Chapter 15

15

Cutter

"I'm going to lift your arm up as far as it can go. Stop me when you feel any kind of pain."

I stare at Tony as he wears a really fancy suit, arms crossed, then he sticks up his right thumb and nods at me.

Some physical therapist picks up my right arm about halfway.

It's tight. A little sore. Nothing worth talking about though.

"Shoulder seems to have good movement right now."

"Excellent," Tony says.

His eyes light up.

The physical therapist continues to lift my arm.

I feel my shoulder moving closer to my ear.

I'm okay with the tenderness from muscle becoming familiar with this movement.

Then I felt that twisting jolt of pain. The one where my entire body says nope.

I can't hide it.

I grit my teeth. I growl.

Tony's lips purse tight together.

"That's okay, Cutter," the physical therapist says.

I glance to my right and see his name stitched onto his light-blue polo shirt.

Kyle.

He pats my back for a second. "It's okay. This is really good movement. Let's talk about your hip. Your leg."

"Buy me a drink first," I say.

Tony cracks up laughing and claps his hands. "Look at this guy! That mean, dry humor as always. He's doing great here."

Kyle steps back. I can see the annoyance on his face.

Nobody wants to deal with Tony. Not even me.

"Talk to me about your routine right now," Kyle says to me.

"It's in the paperwork," Tony calls out.

"Everything I was told to do," I say, both Kyle and I ignoring Tony. "I'm swimming. Stretching. Pushing myself when I feel like it. As much as I hate to admit it, I'm resting."

"That's good," Kyle says. "Hey, maybe this small town rehab thing will take off."

Kyle smiles.

Small town rehab thing.

All my energy anymore goes toward one person. And it's not myself.

Piper Maple.

The sexy, stubborn woman that's nudged her way near my heart.

Just near it though.

And that's only because I have the taste of her lingering on my tongue.

No matter how hard I scrub my tongue with my toothbrush, her sweet honey is there.

It's stained my tongue. It's tattooed my tongue with its invisible lust.

"What are we thinking here?" Tony asks.

He claps his hands together and rubs them with a creepy vigor.

"Everything is going well," Kyle says. "There's an entire process to this. It's not just one thing. Obviously being away from this facility and the help…" Kyle glances at me. He's trying not to offend me.

"Noted," Tony says.

"Well, since you're here, feel free to use the facility," Kyle offers. He turns back to me. "Ready to take a look at that hip and leg? Get some movement going?"

"I'll pass," I say.

"Cutter," Tony says.

"I need to talk to you, Tony. Alone."

Tony slips his hands into his pockets.

"I'll take that as my cue to disappear," Kyle says.

He leaves the room.

"How do you really feel, Cutter?" Tony asks.

"Do you really care?"

"Of course I care. Time is money."

"You're such a greedy prick, Tony."

"So I've been told. We have to get you back out there, Cutter. You belong out there. Greedy prick aside, baseball is in your blood."

"I've been doing what I need to do," I say. "Everything I said was true. I wasn't just bullshitting the guy."

"I can tell. It's still stiff. It still hurts."

"That's part of resting," I say. "I hate resting."

"That's good. Motivation. So let's set some dates here, Cutter. You know how I operate, right? Especially now since I'm taking all your heat."

"You get paid a lot of money to deal with my heat, Tony."

"Yes, I do. Sometimes it's not enough."

"I'll find a new agent in a heartbeat."

"Okay, calm down," Tony says. "I'm just saying it's a very tough balance to keep you relevant but not hear the same stuff over and over."

"I didn't hurt that old woman. Everyone knows it."

"Of course you didn't. You know how things are with social media. Who even cares about that now? It's old news. Move on. You need to get back out there and play. I can tell you my thoughts on that…"

"Even if I don't want to hear them?"

Tony smiles. "It'll be a monster return. You'll be selling out the smaller ballparks like crazy. The team and the PR company is waiting. Shirts. Bobbleheads. There's even a Buckley Burger going on the menu."

"What the hell is a Buckley Burger?" I sigh.

"Your signature burger," Tony laughs. "Look, it's all for fun. And it'll sell like crazy. Then your return back to the bigs?" He whistles. "It's going to be-"

"I'm just a ball player, Tony. This celebrity stuff isn't my thing."

"It's for the good of the team, the league, and for yourself, Cutter. Think about yourself a little. Okay?"

Tony's phone begins to ring.

I see the scowl on his face as he attempts to answer the call.

I lunge at him, scaring him.

He lets out a childish yelp and tosses his phone at me.

"What the hell are you doing, Cutter?" Tony barks.

I silence the call on his phone and toss his phone behind me.

I tower over the man who's negotiated all my contracts and outside deals and has padded my bank account with more money than I ever imagine spending in a lifetime.

"Tony, we need to talk about something."

"It's happening again," I whisper as I look out the small window to some flowery garden.

"What is?" Tony asks.

"You know. The situation."

I feel Tony's demeanor shift. "How is that possible? It was handled before, Cutter. You told me you weren't going to contact her either."

"I have nothing to do with it. Someone's texting me. Emailing me. Threatening me."

I turn around and take my phone out of my pocket.

I show Tony the newest text message.

He lets out a laugh. "This is a joke, right?"

"Person wants to get paid."

"Fifty million dollars?"

"That's what the text says. And it's from a different number each time. So the person is using throwaway phones."

"This was handled, Cutter. The entire thing was put to bed a while ago. This isn't good."

"You think I'm celebrating this? On top of everything else going on? My injury? That situation with that old woman and her grandson."

"Yeah, and this would put it over the top," Tony says as he hands my phone back to me. He scratches at his jaw. "I don't get it."

"I do. This is what happens. It'll just keep happening too. Every now and again it'll creep up."

"Now is not the time, Cutter. What do you want to do? Come forward and talk about this? About her? Then the money? The way it all looks?"

"I did what I felt was right to do."

"Sorry to tell you, but it was wrong. Then. And now."

"What, you think this is her texting me?"

"Always a possibility in these situations, Cutter. It's a fine line to judge someone in a situation…"

"I don't want to hear any more about it then," I say. "I'm just keeping you in the loop."

"When did this start?"

"When I got to town. To Morgalen."

Tony nods. "Speaking of, I heard from some others you have a friend…?"

"What?"

"A female friend…"

My jaw stiffens.

"Be careful, Cutter. In fact, I have an idea."

"Wait a second," I say. "Whatever I'm doing in that small town, that's for me. That's my personal life. That does not get broadcasted to anyone. Understand me, Tony? I'm being serious."

I step toward him and he backs up. "Look, I'm the messenger for a second. That's all. I'm thinking out loud. I'm a paranoid yet practical guy. Small town. You meet some woman. These texts show up."

"You think Piper has something to do with this?" I ask.

I hear the sound of my voice. Slight devastation layered in.

Sure, Piper is mean and all, but is she honestly capable of this?

"Piper," Tony says. "Name sounds so smooth coming out of your mouth."

"What was your idea?" I growl.

"Just come back now, Cutter. It is what it is at this point. With everything. Okay? I think the pushing an old lady in front of a car scandal has cooled enough. You're getting these texts. You should be here. Close to everything you're familiar with. We can start getting ahead of everything. Put all this shit behind us, okay? Hold a press conference. Talk about your rehab. I know you'll hate it, but we need some good social media content of you. So we record videos of you working out. Holding a bat. Standing at second base of the empty stadium. Build it up. Create momentum. Most of all, separate yourself from all of this."

Just like that? Huh? First I'm shipped off to Morgalen like I'm some dirty dark secret. Now I'm supposed to just pack up and leave?

I mean, technically, that's been the plan all along.

I don't own the house I live in. I don't know anyone in Morgalen except Piper, her son, and a few others I've spoken to maybe once or twice.

Yet…

"You need to be back here now, Cutter," Tony says. "The dust has settled. Things are calm. Or I should say they are perceived to be calm. You've done your job with the swimming and resting and all that. It's time to get back into this facility. With actual physical therapists. Actual trainers. It's time. It's making sense."

"Tony," I say. "Stop saying it's time."

"Cutter, I figured you'd be doing cartwheels right now at the thought of being back here. I'm not liking where this is headed."

I give Tony a dark glare.

I then get his phone back to him and open the door.

He knows his cue to leave without saying anything else.

I stand at the open door and look out the multi-million dollar facility at my disposal. The ownership has spent money that is hard to comprehend as it makes no sense. State-of-the-art isn't even the beginning.

Tony's right.

I need to be right here.

Finish my rehab. Get back in the game.

My phone echoes with a fresh text.

I fully expect it to be the person blackmailing…

It's a text from Piper.

I cannot believe I'm doing this right now so please don't make this into a joke… I need you right now Cutter.