget.” He paused and the smile disappeared and there was no mocking left, only a hint of menace. “I know all your secrets.”
Her knees buckled and she felt the breath escape from her chest as if he’d punched her. He grabbed her by the arms and held her up. People swirled around them, leaving the tunnel and talking with urgency and excitement. Ralph walked toward them and slapped Trent on the back and smiled at Charline.
“This is it. The biggest game of the season yet—and the big test for Trent—you excited, Doc?”
Before she could speak or aim a semblance of a smile at Ralph, Trent spoke.
“I think she’s nervous, Ralph. Worried about me.”
She said, “I’m always worried about you.” It was true on too many levels. But if Ralph noticed the undercurrent, he didn’t show it. “I’ll be traveling with you—it’ll be fun.”
“Only if we win,” Trent said to Ralph without taking his eyes off her.
“You’ll win,” she said. “Your testing shows marked improvement and I’m sure you can see improvement in functionality.
I’ll know for sure after I run today’s test results, but I don’t have to tell you, do I?
You’re feeling pretty good, like your old self.
” She was speculating, but there was an air of certainty that possessed her.
He was feeling very confident and had an almost adolescent cockiness.
She gave a fleeting consideration about whether it could be a side effect, but threw it away.
Sure, she was injecting him with hormones, but they were healing his muscles and tendons and building them, not affecting his reproduction and other more pubescent functions.
She sighed and shook her head. She wished she had a drug that could make her more confident, cocky.
“Good to hear it, Doc. Now that you mention it, the shoulder is feeling pretty damn good. As for the rest of me, maybe we can try that out—”
“We don’t have to put on a show for Ralph.” She turned and pulled herself from his hold and took a step away. He let her go.
Ralph said, “I get the score. Don’t worry about me.”
They walked toward the tunnel exit and the light of day. She held her tongue. She’d wanted to confide in Ralph and ask him what the score really was with Trent. But that was only in her dreams where life was simple.
“I need to make a call,” she said when they emerged.
Trent’s car was parked close by. Ralph took off in the direction of his SUV.
She looked toward a distant spot where her car sat and wondered if Trent was going to hold her to his plan or if he was testing her, pushing her around to see what he could get away with.
Maybe it was all about his hormones after all—his real, unenhanced hormonal tendencies.
Trent closed in on her, bent and whispered, his rough jaw slicing across the side of her face. “Don’t even look at your car.”
He held her arm as they walked.
“I’m calling my sister. I didn’t plan for this. I had other plans.”
“We agreed you would be at the game. On the sidelines.”
“I will be.”
“Then what’s the problem?”
“It’s too . . . too . . .”
“What? Too what? We’re engaged and it’s about time you started acting like it.” His voice had risen and he opened the passenger door to his car, gesturing her inside.
Her heart pounded, but she got in. His words sounded more emotional than angry.
She reminded herself that there was a lot riding on this game for him, regardless of the drug trial.
He got in the other side, pressed the ignition button and turned on the heat, but left it in park.
She could jump out her door at any time.
But she wouldn’t. She’d chosen this crazy path and she was no coward in spite of how she’d been acting lately. She needed to stand up and deal with the consequences. She faced him.
Whatever anger and devilry had possessed him earlier was gone now. His face was unmasked emotion of every kind. But it was the hurt that caught her up and settled her down.
“Look, I understand the pressure you’re under.
It’s win-or-go-home time.” She smiled, rueful.
“It’s win-or-go-home time for me too. Remember?
If the designer serum doesn’t hold together, hasn’t helped to heal the injury, given you the ability to take the musculoskeletal stresses, then we all go home. ”
“Don’t have to tell me about it.” He looked at his steering wheel. “I’m sorry, Charlie. You know I didn’t mean the threat. I would never expose your secrets.”
She didn’t respond. She didn’t know. Not for sure. Her heart felt like a bubble rising in her chest to her throat, all wobbly and off-kilter.
He looked at her. The pain was there, the raw need, not the sexual kind.
“I know,” she said. Was she lying? Placating? She couldn’t stand to see his pain.
“Liar.” He jammed the stick shift into drive. “Nice try. Don’t worry. I’ll be on best behavior. No more acts of desperation.” He made this speech while concentrating on his driving, looking everywhere but at her.
“I mean it. I know you would never betray me or our secret.”
His eyes snapped to hers. After a flash assessment, he returned his attention to driving and they left the parking lot. They were on their way. To where, she wasn’t sure yet.
To their doom or their dreams?