Page 2 of Gamble (Black Light #38)

ELIJAH

“ D r. Jennings will see you now, Mr. Keaton.”

Elijah threw the outdated People magazine he’d been half-way reading onto the side table and slowly pushed to his feet. The creak in his left hip was loud enough that the woman sitting across from him looked up from her own magazine.

At least my bum knee doesn’t make noise.

He’d managed to go an entire year without a visit to his longtime doctor and friend, Richard Jennings. Now, thanks to a doomed round of golf, he couldn’t put off this visit any longer.

As they wound through the opulent Beverly Hills offices, Elijah thought about how his plethora of visits in the past probably helped pay for a good portion of the office.

“Elijah! I hardly get to see you now that you’ve retired.”

The men shook hands as the nurse who’d escorted him back left the doctor’s private office, closing the door behind her.

“I’m sure my retirement is cutting into your billable hours big time. Sorry if I’m single-handedly responsible for you and Martha not making it on your annual cruise this year.”

Richard had returned to take a seat behind his enormous mahogany desk as Elijah took a seat in the comfortable chair opposite him.

“Actually, I still have a contract with two studios. My income has gone up since your retirement, believe it or not. They’ve brought in a bunch of newbie stuntmen trying to save money.

In typical fashion, they’ll end up spending twice as much because none of the new guys are even half as experienced as you are. ”

Elijah had kept in touch with a lot of his old friends still in the business and had heard the same thing.

“At least someone is making out good from the bastards trying to cheap out. Between the newbies and CGI, a lot of good stunt professionals are getting pushed out.”

Now that he was sitting in the doctor’s office, he was having second thoughts about making the appointment. The painkillers he’d been popping for the last few days since the celebrity golf tournament had helped. Just not enough.

“So, there must be something big going on to get you into the office. Considering you checked yourself out of the hospital against my orders more than once, I confess to being curious about what got you to come in.”

Elijah didn’t lie. “Now that I’m here, I’m wondering myself.”

Dr. Jennings leaned forward, elbows on his desk and fingers steepled as he gave his long-time patient the once-over.

“Well, I don’t know what it is for sure, but my guess is it’s something that’s been bothering you for some time.”

“Oh? And what makes you say that?” Elijah answered, alarmed at the accurate observation by his physician.

“Because you have the highest threshold for pain tolerance of any patient I’ve ever treated. I told Martha the night I got home after setting your leg after you broke it in that helicopter accident that I was pretty sure you could have handled that without going under.”

“I was so pissed that you knocked me out. Pain, I can handle. It’s the fucking side effects of anesthesia that fuck me up.”

“So, if you can handle pain, what is it that has you here today?”

He hadn’t said the words out loud to anyone yet. He knew if he said them now, he wouldn’t be able to just keep ignoring his symptoms.

“It’s probably nothing, but…”

Dr. Jennings waited patiently, not letting him off the hook until he continued.

“The tingling in my left leg and foot is getting worse.”

“Okay. That isn’t totally unexpected after injuries like you’ve had. Is it daily?”

“Yep, and…”

His voice trailed off, but his doctor raised his eyebrow, waiting expectantly. The men knew each other well.

“And it got worse after I golfed a round last weekend.”

“Golfing. I’m pretty sure that was on the list of activities I told you to cut out last year when I saw you, was it not?”

He was a grown man. He didn’t like getting lectured as if he were an errant teenager.

“There were extenuating circumstances. I couldn’t get out of it.” He argued.

“Aren’t you a bit old for peer pressure?” Dr. Jennings asked with just the exact amount of censure to make Elijah feel like an even bigger idiot than he had when he had made the appointment.

“Knock it off. I’ve done hundreds of riskier things in my life than play a simple round of golf.”

“And I keep telling you that no physical activity is simple for you anymore. At least not unless you’ve changed your mind about getting that hip of yours replaced. I know you hate being under the knife, but a total hip and even knee replacement for your left side would make a new man out of you.”

Even as he lectured Elijah, Richard stood and walked around the desk, stepping in front of him before leaning back on the desk, looking attentive.

“Do you have pain or just numbness?”

“Mostly numb, but more often now getting a pins and needles sensation that won’t stop. It was when the pain started turning really sharp in my hip down to my ankle that I started to get worried.”

“It could just be a pinched nerve. Are you still seeing the chiropractor?”

“Naw, I stopped going. It wasn’t doing anything for me at all.”

“Restarting and seeing if that helps should be our first step, I think. I know you resist taking meds, but…”

“I resorted to pain meds again this week, and I’ve been taking those other damn pills you gave me. In fact, I’m about to run out.”

“Which ones?”

“The shit for arthritis. I may be able to handle pain, but fuck, I hate feeling like an old man.”

“Well, when you live your life on the edge of danger like you have, your body is bound to revolt from time to time. Considering how many life-threatening injuries you’ve had over the years, I think you’re doing remarkably well.”

“Tell that to my back at five in the morning when I have to get up because I can’t stand to lie down anymore.”

“I can prescribe a sleeping aid…”

Elijah cut him off. “I don’t like to take heavy meds. You know that.”

“Still, a little Ambien might…”

“Fuck no. I’ve seen too many in my business survive the stunts and lose their battle with prescription drug addiction or overdose. No thanks.”

“Alright, alright… I get it. But I’m not sure what you want me to do to help if you won’t take meds. We’ve already done surgery at the time of your original injuries. It’s a miracle you’re walking.”

“You mentioned cortisone shots the last time I was here. That still an option?”

“Yeah, we can give it a try, but you have a lot more scar tissue than most of my patients, so that may affect its effectiveness. I can schedule you…”

“How about today? Now?”

“Always in a hurry. I haven’t even done an exam yet.”

“You know every injury I’ve had better than I do. Let’s just do this.”

“Sorry, it doesn’t work like that at you know it. It’s been a year since we’ve done a full blood workup on you. And I’m gonna send you for some X-rays. I’d like to compare the current results with the past tests to see what’s changing.”

“Fine, but I do need to get a move on. I have a…” He paused, unsure what to call that night’s Shibari demonstration. “… a job at seven tonight.”

“A job? Interesting. You seem flustered. Retirement is doing strange things to you, my friend.”

He didn’t want to lie to his doctor and friend. “I’m not flustered,” he objected.

“Uh-ha. If you say so. You do know we have a doctor-patient confidentiality going on, right?”

Elijah had never shared the details of his new career with his doctor and friend. He’d learned to walk the fine line between recruiting new Black Light members while not breaking the NDA he and all the other employees had signed to work there.

“Actually, I’m working in a new industry now. I didn’t think I’d find anything I’d enjoy as much as being a daredevil for a living, but I must say I fell into the perfect job.”

“Oh? That piques my interest. Anything that can keep Elijah Keaton from getting bored has to be pretty exciting. Do tell.”

“I could, but then I’d have to kill you.” Elijah was only half joking. He took keeping Black Light’s secrets very seriously.

“Oh, now you have to spill your guts. You take up being a hitman or something secret?”

Elijah chuckled. “I can assure you it’s on the up and up. I just can’t talk about it… unless…” He paused, deciding to pry into his friend’s marriage just a bit. “You and Martha ever dabble in BDSM, by chance?”

He watched Richard’s face for his reaction and wasn’t disappointed.

“Have you been talking to her?” his doctor accused.

“What? No! Why?”

“She’s been reading all these damn romance novels and coming up with all kinds of kinky things she wants to try.

I don’t know what to think that my feminist, college professor wife has been trying to pressure me into spanking her like we were back in 1950.

And somehow when I tell her I don’t want to, I’m the bad guy. ”

Elijah couldn’t help but chuckle. He pushed to his feet, pulling his wallet out of his back pocket and taking out a black business card with just an address on it. He held it out to his friend who took it and turned it over, looking for more info and appearing confused when there was none.

“Next free weekend night you have, you and Martha should go to that address. You’ll be my guest for the night. You don’t have to do anything in advance except come with an open mind. I’ll leave instructions with the guy at the door.”

“I don’t understand.”

“I’ll explain everything when I see you there that night. Now, let’s get this injection going.”

“Alright, alright, we’ll give it a try, but I think it’s time we started considering a hip replacement.

” The doctor noticed his patient’s displeasure at that idea but continued.

“We don’t need to decide today. Let’s get your full workup and the test results back first. I just want to put it on your radar that I see a hip replacement in your future. ”

“Fucking great,” Elijah groused as he followed Dr. Jennings into the adjoining examination room.

The doctor took the time to do a thorough examination and was just about to administer the cortisone shot when a nurse burst into the room.

“Cedar-Sinai just called. They have an accident victim in the ER who needs an orthopedic consult ASAP.”

Elijah felt the pinch of a needle.

To his credit, Dr. Jennings waited until he’d finished focusing on Elijah’s treatment before turning to speak to his assistant.

“I thought Jones was on call for emergencies today.”

“She is, but she’s already in surgery, and it sounds serious enough that they don’t want to wait.”

Dr. Jennings sighed. “Okay, tell them I’ll be over in ten minutes, but you’d better call Martha and let her know. We’re supposed to go out to dinner tonight for our anniversary. She’s not going to be happy if I’m late.”

Elijah teased his old friend and doctor. “Don’t want to make the old lady unhappy?”

“Hey, watch who you’re calling old. I noticed on your chart that your birthday is coming up soon. You’ll be joining me in the fifties club.”

The dungeon master groaned as he reached to pick up his pants off the floor, struggling to get dressed without falling over on his weak left leg.

“Don’t fucking remind me. I’m trying to forget.”

After finally dressing and getting ready to follow the doctor out of the examination room, Richard turned and looked Elijah in the eye.

“A piece of advice.” It wasn’t a question. The doctor was going to deliver the advice whether Elijah wanted it or not.

“Okay.”

“There are a lot of great people who never make it to fifty. And considering all the insane risks you’ve taken in your life, making it to half a century is a gift.

No matter how old you may feel, you hopefully still have a long life ahead of you.

My job is to help make them as pain-free as possible. ”

His words were profound, and an interesting way to look at the DM’s impending birthday.

“Thanks, doc. I just hope you can do your job without another surgery.”

“I do too, Elijah. I do too.”