Players (Lessons by Loki) Read Free

slipped her hands into the pockets of her multicolored scrubs, trying not to let her apprehension show. “That’s my name, but I know we’ve never met.”
    “ Don’t you live across the street from Chase and Josiah?”
    She allowed herself to relax, a little. His name dropping wasn’t much of a recommendation. Chase and Josiah were her least favorite neighbors. Sort of. They annoyed her, yet fascinated her too. No matter how hard she tried to convince herself she didn’t care what went on in their tasteless house, she couldn’t keep herself from watching and imagining.
    “Are you friends with those guys?”
    His shocked expression turned into a guilty grin. “I wouldn’t want them as neighbors either. They’re almost too wild for me.”
    “Almost?”
    He laughed and carefully bent his injured leg so he could pivot onto the table. “Should I lie back?”
    “You can stay seated if it makes you more comfortable as long as you can fully extend your leg.”
    With a hiss and a muffled groan, he unfolded his leg. “Like this?”
    “Almost.” She carefully angled his foot for the first image then positioned the x-ray arm. “Now hold still.”
    He nodded and she moved behind the protective barrier. She activated the generator and waited for the familiar whir to completely cycle before she stepped out from behind the partial wall’s protection. “Why did you say my name with such dread? Did I do something to offend Chase or Josiah?”
    “It’s not what you did. It’s what they… Have either of them approached you in the past day or so?”
    The tightness returned to her stomach. Chase and Josiah had started irritating her even before they moved in. The developer who bought their lot tore down one of the most beautiful houses in the neighborhood to build a modern monstrosity. And the situation had gone from bad to worse when the party-focused bachelors snatched up the fancy new house shortly after it went on the market. At least she presumed they were bachelors. More than a few of the people on the block were convinced they were a couple. Not that she cared one way or the other.
    A familiar ache erupted deep inside her. She’d spent far too many nights thinking about the house across the street , imagining the sexual excesses indulged beneath that roof. A steady stream of lovers and acquaintances passed through the front door, men, women, in every conceivable combination, all young and beautiful. It made her feel stodgy and old.
    “I don’t have a lot in common with those two. Why would either of them approach me?”
    “Do you get a break for lunch or something? This might take a while to explain.”
    She hesitated. “Unless their choices directly affect me, I’m not really interested in—”
    “This directly affects you.” He stared at her, blue eyes wide and earnest. “I know you don’t know me from Adam, but you need to hear this.”
    Still, her cautious nature wouldn’t let her agree. As long as they met in a public place , what did she have to lose? He already knew where she lived and worked. And there was a slim possibility he’d tell her something important.
    “All right ,” she finally relented. “I’ll meet you at the Corner Bistro at 12:30. It’s on 17 th and Clarkson over on restaurant row.”
    “I’ve seen it.”
    She nodded then retreated into her professional reserve as she finished the procedure.
    The rest of the morning was slow, even for a T hursday. Katie moved through the following appointments on autopilot. She couldn’t imagine what Jon Loki was going to tell her and was anxious for the conversation to begin.
    It wasn’t as if Chase and Josiah were the bane of the neighborhood. Their property was well maintained and they only threw wild parties a few times per year. Still, they had different priorities than many of the more mature residents. Katie smiled. She instinctually lumped herself in with the “mature” residents, yet her actual age was closer to the rowdy