Blackbird (4 page)

He didn’t even mind that she had called him this
morning wondering where he was. He thought it was cute the way she went from
concerned Claire to feisty Claire within seconds. He was growing to like her
even more by the minute, especially when he made her blush, letting her guard
down for that split second.

“Are you ready?” Claire asked him, leading him
over to the same mat they had used on Monday.

“I was born ready,” he said, enjoying the look of
disgust on her face from his comment.

“If you sit down on the mat we can get started.
You’ve already wasted half of the session so we won’t have time to do
everything.”

Claire took the crutches from under him, and
helped him down onto the mat.

He wondered how after everything he’d done and
said she still offered him kindness.

“Ok so if you can put your foot into this piece of
fabric,” Claire said handing him the long piece of white material. “I want you
to pull back and forth.” She held her hand over Nate’s guiding him with what
she wanted. She pulled away when he started doing it as requested.

This exercise thankfully wasn’t as painful as some
of the others had been, but it still made him cringe at times. He turned his
head to Claire, deciding to follow her advice by talking through the pain.

“Seriously, though. Why do you even care if I come
to these sessions or not? Would it really matter if I didn’t walk again?”

She stopped writing in his file and looked up at
him. “I care because you have the potential and the chance to walk again. Not
many people can say they get the opportunity to learn to walk again after a
serious car accident. And of course I want you to walk again. I want you to
move on with your life, live freely again, do what makes you happy.”

He stared at her now. Did she just admit to caring
about him? She wanted him to be happy?

She quickly dropped her gaze and went back to
writing. “Anyway I need you to walk again for my prac placement.
Wouldn’t look very good if I wasn’t able to get a fit young guy to
walk again when there were no physical barriers stopping him.”

And there’s the real reason,
Nate realized.
She needed him to do these sessions for her study. Nate didn’t know why it
bugged him so much that she was only doing this for her study and not for him.
Even though he knew he’d never given her a reason to care about him, like him
even, he thought maybe…
No
. He shook his head, pushing the thought out of
his mind.

She picked up a piece of elastic and gave it to him,
showing him a different exercise.

“So, how long is your placement?” he asked her.

She looked up at him, smiling. He watched as she
visibly relaxed to his question.

“Five weeks. It’s my last placement and then I’ll
be finished
uni
forever.”

“Congratulations. So I guess my attendance is
important then?”

She broadened her smile.
“If it
wouldn’t be too much trouble.”

“I think I can make the effort.” He smiled. “So
what are your plans when you finish
uni
?”

“Well I’d love to do what you did and take a few
years off and travel around the world. There are so many places I want to see…”

He couldn’t help but be drawn to her as he
listened to her talk about travelling. Her excitement was contagious. It was a
side to her he hadn’t seen yet.
A carefree, young girl.

“…And the tomato festival in
Spain.
That would be awesome!
Crazy, insane, but so
awesome.
Could you imagine it? Everyone throwing tomatoes left right and
centre. I’d probably get trampled and end up in hospital.” She laughed.

“I’d protect you,” Nate blurted out before he even
had time to think about it.

She didn’t seem to care about his comment, in
fact, she smiled and played along. “Would you now?”

“Someone has to.”

And I would gladly be your knight in shining
armour
, he thought.
What the fuck did I just say to myself?
Knight in shining armour?
 

“And you wouldn’t think Dave would be able to?”

Nate frowned. “Dave?”

She looked at him, no longer smiling. Quickly
standing up she reached for his crutches.

“He’s my boyfriend,” she said, reaching down to
help him up.

Boyfriend.
Of course.
Claire was gorgeous. He didn’t know why he
thought she wouldn’t have a boyfriend. Any guy would be lucky to have her as a
girlfriend. So
why did he suddenly feel jealous? It must be his
hormones.
The lack of social interaction, not having sex in a
while.
Yes, that must be it
, he told himself.

He fixed the crutches up under his arms. “I guess
we’re done for the day then?” he asked.

Claire was still writing notes when she answered
him. “Yep, all done for the day.” She looked up at him. “I’ll see you on
Friday?”

Nate smiled. “I’ll be here.”

He turned and left the room. Whatever he had felt
in there just now- and he wasn’t talking about the pain- he needed it to
disappear ASAP. Jealousy was not something he cared for. Feelings, in fact,
were not something he cared for. Maybe it was about time he took the guys up on
their offer and
go
out, find someone, and rid himself
of these ‘feelings.’

***

Claire launched herself into Dave’s
arms, wrapping her legs around his waist.

“Hey, baby!” she said, smacking her lips onto his.

She kissed him hard, devouring him with every
taste. When she finally pulled her face away from his to take a breath she saw
his huge smile.

“Hey to you to!
Miss me?”
He winked.

“Of course I missed you. And I’ve been thinking
about something I wanted to do to you all day,” she said seductively.

Leaning over, she ran her tongue along his neck.

“I like the sound of that,” Dave said, his voice raspy
and hard.

“Oh I guarantee you’ll love it,” she said,
unwrapping
her legs from him and standing. She grabbed his
hand and led him towards her bedroom.

“Your ass looks amazing in that skirt, Claire. I
could stare at it all day.”

Claire froze, remembering the way Nate had looked
at her today.
The desire in his eyes.
The way he bit his lip, sending shivers down her spine.

“Did I say something wrong?” Dave asked, pulling
her to face him.

“No it’s fine,” she said, pushing thoughts of Nate
out of her mind. “Now that little something I was talking about...”

She pulled him into her bedroom, closing the door
behind her. Holding onto his waistband with her hands, she slowly undid his
belt, pulling it free with one hand.

“Hands,” she prompted.

Dave tilted his head at her, smiling. Not knowing
what she had planned for him, he held his hands out in front of him anyway.

“You won’t need these,” she said, wrapping the
belt around his wrists and tying it tightly.

She put the palms of her hand on his chest and
pushed him onto the bed.

“Prepared to be amazed.”
She winked. Confidence was definitely something she didn’t lack, especially
when it came to men.

***

“Your place or
mine?”
The tall, skimpy blonde whispered into his ear.

Turns out chicks really did dig scars. It took all
of twenty minutes after walking into the bar to get to this point now with the
blonde wrapped around his finger.

“Yours,” Nate replied.

Although his place looked like a dumpster right
now, that wasn’t what he was concerned with. He just didn’t like the awkward
morning after. This way he could easily leave her place with her dignity intact
and the reassurance he wouldn’t see her again.

“Be right back,” the blonde said, winking at him.

He watched her move over to where her friends were
sitting and
say
something to them, nodding her head in
his direction.

Normally he would be lapping up the attention,
especially from someone as attractive as her. Her hair was a lighter shade than
Claire’s, her body was shaped in all the right places, but it held no
comparison to Claire’s body. In fact he didn’t think he could fault Claire on
anything, she was…perfect.

What the fuck are you thinking
! Nate
thought to himself.
Get your head back in the game
.

Sure Claire was stunning, and sexy as hell, but
she also had a boyfriend, and she wouldn’t be interested in someone like Nate.
She deserved better.

“Ready?” Amber asked, or was it Stacey? Oh fuck
it! Her name wasn’t important. She’d be long gone from his thoughts by
tomorrow.

“I was born re-” He stopped himself from repeating
the line he’d said earlier to Claire. Somehow saying the worlds to her didn’t
seem right.

Sex, Nate. Hot, sexy, hard sex with the blonde
,
he told himself. Distraction seemed the only key to get his mind off Claire.

The blonde let her other hand graze the front of
his jeans, springing him to life.

Yes, sex was exactly what Nate needed.

CHAPTER
THREE

Going to
Uni
Night last night was a bad idea
, Claire thought, yawning as she walked to
the physio room to prepare for her next session.

She had decided last minute on Thursday night to
go out with her friends,
Layla
and Katie. They had a
very compelling argument, since technically in a few weeks she wouldn’t be a
uni
student anymore, she should live it up while she could
and take advantage of the discount she got at
Uni
Night.

Fortunately she had paced herself last night so
she didn’t wake up with a hangover. Lack of sleep was what she was suffering.
What she would do for a bed right now!

Dave wasn’t too impressed with her actions,
accusing her of not taking her clinical placements seriously. Of course she
took them seriously, but she had just dedicated the last four years of her life
to study, so having fun every now and then should be okay. Well, so she
convinced herself anyway. In hindsight, he was probably right. She hadn’t
really considered how she would feel today, and it didn’t help that when she
had gotten home at one in the morning she had wanted a two-hour sex marathon
with Dave. Yeah, not the smartest thing she’d ever done.

“Morning,” a deep voice called behind her.

Startled, she jumped and dropped the papers she
was holding on the ground.

“Did I scare you?”

She dropped to the ground on her knees, scrambling
to pick up the pieces of paper. She looked up and saw Nate standing there.
Great.
She’d forgotten she would be doing his therapy
sessions today. Just what she needed, sarcastic
Nate.

“I’d help you…But…Well,” Nate said, lifting one of
his crutches in the air.

“It’s ok…I just…”

“Forgot about me?” Nate smirked.

“No, I…I…lost track of time.”
Claire kept her head down, picking up the remaining pieces of paper and
standing.

“I should be offended. Maybe I didn’t leave enough
of an impression last time?” He raised his eyebrow.

“I could never forget you,” she said, softer and
less sarcastically than she had intended. It sounded too nice, too sincere.
Shit!

He moved closer and grabbed the loose piece of
hair that had fallen across her face between his fingers and pushed it behind her
ear. His dark brown eyes held hers. She could feel his breath on her face,
smell his tantalizing scent.

“You have the most mesmerizing eyes,” he breathed.

“Than-
ks
,” she
stuttered.

His eyes moved to her lips. She felt her body take
over, her lips parting slightly.

Nate let out a low moan from the back of his
throat, possibly the sexiest sound Claire had ever heard. She could feel her
body responding to him as she clenched her legs more tightly together, trying
to keep herself composed.
Too late for that.

Nate abruptly pulled himself from his trance and
chuckled. “Anyway, let’s get back to it, shall we? Can’t stand around and talk
all day.” He winked, turned and started walking on his crutches towards the
entrance to the physio room.

What the hell had just happened
? Claire
clutched her papers tightly.
Son of a bitch.
She couldn’t believe what he had just made her feel. She had a boyfriend. Nate
knew
that.  That was the way it was going to be then? Well, she could play
dirty, too. Claire smiled and followed Nate into the room. This day had just
turned interesting.

 “So what are you up to this
weekend?” Nate asked while Claire helped him onto the bed. He was thankful they
had nearly finished for the day. His muscles were killing him.

“I’m actually going skydiving on Saturday!” Claire
said excitedly.

Nate’s eyebrows shot up.
“Seriously?
You?
Skydiving?”

“Yeah, why not?
It’ll be
fun!”

He laughed. “I can’t imagine you doing anything
fun.”

“Well clearly you don’t know me well enough, then.
I happen to be a lot of fun.”

“I’m starting to agree with you on that one,” Nate
said. Oh how he wanted to get to know her more.

“You just seem to bring out the serious side in
me. In fact, I don’t think I’ve ever been so serious before.”

Nate was starting to believe that. He’d seen her
brief interactions with the other therapists and patients and she’d always come
across happy and bright.