The Finall Play novel · Chapter 5 of 24

Chapter 5: Cold Tub

By day nine, Tanner could lift his arm to the height of his chin.

By day nine, Elliot had stopped sleeping.

He lay in his apartment above the bakery on Mill Street and replayed the weight room.

He heard Tanner say sorry, again and again, in a voice that sounded like it meant it.

Then he got up at five and went to the clinic to be near the next session.

"You're in a good mood," Tanner said that afternoon.

"I'm never in a good mood."

"You hummed."

"I did not hum."

"You hummed something with a lot of drums." Tanner grinned. "It was the Halden fight song."

Elliot hid his face behind the clipboard.

"Cold tub," he said. "Strip to the shorts."

"Excuse me?"

"You heard me. Twelve minutes at fifty degrees to bring down the swelling."

Tanner pulled his shirt over his head, one-handed and clumsy, and Elliot turned to the supply cabinet to give him privacy.

It did not help.

He still saw the long back muscles in the corner of his eye, the golden skin, the shoulder blade moving.

The sling lay on the bench.

"Little help?" Tanner said.

Elliot turned.

Tanner stood at the edge of the steel tub in blue athletic shorts.

His bad arm hung crooked and his other hand gripped the rim.

The water was dark and full of ice.

"You first," Tanner said.

"I'm not the one who tore his shoulder."

"I'm not getting in alone. It's inhuman."

"That's the point."

"Then you're doing it with me," Tanner said. "That's the deal."

Elliot opened his mouth to refuse.

Tanner stood there with his chin up, dripping ice from the edge of the tub, and the old stubborn gleam in his eyes.

Keep reading free with an account. Start The Finall Play from Chapter 1, then sign up free to read the rest of this chapter.