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Chapter Three

Chelsea

"This is… Um… Quite the turn of events." Doctor Stuart placed his phone down on his desk and turned to face me. If I thought he looked weary at the meeting, he looked downright exhausted now. "I can't help feeling personally responsible."

"Why on earth would you feel like that?" I closed the door behind us and stood leaning against it.

"He was due for a medical," Doctor Stuart said. "I kept reminding him and he kept putting me off. I should have insisted. If I had, I might have found any issues long before they got out of hand."

"If Bruce was anything like the other guys around here, he was as stubborn as a granite boulder," I said. "Convincing him to take the time would have been near impossible."

Doctor Stuart scrubbed a hand over his face. "It was, but I should have pushed my weight around and made him come here."

"I'm sure you tried." I stepped further into the room. "How many times did he cancel appointments with you?" I was guessing, but it was probably a pretty good guess. Men like Bruce knew how to be busy when they wanted to avoid something.

"Three or four," Doctor Stuart admitted. "Something was always more pressing. Scheduling, or the salary cap. Or somebody forgot to book flights to next month's games. Something . He always said he'd get around to it when the season started. And now…he can't." He swallowed heavily, struggling to contain his emotions.

I wanted to tell him I suspected Bruce's death wasn't from natural causes. Before I could confront Atlas, he'd got sent off with the rest of the team to train. I needed to speak to him, and soon, but this had to come first.

"It's not your fault," I said. "You could have given him a dozen medicals and this might have happened anyway." Chances were, it would have. What had Atlas done to him? And why? What might he do to Doctor Stuart if he made the choice to hire me? If Atlas thought he was going to lay a finger on the team doctor, he'd have to go through me. Doctor Stuart was a good man, he didn't deserve to be killed, especially because of me.

"That will be up to the coroner to determine," Doctor Stuart said.

I forced back a grimace. If my brother did the autopsy, the official findings wouldn't show Bruce was murdered. Not if Atlas was involved.

I'd talk to him and make sure he determined the GM's cause of death was something Doctor Stuart couldn't have found with a regular medical. Nothing medically preventable.

"Right," I said simply. "This is such a sad time for the team."

"It is," he agreed. "But let's not spend too much time on self-pity. Bruce and I had an appointment for this morning to discuss the position here. If he made a decision, he didn't tell me. As well as one other physician, I'd like to officially offer you the position with the team. You'll be the junior for a while, but I suspect you'll be doing my job in a few years." He gave me a watery smile and held out his hand.

I should have been excited, but Bruce's death took the shine off somewhat. Still, I took Doctor Stuart's hand and shook it.

"Thank you so much. I promise I won't let you down."

"I know you won't," he said. "I expect you to hit the ground running. Bruce informed Doctor Otis Skinner of his appointment yesterday. Between the three of us, we'll have this place shipshape. Doctor Skinner has lots of experience working with professional athletes."

I frowned briefly. "Didn't he work for the Sydney Devils?"

"He did, but he was looking for a change of scenery." Doctor Stuart pulled his chair out from behind his desk and sank into it. "He's been doing a lot of research in aqua therapy and wants to put it into practice here."

The stadium had a state-of-the-art pool for the players to use while recovering from injuries. The pressure on muscles, bones and ligaments was less in water than it was on land, supporting healing while minimising the risk of further injury. Aqua therapy was nothing new, but I was fascinated to discuss his research when he arrived. I'd always been a geek for learning new things.

"I look forward to meeting him," I said. "I really appreciate this opportunity. This is going to be amazing." For the first time, I let myself become excited.

"It'll certainly be interesting," Doctor Stuart agreed. "If a little turbulent for a while."

"Who do you think they'll choose to replace Bruce?" I asked.

Doctor Stuart leaned his elbows on the desk and clasped his hands. "My pick would be Dominic King. He's more than ready for a position like that. He's been a manager for the Sydney Devils for the last few years."

"It sounds like we're poaching all their best people," I said. I knew of King, but I never met the man. From what I heard, he was a good choice.

Doctor Stuart smiled. "It does, doesn't it? I can't say I have any regrets about that. They may even teach us a thing or two."

I scoffed playfully. "They'll learn a lot here."

"That too," Doctor Stuart agreed. "I think we'll learn a lot from each other. We have complimentary skills and experience between all of us. Best of all, we have passion for the game, and taking care of the players."

"That we do," I said.

I had lots of passion for at least three in particular. And, in spite of our date, I was still attracted to Atlas. Cautiously so. I wasn't going to jump in too deep, not until I knew what the hell he was up to. After my brief conversation with Jay and Ramsey, I got the impression Atlas and Jay were a package deal. Atlas may not realise it yet, but Jay definitely had.

I didn't want to interfere with their relationship, but that was something they'd have to work out between them. Atlas may not feel the same way about the other player. And if he did? That was something we'd deal with later.

Then there was Ramsey, who fascinated me, although I wasn't entirely sure why. Maybe because he was such a closed book, I was curious to tease the pages open.

"I trust you have a passport," Doctor Stuart said, breaking through my thoughts.

"Recently updated and ready to go," I said with a smile.

"Good, because you'll be doing a lot of travel with the team," he said. "Primarily, over the ditch." He jerked his head towards the bay, indicating roughly in the direction of New Zealand.

"I can't wait," I said. "I love to travel."

"They all say that to start with." He gave me a wry smile. "Give it a year or two and you'll be sick of the inside of aircraft and airports. And hotel lobbies. The guys will tell you the travel is the best and worst part of playing. Between games, they often spend a lot of time waiting. Waiting for buses, waiting for planes. It can be tedious at best."

"I still can't wait," I said. I suspected things wouldn't get boring with Storm, Frost and Dallas, as well as the other guys.

"Remember what we said about being discreet," Doctor Stuart said. "It won't go unnoticed if you join the mile high club on a team flight."

My face heated. "I wouldn't dream of it." Without doubt, the guys would, but something like that would be more likely to get me fired than having a relationship with them in the first place.

"I'm sure." He nodded slowly. "You'll have a bunch of paperwork to fill out before you start. Tax forms and whatnot. The usual required bullshit. And you'll need a new identification pass and entry card. And a few of the official team shirts for press conferences and things like that. You may need to attend those occasionally. You'll also be put on the roster for the family clinic. Don't expect to get the best hours. The new doctors always get the worst shifts." He was not sugarcoating things.

I smiled. "I wouldn't have expected anything less. I'll work my way up until someone else is getting those." I didn't care what shifts I got, as long as I got shifts. As it was, I was used to working all sorts of late and long hours. Working without stilettos would be a welcome change. And with my clothes on.

Doctor Stuart nodded and let out a long sigh. "I wish Bruce was here to welcome you officially, but you're stuck with me."

"I don't consider myself stuck ," I said. "It's been an honour training under you. I look forward to working with you. And learning from you." With all his years of experience, I'd be stupid not to watch closely and absorb everything.

"You say that now, but give it a year." He sat back in his chair and rubbed his neck. "You might feel differently then."

"Are you trying to put me off accepting the position?" I asked. "Because I'm still in."

I was so in. My inner little girl was itching to jump up and down and scream. She chose this path for herself a long time ago and now she was finally there. She was ecstatic.

"I didn't peg you for the running away kind," he said. "If you were, you'd have done that after the first day here. Or the first week. Others have before you. But you didn't. Everything that's been thrown at you, you've taken it in stride. Not that I expected anything less from Doctor Isaac Miller's sister. You both have ambition to spare. You in particular."

He was clearly impressed. If he knew what my brother was really like, I couldn't tell. All I got was a sense of professional, mutual admiration between two doctors.

What would he think if he knew? I had a feeling it took a lot to surprise Doctor Stuart. Even something like that.

"Yes, we do," I agreed. "We were raised to go after what we wanted, and we do. I don't think either of us has ever backed down from a challenge."

"That's good to hear, because this job will challenge you," Doctor Stuart said. "It will challenge you in ways you haven't dreamt of yet.” He unclasped his hands and pressed them together, lining up his fingertips as though doing so was momentarily fascinating. “I have a feeling you're going to enjoy it."

"I intend to enjoy every moment of it," I assured him. "I know how privileged we are to work here. I'm not going to take that for granted for a second."

But I was going to get to the bottom of whatever the hell Atlas pulled. If he'd tried to keep me from getting this job, that was too fucking bad. I wasn't letting it go without one hell of a fight.

"Of course you're not," Doctor Stuart agreed. "If I thought you would, I would have passed you over for the other candidates. To be honest, your appointment here will raise an eyebrow or two. We had some very experienced doctors apply, but the team has had enough turmoil already. The players know you and I know how you work. That's why I'm offering it to you. That's why I gave my recommendation to Bruce."

"Do you think he would have hired me?" I asked.

Did I really want to know the answer to that question? I wasn't entirely sure, but now I'd asked, I might as well listen to the response. Even if it was something I didn't want to hear.

Doctor Stuart hesitated before shaking his head. "If he knew what was good for him, he would have, but I don't know. Otis Skinner was the only one we discussed and settled on. I'm sorry I can't give you a better answer than that."

"That's okay," I said. I had a feeling I knew who could.