Rebound (Bending the Rules #1)

by A. M. Wray

  “Elizabeth,” I said.

  “Lizzy,” the blonde one said. “Hot.”

  “No,” I said. “Elizabeth.”

  “Oooh,” he said. “Sorry, Elizabeth.” He exaggerated my name and it almost immediately pissed me off.

  I didn’t like the way he looked at me, and I didn’t like the way his friend looked at Andi. All in all, I’d say that it was rounding out to be a crappy afternoon after all. My calm mood was shattered, and I wasn’t happy. I was about to say something, but I was interrupted.

  “Ugh,” I heard one of them grunt. It had been the one wearing jeans. He stepped forward and tapped his blonde friend on the shoulder.

  “She said Elizabeth. Not Lizzy. Not Liz. Not Bethy. Not any other thing you’ll pop out of your mouth. Elizabeth. And it can be said without an attitude,” he said.

  My mouth fell slightly open. Not enough to draw immediate attention, but I was definitely shocked.

  “Thanks,” I said.

  He turned to me, his short black hair shining in the sun and his dark eyes immediately holding me captive. His skin glistened with sweat, and I could not take my eyes off of every flawless feature he had.

  “You’re welcome,” he said.

  “You’re no fun, Jax” hot lips said.

  “No,” Jax, formerly known to me as hottie hero, said. “I just think you’re a punk that doesn’t know how to treat women.”

  “Ouch,” Andi said, laughing a little.

  “I think the two of you should leave,” the fourth guy said, coming to stand by Jax.

  “Yeah,” blondie said, smiling at us with a smug grin. “You heard him.”

  Thank God, I thought to myself.

  “No,” the fourth guy said. “I wasn’t talking to the girls. I was talking to you.”

  “You’ve gotta be kidding me,” hot lips said.

  “I’ve warned you before about acting like that. It’s bullshit. Any time a girl is around, both of you act like you’re going to pounce on them. I’ve had enough of it. Leave,” Jax demanded.

  Both men turned and stormed off, mumbling some childish and jerky things to one another about Jax and his friend.

  “I’m sorry about that,” Jax said. “I don’t know if you caught my name or not, but it’s Jax. And this is my brother Alex.”

  “I’m Andi. This is Elizabeth. She’s recently very single.”

  I turned to Andi, my eyes wide as I stared at her with disbelief.

  “Are you serious?” I asked.

  I sighed heavily. It was a split-second decision, but I decided that I didn’t know Jax. I didn’t know Alex. It didn’t matter what they thought of me. I loved Andi, but I needed to set her straight right then, or her behavior in trying to pimp me out would only get worse.

  “What?” Andi asked.

  “He yelled at those men, but you weren’t helping the situation. You came over here when I wouldn’t because I lack the confidence to. Thank you for trying to help, but it was only this morning when I walked in on my boyfriend of three years in bed with another woman. I don’t need another boyfriend. I don’t need a beneficial friend. I just need my friend. These guys could be rapists for all you know – no offense,” I said that last part turning to Jax.

  He had a small smile on his face. “None taken.”

  “But my point stands. Those guys were creeps. Is that the kind of guy you want to get the attention of? Because just rushing up to a group of strange men you don’t know and flirting with them is exactly how you get the attention of douchebags. Again, no offense,” I said.

  “None taken,” he said, stifling a light laugh.

  “I’m sorry!” Andi said. “I just do not want you stuck like I was all year last year.”

  “I’m not going to be,” I said. “Now thank this man for not letting you get raped by Creepy McFuckface and his friend Dildo Prickens.”

  “Dildo Prickens?” Andi asked.

  “Andi!” I said.

  “Yes, Mom!” she said with an eye roll before turning to Jax and Alex. Both men were standing with their arms crossed, each one fighting smiles. “Thank you. I’m sorry that we broke up your game.”

  “You’re fine,” Alex said. “No need to apologize. They were assholes and we were pretty sick of it.”

  “He’s right, they were jerks. Don’t worry about it,” Jax said.

  “Wanna play?” Alex asked.

  “Us?” I asked incredulously.

  “Yeah!” Jax said. “You guys should play with us. He sucks, so it’s just not much fun to kick his ass all over the place.”

  I laughed. “Well, while I doubt that, I can personally guarantee that you would kick my ass all over that court. If you lifted me and sat me inside the basket with the ball… I’d still miss.”

  The deep laugh that escaped him was genuine. Something that I hadn’t heard in a long time, and I found that I really liked the sound of it. Alex had also found it humorous. They were both very attractive and had great senses of humor. Unlike the other two, I liked them.

  “Then maybe we should teach you how to shoot first,” Alex said.

  It was obvious that Andi wanted to stay. To be honest, I did, too, but I felt nervous about it simply because of how I met them in the first place. At that point, it was very awkward. While he seemed very kind, I didn’t want him to get the wrong idea about us. Andi wasn’t exactly the way she portrayed herself sometimes. She just tried too hard and it sometimes came off the wrong way – like it had then.

  “If you have somewhere that you need to be or are just kind of uncomfortable because of what happened, we understand,” Jax said.

  Damn him. He was beautiful and compassionate. I must have been making an expression that gave away my unease.

  “I don’t know if either of you have talent enough to teach me, but we can see. Luckily Andi is pretty good,” I said.

  Andi’s head nearly exploded with excitement. It was obvious by the way she looked at me.

  “Yay!” she exclaimed.

  “I’ll take the pro,” Alex said with a smile.

  Andi jumped and clapped her hands excitedly before heading around to the opening in the chain-link fence.

  “I’ll take you,” Jax said in my direction. “Don’t worry. I won’t let them beat us.”

  I laughed. “You’ve never seen me play, but let’s see what you can do.”

  As I made my way around the fence, I took a deep breath. I was nervous. Social anxiety was kinda my thing. As far as talking goes, I did fine, but I had low confidence around large groups of people and men in general. It didn’t even have to be a “hot” guy. Just any ol’ guy would do. Jax, however, was nowhere near being just “any ol’ guy.” My heart was fluttering as if I were about to get up on a stage and sing in front of hundreds of people.

  Anxiety… You can bite me. Thank you.

  “Okay,” Jax said as I walked up. “We are going to start off with some basics.”

  His dark skin glistening in the sun was very distracting, but I did my best to avoid every curve of every visible muscle.

  “Go ahead and show me what you can do,” Jax said, mimicking my words from earlier.

  Across the court Alex and Andi were shooting around at the other goal. Jax handed the ball to me, and I stepped forward. He stood, watching me intently. His dark brown eyes studied me from head to toe. Shaking away the nerves, I bent my knees and took my shot.

  Shocker…

  I missed.

  Without hesitation, Jax grabbed the ball and came back to stand in front of me.

  “Okay,” he said, a smile spreading across his face. “The bad news is that you’re right. You’re pretty terrible. The good news is that it should be totally fixable with some posture changes and patience. If you want to learn, that is.”

  “Actually,” I said. “I’d love to. I love sports. I was on a basketball team when I was a kid. I wanted to play so badly, but I sucked so much that I quit for the good of the team.”

  He laughed. “I pr
ide myself on being an honest man. I’d have to say that was a noble, and wise decision on your part. That being said, I’m betting they lost a large portion of the humor and cuteness when you left. That’s a shame.”

  I couldn’t stop smiling. He’d called me cute. More importantly, he’d called me funny. He was very sweet.

  “Thanks,” I replied, not knowing what else to say. Taking compliments wasn’t exactly a strong suit of mine.

  “Sorry,” he said before handing the ball to me. “Okay. Back to the task at hand.”

  Jax moved to stand next to me and lowered his position a little.

  “Stand like this. Feet about hip-width apart. Good. If you have a hard time shooting directly in front of you and it feels uncomfortable, turn a little to the side. Which is your dominant side?”

  He gave me simple instructions, and I did my best to follow and get into a proper stance. Once he was finished helping me stand properly, he stepped in front of me.

  “Lift the ball like you’re going to take a shot,” he said.

  I did as he asked and he placed both of his hands over mine.

  “If you hold the ball with both hands even on the left and right sides of the ball, you actually have less control over where it goes. Hold it more like this.”

  He moved my hands so that my right hand was behind the ball and my left just under the front. I knew to shoot like that, but it had always felt unnatural. I guess it felt a lot different as an adult because it was just fine. Jax stepped back and out of the way.

  “Okay,” he said. “Let ‘er rip.”

  I jumped and took the shot. It hit the right side of the rim and bounced around a couple of times before falling out.

  “Damn!” he said with a smile on his face. “That was much better! Good job!”

  I could tell by the look on his face that he was genuinely excited for me, which in turn, made me even more so. The smile on my face was unstoppable. Just like before, when I tried to run for the ball, he was faster. He’d bring it back with a smile and encourage me to shoot again. It was a lot of fun being around someone that enjoyed to smile as much as he did and was as sweet as he was. Before I knew it, a half hour had passed. My face hurt from smiling and laughing so much.

  “Jaxon,” Alex said. “We have to get out of here.”

  Jax pulled his phone from his pocket and checked the time.

  “Damn,” he said under his breath. “I’m sorry. We have to head out.”

  “Oh!” I said. I tried to hide the disappointment on my face, but I don’t think my smile looked as genuine as I meant for it to. “I had a lot of fun. You guys have a great day!”

  He stalled for a moment, his mouth opening twice as though he were about to say something, but didn’t.

  Please ask for my number. Please ask for my number. Please ask for my number.

  Though I gave it my best, I couldn’t help being attracted to him. With all the fun we’d had, I didn’t want to see it disappear completely.

  Finally, he smiled and spoke, pulling me from my thoughts.

  “You, too,” he said before turning. “Oh… I had a lot of fun, too.”

  Damn, I thought.

  With no more than a nervous wave, I turned and walked away. Andi ran up to me, and I was immediately worried that she would make a huge deal about the guys and the fact that I didn’t get his number. Instead, she was quiet. I risked a peripheral view of her and she had a large smile on her face as well. Apparently, it was just as fun for her as it was for me. Good. I had hope that she would leave me be.

  “You’re suspiciously quiet,” I said as she put the car in reverse.

  “I figured you wouldn’t want me to nag you about anything,” she said.

  “Liar,” I replied. “What is it? You liked him, didn’t you?”

  Her face lit up again. “I did. I couldn’t help it. Alex was so polite and sweet.”

  “Jax was the same,” I said. “They have awesome parents. I’d assume so anyway. They are both very respectful, which is quite rare these days.”

  “I know! Alex was amazing. I would love to see him again,” Andi said.

  “I know the feeling,” I said.

  It was the truth. Unfortunately for me, I allowed that opportunity to pass me by. Though I regretted it, I knew that it was for the best. The last thing I needed was to be approaching anyone, especially that soon. It was mind-boggling to me that it had even occurred to me. Then again… It was nice to simply talk to someone and have them be interested in what I said. Maybe I wasn’t so crazy after all.

  Chapter Four

  That night I went home and was surprised to find that the house was void of Kevin’s things. Not only his things, but some of mine as well. After leaving the park, we went back to the hospital and I stayed until about six that evening. I figured that would be enough time for Kevin and his harpy to get his things out. Turns out I was right.

  Moving through the house, I discovered that my Xbox was missing, as were some of my movies, my living room furniture, the bedroom TV, and all the bedding. I was happy that he took the bedding. I didn’t want anything to do with it. He could have taken the bed as well, but he didn’t. I guess he wanted to leave that for me to think about. What a gentleman.

  In a momentary fit of rage at seeing all the things he took and the one thing that he left, I ripped the mattress off the box springs and threw it outside. Well… I dragged it. It was a much slower process than my rage preferred. Quite underwhelming, actually. I feel as though it would have satisfied me more to punch something and break my hand in consequence. Instead, I wandered back inside out of breath and even angrier.

  The furniture had been in both our names, though I’d paid for it. One hundred percent. That was just a jerk move. Then again, he more than likely had Miss Sally Sleeps-around on that couch. Reminding myself of that tidbit made my seething hatred dwindle a little. Sleeping on the floor in the living room did nothing to help it though. There were no blankets, sheets, or even pillow cases in the house any longer. The towels were even gone! What man steals towels?

  I had to go next door to my neighbor’s and borrow a towel and some bedding to sleep on. Though the towel didn’t do much good when I went into the bathroom and discovered that all my toiletries were missing, too. Even down to my toothbrush and toothpaste. Children. Both of them.

  After a pointless hot shower, a terrible night of sleep, and a crap breakfast with the little groceries he left – I mean seriously… Did he have a team of people move him out!? – I headed back to work. I was terrified to check the bank account. It was something that I desperately needed to do, but I just couldn’t do it. I couldn’t afford to be angry all over again when I had to work.

  “How are you doing?” Andi asked when I sat my things down in the locker room.

  I shrugged. “I’m surprised there’s any paint left on the walls.”

  Andi patted me on the back. “It would have sucked, but you should have stayed and watched him move out.”

  “I know,” I replied. “I knew he was a dick, but I didn’t imagine he’d do all that.”

  Andi’s brow rose as she looked at me with no emotion on her face.

  “Oh, hush,” I said. “I know. I should have known he’d do that. I guess after everything that happened I still had some faith in him that he’d be an adult about it. He hurt me after all. It wasn’t the other way around.”

  “In a perfect world, that’s the way it should work. Unfortunately, that’s not how reality actually is, my dear,” Andi said. “Wanna take your mind off it?”

  “Of course,” I said.

  “Good!” Andi said, an evil smile on her face. “Wanna show these newbies how to do rounds?”

  I returned that smile. The new med students were always a lot of fun. Our hospital was a teaching hospital. We got nursing and med students alike. The LPNs, RNs, NPs, and Med students. We taught everyone. The first day of rounds for the med students was always mixed. Some of the students would be overzealous and anno
ying. Attempting to solve every problem before you could even explain the symptoms – that’s bad for anyone who doesn’t know. How can they expect to properly diagnose someone if they don’t know the symptoms?

  On the opposite side, we have the students who are quiet and reserved. They may or may not have a bit of an attitude. The ones with attitude think they know it already, so they say nothing. Those without attitude are the students that I love. They are quiet because they don’t want to sound stupid, but are quite attentive and love to learn, especially from the others mistakes. They are the ones that can easily be taught and eventually come out of their shyness.

  In other words… the new students are great fun.

  “I’d love to,” I said. “Should I feel bad that I get a kick out of this? I’m going to be one of them soon enough.”

  Andi laughed. “You probably should feel a little bad for it, but you won’t get to do clinicals here because you work here.”

  “Exactly,” I replied. “So I will be them when I go to a different hospital to train.”

  She shook her head. “No. You know what not to do. You’ll be fine. Now stop overthinking everything and let’s go break ‘em in.”

  As we made our way down the hall we saw a young woman run out of one of the patient rooms screaming for help. The day before that room had belonged to an admitted patient of mine, but that changed from day to day.

  “Change of plans,” Andi said.

  All amusement drained from her face as her stony professional look replaced it. Relief washed over the woman as we ran to her side.

  “Please!” she said. “My mom isn’t breathing!”

  Andi and I ran inside, and there were a few things that I noticed…

  That was in fact the same patient that I’d had the day before. She was a cancer patient and had been admitted for some complications. Even with those complications, we didn’t foresee her having any life-threatening issues.

  The patient was pale, her lips were turning blue, and she appeared to be unresponsive.

  Standing and holding the young woman in his arms was Jax, Alex on the opposite side.

  “It’ll be okay,” Jax said. “It’ll be okay.”