Full Throttle (8 page)

His gaze fell on the clock on the far wall and Josh found
himself counting the seconds, his foot tapping with frustration. His phone
beeped in his pocket and Josh pulled it out. He glanced at the screen and read
the message from his brother.

“Let
me know when you hear anything.”

Josh fired off a message, telling Tony about Sammy’s
broken leg. He wasn’t surprised when Tony replied with a string of swear words.
Josh tipped his head back against the wall and sucked in a calming breath.
There was nothing his brother could say to him to make him feel any worse.

Chapter
Eight

“So, maybe now you will give up the bikes and the
wanting to be
wild
?” Rachel asked as
she fussed around Sammy’s bed, tucking in the sheets like a clucking hen. Sammy
watched her as she moved, wishing that her friend would just sit down. Her head
hurt and her stomach rolled every time she moved her head to follow her. Sammy
closed her eyes briefly and took a deep breath. Pain throbbed up her leg
constantly. But she was glad to be alive.

Her mind kept replaying the last three seconds of
her ride—the flash of red lights, the emerging car, and the ear-piercing crash
of metal against metal. Fractured images of a black arm crossing her vision, of
chaos, noise—the bright blue sky above her, the sound of a gruff voice shouting
out orders, all filled her mind. She could never quite work out what was being
said, but she knew it had been Josh yelling at someone, at people, as she lay
helpless and in agony on the road. The idea that someone had come to her rescue,
let alone that it was Josh, sent a warm heat through her.

“Do you need to sleep?”

Sammy opened her eyes and found Rachel at the end of
her bed. Sammy adored her vivacious, outgoing friend. Rachel had the fire Sammy
always dreamed of having, she was fun and always full of energy, despite her two
kids, full-time job, and slightly overbearing husband. But right now, Rachel
was making Sammy’s head throb mercilessly with her flapping.

“I texted your uncle, thought you might want him to
know.” Rachel added. Sammy watched as Rachel
shrugged,
her expression a little defensive. “I know you’re not all that close since your
Dad—” Rachel swallowed and dipped her gaze in a rare show of doubt. “Anyway, he
sends his love. He replied and said ‘thanks for letting us know. Love, Carl.’”
When Sammy didn’t reply, Rachel twisted her mouth. “I thought you’d want me
to.”

Meddling
much, Rachel?

Sammy turned her head for a moment and closed her
eyes. Her father and her uncle had fallen out years ago, not something Sammy
knew the details of. She’d hardly seen her uncle during her life, but since her
father had died, he and his wife had been making efforts to contact her. Sammy
felt like she was talking to strangers, so she kept the contact to a minimal. But
Rachel was
right,
it was the right thing to do. Sammy
tried to nod, but cringed when pain bloomed in her head.

Sammy shoved thoughts of her pathetically estranged
family aside as she focused on the now. Worry bled into her mind as she tried
to fill in the blanks in her memory from the accident.

“Was anyone else hurt?” Sammy managed to croak. Her
head felt as if someone was crushing it with a vice, and her ribs ached with
each push of breath, but she couldn’t help the worry.

“No.
Just you.”
Her friend
glared at the door and her cheeks bulged with the force of her teeth grinding.
“You rest now, okay?” She began fussing again and Sammy nodded.

Why had Rachel glared at the door? Was Josh out
there?

“Did anyone come to the hospital with me?” Her mind
was so fuzzy and stuffed with cotton wool, Sammy couldn’t remember much after
the moment her bike hit. Other than gruff shouts and flashes of Josh’s dark
eyes full of fear and temper, Sammy was drawing blanks.

“That Josh bloke came in the ambulance, and hasn’t
stopped stalking outside your room since.” She said with another dark look at
the room door.

Even though Sammy was heavily sedated, her head hurt
and her leg was in agony, she couldn’t deny the wash of happiness that fired
through her veins at the thought of Josh pacing up and down outside her room.
The idea was
enchanting,
and completely impossible at
the same time.

“He’s here?” she asked, intrigued by the notion,
even as it seemed her whole body pulsed in pain.

Rachel nodded and plumped Sammy’s pillow for the
thousandth time, this time she did it with sharp, jerky, very un-gentle
movements that had Sammy stifling a cringe of pain. “And he shows no sign of
going home.
Even though I have told him to ‘eff off many
times.”

Oh no.She
didn’t!

She would. The moment Sammy’s father died, Rachel
had taken on the role of “Sammy protector and defender extraordinaire” and took
it very seriously. Sammy liked being cared for, but Rachel sometimes took it a
little too far, like now. She clearly was bristled by Josh and his presence at
the hospital, so the caring had turned into aggression.

Rachel grabbed the jug of water and filled a glass.
She held it out for Sammy, and Sammy shook her head, wincing in pain as soon as
she did.

“Bloody thick-headed, leather-wearing
biker.”
Rachel growled and Sammy almost smiled.

“He is, isn’t he?” If she’d been well, she would
have purred. Rachel made it sound bad—dirty—but Sammy found the description sexy.

Rachel’s eyes flared wide. “You like him?
Even after last night?”
She looked at the door and then
moved closer to Sammy. “I get that he is a little bit attractive, but he was
rude to you.” Rachel gave Sammy a look that said
I dare you to argue that.

Sammy closed her eyes against the sudden sting of
shame as it flared inside her mind. Thanks to the reminder of her stupid
shyness, her stomach rolled and this time she couldn’t blame it on the bike accident.

“It was my fault it didn’t happen with him, not
his,” she said in a weary tone, wishing she didn’t have to relive that
embarrassment on top of her aching injuries.

“But, he was the one who came on strong, stronger
than you are used to. I still blame him.”

Stronger
than I am used to?
Yes,
but that wasn’t a negative in Sammy’s eyes. To be strong and clearly confident
was a big plus compared to the timid, weak men she’d had the misery of sleeping
with before. Rachel wouldn’t understand. Her friend didn’t look at bikers and
big, bulky, tattooed men and think phwoar, like she did.
Like
she always had.
Rachel liked the pampered Hollywood men, with styled
hair and business suits.
Nothing like Josh.

“Just bloody lucky he had the brains to ring me. I
suppose that’s one plus for him.” Rachel continued ranting as she rearranged
flowers in a vase. Her voice trickled off, forgotten, as Sammy’s fuzzy brain
began to fog over once again.
He rang
Rachel? How? When? That was thoughtful.
Tiredness swept over her like a low
hanging mist. Her eyes slid shut of their own accord and Sammy tried to swallow
a yawn.

“Right, I have to go home to the kids, but I will
call later, ok?”

Sammy nodded, the soft pillows crinkled under her
ear, but she didn’t open her eyes.
Sleep,
I need sleep.
Sammy felt a soft kiss on her head and she smiled a little. It
was good to have a friend like Rachel.

“I’ll be back tomorrow. Ok?”

Sammy tried to say ‘ok’ but the yawn escaped when she
opened her mouth. And then when Rachel pulled the covers over her again, Sammy
allowed sleep to overtake her completely.

****

Josh waited for the viper, Rachel, to leave Sammy’s
room before he walked out from behind the pillar in the waiting area. At first
he’d found the protective behavior kind of nice, but the more hours that went
by where he couldn’t see Sammy, and check she was okay, the more he found
Rachel bloody annoying. He watched as the tall, dark haired woman trotted away
and then he jumped into action, ignoring his mind as it accused him of being a
wimp. He darted towards Sammy’s door and took a last check for Rachel before he
slipped into her room.

The small space was lit by a lamp that stood on a
tall bedside table, the soft yellow light spread thinly around the area,
creating a buttery glow in the room. For a moment, Josh didn’t move, he just
stared at Sammy’s broken leg, or rather, the dark blue temporary splint that
sat on top of the white covers. Her whole leg was covered, all the way to the
top of her thigh, strapped up tightly, and Josh flinched from a jolt of guilt
as it speared right through his chest.

She was asleep, he assumed, because she didn’t move
or stir at him being in her room, and something told him that she would
probably be embarrassed to see him there. He imagined her pretty blush, and
almost smiled. He liked that blush, and wondered, not for the first time,
whether the blush was exclusive to her pale cheeks, Or if she blushed
elsewhere?

He took a step closer and bit back the foul curse
that climbed his throat when he saw the black, angry bruise spread across her
pale cheek. She had a clean white bandage stuck on her forehead, obviously
covering the cut that had bled so much into her helmet. He’d imagined much
worse injuries as he held her on that roadside. The small bandage, thankfully, made
a mockery of his wild imagery. Josh ground his teeth against the agonizing
memory and balled his hands. She felt so tiny in his arms, even clad in all of
her bike gear. The paramedic had literally forced him to let go of her when
they arrived. Josh cursed himself inwardly for being so stubborn; he could have
made it worse. Thank God, Bev’d had the mind to call the paramedics, because
all Josh could think of was making sure Sammy was breathing.

He ran his hands through his hair and shook his
head. He scanned her body, although most of it was covered in hospital white
blankets, and he hoped that her body wasn’t as bruised as her face. His mind
chose that moment to replay the way she had been flicked off the bike and
tossed through the air, her helmet hitting the ground in a sickening thump of
sound, and he knew she most definitely was bruised all over. No one could take
that fall without being black and blue. Josh had taken a few spills in his time
as a biker. Nothing this severe, but he could guess how much it hurt.

He blew out a curse and swallowed hard.

Josh moved closer and stared at her chest, relieved
to see the gentle rise and fall of her breaths. The sound of metal-on-metal
still grated in his mind and he just couldn’t believe that she was ok. He
reached down and gently lifted her small hand from the sheets, her warm skin
against his a balm to his nerves, and he found that he didn’t want to let go. Without
releasing her hand, he hooked his foot around a chair leg and dragged it across
the floor. His body ached from all the tense pacing he’d done. He sat down,
keeping a grip of her hand and busied himself watching her breathing. Surely
she shouldn’t be alone if she had a severe concussion, right? Deciding that she
shouldn’t, Josh relaxed and rested his tired head.

Chapter
Nine

Sammy came awake, in her private hospital room, to a
deep throb in her leg and a pulsing headache that brought stars to her eyes.
The room was bathed in the light of an early morning sun, showing the lazy dust
nodes as they danced in the air. She could hear hushed conversations in the
corridor, and the distant beeps of machines, the sounds filtering into her hazy
mind, lulling her into relaxation. Sammy closed her eyes again under the pull
of the hypnotic atmosphere.

She tried to move over a little to get more
comfortable, not that it was easy with a leg that weighed more than an elephant
and a body that ached all over.

“Shit, did a truck run me over after I hit the car?”
She muttered through gritted teeth.

“No, you just hit the ground hard.” The deep
rumbling voice stopped her heart dead and Sammy twisted around to find the
source of it. The moment she moved, a piercing bolt of “Ow, fuck” shot down her
spine. Her head swam, and all Sammy could manage was to slump back on her
pillows and groan.

“Oh, shit—fuck. I’m sorry, did I startle you?”

Sammy opened her eyes to find Josh bent over her
bed, scanning her face, and her body, which was thankfully covered in a blanket,
with a deeply concerned expression. “Shall I get a nurse?” He fussed just like
Rachel. Sammy shook her head and winced inwardly against the shudder of pain.

“You sure?”
He
stopped fussing and pinned her with his dark, delicious eyes. “I can get one
for you. I don’t mind.”

“No, its fine, I just moved too fast.” She tried to
sit a little but he pressed a wide, strong hand to her shoulder.

“Don’t try to sit up, at least until you have been
checked.” He watched her with a thoughtful expression and then turned for the
door.

“Where are you going?” The words were out of her
mouth before she had a chance to think about how much it would hurt, and how
startlingly needy she looked for asking them.