I know my reply sounds flat. And judging by the pause that follows, she thinks so too. I can’t blame her.
Ivy:
Soon?
King:
Yeah, I'm pretty sure we'll see each other soon.
It's both a lie and the truth. Because she sees me every day, and we'll see each other tomorrow. But she won't be meeting King, the man she's falling for. She'll be meeting Declan, the man she's running from.
Even if both men are the same person, I can't let Ivy know or she'll never speak to me again.
I have to keep her, make her mine, no matter what.
Even if it means losing myself in the process.
11
IVY
One Month Only
Gregory Stallworth appears like a vulture circling roadkill.
I'm loading equipment into my car after a long day when his shadow falls across the parking lot. The late afternoon sun glints off his Rolex. Everything about him, from his dark tailored suit to his wicked smile, screams predator.
"Dr. Chandler." His voice is smooth. Wrong. "Do you have a moment?"
Every instinct in me says no. "I'm actually in a hurry."
He blocks my path to the driver's side door.
"This won't take long. I wanted to discuss your research as a concerned representative of the players."
The words sound reasonable. His tone is anything but.
"What concerns?" I say in a level, professional tone. The way I've trained myself to talk when dealing with members of faculty who assume I'm an undergraduate assistant.
"Your presence is causing distractions and performance issues." He gestures vaguely at the facility behind us. "The injury to Mr. Volkov, for instance."
Anger slices through me. "Misha's injury had nothing to do with my research. He took a hit during play..."
"A hit that might have been avoided if certain players weren't distracted by other concerns." His cold eyes pin me in place. "We've also seen a correlation between your arrival and our recent losing streak."
"What losing streak? The team won the last game."
"But they've been losing since you arrived."
"That's statistically insignificant." I grab my tablet from the car, pulling up data. "The baseline testing shows early concussion vulnerability markers in three players that could prevent long-term damage. One of them is showing signs of consistent improvement with pre-clinical CTE..."
"Pre-clinical." He says it like it's a dirty word. "Meaning nothing's actually wrong yet."
"Meaning we can intervene before permanent damage occurs. That's the entire point of preventative research."
"Or perhaps it's creating anxiety where none existed. Making healthy players worry unnecessarily." A cold smile frames his face. "I'm suggesting you reconsider the scope of your work here, Dr. Chandler. Perhaps you should have fewer invasive assessments, spend less time in the facility."
The subtext is clear: disappear.
