Page 8 of Undeniable Love

Declan: NOW!

Jax reached for the remote, turned the TV on, and went to channel 3. The morning news was on and…

“What the…?”

A reporter was standing next to what was left of his truck. The windows were smashed out, the tires were flat, and it was scratched and dented from front to back.

And being pulled out of a lake.

“Police are pulling Warriors quarterback Jax Wylder’s truck out of Lake Afton. Witnesses say they spotted an unidentified group of women pushing it into the lake,” the reporter was saying. “When questioned, one woman told the officers they had partied with the Warriors last night after their win against the Vikings and offered photos and video from the private party at Travis Reid’s home. We were able to find some of the videos online and, as you can see, it looked like the team was partying pretty heavily.”

“Holy shit…”

Apparently Travis was watching the same report because he was cursing up a blue streak.

Yeah, they were definitely screwed.

Chapter Two

Canceling a circus of a wedding was even more painful than planning one had been. Two weeks after “the incident” and Lucy was utterly exhausted.

Her mother was devastated, her father was his usual neutral self, and her brothers all wanted to kick Blake’s ass. It was a sweet gesture, but…her oldest brother Charlie was a dentist who was married with two kids. There was no way he could fight anyone without coming off as a bad influence, not only to his kids, but his patients. Wyatt was a hothead and always up for a fight, even though he was always complaining about how no one took him seriously. And Ty? Well…he just couldn’t. An accident in his senior year of high school had left him with some serious disabilities. He’d come a long way since then thanks to multiple surgeries and physical therapy, but there was no way she was going to encourage him to go and fight Blake.

Gemma was still willing to go all Tae Kwon Do on his ass, but Lucy had reeled her in. Although, just envisioning her best friend walking up to Blake and kicking him in the throat made her smile.

And there wasn’t much to smile about lately.

“Hey, Lucy! Your eleven o’clock is here!”

“Thanks, Trish!” Finishing her coffee, Lucy rinsed her cup before leaving the break room and went out to meet Paul Gibson and his parents. The poor kid recently had a torn ACL repaired, and now it was time to start physical therapy. He was thirteen and played ice hockey, and she knew he was eager to recover and get back on the ice.

Younger kids didn’t really have a concept of time when it came to therapy, but teenagers did. And while none of her patients particularly wanted to be there with her, Lucy took her time with them and made sure they were fully recovered before releasing them back to their pre-injury activities.

Smiling, she walked out to the waiting room. “Hey, Paul! Hey, Mr. and Mrs. Gibson! How’s everyone doing?”

Paul shrugged and looked mad at the world, and his folks looked at her apologetically. Obviously they were being sensitive to their son’s emotions, so Lucy did her best to put everyone at ease. “Why don’t we head back to the table in the back corner, Paul? We’ll start with some knee extension.” Then she smiled at his parents. “You guys are welcome to stay here and wait, or maybe go next door and grab a cup of coffee. We’ll be done in an hour.”

Nodding, they thanked her and left, and for the next hour, she did her best to coax a smile out of the sullen boy. By the end of their time, she managed to get one brief grin out of him, but saw some definite improvement in his mobility.

“Keep doing the exercises and using the ice,” she told him as they walked out to join his parents. “When you come back on Thursday, we’ll see about limiting your time with the crutches and work on walking without them.”

“Really?” Paul asked, his eyes lighting up for the first time since she’d met him.

Lucy nodded. “You keep doing the exercises like I showed you, and we’ll see how you feel.”

“I’m gonna work so hard on this!”

“But don’t overdo it,” she cautioned. “You don’t want to aggravate the injury and end up taking a step back in your recovery. Just do the repetitions on the printouts I gave you. No more, no less, okay?”

“Okay,” he mumbled.

Smiling at his parents, she said, “He’s doing great. If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to reach out.”

After that, she met with three more patients and updated all of their files before reading an email from the clinic owner. Maddie Channing had a large and very in-demand clinic in Raleigh, but also several smaller ones throughout the eastern part of the state. Lucy’s clinic was the only one that was dedicated to pediatrics and once a week, Maddie would reach out to see how things were going and if she needed anything. It was very sweet of her, but sometimes Lucy wanted to ask for more equipment or inquire about them moving to a bigger location where they could offer more, but ultimately, she never did. So she sent her boss a quick and positive update before glancing at the clock. She was just about to call it a day when her brother Ty hopped up on her table.

“Ty! This is an awesome surprise! What are you doing here?”

“I came to see my favorite sister!”

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