Blackbird (3 page)

 “So tell me a bit about yourself. Where are
you from?
Any family?”
Claire asked while continuing
her exercise.

“Why?”

“Why, what?
Why do I want
to know? Because some patients find talking through the pain makes it easier to
deal with.”

Nate snorted. “I’m not in pain.”

Claire ignored his comment. “Just trust me on
this, okay?”

“You keep saying that, but I still don’t know why
I should.”

“Amuse me.”

“Fine.”
Nate sighed. “I
was born in Sydney and moved to the Gold Coast when I was ten with my parents
and sister. We didn’t want to leave, but Dad got a job he couldn’t refuse so we
packed up our lives and started over. After I finished high school I took a gap
year, which turned into a three year gap rather than one. I backpacked through
Europe, stopping at cities for months at a time and working at the local bars
and pubs to save up more money for the next leg of the journey. When I got sick
of Europe I came back home for a while, then went to Canada and worked at the
ski fields. My mum begged me to come back, said she missed me too much, so I
decided to go home. After about six months of bumming, I decided to go to
University and enrolled in business.”

 “Was it hard after so many years of
travelling and seeing and experiencing different places to then be stuck in one
place?” Claire asked.

“One of the hardest things I’ve had to do. But it
was lonely travelling. I moved around a lot by myself. Things aren’t the same
when you don’t have someone there with you to be excited with. That’s why next
time I plan on going with someone.”

For a moment Claire imagined travelling with Nate,
backpacking through the cities, living together.

“Are you blushing?” Nate asked, leaning up on his
elbows to get a better look at her.

“No. I… I’m just getting hot doing these
exercises.” She couldn’t think of what else to say.

She could see Nate smiling out the corner of her
eye.

“Anyway.
So, business hey?
What did you major in?” Claire asked,
trying to distract him.

“Doesn’t matter, I quit three years in. I
work,
well I worked, at a tattoo parlour. That was before
the car accident, though. I’m officially unemployed at the moment. Impressed?”
He laughed.

Claire couldn’t help but smile. “Very.”

He smiled back at her and she finished the last
exercise. “Okay, that’s all of those we will do for now. If you want to jump up
with me, we will go to the mat and do some more and you can tell me about all
those tattoos on your arms.”

Nate pulled himself up as Claire handed him his
crutches.

“But that will take hours,” Nate said.

“Exactly.”
Claire smiled
and helped him onto his crutches.

Nate just shook his head and laughed. “Okay, but
just remember, you asked.”

As the session progressed, and they talked to each
other in a happy civilized way, Claire slowly started to see parts of the Nate
she once met.

His attitude seemed to stay that way for the remainder
of the session. He seemed more focused on walking again and on pushing past his
pain barriers than making snide remarks and making Claire
feel
uncomfortable.

But as soon as the session was over, the old Nate
returned.

Claire helped him to his feet from the mat, using
her shoulder under his arm. She was tiny in comparison to him. Her small frame
moulded easily to his side.

She held him tightly as he used her support to
walk to his crutches without putting pressure on his leg.

As they reached the table he placed his hand on it
to steady his body. “Claire?”

Her hair swept across her face as she looked up at
him, still holding him close. She was suddenly very aware of how close they
were. Her legs had somehow parted his leg in between hers so her stomach
pressed up against him. Her breathing quickened.
Why was he so good looking?
She didn’t even care that he was covered in tattoos - that only made even more
beautiful.
A canvas waiting to be admired.

His eyes held hers. She could feel her heart
beating faster. His hand came to her face and gently pushed her hair behind her
ear, his thumb lingering longer than it should on her cheek. She stared at his
full plump lips and found herself licking her own lips remembering their kiss
from months ago. His thumb grazed her cheek and found her bottom lip. His touch
was gentle. She felt lost in the moment, a million different emotions running
through her. Then a name came to her:
Dave.
Claire quickly pulled
herself from his grip and handed him his crutches.

“So I’ll see you again on Wednesday? Don’t forget
to do those exercises tomorrow,” she said grabbing the file and making notes.

Nate looked away and started walking towards the
door with his crutches. “Sure, whatever,” he mumbled, walking through the door
without looking back or even a goodbye. And the old Nate was back.

Claire sighed. Maybe it was better this way. Keep
the distance? Although she doubted she could handle that Nate through a whole
session together.

Just as she finished writing her notes, her phone
rang. She looked at it and Dave’s name flashed across the screen.

“Hey!” Claire answered.

“Hey, babe.
How’s your
day going?” Dave asked.

“Great! I’ve met some really amazing people. It’s
all going smoothly,” she lied.

“That’s awesome, Claire. Maybe I’ll get to meet
these amazing people one day?”

“Sure, that would be great.”

Claire didn’t know why, but she didn’t want to
tell Dave that she was doing Nate’s therapy sessions. The last time they had
met it had ended in a fight. It felt wrong to lie to Dave. Wrong to even let
herself get caught up with Nate the way she just had.

“Did you still want to come over tonight?” she
heard Dave ask, bringing herself out of the memories of her encounter with
Nate.

“Yeah, of course.
I
gotta
go, but I’ll talk to you later?”

“No worries. See
ya
,
babe.”

“Bye, Dave.”

She hung up the phone and held it to her chest.
She was not that girl. She didn’t lie to her boyfriend. She didn’t get
flustered over another guy when she was in a relationship. No, this thing,
whatever this thing was with Nate, ended now. She wouldn’t compromise herself
with him again.

CHAPTER
TWO

Claire was going to give Nate five
more minutes and then she was cancelling his session and catching up on her
program plans.

He was late. Late!
Late to his
own
freakin
’ therapy sessions.
Claire was
fuming. At first she was worried something had happened to him when he was over
twenty minutes late. So she had pulled up his contact information from his file
and called his phone. When he answered, she couldn’t hide her anxiety. “Nate?
It’s Claire your physiotherapist. Your session started twenty minutes ago, has
something happened?”

She could hear Nate groaning into the phone. “Do I
have to come? My bed seems rather inviting, and I hear there is a model search
TV show marathon today. Can’t you just torture someone else?” Nate mumbled.

Claire squeezed her phone and pulled it away from
her ear. She rubbed her forehead with her fingers, furious with his attitude.
Most patients were determined to do their best during their sessions, pushing
themselves to the limit. Some needed encouragement that they could do it when
they felt down on themselves. Nate however, didn’t seem to give a rat’s ass if
he walked again. Laziness was not something she responded to very well.

She slowly put the phone back to her ear. “Look.
You either get here in ten minutes or you can say goodbye to your therapy
sessions. I know you live nearby,” Claire said sharply.

She knew it was an empty threat. Nate could do his
therapy sessions when he wanted, but she didn’t want him to know that. She
wanted to get him on his feet and walking. The quicker he did, the faster he
would be out of her life.

“But that means I miss seeing hot, half-naked
chicks on TV. Not unless you are considering getting half naked for me too?
That might make it worth my while.”

Nate’s seductive tone only made her madder.

“I don’t have time for your shit, Nate. I’ll ask
you once more. Are you coming or not?”

Talking to a patient like that could get Claire
into serious trouble and she knew it; it was a risk she was willing to take.
For some strange, unknown reason she wanted Nate to walk again, and she wanted
to be person that helped him, too.

“Fine, if it makes you happy,
I’ll come.”

Claire sighed. “It does.”

“Can’t help it if you find me so
attractive that you can’t keep your hands off me.”

“Nate!”

He laughed. “I’ll be there in ten. Bye, Claire.”

Claire hung up the phone, instantly regretting
talking him into coming. She should have just cancelled it. Now she would have
to put up with him. Thankfully the sessions were only an hour long, and since
he had wasted nearly half of it, she wouldn’t have to endure too much of his
infuriating personality.

She had decided after the phone call to wait out
in the car park for him, and that’s where she was right now. Fifteen minutes
had passed since their phone call and he still wasn’t there.

This is a joke
, she thought to herself as
she looked out to the street waiting for him to arrive. Five more minutes and that
was it. She was walking away and Nate would have someone else cover his
sessions from now on. Just as the thought left her mind, a taxi rounded the
corner and pulled up in front of her. She watched Nate get out of it, throwing
the crutches around in front of him. She didn’t move to help him, even though
she should have. He had just wasted half an hour of her time. He was getting
none of her sympathy and help.

 “You said ten minutes, Nate!” Claire snapped
as he limped over to her.

“Sorry! Jeez, I had to make myself look pretty.”

Claire rolled her eyes. “Well you didn’t do a very
good job.”

He smiled at her now. “Well we can’t all be as
beautiful and sexy as you.”

Beautiful.
Sexy.
Claire quickly hid her blushing cheeks by turning
to walk back inside. Wasn’t she mad at him a few seconds ago? Now she was
blushing.

Great work, Claire.
Way to keep your emotions on track
, she told herself.

“I thought you’d be long gone by now. Haven’t
given up on me yet?” Nate said from behind her as they entered the building.

“Not yet. When I start something, I always finish
it.”

“Well you know what they say...”

Claire waited for him to finish his sentence. When
he didn’t and she couldn’t hear him coming behind her anymore she stopped and
turned her head. Nate was standing there, head cocked to one side, staring at
her ass.

She death-stared him, but his eyes were still
focused on her behind. She watched him take his bottom lip into his teeth and
bite down. Heat radiated off her body. Even on crutches, Nate’s sex appeal
wasn’t lost. The black shirt he was wearing today was tighter than the one he
had worn on Monday, giving Claire a clear image of what his ripped body looked
like. It hugged his muscles in the right places.

“You were saying?” Claire said louder than she had
intended, trying to put herself back on task.

***

Nate was so caught up in staring at
Claire’s sexy ass he almost didn’t hear her call out to him.

“Sorry, what?”
He looked
at her confused, shaking his head. Then he laughed.

He watched her shake her head and mutter something
under her breath as she continued walking to the therapy room. He followed
closely behind her, somewhat amused by the fact she had just caught him
gawking.

He wondered if she had any idea how sexy she
looked in the tight black skirt she wore, or how, when she was angry, he could
see the tops of her breasts turn red in her blue blouse. She was sexy, no doubt
about that. Her long blonde hair was brushed into a tight pony tail.
Images of him wrapping it around his hand while kissing the nape of
her neck flashed in his mind.
He needed to get laid.

It had been months since he’d been with a woman.
His mates had tried to get him out into the club scene when he had started
walking on crutches, convincing him he’d have women eating out of the palm of
his hand, you know because of the ‘chicks dig scars’ sort of thing. Having his
leg in a cast though, didn’t help with general walking, let alone having sex.
Even though he knew that certain positions would be ideal for his current
disability if he did want to go there. He’d be lying if he said the thought of
having a bare naked woman ride him on his wheelchair didn’t make him hard - it
did - but somehow he couldn’t bring himself to get off his ass and do it.
Laziness consumed him day in and day out. Hell he was even going to miss his
therapy sessions if it wasn’t for Claire.

Claire. Now she was an entirely different story.
Something about her seemed so familiar to him, yet so unfamiliar. It didn’t
make sense. For the first time on Monday he felt like he could have an actual
conversation with someone without their pity, their sympathy, or their
preconception of who he was. Claire made him feel comfortable. She made him
feel like him. She didn’t judge his life - well what his life used to be - or
voice her opinions on who he should be and what he should be doing. She just
listened.