“Well, I guess that answers that question.”
Ben nodded. “Your quads need some serious stretching, my friend.”
“Your friend, huh?”
“Frenemy?”
Koios snorted. “Better.”
“I thought you’d approve.” Ben lifted Koios’s ankle, and then pressed his hand in the bend of Koios’s knee. “Okay, we’re going to do some gentle stretches.”
What followed was a series of contortionist moves that Koios had no doubt were meant to turn him into a pretzel. The problem was, Ben barely moved his legs at all. How had he not realized how tight his legs had become?
The entire time Ben worked, he explained what he hoped to achieve with each stretch. Anatomy wasn’t a subject Koios had spent any time studying, but he followed Ben’s explanations as he performed each movement, even as the stretches increased in difficulty.
“Okay,” Ben said. “Let’s get you up, and we’ll talk over your homework.”
Koios stretched and his wings lengthened. His feathers brushed against Ben, and Ben gasped before quickly stepping away.
“Sorry,” Koios said through a yawn. “I’m more relaxed than I thought I’d be.”
“No problem,” Ben said.
Except his voice was about three octaves higher than it had been. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing,” Ben squeaked. “Just writing up some notes for you. We’ll…um…need to make sure you’re…uh…stretching. Your…you know…hip flexors. I’ll…uh…well, I’ll find a video and send it to you. That’d be best.”
Koios managed to get off the table on his own. Ben’s cheeks were bright red, and he scribbled on his tablet like his life depended on it.
What the hell was wrong with him? Koios had never seem him so flustered. This wasn’t the same Ben who’d shot him full of painkillers to keep him from leaving the clinic. That Ben he understood, recognized.
The bubble of anger that had completely dissipated came churning back into Koios’s stomach. “Don’t lie to me. If you don’t want to be here, leave. No one is forcing you to work with me. You can send your videos to Logan. I’m sure he’ll be able to help me.”
Ben closed his eyes. “I’m not…Koios, just give me a second, okay?”
“A second for what? To figure out how to say I’m more trouble than I’m worth? That this is a waste of your time?”
Ben spun around, his brown eyes filled with more emotion than Koios had ever seen in the normally stoic doctor. “To get myself under control and not be completely unprofessional, you jackass. I wouldn’t be here if I didn’t think I could help you, and you know it. I’m not going to keep giving you allowances for shitty behavior. Just give me a damn minute, okay?”
Unprofessional?Koios scowled as Ben spun away again and covered his face with his hands. Ben took several deep breaths while Koios scrambled to understand what the hell was going on.
Finally, Ben turned around again. His face had returned to normal, and he smiled. “You did great today. I’m going to send over some exercises for you to work on this afternoon. I’ll let Logan know you may need some help. For now, we’re going to focus on loosening the tight muscles, but in a few days, we’ll start work on building strength. I’ve emailed you what I want you to work on. Any questions?”
Only about three hundred.
“No.”
“Then I’ll see you in the morning.”
Ben nodded, grabbed his bag, and walked out the door.
7
BEN
Ben yawned as he parked in front of the warehouse the following morning. He snagged the venti triple-shot latte he’d picked up at a drive-thru from the cupholder before grabbing his bag and heading inside. It had been a hell of a night dealing with the aftermath of a terrible car accident. Luckily, all of their patients had survived the crash, but Ben and his dad had pulled an all-nighter to take care of everyone involved.
His sister Emily sat behind the desk at the warehouse, and she frowned the moment she saw him. “What happened?”
