Page 9 of Undeniable Love

“I’m your only sister. Try again,” she teased.

“Okay, fine. I’m having some hip pain and I swear you’re the only one who knows how to help,” he told her. He was smiling like this wasn’t a big deal, but she hated that he still didn’t have his life back 100%. The accident was over a dozen years ago, but he was going to feel the ramifications of it for the rest of his life.

The thing was, he had a physical therapist and an orthopedic doctor he went to, but for some reason, whatever therapy and treatments they did with him didn’t give any long-term results. She used to argue with him about it and then carry on about how unfair it was that he was injured while his friends all walked away unscathed, but it was only causing a wedge between the two of them, and she hated that. So, whenever he showed up now with an issue, Lucy gladly helped him out and kept her annoyance with his reasons for being here to herself.

“You know the drill,” she said with a smile. As her brother got situated on the table, Lucy grabbed the mobilization belt and strapped it around her waist.

“Tell me what this torture device is?”

Every time.

“It lets me mobilize the hip joint to improve range of motion and decrease hip pain. Using the belt just allows me to use my body to produce the force rather than pulling with my arms, so it is more efficient for the PT,” she replied as she began manipulating his hip. “What did you do this time to aggravate it?”

He shrugged.

“Ty, come on. We both know you’re going to tell me, so…”

“I went out to a job site today,” he said after a loud huff.

“Why? You’re the real estate guy. Why are you going out to job sites? That’s not your department.”

“We’re looking at the adjacent property and then I went over to see how things were going with construction.”

She shook her head. “And just looking hurt your hip?”

“They needed an extra hand moving materials, so…”

Groaning, Lucy gave his leg an extra hard tug. “What is wrong with you? Do you enjoy hurting yourself?”

“I don’t know; do you enjoy hurting me? Because that’s what you’re doing!”

For a moment she felt bad, but quickly got over it. “Sometimes therapy hurts, Ty.” She worked on him in silence for a bit. “I just don’t get why you do these things.”

“Because not everyone knows I have issues, okay?” he snapped with a grimace. “If I just walked away, I would’ve looked like an asshole. Besides, I really didn’t think it was going to mess with me.”

This wasn’t a new conversation and honestly, she was tired of it, so she changed the subject.

“What else is going on in your life? Anything exciting?”

“Not really…ow! Damn, Luce! This is supposed to make me feel better, not worse!”

“No pain, no gain,” she said with a wink. “So? You were saying…”

“What? Oh, right. Um…not really. Work is the usual. Went out on a date with Tara from accounting Saturday night.”

“And…?” she asked hopefully, because her poor brother had the worst luck with relationships—worse than she did, and that was really saying something.

“And…nothing. It was all just…fine. She was clearly interested in taking things to the next level, but…”

“The next level?”

“Sex, Lucy. She wanted me to go home with her. Sheesh.”

“Ew! Gross! You could have left that part out!” As much as she wanted to sound outraged, she ended up laughing. “Yeah, sorry.”

Fortunately, Tyler was laughing too. “No worries. We both know you were going to ask if I slept with her.”

“I was.” Taking off the belt, she placed it on the chair behind her. “Do you want heat or ice today?”

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