My Country Man

Chapter 17

I'd like to dedicate this chapter to NishaRose for the beautiful banner she made me(:

I stayed at Connor’s house for the rest of the day, but eventually made my way over to my own home. I braced myself for what I was going to see, but whenever I opened the door, I found my house vacant.

I hear the soft tune of my phone ringing and pull my phone out of my pants pocket. I answer the phone without bothering to look at caller id.

“Hello?”

“Hey Nellie, are you coming in today? I understand if you’re not, I heard about what happened with Frank. I told you he was no good. I just got bad vibes from him, you know?” Josh asks.

Shoot! I completely forgot I had to work today. That’ll help me keep my mind off of things. I laugh as Josh just rambles on, completely getting off of the original topic.

“Alright, alright, back to the topic boy. I’ll come in soon, when’s my first appointment?”

“We didn’t know if you were coming or not so we didn’t reschedule. You still have therapy with Connor at one o’clock.”

“Alright, I should be there in forty five minutes. I just have to shower.”

After we said our good byes, I hurried up and ran to my upstairs bathroom to shower. When I washed finished cleaning my hair and body, I turn off the water and open the shower curtain and reach for the towel that I placed on the rack right beside my shower.

I dried off quickly and wrapped a towel around my hair to dry. I walk down the hall and into my room, going straight to my closet. I pick out my scrubs for today and begin to change. I look at the mirror on top of my dresser and am shocked by what I see. In only my underwear and bra, I could see visible hand prints or bruises. They’re starting to fade in color, but if you press them, they still hurt.

I was shocked because I don’t remember seeing them; well I guess that would be because I don’t change in front of mirrors that often.

Feeling sick just from looking at the reflection of my bruised body, I quickly and gently put the rest of my clothes on and hurry my way out to the car.

I pulled into the parking lot with five minutes to spare. I rolled up my windows before I turned the car off and locked the doors whenever I was outside of my car.

Once inside I shout “I’m here” and Josh rushes out to see me.

He crushes me into a big hug asking questions like “Are you ok?” and “What happened?” I wince from his bear hug and he must have noticed because he suddenly pulled away and held me at an arm’s length, almost afraid to hurt me.

“I’m sorry; I didn’t mean to hurt you!”

“It’s fine, the bruises are starting to fade. Anyways, let’s get to work.”

Picking up on the fact that I want to change the topic, Josh rushes back towards the counter to look at my schedule for today.

“Connor is your only client for today, other than that you can have the rest of the day off.”

“Thanks Josh.” I lean in and kiss him on the cheek just as the door opens, revealing at first a very confused Connor, then confusion turned to anger.

Nervously, I say, “Hey Connor, you ready to get started?”

He just nods in response so I decided to turn and walk towards the back room, where we do our warm ups.

“Alright do you want to star by…?” I was suddenly interrupted by Connor.

“What was that back there?” He says sternly.

“That was a friendly peck on the cheek. I was thanking him for only scheduling you for today so I didn’t end up being stressed out.” I snapped back at him. There was no need for him to wonder what was going on between Josh and I. Besides, I honestly think Josh is gay, but you didn’t hear it from me.

“It didn’t look like a friendly peck on the cheek.”

“Connor, do you honestly think I’m the type of person to go around kissing other guys, while I have a boyfriend?”

“No, I guess you’re right.” He sighs.

“Alright let’s just get to work. As I was saying, do you want to start with stretches, work on the tread meal, and then call it quits?”

“Sounds good to me.”

Connor isn’t usually talkative during his exercises, would explain why I was surprised to hear him ask me a question, even though I couldn’t hear it over the machine.

“What did you say?”

“I said, if I do another mile today, will you go on a date with me?”

“Connor, you’d be pushing your knee too hard.”

“It’s only for one day and besides, it’ll be worth it.” He says, trying to persuade me.

“Connor, if anything happened to your knee, I’d feel terrible about it. How about you skip the extra mile and we just go on the date?” I said, sending a smile his way.

Connor smirks back at me and then starts to run faster on the tread meal.

“Connor, slow down, you’re going to hurt yourself!” I scolded.

“If I hurry up and finish, the sooner we can go on our date.” He winks at me.

This boy will be the death of me.