Page 66 of Stand: Part One

“Nice one!” Theresa praised again. “How are the legs?”

My knees were feeling wobbly, and my sciatic nerve pain was starting to compete with the acidic tightness of my muscles, but it was well worth it if it meant I got to exact a little consequence-free revenge against my joker bodyguards.

For every third step I made up the stairs, I got to chuck a water ballon at them from my position. They were allowed to dodge them, of course, but that was a little difficult to do while blindfolded.

Darren’s version of petty revenge for Clive and Owen’s bunny slipper prank was just as unsurprisingly creative as it was motivational.

“Legs are doing just fine,” I lied, not wanting Theresa to disturb my fun with another breather break when I only had six more steps to go.

Clive exhaled a laugh. “She’s lying, you can hear it in her voice.”

“Shut up, Clive,” I warned before tossing another balloon at his face.

Despite the blindfold, he dodged it last second, allowing the balloon to soar right past him so that it landed against the side of Owen’s neck.

“Ack!” Owen griped as he cringed into himself, the water soaking into his shirt that was now completely drenched from the first balloon.

“Well, I’m sure she can hold out for another few steps,” Theresa replied with a wink.

Smirking, I took two more water balloons, released a deep breath, and climbed my final steps, hurling the balloons until I finally reached the top.

“Have you had your fun yet, Jaden?” Clive asked, his suit pants now sporting a large wet spot at his hip while Owen’s face looked like a glossy tomato.

I glanced down at the bucket Carla was holding to find eight more water balloons inside. Darren had named this the bonus round.

“Almost.”

Five minutes later, both of my bodyguards were drenched from head to toe with various puddles of water surrounding them. Thankfully, the staff had removed anything that could have been damaged should I miss my targets, but seeing all the water and broken pieces of balloon everywhere, I felt a little guilty for making such a mess.

At least it was a fun mess to make.

“That was some excellent work, Mrs. Davis,” Theresa chimed in. ”Those stairs never stood a chance.”

“Absolutely agreed!” Carla added.

I tried not to roll my eyes at their corniness, instead choosing to focus on the fact that I had completed the stairway challenge. My muscles burned and my joints wobbled, but regardless of the aftereffects, Darren had agreed that if I could climb a flight of stairs in one go, then I could officially graduate from physical therapy.

It had taken me three weeks to get here, and while I still had more muscle to rebuild, my independent functionality had irrevocably been reclaimed.

“Thanks, Theresa. I really appreciate all your help getting me here.”

“It was my pleasure, Mrs. Davis. Your dedication to your recovery has been truly inspiring. I’m glad I got to be a part of it.”

As long as I kept my grimaces to myself, she would have no reason to question her professional assessments. Regardless of how badly I wanted to collapse to the floor right now, maintaining appearances was paramount to keeping my independence.

“Well, if you three are done with today’s thrilling exercise, we’re going to go change,” Clive announced as the two of them pulled off their blindfolds and headed to their quarters down the hall. “We’ll find you after our meeting with the boss.”

“Okay, this was fun!” I shouted after them before turning back to Theresa.

“If you need anything else, or have any questions or want some extra assistance, just give me a call,” she said. “I’m going to go report the good news to your husband. I’m sure he’ll be very proud.”

I couldn’t stop the sarcasm in my tone even if I wanted to. “Oh yeah, I’m sure he’ll be ecstatic.”

“I suppose I’ll start cleaning up this mess,” Carla said with a sigh.“Jaden, you should go rest those legs of yours.”

“Good idea,” I agreed.

As Theresa went off to find Darren and Carla started collecting ballon fragments, I headed toward my den where Camaro was currently napping on her pillow in the corner of the room.