Read Online Full Throttle by Kerrianne Coombes - Free Book Online Page A

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