Page 126 of The Fates We Tame

I hand the envelope of cash I grabbed from our club secretary before we left to her. “I feel like this buys a lot of confidentiality.”

She looks at it but doesn’t reach for it. “It most certainly does. Are you still having headaches?”

I place it down on her desk. “Yeah. The worst fucking kind that nearly take me out each time. And when I get any kind of stress, my speech difficulties come back.”

“Then let’s see what we can do for you to pick up where we left off.”

By the end of the evening, it’s almost three in the morning. Thankfully, I see Raheel last and at Doc’s instruction, he pulverizes every last kink out of my body. It’s so far from a relaxing massage that I’ve felt better after taking on Clutch in a fistfight. Taut muscles everywhere are stretched and brutally encouraged to relax. Knuckles hit pressure and pain points.

And when I stand, I feel so disorientated for a second that I reach out to the medical bed I just lay on to regain my center of gravity.

“You okay?” Raheel asks, handing me a bottle of water that came from Tahiti or someplace.

“It can’t be good for the environment to take this water from that far away, fly it here, and fucking bottle it in plastic,” I say.

Raheel laughs. “I say the same thing every day. Even researched water in cans. Something about rich people not wanting canned water. But just drink it. That was a lot of muscle-release work. You’re gonna feel sore and lightheaded for a while. But given I didn’t know when we’d next be seeing you, I had to make it count.”

I roll my neck from left to right. “You certainly did. My head doesn’t even feel like it’s properly attached to my neck right now.”

“That’s because your splenius capitis and splenius cervicis were rock solid. They’re thick straps of muscle in the back of your neck. So were the rectus wapitis anterior and lateralis. We’ve loosened everything up. It might help with the headaches. Apply heat to them. Did Lori give you some stretches?”

“Feel utterly ridiculous doing them. I mean…chair stretches. What the fuck kind of exercise is that?”

Raheel shakes his head. “I know the kind of man you are, wearing that cut, but that won’t make you any tougher than the next person who walks in here injured. You start where you are, Theo. My aunt lives out in Avon-by-the-Sea… about ten minutespast Asbury Park. I go see her every other weekend because she has no kids of her own. If you like, I can pop in and see both you and Sophia when I’m visiting. An hour treatment for you both every other week won’t solve all your problems, but it might help some of them.”

I shake Raheel’s hand. “I’d like that. Cash in hand?”

Raheel laughs. “Yeah. That works. It’ll be my off time from here anyway. My safety is guaranteed, yeah? I’ve watched enough outlaw gang movies. People like me aren’t safe in many rooms filled with white men.”

I crack the bottle of water open and take a sip. “Your safety is guaranteed. I promise it. And you might want to check your stereotypes.”

“Please tell me you aren’t ‘not all white men-ing’ me.”

“Fair. You can see us at my house. Don’t even need to step foot in our clubhouse. But if you ever want a walk on the wild side, you can come as my guest sometime.”

“Your house will be fine. My idea of walking on the wild side is not wearing matching socks.”

That makes me laugh. “Thanks, Raheel. For doing this. It’s appreciated.”

“Anytime. I need to get some sleep. I’m on shift at nine. You know your way back to Doctor Polunin’s office, yeah?”

I nod, grab Sophia’s bag, and head down the corridor. I pass the family meeting room and step inside. Spark is sitting on the sofa, his back to me. He’s texting someone, and my guess is it’s Iris, even though it’s late.

“Let her get some sleep,” I say.

“She is. I just had some shit I needed to get off my chest before we left.”

I sit down next to him. “Feeling better?”

“Define ‘better.’ I feel like I just got sucked into a blender at high speed, then poured back into a mold of my body.”

“That’s pretty graphic.”

“I’ve been pureed.”

I laugh at that. “I feel like I just did ten rounds with Clutch.”

“Clutch is a pussy who cheats,” Spark says. “Last time I fought him, he started fucking pinching my nipples.”