1
Evelyn knew that she was far from being the normal 'soccer Mom' taking and collecting her eldest boy whenever he went to soccer practice and then staying on to watch a short game being played. She did all of that, of course, but she had also to deal with a problem that affected her health, more correctly put, her state of mind.
Today, and while the Moms and Dads, or gran and grandpa, watched over their youngsters or had been left in their care, and they whooped noisily in encouragement, she was more subdued. She was reliant on painkillers to ease the after-effects of surgery on her right wrist, for a carpal problem, that had failed to properly cure. Some moments would catch her off-guard, such as when she was seated at her computer, at work, and the frequent use of a mouse would trigger a spasm of pain, the locking up of her fingers as if they had become frozen. At such moments she would slowly stretch her fingers apart and the pain would ease but not fully disappear.
Today, the weather was open and warm, a bit breezy, and she had put on a pair of high-waisted cotton shorts, their colour a stark mustard yellow. They were worn with a cream sleeveless tank top that shaped her but was not overtly suggestive. She was thirty-eight, a mother of three kids, and could still get away with such fashion choices. Her legs remained slender and not wrinkled, so some ankle socks and fashionable trainers were worn with a confidence that she did not feel today as she looked on and saw how her boy Noah was playing.
"Ouch, that hurts!" she yelped and looked down at her right hand but did not raise it or draw attention to what was the matter.
Sophia Andrews, a friend she had made on days like today, drew close. She knew what her friend often went through and had not missed what was said. "Is something wrong?"
"Yes, the usual, my hand's playing up. It will pass."
"Sure," Sophia retorted, disbelievingly, as she took in the grimace that the pain had aroused in Evie, as she was fond of calling her. "Maybe Liam can help? There must be something in the med box for a moment like this?"
"There's no need," Evelyn muttered as Sophia called him over. The young guy was known to her only too well but Sophia was not to know that; no one did.
"How can I help?" he asked with a crooked smile, a finger brushing over the neat moustache that lent him a rakish appearance and suited him surprisingly well. Laim and his father were the coaches to a raucous group of kids, boys and girls, who were made keen on soccer.
"It's nothing," Evelyn stammered and took a step away on meeting his moment's look upon her.
"No, it's not nothing. Evie here is in pain. Have you got something to help in the med box, and I don't mean a spray?"
Sophia said it on pushing the fingers of one hand through her straw-blonde hair, her stilled eyes provoking him to answer.
"No, I don't have anything in the box. The kids are too young and, besides that, our insurance doesn't cover it all. I may have something in the locker, over there in the pavilion..." he informed her. "I'll go and see, bring it back to you, shall I?"
"I'll go with you and use the restroom while I'm there," Evelyn sighed and on a shrug of the shoulders. It was, she knew from the last time they had been at a practice, that it was what Liam wanted to hear. "Mind my boy for me while I'm gone, would you, Sophia? I'd sure appreciate it, 'cos I've got to do something about this pain."
A gust of breeze ruffled her sandy blonde hair that she'd tied back in a knot, none too tidily. It lent her a wild look. It was how she felt, the pain getting to her. And on top of all that was Liam's appraising look and what she again knew lay behind it. The young guy, with his luxuriant black hair swept back and strong athletic build, couldn't help but give her the eye, and then switch to Sophia. But it wasn't with her that he knew the score.
"Does she know what you're taking?" he asked, pouting a smile as they walked away.
Liam possessed rakish good looks in a guy some thirteen years younger, and he was so darned confident with it. He was strong, athletic, and skilled in the sport that he coached. He was also unprincipled in how he seduced one favour in exchange for another. He had already asked it of her, before, the painkilling meds that she needed to be handed over for a moderate sum, but with that also came the demand for a 'favour'.
"I'm low on stock, Liam," she now said, failing to keep the neediness from her vice, and touching his arm as he pulled on the handle of a door that led into a quieter part of the pavilion.
"And you're in pain," he answered in a voice that she knew so well from other times. Liam had his sources and his voice now lacked any sympathy. "I've got some better stuff, non-addictive to most people. But you're in pain and I guess the med people are closing you out?"
"Yes, now come on, please?"
"The price has gone up...or it's changed."
Only then did she notice that his coach's windcheater had a bulge in one pocket. He was standing close to her and she again felt his dominating presence, young as he was.
"Don't do that! I can't go on giving that to you!" she yelped, in shock, as Liam tweaked one nipple that was just to be seen poking against her cotton top. A sudden shudder of wayward longing had gripped her tummy as she had walked towards the pavilion with the guy.
Liam pulled her into a storeroom, the light flickering on when the motion sensor was activated.
"It's trade-off...you know how it goes by now, Evelyn. You know what I'm saying?" He drew her to him and clutched her bum cheeks to let her feel how it was for him. "You get to me, you do."
He kissed her and she hesitated for only a moment before conceding, none too keenly but her doubts were overcome by the need to find some relief from the pain.
"What's it to be, this time?"
