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“Enjoy.”
“Thanks, Matt.”
Elena inhaled the delicious aroma of the panini and picked it up. Now this was a good way to spend her lunch break.
CHAPTER3
JASON
It took a while for Jason to find the physiotherapy room. The Wolves stadium was a bit like a maze, and though a couple of players had given him directions, once he followed said directions Jason realized that the players had purposefully sent him to another part of the stadium entirely. As a result, once he finally found the room where he had arranged to meet the coach, he was in a bad mood.
As if his day couldn’t get any worse after going through his mail and seeing all of the vitriol directed at him. He knew people wouldn’t be happy about their beloved club being sold to a man with billions to his name and was more about business than anything else, but this was something else. It almost felt like the fans were having a temper tantrum.
Sarah had warned him that while people might remember their family, they might not appreciate Jason buying the club; something he had wanted to do for years. Now he had achieved his dream, and he wasn’t going to back down and walk away. Especially not when the ink had barely dried.
He could only hope that the coaching staff would be on his side.
There were only two people in the physiotherapy room. Liam Kavanagh, the team’s quarterback, was performing slow lunges across the room while holding onto some hefty weights. The head coach, Carl McLaren, was standing off to the side and watching him. Carl wasn’t much older than Jason, barely brushing five-ten and stocky, but the muscles he was carrying were remarkable. Jason remembered that the Wenstown Wolves coach used to play college football, and was described as a tank. He could see why.
Carl turned as Jason entered the room, unfolding his arms. “Mr. Munro.” He walked over and held out a hand, his face expressionless. “It’s a pleasure.”
From his tone, he believed it was anything but.
Jason let that wash over him as he took the offered hand and shook it, feeling the strong grip around his hand. “Carl. And call me Jason.”
Carl didn’t respond, merely giving him a brisk nod before turning back to Liam. The young man had reached the end of the room and had straightened up, flexing out his left knee.
“How’s that feeling, Liam?” Carl asked.
“Not too bad. It’s a little uncomfortable.” Liam grimaced as he adjusted his grip on the weights. “I do feel like it’s going to wobble if I put too much pressure on it.”
“Just take it slow. Physio recommends this, and I want you fit.”
“I’ll try.”
Liam gave Jason a nod and started doing the lunges again. Jason watched the knee in question, seeing it wobble just a little before Liam adjusted his stance. He had heard that Liam’s knee had given out on him during training, and he had needed to go to hospital. While he had never had a bad knee injury, Jason could only imagine what had to be going on if it was bad enough that you had to be stretchered off.
“How’s it looking?” he asked Carl. “What are you working with?”
Carl grunted, his arms folded across his broad chest. “We got the results of the MRI back last night. Thankfully, there are no tears to his ACL, and the cartilage looked to be intact. It’s been diagnosed as a twisted knee.”
“That’s good, right? He doesn’t need surgery for it?”
“Right, he just needs to concentrate on strengthening the knee again. It could take some time, though, and if he goes back too early, he could damage it again and be out for the entire season.” Carl frowned. “I’m also concerned that he could end up doing something to his ACL, and then he would need surgery. We can’t afford to have Liam out for long.”
Jason could understand that. He had gone over the stats of each player, and Liam’s really stood out. There were hints that he was being headhunted for one of the bigger NFL teams, and Wenstown were reluctant to let him go. Jason could see that as being beneficial for the town as well as the team if their quarterback was transferred to a top team in the country, but it would work against them if they didn’t have anyone to fill his shoes. And from what he saw on paper, Liam Kavanagh would leave very big shoes to fill.
“Is he getting physio for his knee as well?” Jason queried. “Speaking of which, where are the physio staff?”
Carl sighed. “We’ve only got Tim left. And he’s dealing with the guys in the massage room.”
“Only one? What happened to the others?”
“Marcy is on maternity leave, and Tony and Chris got job offers elsewhere, so they left before the season started. Now it’s just Tim.”
Jason hadn’t heard about this. How had nobody told him?
“Who was going to tell me about this?” he demanded. “I should be told that we need more staff.”
