Whatever. I’m not sure how long we’ll be working together, so getting involved with her is a bad idea regardless.
“Why would I want to subject her to all you idiots?” I ask Mack.
He waves a ‘To hell with you’ hand at me as he increases the speed on his treadmill, and it groans in protest.
“What can it hurt to bring her by?” Kelsier asks. “Since everyone already knows.”
I frown at him, but he gives me an unapologetic look as we bump the treadmills up again.
“Hey, coach!” Mack calls across the room. “Gunny wants to bring his doc by to meet the team. It will help her figure out why he’s such aheadcase or something. He was afraid to ask you.”
Kelsier and I whip our heads around to see Coach Davis and one of the trainers huddled over a tablet on the other side of the room. Coach glances up briefly to acknowledge Mack.
“Yeah, sure,” Coach Davis says. “Whatever helps.” He goes back to his discussion with the trainer.
“I didn’t-,” I start to protest, but Kelsier cuts me off.
“Thanks, Coach!” he yells before I can get anything out.
I turn and glare at him again. “What the fuck?”
He shrugs. “Sorry. I really want to meet her.”
“Yeah, but she’s not just going to meet you. She’s going to meet the rest of these assholes too.”
“Asshole and proud!” Mack says, pumping a fist in the air as he jogs.
“I’m gonna fucking beat the shit out of you both,” I grumble.
Mack chuckles. “Good luck. I’ll even give you the first swing.”
He’s right. I’d only hurt my fist on his jaw if I tried to hit him, and then he’d pound me into the ground.
“Looks like it’s a done deal,” Kelsier says, grinning at me. “When can we expect to meet her?”
“When hell freezes over,” I tell him.
“Man, don’t make me steal your phone and text her,” he says, and he bumps his treadmill up again to a run. “This is happening.”
I follow suit and turn mine up. There’s still a chance the doc will turn down the invitation, and I cling to that slim hope. I’m not sure why I don’t want her coming here – the guys aren’t that bad – but for some reason, I don’t want to expose her to them.
Maybe I like having the focused attention, and I’m worried about losing that if she comes here and meets everyone else.
Maybe I just don’t want to share her.
Ash
Later that night, my finger hovers over the ‘Send’ button on my phone as I watch TV. I’ve typed a message to the doc, deleted it, and retyped it about three times now. Each version of the message makes the invitation more and more my idea.
Ash
Hey, so Coach was thinking maybe you should come meet
Delete.
Ash
I’ve been telling the guys on the team about you, and they
