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The bill they sent me the first time was enough to set me back months in my savings account, and I didn’t want to go back to living paycheck to paycheck. I knew the medical field was more than happy to give me more and more medication until I healed, but I was sure I would be able to heal just as well with my own care than with them.

Still, I wasn’t going to put this off. I had to get better so I could get back over to the training facility and finish with Romeo. I didn’t want the horse to go too long without someone working with him, and I didn’t want Raya to feel like she lost me right after she had slept with me. It would put up the totally wrong picture to her if that happened, and I would do anything to prevent that from transpiring.

I went through with pleasantries with the nurse, then turned my attention to the doctor when he came in. It was a different nurse and doctor from my trip to the ER, and I was grateful for that. Especially since the night I had seen Raya at the bar, she was out with the same nurse I had dealt with when I came into the ER that day.

But, the pair were just as pushy with their medication. They didn’t want me to let it go any longer without at least giving me a couple shots, then the doctor drew some blood to send off to the lab to get some samples.

“What do you think is going on?” I asked.

“It could be just about anything,” he said with a shrug. “I’m not going to stick my neck out one way or the other when I’m not quite sure. That’s what the tests are for, right?”

“How long are they going to take to get back?” I asked.

“If I get them sent off to the lab today, they normally have results back to us within a couple of days,” he said. “And that’s going to tell us where to go from here.”

“Hopefully we don’t have to go much anywhere,” I said. “I would rather not deal with more doctor visits or medication if I can help it.”

“I understand that, but I also know we should do the best we can right now. I want to get in there and be vigorous with our treatment to prevent any sort of infection taking hold, so that’s what we’re going to do.”

I didn’t want to give into what he was asking, but I also knew that he was doing what he could to take care of this for me. The fact of the matter was that I wanted to get through this and have it behind me, too, and if medication was going to help me accomplish that goal, then I would let myself take some.

But, I didn’t want it to be anything that was going to cost me another arm and a leg to have, and I really didn’t want to deal with medication that would make me a zombie at work, either. I just wanted something that would help me get through the day on this leg.

I thanked the doctor for his time and gave the nurse a similar thanks on my way out the door, though my thoughts were spinning. They were doing tests to see what was going on with my leg, and that meant there could be something more. Something I didn’t want to deal with. Something I might not even want to know considering it was my leg.

But, it could be good news, too, and if this was what I had to do to take care of this, then I was happy. I just wanted to get this stupid thing done and over with.

Shit, I wanted to impress Raya, even more now than ever. I could do that with the skills I had, but it would be even better if I wasn’t dealing with this setback. Still, I knew there was little I could do about it, and I just had to work my way through as it was.

Raya was one in a million, I knew that, and I was bound and determined to impress her.

I didn’t care what I had to do.