Read Online RUNNING GAME (A SECOND CHANCE SPORTS ROMANCE) by Nikki Wild - Free Book Online Page A
Authors: Nikki Wild
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it was some hippie bullshit, or maybe it was just my own guilt eating away at my scarred and battered conscience. But either way, I didn’t want her to turn out like me.
My secret was big. But it was mine. I’d held it close to my chest for so long, it had become a part of me. I’d never told a soul and I wasn’t about to start spilling things now.
But goddamn, did I ever feel the need for some relief.
Relief was out of the question, though.
It’s not like I could trust anyone with the truth.
It’s not like I could expect anyone to keep their mouth shut once they learned how big it was.
They’d be able to sell my secret to the highest bidder. They’d fall over themselves to ruin everything I’d built here.
I guess I could have sold it myself and ran away from it all, but the last thing I wanted to do was drag myself through the mud like that.
I hadn’t even told Eddie, my best friend in the whole damn world. As much as I loved Eddie, I knew how much he loved to gossip. He'd been an amazing friend, a wonderful kind of ‘uncle’ to Maddie, and brought a lot of much needed happiness and color to our lives.
By day, he was Eddie Rockwell, a loving gay man with a heart of gold, but at night, he turned into an entirely different person — Rockie Montaigne, the Queen of the Denver drag scene. He emcee’d drag shows at Charlie’s downtown every Friday and Sunday night and was very well-known and well-loved in the Denver community.
I’d met him a few years ago when I was still in school, doing my clinicals at another PT clinic. Eddie had fallen while dancing in a pair of stiletto’s and hurt his knee. I was assigned to him and a fast friendship formed. He and Maddy adored each other.
But still, I never told him my secret either.
My mouth remained firmly shut, my secret locked deep inside of me, never to see the light of day.
Everyone had something, right? Something they never told anyone? Something they took to the grave with them? I was no different.
At least that’s what I told myself so I could sleep at night.
Everyone had secrets. I wasn’t any different. It was perfectly normal to keep this to myself.
And if it wasn’t normal, then it was certainly necessary . Some things are best left unsaid, and my secret was one of those things.
And if I didn’t want to answer Jesse’s questions, I damn well didn’t have to. I didn’t have to tell him why I left. I didn’t have to tell him why I stood him up. Maybe I owed him an explanation, but he wasn’t about to get one.
At least not the real one.
I’d been so lost in my own thoughts this morning, that I’d almost let Maddy out the door without her inhaler. That would have been a nightmare, because I would have been forced to leave work and come back home to pick it up and then drive it back to her school. Instead, I found myself chasing after the bus two blocks, frantically yelling and waving behind it like a lunatic until it had finally stopped and let me on.
I made my way to work afterwards, determined to clear my mind and not let myself get distracted any longer. I needed to stay clear-headed and keep my cool.
And I was doing so good, until Larry walked into my office after I’d only been there for five minutes and ruined everything.
“You’re going to want to take that coffee to go,” he said, gesturing to the steamy mug on my desk.
“What are you talking about?” I asked.
“Your patient isn’t feeling well. He requested that you do an in-call treatment.”
“Which patient?” I asked, knowing exactly who he was talking about but hoping I was wrong.
“Colorado, of course. Your only patient.”
“For fuck’s sake, Larry!” I exclaimed. Yeah, I’m not supposed to complain, but this was too much.
“I don’t see the problem, Maisey. He doesn’t live far from here. I’ll pay for your gas and parking, if that’s your problem. Time and a half pay for having to leave the office.”
“That’s not it!”
“Well, then
My secret was big. But it was mine. I’d held it close to my chest for so long, it had become a part of me. I’d never told a soul and I wasn’t about to start spilling things now.
But goddamn, did I ever feel the need for some relief.
Relief was out of the question, though.
It’s not like I could trust anyone with the truth.
It’s not like I could expect anyone to keep their mouth shut once they learned how big it was.
They’d be able to sell my secret to the highest bidder. They’d fall over themselves to ruin everything I’d built here.
I guess I could have sold it myself and ran away from it all, but the last thing I wanted to do was drag myself through the mud like that.
I hadn’t even told Eddie, my best friend in the whole damn world. As much as I loved Eddie, I knew how much he loved to gossip. He'd been an amazing friend, a wonderful kind of ‘uncle’ to Maddie, and brought a lot of much needed happiness and color to our lives.
By day, he was Eddie Rockwell, a loving gay man with a heart of gold, but at night, he turned into an entirely different person — Rockie Montaigne, the Queen of the Denver drag scene. He emcee’d drag shows at Charlie’s downtown every Friday and Sunday night and was very well-known and well-loved in the Denver community.
I’d met him a few years ago when I was still in school, doing my clinicals at another PT clinic. Eddie had fallen while dancing in a pair of stiletto’s and hurt his knee. I was assigned to him and a fast friendship formed. He and Maddy adored each other.
But still, I never told him my secret either.
My mouth remained firmly shut, my secret locked deep inside of me, never to see the light of day.
Everyone had something, right? Something they never told anyone? Something they took to the grave with them? I was no different.
At least that’s what I told myself so I could sleep at night.
Everyone had secrets. I wasn’t any different. It was perfectly normal to keep this to myself.
And if it wasn’t normal, then it was certainly necessary . Some things are best left unsaid, and my secret was one of those things.
And if I didn’t want to answer Jesse’s questions, I damn well didn’t have to. I didn’t have to tell him why I left. I didn’t have to tell him why I stood him up. Maybe I owed him an explanation, but he wasn’t about to get one.
At least not the real one.
I’d been so lost in my own thoughts this morning, that I’d almost let Maddy out the door without her inhaler. That would have been a nightmare, because I would have been forced to leave work and come back home to pick it up and then drive it back to her school. Instead, I found myself chasing after the bus two blocks, frantically yelling and waving behind it like a lunatic until it had finally stopped and let me on.
I made my way to work afterwards, determined to clear my mind and not let myself get distracted any longer. I needed to stay clear-headed and keep my cool.
And I was doing so good, until Larry walked into my office after I’d only been there for five minutes and ruined everything.
“You’re going to want to take that coffee to go,” he said, gesturing to the steamy mug on my desk.
“What are you talking about?” I asked.
“Your patient isn’t feeling well. He requested that you do an in-call treatment.”
“Which patient?” I asked, knowing exactly who he was talking about but hoping I was wrong.
“Colorado, of course. Your only patient.”
“For fuck’s sake, Larry!” I exclaimed. Yeah, I’m not supposed to complain, but this was too much.
“I don’t see the problem, Maisey. He doesn’t live far from here. I’ll pay for your gas and parking, if that’s your problem. Time and a half pay for having to leave the office.”
“That’s not it!”
“Well, then
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