Full Throttle (9 page)

Shoot
me now.

“Just to get a nurse.
I’ll
be back.” And then he swung the door back and stepped into the brightly lit
hallway.

Sammy stared at the closed door and wondered what he
was doing here? How long had he been here? Surely he hadn’t been here all
night? She looked down at her hand, where it lay palm up on the
sheets,
it felt cold as if it’d been warmer a moment ago. Had
he been holding her hand?

Get a
grip Sammy, no way was Josh holding your hand. How hard did I hit my head?

The door swished open and a nurse swept into the
room. Josh followed closely and proceeded to stand like a paladin at the foot
of her bed. A blush stole over her cheeks, and when the nurse tugged at her
blankets Sammy gripped the top of them.

“Uh, Josh, could you, um, go out, please?” She said
almost regretting it when he scowled.

“Sure.” He took a step back and scratched his head
as if suddenly realizing something, “I’ll be... I’ll be outside.” He looked her
in the eye and Sammy nodded even as she dropped her gaze.

How
mortifying.

“Your boyfriend is a diamond,” the nurse said, as
she pulled Sammy’s sheets loose from her grip.

“No, He’s—” Sammy began but her words were soon lost
in a gasp of pain when the nurse tried to sit her up a bit.

“He is a cutie, too.”
The nurse
continued, unaware of Sammy’s agony.
Sammy folded her lips in to hold
back the yelp of pain that threatened to escape her mouth.
Crying is for babies and the weak
. Her father’s words flowed
through her mind and reminded her to stay silent.
But, shit. It hurt!

“All the nurses have eyed your man up, all rough
lines, dark stubble, and intense glares. You’re a lucky lady.”

I
wish.

Sammy dimly wondered if she should deny the nurse’s
claims, but the idea that, if she did, one of them might hit on him made her
temper flare, and she allowed the nurse to believe that they were together, no matter
how absurd the idea really was.

The nurse took her time checking Sammy and her many,
many bruises. She didn’t seem to care that Sammy was almost passing out on
occasion from the sheer agony of it all, especially when she checked the cast. Shit.
Sammy almost screamed.

“Not much road rash,” the nurse mentioned in a surprised
tone as she wrote on the chart. “You were pretty lucky. I will be back in an
hour to check on you, kay?” And then she breezed out of the room.

Exhausted, but now sitting up, Sammy tried to
control her gasping breaths. When the nurse left the room, she closed her eyes
and a low groan of pain to escape her mouth.

Why
me?

“Shit. Are you ok?” Sammy snapped open her eyes at
the worried sound of Josh’s voice. This time she didn’t startle, but her blood
most definitely surged.

“Yes, just achy.”
And in bloody agony, and desperate to cry, but completely embarrassed
that you have seen me in this state.

“Can I get you anything?” he asked as he moved
closer to her bed. He looked tired, not as well presented as he looked
yesterday. Still wearing his bike leathers, including his boots, Sammy realized
that he hadn’t been home yet to change.

“No, I am fine. You know, you don’t have to stay, I
am okay now.” She gave him a smile and met his stare for a glancing moment. Her
heart pounded and seemed to swell a little under his intense stare. All dark
glares
was
right. That nurse had described him perfectly.
He glared at her now as if her words insulted him.

“I am not here because I
have
to be. I am here because I want to be.” He picked up a glass
and filled it with
water,
Sammy took it from him and
bit back the wince that so nearly ruined her calm expression.

“But, what about Bev and Reg’s
weekend?
I ruined it for them.”

His jaw bulged as he laid the jug back down. He
swung another glare her way and took a deep breath. “You didn’t ruin anything.
That fuc—” He pinched the top of his nose and took a moment.
“
That
stupid—” He took another deep breath. “Driver who pulled out on you
ruined
your
...” His dark, dangerous-looking stare ran
down her body to her leg, and Sammy would have curled it beneath her to hide it
from his obviously angry eyes if the splint wasn’t there. “That driver broke
your leg.” He lifted his gaze and his cheek bulged again. “And I am sorry. Your
bike is no longer road worthy.” He looked so regretful, so pained to say those
words but it still stung.

“Oh,” was all she could reply as her heart gave a
weak squeeze.

Her bike was ruined? Gone? Tears prickled at the
backs of her eyes, and her chest went tight. She turned her face to the window
and took a few deep breaths. Her bike had been her first-ever foray into being
who she wanted to be. That bike had cost her so much.
And not
just money.
That bike meant so much to her. It’d signified independence.
It signified freedom and youth, and now, because of her lacking skills on it, she’d
written it off.

How stupid to think that she could do something as
cool as ride motorbikes. She was a loner, a geek.
A woman
with crippling shyness and a chip on her shoulder that made her rebel.
She was nothing else.

Stupid, stupid.

She kept her stare on the window. “I thank you for
helping me.
And for calling my friend to come to the
hospital.
But I would like to be alone now …
please
.”
She swallowed hard and felt her mouth go dry.

“Sammy?” His deep voice sounded pained.

She felt his big hand gently snake up her arm, his
fingers so close to taking hold, and a small part of her wished that he would.
Then he dropped his hand. Sammy looked away from the window, but not at him, she
stared at the flowers Rachel had brought her and fought to hold onto the tears
that were so near the surface.

Silence hung heavy in the air, and Sammy forced
herself
not to look at him. If she did, she feared she might
just cry.

“I will go home, get showered and then I will come
back.”

“No.” Startled, she looked up and was instantly
snared by his brooding expression.
Please
don’t come back and see me here again, don’t return to see me looking so utterly
…nothing.
“I will be fine. You ... you don’t have to come back.”

But
what would happen if I never saw him again
?

“I will be back.” He gave a sharp nod and left the
room, and Sammy, empty and cold.
And very, very confused.

Chapter
Ten

Josh slammed his front door shut and stomped into
his bedroom. He hastily tugged free from his leathers and peeled off the gray
t-shirt underneath. He stalked into the bathroom and twisted the shower knob
with jerky movements.

“Shit!” he growled and rested his palms on his sink.
His bike had been picked up at the scene by one of his friends, because he had
gone in the ambulance with Sammy. So he took a taxi home. The guilt he felt for
leaving Sammy alone in the hospital made him itchy and fidgety. All the way
home and he’d been seconds away from telling the driver to go back, until his
brother called him on his mobile. It’d felt good to be able to tell Tony that
Sammy was okay. He explained that she sat up and talked to him, even though
that dark bruise glared back at him each time he looked at her. And she had been
coherent and seemed fine.

But he still couldn’t swallow the bile that rose at
the knowledge that she’d been so close to dying. She had flown through the air
like a paper bag in the wind, her small, feminine body hitting the road with a
sickening thud. It was all Josh could do to push the memory to the back of his
mind.

“Shit!” He exclaimed again before he stepped into
the searing hot shower spray. He would never forgive himself for getting her to
chase him along that country road. She’d been flexing her newly learned skills
as a biker.
Accelerating lightly to speed down that road.
And like a fool, Josh had taken it as flirting, biker style.

He leaned his head against the cool tiles and closed
his eyes. He was tired, bone-tired, and tense. He allowed the water to batter
his shoulder muscles until the spray ran cool and then he stepped out of the
shower, dried himself off and fell into bed. He would sleep for a little while
and then return to Sammy before she could get lonely. He remembered the sight
of her holding back tears, her green eyes so filled with moist misery, he’d nearly
cried for her. He wouldn’t leave her alone for long. She might not have family,
but he would make sure, that until she was at least feeling better, she had him
around to help.

****

Josh opened his eyes on a start. Something woke him,
and this something must have been loud because he’d been fast asleep. His mind
whispered “front door” but he couldn’t recall hearing an actual sound. He
turned his head slowly and watched the gap in the door. The light was still on
in his living room and he waited to see if a shadow passed by. His heart
thundered in his chest as he waited, poised. He was not a paranoid person, nor
a wimp. If his instinct said that there was someone out there, then there was.

He began to slowly sit up and went stiff when the
bedroom door started to slide open. A dark shadow stopped inside the room, and
Josh knew immediately who it was. He sat up, flicked on the lamp, and glared at
Penny.

“What the fuck are you doing?” He snapped as he
dragged a sheet up to cover his nakedness.

Her shrewd dark gaze watched him cover up, and she
ran her tongue across her bottom lip. She was wearing a rain coat, loads of red
lipstick and high boots that said “fuck me.”

“What do you think I’m doing, Josh?” She said in a
sultry tone as she stepped closer to where he still lay. Her hands went to her
coat belt and Josh sprang from the bed to stop her from removing what he knew
to be her only clothing. She grinned at him and bit her bottom lip
suggestively. “Eager, Josh?” She let go of her belt and ran her flattened hands
over his chest, all the while giving him a look that spoke of dirty, monkey sex.

Deep
breaths.
You
don’t like her, remember? She ditched you. Remember?

“No. Look, Penny.”

She slid her hands to the precariously loose sheet
hanging from his hips, and he couldn’t help but pause at the sight of her slim
fingers as they attempted to dip below the thin barrier. His blood surged to
his cock and his heart picked up the pace. He saw her red nails a moment before
they disappeared below the sheet and his mind kicked back in. Red nails were
tacky, cheap. He never wanted that again.

He gripped her bone-skinny wrists and shook his
head.

“Penny, stop.” He might be awake, but his mouth was
yet to kick in, he pushed her gently away and did the sheet up tighter. “What
are you doing here?” Ok, that might have been a stupid question seen as what
she was wearing, but still, what the fuck? He hadn’t seen hide-nor-hair of her
for nearly a year, and now this?

“I should think that obvious.” She reached for his
sheet again. Josh batted her hand away and earned a scornful look for his
efforts.

“No, I mean, what the fuck are you doing here?” He
took a deep breath and another step back. The woman was backing him into a
corner and he didn’t like it at all.

“I miss you. I told you that the other night on the
phone.” She dropped her gaze to his sheet-hidden cock and lifted a saucy brow.
“You have something that I want.”

She went to her knees in front of him. Josh stared
as she glanced up and licked her lips suggestively. The image of Sammy
laid
on the busy country road crying silent tears inside her
helmet filled his mind, and Josh shook his head, taking a step sideways, away
from a now stunned-looking Penny.

“Get up, and go home. I am not in the mood.” Josh snapped,
irritated that he had even let her get this far.

Sammy lay in the hospital alone and he was here,
fucking considering having sex with his ex?

Penny scoffed loudly behind him. “What the fuck—”

Josh didn’t want to hear her words, her very voice
made his lip curl. How did I ever imagine my life with her?

“Key.”
He
held out his hand and stared at her. His tone was a bark, his expression, he
hoped, showed her how much he hated her.

Penny glanced at his hand and back up. A nasty
expression, very much like a spoiled brat, covered her face a moment before she
slapped the key into his palm.

“I will not offer again,” she snapped.

Josh merely raised a mocking brow and closed his
hand around the key. “Good. Now fuck off.”

Penny stormed out, tying her coat as she went. Josh waited
for the sound of the slamming door, turned on his heel and moved for his
wardrobe. He yanked on a pair of jeans and a t-shirt, stuffed his feet into his
boots and headed back to the hospital.