Page 12 of Release
Sebastian nodded. “Banged up knee.”
“You don’t say? Car accident?”
“No. House fire. I’m a firefighter. Ran into something in a burning house a couple of months back.”
Sebastian wanted to be as brief as possible. He had to stick to the script. The popular topic of conversation in the center was how patients got hurt. For him, talking at a time like this made the workout more difficult. It pulled him from his focus. For what he was trying to accomplish for the firefighter fit test, he needed a lot of that. The old man smiled politely and looked off.
“What about you? How’d you hurt your shoulder?” Bash asked respectfully, not wanting to be too antisocial with the older man.
The man launched into a tale about throwing his shoulder out while playing with his grandkids. Sebastian finished on the bike and continued working his knee with sliders on the bench next to the man. After he finished listening to the story, he wished the man well in his recovery and moved on to the next exercise. Restlessly, he got back to focusing on it. Back an inch, forward an inch.
Fuck, why does something this simple hurt so much?
Someone lightly placed a hand on Sebastian’s back in the middle of a set and he jump, startled.
It was Kennedy.
Mike never does that.
“How are you doing over here, Mr. Sullivan?” Her voice was extra-chipper, the way nurses speak to patients when they’re sorry to stab them with a needle, but it’s their job so they do it anyway.
Sebastian groaned, still breathing heavily. “I’m fine. What’s up?”
She waved for him to follow her to the next station.
“I’m not finished with these sets yet,” he explained.
“All right. Wrap it up on the next three reps if you can.”
“Sure.” He finished off, grabbing his towel to wipe the sweat off his face before following her.
“I’m glad to see you getting around with just one crutch this time,” she mentioned as she slowed down to walk beside him. “Your charts note that you were using two up to last week.”
“Yes. It’s been all right.”
“Do you feel like the physical therapy is helping?”
“Anything this uncomfortable has to be doing something, doesn’t it?”
Kennedy laughed pleasantly—too pleasantly—as she showed him what to do on the next machine. “It gets better,” she assured him.
Now that makes sense. Torture’s coming.
She stuck around to make sure he used proper form, and very briefly her pillowy breasts brushed against his arm as she leaned closer. He made nothing of it, but Kennedy hurriedly stammered a shy apology for invading his space. He followed her with his eyes when she dashed away. She coyly glanced back, a bit of a blush across her cheeks.
Sebastian thought about Alexandra just then. He missed her. He missed their chemistry. Without even trying, Alexandra commanded his attention. Everything between them was so natural. He was pretty sure Alexandra was the one. If they could just get over this distance.
Kennedy returned after five minutes. She told him to wrap up on the machine, and led him to get his pulse and blood pressure checked in a room that was closed off from the main physical therapy floor. “Your first half is almost over,” she said when he made it inside.
Sebastian sighed and sat down. “Yep.”
She wrapped the blood pressure sleeve around his lower bicep. “You’ve been my easiest patient today, Bash.”
“Good to hear.”
“Your appointment today is the last one for my shift. As soon as you leave, I can gear up and go.” Her soprano laughter chimed when she finished.
He nodded. “That’s nice.”
