The Perfect Right Hook Read online

  “I know, but it was stupid. I shouldn’t have had that reaction.”

  “Alex, it’s not stupid. I don’t know how you do what you do every day. It has to be very mentally and emotionally draining.”

  “Some days are harder than others. The guy in your old room is in his eighties. He fell down the stairs. They don’t think he’ll make it, but if he does, he’ll have to move into a nursing home or with family because he’s paralyzed from the waist down.”

  “Wow, that’s terrible. But I guess no one ends up in that ward for anything less than terrible.” Alex looks at me in a sad longing way for a moment before pressing her lips against mine and holding them there for a few moments. When she pulls back, she holds my eyes for a few seconds. “Jordan, I love you.”

  “I love you, too.”

  “Are you ready to go back to work tomorrow?”

  “Yeah, I’m actually looking forward to it. I’m starting to get cabin fever sitting around here all day. The only part I’m not looking forward to is the stares and questions that I’m sure I’ll be dealing with for at least the first few days. Any interest in changing careers so you can come be the accounting manager like I dreamt of in my coma?” Alex laughs and shakes her head. “I wouldn’t make a good manager. I don’t like telling people what to do.”

  “But you looked really good in those skirts and heels.”

  “Skirt and heels or naughty nurse?” I grin really big and nod once in an affirmative way. “Naughty nurse, for sure.” Alex laughs and pecks my lips. “Guess I’m not making a career change then.”

  Chapter Thirteen

  It’s been nice sleeping in lately, but I’m so excited to go back to work that I’m up before the alarm clock goes off and jump out of bed to get ready for the day. There’s a certain threshold of “acceptable unproductiveness” for me. After a few days of not doing anything, I start to feel like I’m being lazy and I get antsy to get back to work. My apartment has never been cleaner! I’ve been trying to keep busy while I waited for the all clear to go back to work and I pretty much ran out of stuff to do around home pretty quickly. I have gone through every single nook and cranny in my place organizing, tossing stuff I don’t need, and cleaning every surface. I even dusted the books, movies, and CD’s on my shelves. Not only am I excited to get back to actually doing something productive, but it makes my “clean bill of health” more real now that I can finally rejoin the work force that drives America forward.

  When I get to work, I’m startled to see my entire department is standing around near my desk and they erupt into applause when they see me. All those stereotypes about IT departments being cloistered sheltered people is not too far off. For them to all be huddled in a community like this is a bit odd for a good portion of them. There are a few that are more extroverted, but the majority of the people in my department are very introverted. Regina is one of the extroverts and she is first to speak as she comes over giving me a tight hug.

  “Welcome back. I’ve missed your tough little ass around here.”

  “Thanks, Regina. Thank you all. It really is great to be back.”

  A couple guys make comments like “retiring undefeated, way to go” or “glad I never pissed you off after seeing that fight” and my favorite, “how hot is that nurse you’re dating?” No doubt they think they are witty, but they’re just painfully unoriginal and I can only muster a small smile for them. Thankfully, the chatter quickly changes to stories about work that I’ve missed and updates on staff and management changes. I’m not surprised to hear that Todd, one of our technicians, was fired. I laugh really hard when Regina tells me that our perverted VP was let go after he accidently forwarded porn to a client. He apparently meant to attach a marketing campaign and attached a collection of nude photos instead. After the client brought the incident up to the company president, his machine was searched and they found over half his laptop memory was pornographic videos and pictures.

  After talking with everyone for a little while, I meet with my manager, Marcus, to go over in more detail some updates and changes to responsibilities from my time out. I’ll be taking over pretty much all of my old responsibilities, but I’m also going to be getting a couple new tasks after I get back into the swing of things.

  I actually expected to come into work and it would be like no time has passed at all, but I’m frustratingly slow trying to get through my work. Four months really isn’t that long when I’ve been doing this stuff for years. Why am I working so slowly?

  After a few hours, I really need a break. I open my instant message tool and look for Alex’s name, completely forgetting she doesn’t actually work here and that was only a dream in my coma. I exhale deeply and stand up. I decide to go out to the quad.

  It’s a beautiful sunny day and the scent of the fragrant flowers from the brimming garden beds hangs sweet on the air like a donut shop in the morning. It’s a lovely moment, but would be so much better if Alex was here to walk and talk with me.

  I pull my phone out and look at her contact entry. I know she’s probably making rounds right now. She told me I can call or text if I need to, but should I really bother her at work? I’m not really in a crisis or anything. I just miss her. Her contact photo is a beautiful close up of her smiling and her gorgeous seafoam green eyes glittering with love and happiness. It offers me some comfort to look at, but I really want to hear her voice. That sweet velvety voice of hers is the most beautiful sound I’ve ever heard and makes me feel so good inside. I jump a little when my phone starts ringing with a call from her.

  “Hey babe. I was just thinking about calling you.”

  “Just thinking about it, huh? What does a girl have to do to get you to press the call button?” I laugh and smile really big hearing her sweet voice cooing through the phone in a flirty taunt. “I didn’t want to bother you at work just because I miss you.”

  “I thinking missing me is a good enough reason to interrupt my work day. I miss you, too. How is your first day back going?” I feel like I can hear her smile in her voice and it makes my own smile perk up more, for just a moment, before I think about how to answer her question. “It’s going ok I guess. No, actually, it’s very frustrating. I’m working so much slower than before and I’m having a hard time remembering things.”

  “Jordan, that’s normal. You’ve been out of work for over four months. It will come back to you soon. You have to have patience with yourself.”

  “It’s not possible that my brain was damaged, right? I mean my MRI’s were normal, right?”

  “Yes, babe, your MRI’s were normal and you don’t have any brain damage. You went from not being able to walk at all to kicking ass in the gym in less than a week. Just give it a few days and I’m sure you’ll be back to normal pace or close to it. Would you like to do a yoga session tonight?”

  My mouth curls into a huge smile at the “kicking ass in the gym” comment. When I first started walking again, Alex cried and kissed me with so much heat that it actually took the strength right back out of my legs and she had to support me for a couple moments while my head cleared. After that, she kept coming to find me in the gym a couple times a day just to watch me for a few minutes. When I was alone, she would sneak up behind me and run her hands over my body before turning me and pulling me into a kiss. It was nice and fueled my desire to recover and get out the hospital that much more quickly.

  “Yeah, that sounds good. How is your day going?”

  “Just another typical day. I wish your office was closer to the hospital so we could have lunch together.”

  “We could video chat on lunch. I won’t be able to hug and kiss on you like I really want to, but at least I can see your beautiful face.” Alex laughs a little. “Ok, let’s do it. I have to get back to work. Please try to relax and have patience with yourself. Talk to you later, babe. I love you.”

  “Ok, I’ll try. Talk to you soon and I love you, too, babe.”

  When I get back to my desk, Alex’s words are fresh
in my mind, encouraging me to have patience and reminding me of how quickly I was able to recover physically because I was determined. I take a deep breath and dive into my work. Some of the more repetitive processes start to become easier and I pick up pace a good bit after a couple hours, but the more complex coding and script writing pieces of what I need to be doing are just too complex right now. I let my team know I’m going to need some time before I can take those tasks back. I need to practice these a bit so I don’t screw anything up.

  After trying to work through a particularly complex task and not getting anywhere for a while, I decide to take another break. I go to the bathroom and then to the breakroom to make some tea. While I’m at the water cooler getting some hot water, my phone vibrates in my pocket with a new text.

  Callie: Hey, Pixie. Coach was able to talk to Tina’s team and arrange a meeting with them. They will only talk to us at their gym though. What night looks good for you?

  Me: Damn, I hate going into that part of town. Tomorrow night should be ok.

  Tina’s boxing gym is in a very rough part of town and its best to stay clear of the area if you’re not a “native”. There’s about a six-square block area that’s run by one of the local street gangs. The people that live there try to pretend to the “outsiders” that’s just “cop lore”, but it’s a hard, scary truth. No one messes with the boxing gym though. Sometimes I wonder if the gang owns them and that’s why it’s one of the safest places – if you can get there. The gym is located smack dab in the center of the gangs control radius.

  Callie: I’m free tomorrow night. I’ll arrange a time with them and let you know. The Pacino’s have a few boxers in their gym that are being scouted right now so I think they are going to cooperate. They don’t want any bad publicity right now.

  Me: I hope you’re right. If they don’t accept the plan, what do you think their terms will be?

  Callie: They won’t want to fight you. No offense, but fighting you right now would be like fighting a squirrely little sissy girl. They might actually challenge me though.

  Me: You know just the words to stroke my ego – squirrely sissy girl… damn, that one cut deep. You’re not going to accept, are you? Because no offense to you, but you’re not exactly in the best shape right now either. You haven’t trained in just as long and you lost just as much muscle as I did while I was in that coma.

  Callie: I would love to smash that bitches face into a brick wall, but that’s not allowed in a boxing match so I won’t be fighting her in the ring. This is their chance to pick respectful honor. If they choose to not accept that route and Tina wants to fight dirty, I’m going to show her what dirty fighting is really like.

  Callie’s dad grew up the hard way – fighting to survive every single day. He was recruited into a gang at just thirteen years old and learned some very brutal fighting techniques to carry out his “duties” and just to survive. A boxing coach at our gym spotted him fighting for his life on a street corner when he was nineteen. He was up against three huge thugs and was holding his own pretty well. The coach took him under his wing and got him in the ring and out of the gang. It wasn’t an easy transition and it nearly cost him and the coach their lives, but after making some deals, the gang let him out – after taking everything he owned and threatening to kill him and everyone he cares about in a horrible way if he ever spoke to the cops. To this day, none of us know which gang he was in and what he was made to do for them, but we know how terrifying he is. Callie’s dad taught her how to fight before he put her in boxing. She first learned how to street fight before she was tamed into a rule abiding boxer. I’ve seen Callie fight dirty a couple times – it was scary. In a ring following the rules of the sport, I don’t think she could win a match with Tina right now, but on a street with no rules, she would kill Tina.

  Me: Callie, you know Tina’s connections are questionable. We can’t risk angering the wrong people. Those people know who your father is – we can’t do anything that would risk a gang war breaking out.

  I’m pretty sure Tina has loyalties to that gang that runs her town. Callie may be able to take her in a street fight, but doing so could bring down a whole storm on all of the people we care about.

  Callie: I’m so sick of street politics. If two people want to duke it out, everyone else should back off and let them without it causing a war between tribes.

  Me: As if you wouldn’t step up and start throwing some fists and knees if Tina started duking it out with me? It’s human nature to protect what’s ours and get revenge when ours is taken or trampled on.

  Callie: I’d throw more than fists and knees at that crazy bitch. Fine, I get your point. We’ll avoid any and all forms of fighting. I’ll talk to you later.

  When I get home, I’m extremely on edge. The rest of the workday went pretty much like the first half so that still has me pretty irritated, but I’m also stressed about this meeting tomorrow night. I decided not to tell Alex on our video chat at lunch about the planned meeting with Tina and her managers tomorrow night, but I’m going to have to tell her tonight. Alex could tell something was bothering me, but I just blamed it on work. I don’t think she completely bought it. She had a look on her face like she knew there was something else bothering me.

  When Alex arrives, she’s dressed in her yoga pants and a fitted tee shirt. Despite my anxiety, my face spreads into a big smile seeing her amazing long legs in those thin tight pants. Alex grins at my reaction and as she walks passed me, she puts a little more sway into her hips than usual. Her adorable taunting walk makes me laugh a little.

  After she sets her stuff down, Alex turns to wrap her arms around my neck and gently presses her lips against mine for a moment. When she pulls back, she says, “I missed you today. Talking on video chat was nice though. That was my first time using that app before.”

  “I’ve only ever used it for work purposes. It was nice using it with someone I actually wanted to see.” She smiles and kisses me again, before asking, “Are you ready?”

  “Yeah, I’m ready.”

  We go into my living and sit down Indian style facing each other. Alex instructs me to close my eyes and how to focus on my breathing. Maybe this was a bad idea. Sitting in silence like this attempting to clear my brain and relax is not working. All I’m doing is stressing about tomorrow night. After a few minutes, I feel Alex take my hands in hers and I open my eyes. She’s looking at me with a concern.

  “Jordan, what happened today? You seemed worried about something when we spoke earlier and right now your eyebrows are pinched with stress.” I take a deep breath before answering and tell her about the meeting with Tina tomorrow night after work. While I’m talking, Alex pulls me up from the floor and sits us down on my couch. After I finish, she asks, “Can I come with you?”

  “Absolutely not.” Her face falls and she looks offended and sad. “Why not?” I take both of her hands and kiss them both. “Alex, I don’t want you anywhere near that part of town. That area is very dangerous and Tina is dangerous. Seeing you and knowing you are my girlfriend might actually make Tina harder to deal with.”

  “Why would that matter? You dated over two years ago and it was only for a few months.”

  “It shouldn’t matter, but Tina is crazy and unpredictable.”

  She stands up and starts pacing like Callie had done yesterday. Her face has a mixture of emotions plastered all over it, twisting her normally soft serene face into something hard to look at. The look on her face makes my chest ache. She suddenly stops after a couple minutes and looks at me.

  “I don’t like this at all. It feels like you’re going into a hungry den of wolves. I’m going to be so worried about you.”

  “I know. I don’t like it either, but I have to do this.”

  “I really wish you would let me go with you. At least I would know if you are ok or not if I was there with you.”

  “Alex, I feel safest when I’m with you and if Chance was to throw us in that part of town together, I kno
w I’d feel less afraid and stronger just for having you by my side. But this isn’t the doing of Chance. I can’t risk something happening to you if things go south. I would never forgive myself.”

  “Can’t you just talk over the phone or something?”

  “If they agree to the plan, we’ll need to be together for the plan to be effective. Babe, I know it’s not ideal, but I promise I’ll be careful. If Tina is connected to the gang like I suspect she is, no one should bother us when we roll in there since we are expected.”

  “If she’s connected to the gang, would she ask for a hit on you?” I smile and shake my head. “I don’t think so. There are too many rumors about the true ownership of that gym. Doing that would definitely cause an investigation and they won’t want to risk that. Plus, asking for a favor from a gang, especially a favor like that, means she’ll have to repay that same favor whenever they ask and would get killed if she didn’t comply. I don’t think Tina would put herself in a position like that when she wants to go pro. They would own her if she asked them for any favors against me.”

  “Can I wait for you here tomorrow?”

  “Yes, but promise me that you won’t follow us.”

  She shuffles on her feet in a nervous way and briefly bites her bottom lip before nodding her head.

  “Ok, I promise. I really wish I could be there with you, but I understand why you don’t want me there.”

  I reach my hand out to her and she steps forward to take it. I gently tug her forward and she sits side saddle on my lap. I wrap my arms around her waist and give her a soft kiss on the lips.