Isn't It Bromantic (Bromance Book Club #4) by Lyssa Kay Adams

            Vlad felt a vein pop in his forehead. “Fuck off.”

            Colton started whistling to the radio.

            They arrived at the arena twenty minutes late, but it was still more than enough time for word to spread that Colton Wheeler was in the house. Vlad left him signing autographs and posing for selfies in the hallway outside the medical facility.

            Madison told him to wait for her in one of the consultation rooms. While he waited, he glanced at his cell phone for the hundredth time. Still no message from Elena. Of course, he could text her, but what would he say? Where did you go? That would sound whiny. Why didn’t you tell me you were leaving? That would sound needy.

            Why didn’t you kiss me yesterday? That would be downright pathetic.

            Madison walked in then, knocking as she opened the door. “Ready for me?”

            Vlad leaned on his hip and shoved his phone in his pocket. “Ready.”

            The two grad students walked in behind Madison as she approached the bed. “We’re going to take a look at the incision before sending you in for the X-ray, so why don’t you lie back?”

            Vlad reclined as Madison opened up the brace. “How’s the pain?”

            “Fine. I haven’t had much.”

            The other two trainers moved in next to Madison. “We’re going to take you through some range of motions, okay?”

            Vlad tensed as one of the trainers slid a hand beneath his knee and gripped his ankle with the other. “Just relax,” Madison murmured.

            Relax. Sure. His entire body was a lit fuse. His career was on the line. His wife was nowhere to be found. And his nerves hummed with frustration of the sexual kind. He forced himself to let out a long breath and loosen his muscles. One of the trainers lifted and bent his leg, heel toward his glutes.

            “Good,” Madison said quietly.

            For the next ten minutes, they manipulated his leg to gauge strength and flexibility. Every new position made him hold his breath, but there was no pain, and Madison seemed pleased with his progress.

            “Okay,” she said finally. “You can sit up.”

            Vlad crunched his abs to haul himself up. “Now what?”

            “We’re going to have you put some weight on it.”

            The trainers helped him off the table. He balanced on one foot and waited for Madison’s instructions.

            “We just want you to stand, nothing else. Okay? When you’re ready, lower your foot to the floor.”

            He held loosely onto the trainers’ arms as he extended his leg and touched the floor for the first time since the injury. He winced in anticipation of pain, of weakness. But when the sole of his shoe touched the ground, he felt neither. The trainers let go of him, and he damn near pumped his fist in victory.

            He was standing.

            On his own.

            “Good,” Madison murmured. “How does it feel?”

            “Fine. It is good.”

            Madison smiled. “You’re doing great. Let’s get an X-ray to make sure the bone is healing well, and I think we’ll be ready to move you into the next phase of rehab.”

            Madison handed him his crutches, and he followed her out of the room and down a hallway to the on-site X-ray room. They draped him in protective gear and once again had him lie down on a long table. The technician took several pictures from different angles, and then Madison told him to wait for her back in the consultation room as she reviewed the images.

            He checked his cell phone as he waited.

            Still nothing from Elena.

            When the door opened again, Madison walked in with a confident smile. “Everything looks great.”

            A half hour later, he crutched back out into the hallway with an updated rehab plan, a new brace, and still no message from Elena. He found Colton in the hallway, this time leaning suggestively toward a young woman in a trainer uniform who clasped an autographed towel to her chest.