The groan Pumpkin let out was closer to a whimper than he cared to admit. Physical therapy was kicking his ass today, and he was feeling it. Bad.
Prior to joining the military, Pumpkin had played a lot of sports growing up. It had started as after-school activities that kept him busy while his mom was still at work so she didn’t have to hire a babysitter or daycare center to watch him. Not that Pumpkin minded, though, because he fell in love with athleticism. While he preferred contact sports, he also took up running and weight lifting to help accelerate his training.
Football, baseball, and soccer were his sports as a teen, but once he’d joined the Marines and discovered boxing, the others had fallen by the wayside. He’d trained hard, and it had taken years, but he’d finally been inducted into the Marine Corps Boxing Hall of Fame during his last year of service. He’d championed twice before he’d been nominated. While he hadn’t boxed in tournaments since his military days, he still trained and ran marathons to stay in shape.
Or he used to. Now, he couldn’t even do a full squat without feeling like he was going to shit his pants.
“How’s that pity party going for you?”
Pumpkin looked across the small workout room to Bones. “You’re one to talk.” Steel had had to rip Bones a new asshole on more than one occasion for Bones being too hard headed to ask for help.
Bones was in his late twenties and had a chip on his shoulder about the hand he was dealt in life—or rather, the parachute he’d been handed. During a training jump, his parachute pack had malfunctioned. Thankfully another soldier had been able to catch him or he would have died. However, they still impacted hard enough that Bones had shattered both of his legs and his pelvis, earning him a medical discharge and chronic daily pain. Bones often said that he’d wished the doctors had amputated rather than try to save his legs. At least with the double amputation, he wouldn’t be in constant pain and require nerve blockers just to be able to go about his life. But they couldn’t block everything or his legs would be useless. The inability to escape the pain made Bones’ life a living hell.
“You’re going to heal,” Bones snapped. “You’re going to get to the point where your doctors and therapists say that you’re done. Me?” He looked around the room from his seat at the leg press bench. “This is my life forever more. So quit your bitching and keep working.”
As their therapist walked into the room, a blonde woman in her mid-thirties with a very generous chest, Pumpkin gave Bones a look. “Doesn’t seem like a bad place to be.”
Bones’ eyes narrowed. “She’s married,” he sneered low.
Pumpkin didn’t see a ring on the woman’s finger or the tan line from one, which gave him the suspicion that Bones had asked, or at least, that they’d talked personally enough that the conversation had come up.
Her name tag read ‘Dru’. She hadn’t been the therapist who had started with Pumpkin, though. That had been another lady, but Pumpkin sucked at remembering names. He just hoped she was wearing a name tag when she got back too.
“How are you two doing over here?” Dru inquired, stopping between them. “Did you finish all your reps?”
“I did,” Bones said quickly, standing up off of the machine. “He hasn’t.”
Pumpkin glared at his brother for throwing him under the bus. He’d only been out of rehab a little over a week! The fucker.
Dru turned her attention to Pumpkin. “Is there a problem or are you too busy chatting to finish up?”
“No problem,” Pumpkin said before lowering himself down again. His legs, ass, and lower back protested the movement.
“It helps if you stick your butt out more,” Dru offered him. “Like this.” Moving next to Pumpkin, she lowered herself down and back up with ease. The motion gave Pumpkin a very clear view down the front of her polo shirt.
He quickly looked away. “Thanks. I’ll try that.”
She turned to Bones. “Ready for your massage?”
Pumpkin’s eyebrows shot up as Bones nodded. Dru headed off to another room Pumpkin hadn’t been in before. He rounded on his brother. “Massage, really?”
Bones shrugged. “It helps with blood flow.”
After having Paige’s help over the past five months to spring him early from rehab, Pumpkin didn’t doubt it. But Bones looked far too eager for this massage. “Yeah, and just where are you directing the blood to flow?”
Bones shot him a wink before heading after Dru. “Don’t forget to pop your ass out more.”
“Don’t forget to keep your pants on!” Pumpkin shot back at him. It was a bit louder than intended, but thankfully no one else seemed to be around.
Bones gave him a pointed look before closing the door behind himself. Pumpkin shook his head, starting to squat again. Bones was always complaining about having to come to physical therapy, and here he was about to get a happy ending massage. Well, likely not. There was a good chance Bones was just pulling Pumpkin’s leg, but still. He got a massage with Dru, who looked like a walking wet dream? The man needed to get his priorities straight.
Pumpkin might not work so hard ifshewas his therapist, that way he got to come back to see her again and again.
When Pumpkin’s hour was up and he was released, he headed outto the lobby where Frankie and SJ were waiting for him. SJ looked like he was asleep in the stroller.
“How did you do?” Frankie asked as she stood. She was rocking the stroller back and forth slowly for SJ.
“Well, I’m hobbling around like I just got off a horse. How do you think I did?”
