Page 101 of Gunner

Now we were getting somewhere. “So, if he ordered you to talk, would you?”

“I’d have to.” He narrowed his eyes at me. “Are you gonna tell him I ain’t talkin’?”

“Nope. King will only know what you tell him. I won’t tell him anything unless you sign a waiver giving permission. Would you like to sign one?”

“Fuck, no.”

Cash didn’t rush to apologize like Derek did. What he failed to realize was, we didn’t need to talk about what was bothering him for me to get an idea of what he was dealing with.

I knew grief was at the top of the list, but I had a feeling there was more below the surface.

“Ok, we don’t have to talk. You can come to your appointments and we can sit in silence. Do you mind if I read?”

“Why the fuck would I mind?”

“Well, you are paying for my time.”

“Club’s paying for this shit.”

“Ok.” Looking at my watch, I calculated the time. “We have ten minutes left. For future appointments, it would be great ifyou could be on time. That way we would have the full hour to not talk.”

I gave him my therapy smile. It was condescending, but it was what he deserved at the moment. He looked around the room and then focused on me.

“You see people in your home alone?”

“Normally, no. I am an online therapist. I have only recently started taking in-person patients.”

“You need a security system. Gunner is shit at taking care of his woman.”

“I am not Gunner’s woman,” I stated firmly.

To which he responded with, you guessed it—a grunt.

We sat in silence until the timer on my phone rang out at the end of the session.

“That is all the time we have for today. Did King say how often he wanted you to come here?”

Cash stood from his chair and looked down at me.

His frown confused me.

“He said it was up to you.”

“Ok, well, if we are just going to meet without talking, I think once a week is plenty. Why don’t you come back this time next week?”

The deepening furrow in his brow told me he was still confused. “That’s it?”

“That’s it.”

“I thought it was an hour long?”

“It was. Starting at three p.m. You only showed up fifteen minutes ago.”

“It hasn’t been an hour,” he stressed.

“Cash, I am sure you understand how appointments work. When you show up at the right time, you get the full hour. I have other patients.”

“Do you get paid for the entire hour?”

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